A Category of One

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Jimi Gibson, VP of Brand Communication at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency and author of Uninvisible. Jimi spent the first part of his career as a professional magician, performing at venues including the MGM Grand, before moving into digital marketing. That background shows up in everything he does now.

We get into why personal visibility has become one of the clearest ROI drivers a business owner has right now, backed by Jimi's own research studying 400 companies across five industries. He breaks down how AI models actually pull information, using an analogy involving pizza dough and toppings that makes the whole process click in a way I haven't heard before.

Jimi also walks through what he calls the magic script, a communication framework built on the same structure magicians use to create connection, curiosity, and closure. It's not about tricks. It's about understanding how attention actually works, and why playing it safe is the fastest way to disappear.

In this episode:

• Why AI visibility works differently than traditional SEO
• The pizza dough and toppings analogy for how AI models retrieve information
• What E-E-A-T means and why it matters more than ever
• The magic script framework for structuring communication
• Why becoming an "intrapreneur" builds value even inside someone else's company
• The case for writing a book as a visibility and authority tool

Connect with Jimi Gibson:
Website:https://thriveagency.com/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimi-gibson/

Full research report: https://businessvisibilityindex.com

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Jimi Gibson and His Book

01:45 Challenges in Publishing and Visibility

04:19 The Journey to Authority Building

07:31 The Importance of Personal Branding

11:11 AI's Role in Visibility and Differentiation

16:04 The Pizzeria Effect and AI's Functionality

22:10 The Magic of Communication and Curiosity

28:45 Applying Magic Principles to Marketing

33:35 Final Thoughts on Authority and Visibility

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Erin Berry Bliss, a relationship and intimacy coach and the creator of the Secure Love Soul Method. We started talking about emotional safety, and it turned into a much longer conversation about how we relate to ourselves first.

Erin's work is body-based. She believes lasting change in relationship happens at the nervous system level, not just through insight or mindset. We got into what it actually means to feel safe with another person, physically, emotionally, mentally, energetically, and how easy it is to confuse a quiet relationship with a safe one.

We also talked about the parts of this work that don't come up enough. What chemistry actually is, and what your body is telling you about it. Why it's gotten harder to stay authentically yourself online. And why curiosity, not certainty, is what actually closes the gap between men and women.

In this episode:

• What emotional safety actually means, and why most people miss it
• How the nervous system shapes our patterns in relationship
• The difference between getting back a connection and trying to create one that was never there
• Why self-acceptance has to come before someone else can meet you fully
• How curiosity closes the gap between men and women instead of certainty
• What it means to stay authentically yourself in a saturated online space

Connect with Erin Berry:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/erinberrybliss/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/eberryblissful

Website: https://www.erinberrybliss.com/

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

01:16 Introduction to Erin Berry and Her Work

03:19 The Secure Love Soul Method Explained

03:32 Introduction and Personal Connection

04:43 Erin's Journey to Relationship Coaching

06:43 The Importance of Self-Understanding in Relationships

10:55 Navigating the Modern Relationship Landscape

14:30 The Role of Emotional Safety in Intimacy

19:26 Understanding Intimacy and Authenticity

22:20 The Interplay of Masculine and Feminine Energies

25:39 Human Design and Personal Growth

28:46 Upcoming Retreats and Community Connection

33:26 Engagement and Closing Thoughts

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Elijah Evynn, who spends his days helping small and medium businesses build AI automations without losing the human parts of their work. This conversation started as a discussion about tools and quickly became about what AI is actually for and what it should never touch.

Elijah has spent years managing large tech organizations, and now runs Guides of AI, where he helps business owners figure out what to automate and what to protect. His rule for every client is simple. Don't outsource the thinking. The taste, the opinions, the judgment calls, those stay human. Everything else is fair game.

We talked about why AI is a bigger opportunity for small businesses than large ones, why the fear so many people carry about AI is worth questioning, and what changed for Elijah the moment he became a father. He also walked me through Gabbian, his client portal system, and a new project that lets AI skills move between different tools instead of staying locked in one.

In this episode:

• Why AI favors the small and medium business, not the enterprise
• The difference between outsourcing tasks vs. thinking
• How to know what parts of your business are safe to automate
• Why balance, not adoption or avoidance, is the real answer

Connect with Elijah Evynn:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/elijahevynn/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elijah-evynn/
https://www.guidesof.ai

https://www.gabbian.com

https://www.sharelume.ai/

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Chapters:

01:11 Introduction to Elijah Evan and His Ventures

02:27 Empowering Small and Medium-Sized Businesses with AI

02:48 Embracing AI: The Human Element

05:46 AI as an Efficiency Tool for Small Businesses

08:51 The Importance of Context in AI Engagement

11:39 Liberating Humanity Through Automation

14:28 Navigating the Digital Landscape with AI

17:17 Understanding Your 'Why' in the AI Era

19:54 Case Study: Empowering Small Businesses with AI

24:24 Understanding Automation in Different Industries

26:56 The Importance of Branding and Marketing

31:17 Innovations in AI and Client Management

32:09 The Meaning Behind Gabbian

32:53 Developing a Marketplace for AI Skills

35:29 Parenting in the Age of AI

Somewhere between childhood and retirement, play gets treated as something you're supposed to grow out of. The decades in the middle are for being productive and serious. Lara Galante doesn't buy that.

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Lara Galante, the founder of Find Your Inner Parakeet, where she runs creative workshops that help grown adults remember how to play. Her events are low pressure and tactile, with paint pens, feathers, and gem stickers on the table, but the real work happening in the room is permission. Permission to make something imperfect and to stop performing competence for a couple of hours.

Lara is honest about how she got here. The idea sat in her head for years. She took another nonprofit job she already knew wasn't right because it was familiar. It wasn't until she quit, flew to Bhutan to mountain bike with her best friend, and came home wide awake at midnight that the whole business poured out of her in a single night.

We also got into something a lot of people carry: the story someone told you about yourself when you were young. A teacher who said you couldn't sing. A friend who said you weren't creative. Lara and I both got versions of that, and much of this conversation is about deciding that story isn't the one you have to keep.

In this episode:

• Why play stops being "allowed" in adulthood, and what that costs
• How Lara turned an unhappy career detour into Find Your Inner Parakeet
• What actually happens in a room full of adults handed paint and permission
• Rewriting the labels you picked up as a kid about what you're good at
• Why "life is short" stopped being a phrase for Lara and became how she makes decisions

Connect with Lara Galante:
Website: https://www.findyourinnerparakeet.com/

LI: linkedin.com/in/lara-galante-416766196/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/findyourinnerparakeet

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

00:54 Rediscovering Playfulness in Adulthood

01:49 The Journey of Creativity and Chaos

01:51 Finding Your Inner Parakeet

06:55 The Importance of Playfulness

11:34 Creative Expression and Adulting

16:23 Overcoming Self-Doubt

21:28 The Power of Community and Connection

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Grace Secker, a somatic trauma therapist and nervous system coach who healed herself from years of chronic pain and fatigue before building the work she does now. We start with the nervous system, the part of you running in the background of every symptom and reaction, often saying no before your mind has caught up.

Grace's view is that most chronic symptoms aren't random. They're the nervous system responding to stress it never got to resolve, and the way through isn't another pill or specialist. It's taking ownership of your own healing, which is harder than it sounds. She points out often we hand our health to a professional and wait to be told what's wrong, and that keeps us stuck in the same stress response we're trying to escape.

Grace has been an entrepreneur for almost ten years, and she admitted she'd never applied any of this to her business. She talked about being anxiously attached to her company, reactive to its every high and low, and how the tools that healed her body started changing the way she shows up at work.

She was diagnosed with depression at twelve, and that label quietly became her identity for a long time. That thread runs under the conversation. You are not your diagnosis. You're the person underneath the part that's afraid.

In this episode:

• What the nervous system is, and why Grace says almost everything traces back to it
• How chronic symptoms can work as signals instead of malfunctions
• What it looks like to take ownership of your health not handing it off
• The moment Grace realized she was anxiously attached to her business
• How a diagnosis at twelve became an identity, and how she stepped out of it
• Why this kind of healing often goes better in community than alone

Connect with Grace Secker:
Heal with Grace podcast: https://healwithgrace.co/podcast/

Free Nervous System Masterclass -> The science of why your body breaks down under pressure and the first three things to do about it: https://healwithgrace.co/free-masterclass/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/heal.with.grace/

Substack: gracesecker.substack.com

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

01:07 Understanding the Mind-Body Connection

01:32 Understanding the Nervous System

11:31 Navigating Growth Edges and Ego

21:32 Mind-Body Healing Method

Most marketing advice assumes you already have something exciting to sell.

Shawn Teasley is a marketing and social media strategist and the founder of Social Tonic, and some of her most interesting projects are the ones nobody would call flashy. One of her clients sells energy efficient building products, the kind of thing that lives behind the drywall where no one ever sees it. No drone footage, no sexy interior reveal. And that's exactly where the story is.

We talked about how she finds it. The owner retrofitted a 1970s house with the same principles he sells, because of his two daughters and what he believes about the energy future. That's not a product feature. That's a reason. What Shawn does well is pull that reason out of people and put it where customers can feel it.

That same instinct runs through the rest of the conversation. We got into being witnessed, the idea that people open up when they feel genuinely seen, and how that shapes everything from a single client relationship to a team spread across three countries. We talked about asking better questions, the difference between collecting LinkedIn connections and actually nurturing a relationship, and why bringing your personal self into your work isn't unprofessional. It's the whole point.

In this episode:

• Why the most unglamorous products often have the best stories
• How to find the reason behind what someone sells, not just the features
• What it means to make a client feel witnessed, and why it changes the work
• The line between collecting LinkedIn connections and building real relationships
• How asking better questions surfaces the story that actually sells
• Why your personal life belongs in your business more than you think

Chapters:

01:16 The Importance of Strategic Marketing for Startups

02:16 Exploring Authenticity in Business

05:14 The Role of AI in Marketing

08:02 Creative Storytelling in Marketing

11:12 Travel and Personal Growth

14:16 Cultural Connections and Team Dynamics

21:04 The Intersection of Personal and Professional Life

29:11 Ideal Clients and Networking Strategies

33:50 Understanding the Mind-Body Connection

Connect with Shawn Teasley:

Website: https://socialtonic.us/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnteasley/

BIZ: https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialtonic/ 

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

In this episode I sat down with Vivian Butler, a licensed therapist turned event planner and founder of Vivian Butler Events. We started with how a counselor ends up running an events business, but it kept circling back to something bigger: what it actually takes to build a room where people feel safe enough to be themselves.

Vivian's path didn't follow a plan. She moved through restaurants, social work, ropes courses, and experiential psychology before she realized events had been the thread running through all of it. She isn't just handling logistics. She's paying attention to how people feel, and whether they can drop the persona long enough to connect.

We got into the loneliness most gatherings quietly produce, where you can be surrounded by people and still feel alone, and what it takes to design against it. We also got honest about the parts of entrepreneurship nobody romanticizes. Pushing past your comfort zone every day. Learning that when you sell a service, you are the product. Trusting that a no is just clearing space for a more aligned yes.

Underneath all of it is a simple idea about permission. The way Vivian sees it, her real job is to build a room where people can stop performing and just be themselves. A couple keeping their wedding theirs instead of everyone else's. Coworkers dropping their titles for an afternoon.

In this episode:

• Why a therapist's lens changes what an event can do for people in the room
• The difference between an event that looks polished and one where people feel safe to be themselves
• What the loneliness epidemic has to do with how we gather, at work and everywhere else
• The daily discomfort of running a solo business, and why Vivian signs up for it anyway
• How "you are the product" reframes the way you sell a service

Connect with Vivian Butler:

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianabutler/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vivianbutlerevents

IG: https://www.instagram.com/vivianbutlerevents/

Website: https://www.vivianbutlerevents.com/

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Chapters:

02:45 Transition from Counseling to Event Planning

05:38 Embracing the Solopreneur Journey

08:39 The Importance of Authenticity in Business

11:26 Understanding Your 'Why'

14:08 Creating Meaningful Connections at Events

17:10 The Loneliness Epidemic and Authentic Connection

20:00 Unique Approach to Event Planning

22:59 The Value of Hiring an Event Planner

I met Janne Robinson years before this podcast existed. Then, back when I joined the first cohort of her year-long program, Your Truth Is Your Medicine, I was rebuilding myself after a codependent marriage, and she was the first person who truly gave me permission to be who I am.

Janne is a poet, author, facilitator, and keynote speaker, and she has built a business by refusing to narrow herself down to one thing. Her anchor isn't a niche or a funnel. It's purpose. She treats every offer she makes as a 50-50 conversation between what excites her and what her audience actually wants, and she's at peace when the answer is no.

There's a thread Janne keeps coming back to around generosity, what she calls sharing the cow. It started at an archaeological site in Sedona and runs through everything from the scholarships she gives away to a whale trip a CEO gifted her, the one she's now turning into a retreat for other people. We talk about what it actually looks like to run a business that way, and why being public carries a real cost she chooses to pay anyway.

In this episode:

• Why purpose works as a filter for what to build next
• What it looks like to run a business as a multi-passionate person vs forcing yourself into one lane
• How Janne handles criticism and the cost of putting your real self in public
• Why your own story, not a tidied-up version of it, is the actual work

Connect with Janne Robinson:

Find Janne's first book This is for the Women Who Don't Give a Fuck here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945796413

Find Janne's second book There's cobwebs on her Vagina here: https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Cobwebs-Her-Vagina-Collection/dp/1734042109

Book a consultation to do purpose work 1-1 with Janne here: https://hello.dubsado.com/public/form/view/646333e19b539e6b47ed9138

For Organizations (Speaking, Executive Coaching, Culture Repair and Enhancement Work): https://jannerobinson.com/organizations

Swim with the Humpback Whales Retreat (2027): https://janne-robinson.mykajabi.com/2027-retreat

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

01:49 Janne's Methodology and Impact

02:42 Personal Life and Creative Endeavors

02:48 Generosity and Boundaries in Community Living

38:53 Cultural Wisdom and the Power of Prayer

42:00 The Healing Power of Whales and Nature

45:50 Reconnecting with Community and Personal Joy

49:27 The Courage to Share Your Truth in Writing

52:46 Coaching and Retreat Opportunities

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Jessica Millhiser, the founder of J.Mills Consulting and an operations strategist who helps service-based entrepreneurs build businesses that are clear, organized, and intentional. Jessica's work sits at the intersection of structure and intuition, and that combination is rare.

We talked about what it actually takes to build a business you can step away from. Jessica took nine weeks off last year and her business grew 34%. That number tells you something, but the conversation underneath it tells you more. It's about how you design a business in the first place, what you stop chasing, and what you let yourself want.

Jessica wants to bring hospitality back to the forefront of how entrepreneurs run their businesses. Not hospitality as an industry, but as a posture. The way you treat people. The way your back-end operations show up as front-end client experience.

She also opens up about a single intuitive decision she made years ago that changed the entire shape of her life. It's one of those moments in a conversation that you don't see coming.

In this episode:

• Why slowing down is the actual prerequisite for sustainable growth
• What it means to bring hospitality back into a service-based business
• How operational clarity creates space for you to step away from your business
• The difference between time-for-money pricing and value-based pricing, and how to make the shift
• Why your ideal client is probably not you, and what that means for what you charge

Connect with Jessica Millhiser:

Website: https://www.jmillsconsulting.com/

Operations Audit (Free Resource): https://www.jmillsconsulting.com/operations-health-check

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicamillhiser/

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

00:49 Strategies for Building Intentional Businesses

01:06 Introduction to Jessica Millhiser's Work

04:02 The Importance of Intentionality in Business

07:00 Defining Success on Your Own Terms

09:57 Client Journey and Strategic Planning

13:09 Systems and Operations in Business

16:01 Bringing Hospitality into Business

18:44 Navigating Client Relationships and Pricing

21:53 The Shift from Time to Value-Based Pricing

24:52 Trusting Intuition in Business Decisions

27:49 Personal Stories and Life Lessons

30:44 Conclusion and Resources

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Kelly O'Connell, founder of the brand studio Kind & Funny, to talk about creativity, self-expression, and what it looks like to stay connected to the version of yourself that existed before the world started shaping you.

Kelly is one of those people who walks into a room and gives everyone else permission to take up more space. She runs a brand studio. She paints over fashion ads. She hosts a monthly Self-Expression Club. She wears a tutu in public sometimes. And underneath all of it is a real practice of meeting herself where she is, of treating creativity as a way home rather than a performance.

We talked about how fashion became her daily check-in with who she is, why we don't see other people in our industry as competition, and what changed when she started building a business around being a human first. We also went into her ADHD diagnosis, what she's learned about shame and self-acceptance, and why parts work has been a quiet game-changer.

This one moves between the playful and the tender. Kelly is luminous, and the conversation reflects it.

In this episode:

• Why self-expression starts with asking "how do I want to feel today"
• The shift from scarcity to abundance with peers in your industry
• What an inner child has to do with how you show up at work
• ADHD, shame, and the practice of not doing it alone
• How parts work creates more grace and more room
• Building a business that sustains you as a human

Connect with Kelly O’Connell:

Website: https://www.kindandfunny.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/bekindandfunny/

Connect with Leslie Silverman:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman

Website: https://lesliesilverman.com

Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com

Chapters:

00:49 The Kind and Funny Brand Shop: Empowering Women-Owned Businesses

01:09 Introduction to Kelly O'Connell and Her Vision

01:33 The Art of Self-Expression

04:17 Fashion as a Personal Brand

07:16 The Power of Community and Collaboration

09:53 Embracing Authenticity and Individuality

12:49 The Self-Expression Club Experience

15:39 Creativity Beyond Boundaries

18:41 Navigating the Entrepreneurial Journey

21:36 Understanding ADHD and Self-Care

24:17 Vulnerability and Connection

27:07 The Journey of Self-Discovery