Advertise on podcast: Curiously Guided Podcast

Curiosity may have killed the cats, but it SAVED both of our lives 🤣 Within the last year, Shay & I both had a near death experience. Which is WILD because wtf do you mean we LITERALLY both almost died around the same time????? (We always joke that we’re walking parallel paths bc the lessons we learn are always so closely related, it’s freaky.) We’ve been sitting on these stories for most of the season, waiting until we were ready (and processed enough lol) to actually talk about them. And what came out of it wasn’t what either of us expected. Less “life is short, quit your job” and more “oh shit, I really need to trust my gut, ask for help, and stop acting like I’m a superhero.” Quick heads up: we get into some intense medical stuff, including pregnancy loss, so listen at your own discretion. We hope you enjoy the episode 🥳 Included in this episode: ➡️ The tiny breadcrumbs that ended up saving Mariah’s life ➡️ Why you have to advocate for yourself, even when you’re not the expert ➡️ What a grilled cheese taught Mariah about trusting her body ➡️ The hospital bill that blew our minds (and what it taught Shay about fear) ➡️ Holding the “both/and” of really hard experiences ➡️ Why it’s so hard for the helpers to accept help (and actually rest) ➡️ What would you do if you weren’t scared? Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e19 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

When you start diving into the world of spirituality, sometimes it can suddenly feel like you need to wear all white, meditate at 5am, and own 800 crystals to be doing it “right.” How do we know? Shay & I have been there too lolol Which is why when we met Victoria, we KNEW we had to have her on the podcast. We met her in person at a business conference and were both instantly impressed by how naturally she blends her spirituality with just being a REAL, grounded ass human. And if you’ve ever felt like you’ve outgrown an old version of yourself, her whole “every identity has an expiration date” philosophy is about to feel like a big exhale. If the words “divine feminine” make you roll your eyes a lil’ stick around. Victoria reframes it in a way that feels WAY more empowering than pink nails & flowy dresses. Plus we get into rage, play, and why you don’t have to stay in your healing era forever… Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ Victoria’s journey from corporate girly to starting a mystery school ➡️ Why everyone “drinks the Kool-Aid” at the start of their spiritual journey ➡️ What if play is actually the path to your purpose? ➡️ Why being witnessed by other women is so healing ➡️ Cycle syncing made simple: rest, plan, do, receive ➡️ What to actually do with your rage ➡️ Midlife awakening vs. midlife crisis ➡️ Why femininity includes standing up for yourself ➡️ Balancing feminine flow with masculine structure LISTEN TO PART 2 ON VICTORIA’S PODCAST (FLIP THE SCRIPT WITH VIC); Stop Following the Rules: Creativity & Building a Life on Your Terms with Mariah & Shay Links & Resources Mentioned: >> Work with Victoria 1:1 - https://www.victoriamargaux.com/threshold >> Monarch Mystery School: https://www.monarchmysteryschool.com/ >> Flip the Script with Vic (Podcast): https://www.victoriamargaux.com/podcast >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest: Victoria Nielsen is a TEDx Speaker, energy healer, and guide for women at the threshold of who they’re becoming. She works with women who have built lives that look good on paper but can feel, deep down, that something more is asking to be lived. Through embodiment, intuition, ritual, ancient wisdom, and unapologetic truth-telling, Victoria helps women stop outsourcing their knowing and start building authentic lives. Website: https://www.victoriamargaux.com/ Instagram (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/victoriamargauxnielsen Instagram (Business): https://www.instagram.com/monarchmysteryschool Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e18  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

Feel like you’re doing ALL the hard things every single day, but STILL can’t seem to bounce back when life gets stressful? Turns out, there might be a simpler fix than you think. Josh is a career firefighter, a Marine Corps vet, and the founder of Breath & Exposure. He literally showed up to record this podcast episode after a night of back-to-back calls and zero sleep, and he was the calmest person in the room lolol. His take? Your breath is a manual transmission for your nervous system. Annnnnd most of us have never been taught how to drive it. If you’ve ever said “I’m just not a cold person” (bc SAME), get ready. Josh makes breathwork & cold plunges feel way less intimidating and WAY more doable than you’d think. Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ Josh’s journey from Marine to firefighter to breath coach ➡️ Why the breath is the anchor of everything (and the lowest hanging fruit) ➡️ Upregulating vs. downregulating & why you need both ➡️ How the ice bath acts as a mirror for your nervous system ➡️ Doing hard things vs. living the soft life ➡️ CO2 tolerance & why it affects way more than you’d think ➡️ Regulating instead of reacting ➡️ The ripple effect of doing your own work Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Josh Hildebrand is the founder of Breath & Exposure, a Marine Corps combat veteran, and a St. Louis City firefighter. After years of struggling with PTSD, depression, and sleep issues, Josh discovered the transformative effects of cold exposure and breathwork. Inspired by his own healing journey, he earned multiple coaching certifications and founded Breath & Exposure to help others improve their mental and physical well-being through mindfulness, breathwork, and cold therapy. Josh lives in St. Louis with his family and credits these practices with making him a better husband, father, firefighter, and coach. Website: https://www.breathandexposurestl.com/ Instagram (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/coach_josh_hildebrand/ Instagram (Business): https://www.instagram.com/breathandexposurestl/ Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e17  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

Shay here! And this time I get to flip the mic on Mariah. I’ve watched her take her YouTube channel from tiny to almost 26K subscribers, and TBH I’ve been dying to pick her brain about it since I’m just starting my own channel (and have a few videos I’m still too nervous to post lol). What surprised me most? Mariah never went viral or built some massive channel. She just kept answering people’s questions with tutorials, and somehow that turned into over half her revenue, long-term brand partnerships with Semrush & Adobe, and a steady stream of clients & email subscribers. So if you’ve been curious about YouTube but figured you’d need 100K subscribers and a fancy camera for it to be worth it, this one’s for you. In this episode, we explore: ➡️ How Mariah got her first 1,000 subscribers (and how long it REALLY took) ➡️ Why AdSense is the smallest part of what YouTube actually pays her ➡️ How big brands ignored her pitches, but the “right ones” came knockin’ a year later ➡️ Coming up with video ideas, without burning out ➡️ Creating your own schedule that works for YOU ➡️ The “outdated” YouTube SEO tactic that still works, well ➡️ How to approach titles, thumbnails, and descriptions ➡️ Why a fancier camera might actually tank your views ➡️ The 2-hour experiment to try before you commit to starting a channel Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> The ‘How I got 25k YouTube subscribers...’ newsletter >> Free download: YouTube SEO Checklist >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Hiya, I’m Mariah — SEO Consultant, Educator & YouTube Creator. I'm a firm believer that showing up in search engines and organically marketing your business doesn’t have to be as difficult & overwhelming as everyone makes it. Since 2015, I've guided thousands of clients and students to achieve page-one search results through actionable and practical strategies, ultimately inspiring them to take SEO & AI search visibility into their own hands. Website: https://www.mariahmagazine.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mariahmagazine LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariahmagazine/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariahmagazineco/ Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e16  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

Feel like you’ve ALREADY tried all the breathwork sessions, the cold plunges, and the shaking it out, but STILL feel wound up, out of whack or depleted? This episode is for you. Kim's perspective on the nervous system is SO different from what's floating around online right now. She spent 13 years as a doctor of physical therapy, so she knows the body, but she's also not here to hand you another “hack”. Her take? Your body isn't broken, it's accurate. Annnnnd it's been telling you the truth this whole time. If you're one of the "smart girls" or "ambitious girls" who's really good at pushing through, get ready. The resilience vs. self-abandonment part of this convo had Shay & I practically in church lol. Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ Kim's journey from physical therapist to somatic coach ➡️ Why a regulated nervous system doesn't mean feeling calm all the time ➡️ How nervous system regulation got flattened into a "hack" ➡️ Do you need a tool right now, or do you need to change your life? ➡️ Regulating inputs vs. regulating techniques ➡️ What "listen to your body" actually means ➡️ Ambition vs. the hustle or soft life binary ➡️ The difference between resilience & self-abandonment ("I can, but should I?") Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Kim’s $150 Threshold Mapping Day Offer >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Kim Kimball is a certified somatic coach who helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent women navigate identity transitions-matrescence, midlife, career dissolution, faith deconstruction, and the quiet unraveling that comes with them-so they can stop abandoning themselves and reclaim a life and business that actually fits them.  Using a somatic approach, she coaches women to work with the body as the primary source of truth, listening to it instead of managing or bypassing it, so change can move through them rather than staying one more thing to think their way past.  Kim's work draws on somatics, nervous system tools, and parts work to help women integrate the fragmented parts of themselves: the part that performs and the part that's exhausted, the part that people-pleases and the part that refuses, into something whole. Website: https://www.kimkimballcoaching.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimkimballcoaching‍  ‍ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimkimballcoaching YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kimkimballcoaching Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e15  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

If you've ever wanted to start making money online but got stuck the second it started feeling complicated, this episode was MADE FOR YOU! Marie Domon's whole path into this online space started with a random real estate listing gig and a price she basically pulled out of thin air. From there it turned into a local freelance conference that ran for 5 years, a coworking space, and now a totally new pivot she didn't see coming. So, whether you're thinking about freelancing on the side or going all in, this episode covers the stuff nobody actually tells you: how to find clients without a fancy strategy, why networking still works better than the algorithm, and how to stop overthinking your niche before you even start… Enjoy the episode! In this episode, we explore: ➡️ Marie's accidental start in freelancing (and the random opportunity that kicked it off) ➡️ What even IS freelancing, and how is it different then being a “business owner”? ➡️ Saying yes to big opportunities in your messiest chapters ➡️ Why old-school networking still beats chasing the algorithm ➡️ "Choosing your hard" and what that actually means day to day ➡️ Why freelancing might be the most stable job there is ➡️ How to stop overcomplicating your niche when you're just starting out ➡️ Making space (and why closing 1 door opens another) ➡️ Marie's new pivot after 13 years: keeping craft alive with High Spec Club Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Freelancing Females Group (Use code MARIE for 15% off!) >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Marie Rachelle Domon lives at the intersection of creative strategy, intentional living, and systems building. A natural connector and problem solver, Marie built Western New York's first coworking space and led regional advocacy for independent professionals. Today, she serves as a fractional leader for growing brands in the luxury estate lifestyle industry. Website: https://www.convergencecoworking.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/marierachelle_ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mariedomon‍  Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e14  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

THIS EPISODE IS A SPECIAL ONEEEEEE!  Mariah here! And I get to interview my own co-host, Shay, about something she’s an absolute genius in and we almost never talk about here.  Shay traditionally does high ticket sales consulting, BUT she's found herself in this whole unique arena of sales that basically never gets talked about in the online business space, and her story is SO different from anything we've covered on this podcast before.  So here’s the tea… Shay replaced her full-time income by selling other people's trash. So in this episode, we’re diving in deep, exploring wtf all of this means, how she got started, and how YOU can start making extra money online too! It’s a fun one, I promise. Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ Shay’s story about how a tennis racket in high school started everything ➡️ Why "selling trash" felt embarrassing before it felt empowering ➡️ Finding the “gaps” in the reselling market ➡️ The different ways to make a business like this, work for YOU ➡️ Why an empty cardboard box sold for $1,200 (and other unhinged flips) ➡️ How SEO keywords works on eBay, Etsy, and even AI search ➡️ Cross-listing and how it tripled Shay's sales  ➡️ Building a niche around whatever you're already curious about (yes, even old stuffed animals) ➡️ Where to actually start if you just need some extra cash this month Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Shay is an entrepreneur, sales strategist, and lifelong reseller who has been selling things online since she was a teenager. After years working across e-commerce, branding, and high-ticket sales, she returned to reselling and built it into a full-time income—without turning it into a full-time workload. Together with her husband, Bobby, she runs The Smarter Reseller, where they focus on higher-value, higher-margin flips and a “work smarter, not harder” approach to the secondhand market. Rather than spending 40 hours a week digging through thrift stores or listing hundreds of low-dollar items, they use research, SEO, e-commerce strategy, and a lot of curiosity to uncover overlooked value in everything from vintage fashion and collectibles to discontinued products, old cardboard boxes, and even vintage diapers. Their philosophy is simple: the more you know, the more you make. Through The Smarter Reseller, Shay and Bobby are sharing what they’ve learned about spotting value, finding profitable flips, and building a reselling business that supports the life you want to live—not the other way around. eBay Store: YouTube: Instagram:  TikTok: Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e13  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

There's a version of Leslie's origin story that sounds made up: managing a male review show at a casino leads, somehow, to talent development work for Disney???? But that's kinda the WHOLE point. She didn't take the job because it made sense on paper. She took it because it was in front of her, and she said yes. This episode is us sitting down with Leslie Jespersen, the brains behind the conference that inspired our last solo episode, to unpack how a career built on saying yes to weird, unqualified, "wait, why would I do that" opportunities turned into an actual expertise: helping entrepreneurs show up as the talent they already are.  We get into what talent development actually means for people who'd rather stay behind a screen, why treating yourself like "the talent" changes how you show up on stage (and everywhere else), and the messy, non-linear path that got her here. If you've ever second-guessed an opportunity because it didn't fit the plan, this one's for you. Leslie's story is proof that the plan was never really the point. Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ How managing a male review show led into talent development for Disney & ABC ➡️ The real difference between "speaker coaching" and treating yourself as the talent ➡️ Why Leslie lost money on her own conference (and did it anyway) ➡️ The "know thyself" work that has to happen before anyone else sees you differently ➡️ What entrepreneurs get wrong that comedians and musicians get right ➡️ Why your friends & family may never "get" your business (and how to stop needing them to) ➡️ How showing up as yourself becomes the fastest way to build trust in a noisy, AI-saturated space ➡️ Leslie's advice for saying yes before you feel ready Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Free Masterclass; Becoming Household Name Material >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Leslie Jespersen is an award-winning keynote speaker, media personality, event producer, and talent developer for entrepreneurs. With a background spanning acting, modeling, television, live production, media, and celebrity talent, she now trains and positions entrepreneurs to become their own version of famous, so people know who they are, what their magic is, and why they should be the one getting the speaking gigs, podcasts, TV, press, and bigger opportunities.  She is the founder of The Everyday Celebrity Event Series & Magazine, BFD TV Network, and is publishing her first book, The Everyday Celebrity, this fall. Website: https://lesliejespersen.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lesliejespersen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everydaycelebrity_ Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e12  Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

Not gonna lie…social media's been feeling like a chore for a while now. The pressure to post 3-5 times a week, the low-key dread every time you open the app, that nagging feeling you're somehow falling behind while everyone else "figures out AI"... yeah. We came into this convo a little burnt out on the whole thing too. Then Andréa flipped it on its head. She built a million-dollar, 12-person social media agency, sold it during her second baby's brutal first year, and rebuilt something completely different: a smaller, calmer partnership doing local marketing from her small town near Buffalo. She's the person the online world knows for social media... and now she's the one telling us it might be the smallest piece of the puzzle. Consider this your permission slip to do less, market smarter, and let your business (and your whole definition of success) evolve with the season you're actually in. Andréa's refreshingly real and specific the whole way through, full of hot takes and actual client stories that'll make you exhale. Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ What happened when Andréa sold a million-dollar agency at her peak ➡️ The LAST piece you add to your marketing ➡️ The "eating too much candy" rule for social media (and why Andréa lives in her DMs) ➡️ What a lash artist, a plumber, and Andrea's lawn guy each get right about marketing ➡️ How to find your point of view when it feels like everything's already been said ➡️ Redefining success when your revenue no longer matches your old highlight reel ➡️ Andréa's current hyperfixation, and the AI myth she's calling BS on Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> The Mindful Marketing Lab >> The Do Less, Market Better Kit >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Meet Andréa Jones — your marketing shortcut in human form. As the founder of OnlineDrea and Creative Director at Uncommon Marketing Agency, she’s on a mission to help entrepreneurs do less, market smarter, and grow without the guilt trip of hustle culture. Her approach blends savvy strategy with playful creativity, helping business owners turn overwhelm into ease and chaos into clarity. With more than a decade of experience, Andréa has guided over 5,000 students through her courses, programs, and resources, helping them build systems that actually fit their lives so marketing feels doable and even fun. She’s also the host of the award-winning Mindful Marketing Podcast, where she breaks down timely trends and timeless strategies into bite-sized, actionable insights. Based in Niagara Falls, Canada, Andréa brings a grounded, refreshing perspective to modern marketing. Her mantra? Growth should feel good. Website: https://onlinedrea.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/onlinedrea LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/onlinedrea TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@onlinedrea Threads: https://www.threads.net/@onlinedrea YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/onlinedrea Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e11 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

Shay and I have been doing this thing for years now; pick a conference, book the flights, convince ourselves it's a business expense, and every single time, we always overhear other attendees talking about “what’s the ROI of the event…” What did they get out of it? Was it worth it? Did they get an leads/connections? And TBH, we just don’t think about it like that.  Join us in this episode as we dive deeper into the retreats and recent conferences we’ve attended to hear our honest take about how we approach them, keep them fun, and why we KEEP prioritizing them in our budgets. If you've ever justified (or talked yourself out of) buying that ticket, this one's for you. We get into how we actually choose what's worth our time and money, how to get something out of it once you're there, and why the "return" isn't always what you'd expect… We hope you enjoy the episode 🥳 Included in this episode: ➡️ Our experiences with different levels of business events & conferences; retreats, intimate events, mid-sized conferences ➡️ What does “ROI” mean to us for events? ➡️ How we choose a conference or an event to go to ➡️ How to get the most out of the experience ➡️ The biggest takeaways we’ve had from previous events ➡️ Our different approach to making the event “worth it” ➡️ Why we keep prioritizing these, even though the costs can add up quickly Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e10 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

A lot of us learned young that we're worth exactly what we achieve...straight A's, gold stars, the next title, the next win. It's a hell of a drug, right up until it runs you into the ground. That's exactly what happened to Rita Cidre, a marketer and educator (and Mariah's colleague over at Semrush Academy) who writes about preventing career burnout and swears by play as the way back. She's not preaching from the sidelines, either; she burned out hard at a job she genuinely loved, walked away, and spent a decade untangling what actually went wrong.  If you've ever tied your whole worth to your achievements, or lost track of the feeling that made work fun in the first place, this one's gonna hit. It's honest, it's funny, and we're all still figuring it out. Let’s get to the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ When the best job of your life becomes the one you have to quit ➡️ The Cinderella story we're all sold about loving our work ➡️ Why quitting to be your own boss didn't fix it for Rita (and sometimes made it worse) ➡️ Why being the honor-roll kid can set you up to crash later ➡️ Play as a mindset you can bring to almost anything ➡️ Learn the consultant mindset that helps overachievers stop taking work personally ➡️ How to study your own life for clues about what actually lights you up Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Rita’s website >> Semrush >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Rita Cidre is a marketing strategist, educator, and future of work thinker who has spent two decades leading marketing teams for brands like Zillow, NPR, TIME, and Qualtrics — and teaching at universities from Harvard to NYC to WU in Vienna. After experiencing burnout firsthand, she became obsessed with a single question: why do some people thrive creatively at work while others lose their spark? Today, as a podcaster, speaker, and Head of Customer Education and Community at Semrush, she helps ambitious professionals reconnect with the curiosity that makes work meaningful and fun. Website: www.ritacidre.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rita-cidre Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e9 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

Ever feel like you're running the same day on repeat, grinding at the exact same speed no matter what's happening outside your window, and wondering why you're so fried? This is a conversation Shay's had simmering for years. We brought back our friend Sam, who's spent 13 seasons running a wedding and event venue on her family's 200-acre farm outside St. Louis, a business so tied to the weather that it forced her to build her whole life around the seasons. She's also been Shay's best friend for 25 years, so this one gets real, funny, and a little woo, fast. If you've ever felt guilty for slowing down, or like your body just doesn't run on the go-go-go treadmill most of us got handed, consider this your permission slip to do it differently. Expect personal stories, a lot of laughing, and the reminder that we're not here to buy the island; we're here to build a life that feels good all year round. Enjoy the episode! 😊 In this episode, we explore: ➡️ Why your real New Year might not even be in January ➡️ "Medieval peasant maxing" and what it looks like to actually live with the sun ➡️ The payment-schedule tweak that smoothed out Sam's seasonal cash-flow dips ➡️ Planning your work around your monthly cycle and the moon ➡️ Cheap dopamine vs. the kind you actually have to work for ➡️ Why "how are you?" deserves way more than a one-word answer ➡️ Giving yourself grace when your seasons collide, and honouring the one you're actually in ➡️ Surrender, trust, and Sam's tenth trip through "The Power of Now" Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Sam’s website >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Samantha Williford is the owner and operating manager at Lost Hill Lake, a weddings and events venue on her family's 200-acre farm. She's dedicated to building an intentional business that prioritizes giving back to its team, their community, the natural environment, and turning a profit. Samantha is a mother to 2 young kids, an avid swimmer with a passion for growth and development work, and a travel enthusiast. You can usually catch Samantha dreaming up her next big idea or taking a nap. "Life's all about balance.” Website: https://www.losthilllakeevents.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/losthilllakeevents Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e6 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

You know that feeling when you downplay something you're genuinely proud of, just so you don't come across as too much? Yeah, we get it. This one's an off-the-cuff, totally unscripted conversation about building careers that actually fit the humans we are, holding boundaries (and non-negotiables) without apologizing for them, and choosing our hard on purpose instead of coasting down whatever path's already paved for us. If you've ever felt like the way you work just doesn't match how everyone around you seems to, this one's for you. Expect a lot of personal stories, a few tangents, and the usual amount of swearing.  Hope you love this one 🥳 Included in this episode: ➡️ Why praise makes us instinctively minimize ourselves (and where that comes from) ➡️ Choosing your hard: picking your shit sandwich on purpose ➡️ The client offer Mariah turns down flat, even at $10k a month ➡️ Sweaty palms, back pain, and other signals we push past ➡️ Why "relaxed and not busy" is the actual goal (and why we pretend to be busier than we are) ➡️ What building a career from stacked income streams is really like ➡️ Two very different business models: face-of-the-brand vs. fully behind the scenes ➡️ "F**k around and find out" as a lifestyle, and honouring the capacity you've got right now Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e7 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

AI is going to ruin web design." "SEO is dying." "The online business ship has already sailed." If you've been hearing some version of this and quietly spiralling about it, this episode is your antidote, fam. Christy Price has run a rock-solid Squarespace business since 2018, and she's been in web design for two whole decades... long enough to have watched Dreamweaver, then WordPress, and now AI each get announced as the thing that would surely put designers out of work. Spoiler: she's still here, busier and feeling more free than ever. We get into a bunch of personal stories, a few unhinged tangents (Reddit, sleep number beds, a very stubborn puppy), and give you a whole lot of permission to stop panicking - enjoy! ☺️ In this episode, we explore: ➡️ How a stranger on a ski lift talked Christy into a big life decision ➡️ The email-signature move that gives you full permission to log off ➡️ Christy's secret test for every tool she picks ➡️ The reframe that puts you back in charge of your calendar ➡️ How multiple revenue streams become lifelines when you suddenly can't work ➡️ The two-question filter Christy runs her whole business through ➡️ Where all three of us would start from scratch today with zero followers ➡️ Why Reddit might be the last trustworthy corner of the internet ➡️ What happened to entry-level copywriting jobs, and Christy's advice for anyone starting out now Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Web Design Roundtable community (currently $17/$37) >> The Two Day Website System Waitlist >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Christy has been working in web design for over 20 years and transitioned her business to focus solely on Squarespace in 2018. She builds websites, posts YouTube tutorials, and enjoys sharing what she’s learning with new and aspiring designers. Christy lives in a house on a hill outside Austin, Texas, with her husband and two Labrador retrievers (one naughty, one nice). Website: https://christyprice.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@christyprice Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christypricewebdesign/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyprice/ Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e8 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

"Just collaborate with other businesses" is advice you've probably heard a hundred times... and it's pretty useless without someone telling you what to actually say, who to say it to, and how to know if it even worked. That's where Jordan Gill comes in. We explore how the right collaborations can expand your visibility, build real authority, and make running a business feel a whole lot less lonely. We also swap personal stories from our own collab wins (and flops), and keep the whole thing light and low-pressure. Enjoy! ☺️ In this episode, we explore: ➡️ How to pitch without being cringe ➡️ How Jordan keeps 50-plus partnerships from turning into total chaos.  ➡️ Why looking left and right at your peers might get you further ahead ➡️ The pitch that earned a yes even though Jordan usually says no to those…  ➡️ How to actually track the ROI of a collab + what counts as a win and why ➡️ The Collaboration Ladder concept you might be missing ➡️ How to decide which in-person events are worth the flight, the hotel, and the dog-sitter Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Jordan’s website >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast About the Guest:  Jordan Gill is a Business Strategist and international speaker whose mission is for high-achieving business owners to prioritize rest without sacrificing revenue! Her Apple Top 100 Entrepreneur podcast, Systems Saved Me®, goes behind the success of businesses to spotlight the invisible systems you've never seen or heard of. When she’s not teaching the gospel of systematic success to her 10k+ students, she’s working on one of her thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles or traveling the world with her husband and bonus son. Website: https://systemssavedme.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/systemssavedme/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanhgill/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@systemssavedme Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat. Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e5 Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips. Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:  >> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast Learn more about Curiously Guided: Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned. ✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com ✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah: 👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay 👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco