Built On Your Terms

Lauren Howe has built a gym, a beer tour company, a kids' camp brand, and now
Colorado Craft Co. - proof that the format can change as many times as it needs
to, as long as the throughline stays the same.

In this episode:
- Her winding path through four very different businesses
- Why she won't own a brick-and-mortar space again
- Running solo after getting burned by a past partnership
- What she learned about leadership from her own gym owner

"You can start whatever you want, and you can format it however you want that
works for you."

Start the free VA MOM Academy - no login, no gate:
👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Colorado Craft Co. / Curious Jane: https://curiousjane.fun/

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

Dylan Orms turned his family's hat-shaping craft into a training and wholesale
business built for community, with his late grandfather's meaning woven through every part of it.

In this episode:
- The family origin story, and the career pivot that started it
- Why "unicorn days" never come
- The team's own mantra about perfect vs. done
- The question Dylan asks before any leap

"Would you be more disappointed if you tried and failed, or if you never tried at
all?"

Hat Masters: https://www.hatmasters.com/

Start the free VA MOM Academy - no login, no gate:
👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

Rebecca kept noticing Boulder didn't have a great hat shop. She was already "the
crazy hat lady" to everyone who knew her, so she built one.

In this episode:
- The relationship between a quiet dream and the fear underneath it
- Small hops of faith instead of big leaps
- "Test drive it until you survive it" — her gentler fake-it-till-you-make-it
- How she and Boulder Brim became one

"Test drive it until you survive it."

Start the free VA MOM Academy - no login, no gate:
👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Boulder Brim: https://www.boulderbrim.com/

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

Lindsey Mazzaferro spent twenty years in restaurants, funding every creative thing
she tried on the side. The day before her 39th birthday, she finally bought a real
camera and never looked back.

In this episode:
- A lifetime bouncing between creative mediums, and why none of it was wasted
- The photographs that taught her what her work is actually for
- Charging her worth, fighting perfectionism, and imposter syndrome
- Why a 9-to-5 was never going to work for her

"I just can't do a 9-to-5. It doesn't work for me."

Start the free VA MOM Academy - no login, no gate:
👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Lindsey Mazzaferro Photo: https://www.lindseymazzaferrophoto.com/

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

Fred Dayton built Mach983 CrossFit around one rule: it's never about the money.

He still works a full-time job. The gym exists to give people, at-risk youth,

formerly incarcerated coaches, a whole neighborhood, somewhere to land.

In this episode:

• Going into Lyman Correctional Facility in 2018, and what it changed

• FYR Denver, Redemption Road, and the coaches who came up through both

• The Halloween 2025 fire, and the hundred people who showed up to help

• What Fred hopes his kids carry forward

"It's never about the money. I just want you there."

Start the free VA MOM Academy:

👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Mach983 CrossFit:

https://www.mach983crossfit.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mach983_crossfit/

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

No guest this week... just me, telling the whole story for the first time. The

pickup line, the late fees, the lunch-break consult calls, every imperfect moment

I didn't post about at the time.

In this episode:

• How I actually started: no master plan, one page, a stolen lunch break

• What I got wrong along the way, and why none of it stopped anything

• The exercise that got me through the doubt of leaving my job

• Why I built VA MOM

You already have most of what you need to start.

Ready to stop figuring it out alone? VA MOM Home Base is free for 30 days:

👉 https://vamom.net/home-base

Or start with the free VA MOM Academy — no login, no gate:

👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

Pam Richard started Miss Peabody's Southern Tea Cakes with a bowl, her grandmother's recipe, and none of the equipment she was certain she needed first.

In this episode:

• The layoff, the grief underneath it, and the Baking Show episode that redirected everything

• Piecing her late grandmother's recipe back together with her aunts

• Why the minute you make your first sale, you're a business owner

• Her "suffer-free zone" rule

The list you think you need is permission, not equipment.

Start the free VA MOM Academy - eight full modules, no login, no gate:

👉 https://vamom.net/academy-page

Order from Miss Peabody's:

https://www.misspeabodys.com/

https://www.instagram.com/miss_peabodys

Built On Your Terms is a VA MOM production.

Josh Thurman built Lavabox, the portable propane campfire that puts out 280,000 BTUs (about 4x a normal fire pit) and still passes fire bans across the West, and then made the decision most founders never do: he chose NOT to scale it.

In this episode, we talk about:
• The seven-prototype origin story (yes, the first one was a 50-cal ammo can)
• Why he stays at 30,000 units a year when he could push to 60,000 - and won't
• Do what you're good at. Delete the rest.
• Strength-based operations over self-improvement
• Growing up in the disability community, Protect Our Rivers, and why the outdoors saved his life

Ready to actually start? Get the free VA MOM Bootcamp / Academy - the whole step-by-step setup for your Virtual Assistant business - at vamom.net/academy-page.

Laura Conley walked away from a corporate sales career to build coaching work she actually believes in, and gave herself permission to choose a life that fits.

For years, Laura was the breadwinner in a pharmaceutical sales job. This is the story of how she followed a trail of "curiosity crumbs" — a yoga class, a teacher training, a cry on a Santa Monica beach on Easter weekend, out of a career she'd outgrown and into work that's aligned with who she actually is. (A week after she decided to leave, her job laid her off. The decision was already made.)

It's an episode about permission to choose: the moment you stop forcing a path that isn't working and start building one that is.

In this episode, we talk about:
- Why the "big calling that lands in your lap" is a myth — and what curiosity crumbs actually look like
- The teacher-training moment that made her blow up her life — and the layoff that came one week later
- "Deposits before withdrawals" and the business-is-a-baby season nobody posts about
- How she and her husband pass the breadwinner role back and forth as each of them grows
- Untying her self-worth from whether a launch lands — and what "pouring from a full cup" really means
- What life looks like now, and what she'd tell someone still waiting for permission to choose

If today's conversation resonated and you're building (or thinking about building) a virtual assistant business, here's your next step... a free resource on how to actually get clients:
👉 https://sideincomestudios.com/getclients

You'll learn how to find your first (or next) clients with skills you already have, without cold-pitching all day, a big audience, or posting every day.

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Meet Laura & the "Mom Era"
00:46 The Big-Calling Myth & Curiosity Crumbs
01:01 How Yoga Found Her (Brian's Sports-Medicine Doctor)
01:58 The Teacher-Training Moment That Changed Everything
02:13 Easter Weekend in Santa Monica — Deciding to Blow It Up
03:02 The Layoff That Came One Week Later
12:46 Why It's in Her DNA: Sales, Hustle & Girl Scout Cookies
13:32 Deposits Before Withdrawals & the Business Baby
15:08 Passing the Breadwinner Role Back and Forth
16:46 Being Honest When She Couldn't Carry It Alone
36:46 Future-Self Thinking & Intentional Motherhood
37:23 Untying Self-Worth From the Launch
39:35 Pouring From a Full Cup

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LINKS
📺 More episodes: youtube.com/@BuiltOnYourTerms
💌 Work with Laura Conley (Weight Boss coaching): lauraconley.com

ABOUT
Built On Your Terms is the video podcast from Side Income Studios - real people, real stories, and how they built income on their terms. 

Real People. Real Stories. Income on Your Terms.

#SideIncome #LeavingYour9to5 #BuiltOnYourTerms #SideIncomeStudios

Welcome to Episode 1 of Built On Your Terms. After nearly 30 years as a corporate executive assistant, Bonnie Schutz walked away in her late 40s to build her own version of freedom with Tandem Resource Solutions - a US-based remote-support agency with about 35 team members. In this episode, I sit down with Bonnie for the story of co-founding Tandem with her bestie at her last corporate job, finding her tribe of second-act women through her network, and arriving at one of the clearest definitions of freedom anyone has given on the show.

KEY MOMENTS
[01:26] Starting Tandem with her bestie
[05:00] When corporate caught up with her
[10:12] How she met Barbara Brooks (the funny version)
[12:26] "Old network is your net worth"
[24:41] Why owners aren't employees
[30:03] The one-month sabbatical that proved everything
[30:48] What freedom actually means

START YOUR FIRST $1,000 IN SIDE INCOME
Free 5-day bootcamp → https://sideincomestudios.com/bootcamp

ABOUT THE GUEST
Bonnie Schutz, Founder & Owner of Tandem Resource Solutions (tandemresourcesolutions.com). Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bonnieschutzea. Host of the podcast Delegate to Elevate: Get Shit Done. Founder of the upcoming Professional Service Pros directory. 

ABOUT THE SHOW
Built On Your Terms is a series by Side Income Studios. New episodes every other Wednesday.