If you're constantly starting from scratch, you're not building. You're delaying. In this episode, Life Coach and Business Therapist™ Joké Durojaiye reveals how your invisible inventory of experience, systems and lived wisdom is already your most valuable business asset.

You don't have a content problem. You don't have an idea problem. You have an invisible inventory problem.

Every time you open a blank page when your shelves are already full, you are delaying income, impact, and momentum. And for creative women, this habit is both common and costly.

In this episode, I'm naming the addiction so many of us are stuck in: the pull to begin again instead of building from what already exists.

This conversation was born from two deeply personal moments. Preparing for a major speaking opportunity and launching my book, Unmute Yourself. Both experiences revealed the same truth. I did not need to create something new. The work was already done. It just needed to be assembled, refined and honored.

If you have ever said "I'm not ready yet" or convinced yourself you need to build one more thing before you show up, this episode will shift how you see your experience, your expertise and your body of work.

What we cover:
✓ The hidden cost of starting from scratch over and over again 

✓ Why creative entrepreneurs are wired to over-create 
✓ How preparation quietly meets opportunity 
✓ The story behind the launch of Unmute Yourself 
✓ What your private work is really preparing you for 
✓ The Invisible Inventory problem keeping you stuck 
✓ Why lived experience is a legitimate credential 
✓ How your internal documents and processes become paid assets 
✓ The difference between building and assembling 
✓ When preparation mode becomes sophisticated procrastination 
✓ How to audit your existing knowledge for income potential 
✓ Turning your survival solutions into sellable frameworks

You'll hear how years of private journaling became the foundation of a published book. How internal SOPs, systems, and training materials became presentation content. And why the work you have been doing quietly, with no audience and no applause, might be the most valuable asset you own.

There is no overnight success. There is only the moment when opportunity arrives and finds you prepared by everything you have already built.

You are not behind. You are not unqualified. You are not starting from zero. You have already built more than you think. The question is whether you are willing to use it.

READY TO GO DEEPER?

📖 Read the book, Unmute Yourself
This book is living proof of what happens when you honor your voice, your lived experience, and your private work. What started as personal reflections became a published message that’s now impacting women globally. Order here

💼 Explore Business Therapy™
If you’re ready to turn your invisible inventory into tangible offers, income, and aligned business structure, this is where we do the work. We separate the math from the drama and build from what already exists. Learn more at www.jokedurojaiye.me

You don’t need to start over.
You need to recognize what you’ve already started.

Let’s get into it.

Why You Can't Rest Your Way Out of Exhaustion

Most creative entrepreneurs think exhaustion means they're doing too much. So they cut back, create boundaries and try to rest more. But nothing changes. They're still drained.

Here's why: exhaustion isn't a workload problem. It's an energy problem.

You can be busy, stretched and deeply engaged without feeling depleted. The drain comes from what you're carrying while you work: fear, resentment, guilt, control and misaligned yeses. That emotional weight is what's actually breaking you down.

In this episode, I'm sharing real examples from my own life as a multi-business owner, author, speaker, special-needs mom and CEO. I'll show you why I felt more exhausted when I was doing less and how alignment, not reduction, restored my capacity.

This conversation is for creative women, caregivers and high-capacity entrepreneurs who keep blaming their calendars when the real issue runs deeper.

Here's what we cover:
✓ Why exhaustion is an energy problem, not a time management problem
✓ The difference between being tired and being truly depleted
✓ How fear, resentment, and guilt quietly drain your capacity
✓ What energy leaks look like in real life and why they're so common
✓ Why unclear boundaries are more exhausting than long hours
✓ How control issues sabotage delegation and multiply your stress
✓ Why rest without alignment doesn't actually restore you
✓ The role of clarity in expanding your capacity
✓ How clean yeses and guilt-free nos change everything
✓ Why alignment, not self-care routines, is the real solution

You're not broken. You're not lazy. You're not failing. You're just carrying weight you were never meant to hold.

When you put that weight down, your creativity returns. Your capacity expands. And your work starts to feel purposeful again instead of heavy.

Exhaustion isn't a productivity problem. It's an alignment problem.

If this episode resonated with you, and you're realizing your exhaustion isn't about your calendar but about what you're carrying, I'd love to support you.

📖 Start with the book: UNMUTE YOURSELF breaks down the mindset shifts that help creative women stop operating from fear, guilt and obligation and start building businesses rooted in clarity and confidence. It's the foundation of everything I teach. Order here

💼 Go deeper with Business Therapy™: If you're ready for personalized support, honest clarity and a roadmap that actually fits your life and business, this is where we separate what's draining you from what moves you forward. Book your consultation at www.jokedurojaiye.me

You don't need to do less. You need to work aligned.

Let's get into it!

This Is Your Invitation to Show Up and Be Seen

This special midweek episode of the Creative Business Mindset Podcast couldn't wait. I'm inviting you to celebrate the launch of my memoir, UNMUTE YOURSELF: Dear 25-Year-Old Me, Silence Is No Longer An Option.

This isn't a typical podcast episode. This is about community. This is about voice. This is about choosing to be seen before you feel ready.

UNMUTE YOURSELF is written for the creative woman entrepreneur who knows she has more to say but has been holding back. The woman who is tired of playing small. The woman ready to speak up, take up space without apology and stop waiting for permission that will never come.

If you've been silencing yourself in your business, your relationships or your life, this book is for you.

WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:
✓ Why this book launch is community driven, not corporate
✓ What it really means to unmute yourself as a creative entrepreneur
✓ How to join the live YouTube book launch party on February 7th
✓ How to win a signed copy of UNMUTE YOURSELF from anywhere in the world
✓ Why your voice matters in building your creative business

JOIN THE LIVE BOOK LAUNCH PARTY

📅 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH | LIVE ON YOUTUBE

This is not a webinar. This is not a sales pitch. This is a real celebration.

I'll be sharing the story behind the book, reading an excerpt, answering your questions live, and giving away signed copies to the community.

How to Participate:

1. Subscribe to the Creative Business Mindset YouTube channel
2. Turn on notifications so you don't miss the live stream
3. Mark your calendar for February 7th
4. Show up ready to celebrate

👉 Subscribe Here: Creative Business Mindset YouTube Channel

ORDER YOUR COPY: UNMUTE YOURSELF

Ready to start the journey? Order your copy of UNMUTE YOURSELF: Dear 25-Year-Old Me, Silence Is No Longer An Option on Amazon.

This memoir is for creative women entrepreneurs who are ready to:

• Stop silencing their ideas and opinions
• Build businesses without apologizing for their ambition
• Lead with their authentic voice
• Take up space in their industry
• Make decisions with clarity and confidence

👉 Order UNMUTE YOURSELF on Amazon

READY FOR PERSONALIZED SUPPORT?

Work With Me: Business Therapy™

If you're ready to unmute yourself in your creative business with personalized coaching, clarity, and a roadmap that actually fits your life, let's work together.

Business Therapy™ is where we separate the math from the drama. Where we identify what's really holding you back and what moves you forward. Where creative women entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses with confidence and purpose.

👉 Book Your Business Therapy Consultation

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Joké Durojaiye is a Life Coach, Business Therapist™, author and CEO of Genesis Home Staging in Seattle. She helps creative women entrepreneurs separate the math from the drama so they can build businesses with clarity, confidence and purpose. Her work focuses on business mindset, overcoming entrepreneurial anxiety and building sustainable systems for creative service providers.

EPISODE LINKS:

 📺YouTube Channel – Watch the Book Launch Live!

🎙️Creative Business Mindset Podcast – www.jokedurojaiye.me/the-podcast
📖Order UNMUTE YOURSELF – www.jokedurojaiye.me/books
💼Business Therapy™ – Book a Consultation
📧Connect on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/businesstherapywithjoke/

There's an uncomfortable space many creatives live in for far too long: the gap between being talented and being paid. Loving what you do doesn't automatically mean you know how to build a business around it.

If you're the person everyone calls for advice, ideas, or "just a quick look," this episode will hit close to home. I'm sharing the behind-the-scenes lessons I learned while building my staging business, including how I confused being helpful with being hired, gave away too much expertise for free and wondered why I was so busy but not profitable.

We're unpacking why talent alone doesn't get rewarded, how clarity and positioning change the way people value your work and why adding structure to your business doesn't make you less creative. It actually gives your creativity room to breathe.

Here's what we covered:
✅ The difference between being good at something and monetizing it
✅ Why creatives often undercharge or overgive without realizing it
✅ How free consultations quietly replace paid services
✅ The exhaustion that comes from being everyone's go-to resource
✅ Why selling outcomes creates stronger pricing confidence
✅ How clarity around the problem you solve changes everything
✅ The role of boundaries in protecting your energy and creativity
✅ Why confidence comes from facts, not feelings

This episode is about pairing creativity with business intelligence so you can build something sustainable without becoming corporate, hardened, or disconnected from who you are. You don't need to lose yourself to make money. You need clarity, confidence and systems that support the work you love.

Ready to stop being the best-kept secret in your industry?

If this episode resonated with you and you're ready to separate the math from the drama in your business, I'd love to support you.

📖 Start with the book: Grab your copy of UNMUTE YOURSELF and discover the mindset shifts that turn talented creatives into confident business owners. It's the foundation of everything I teach. Click here to order

💼 Go deeper with Business Therapy™: If you're ready for personalized support, clarity, and a roadmap that actually fits your creative business, let's work together. Business Therapy is where we separate what's holding you back from what moves you forward. Book your consultation at www.jokedurojaiye.me

Let's get into it.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the realities of business no one posts on instagram. Because the truth is, the dream you were sold and the reality you’re living don’t always match.

We break down the fantasy many creatives buy into. Freedom, flexibility, passion led work and fast success. And then we talk about what actually shows up once you start. The emotional weight, the financial pressure and the identity shift that happens when your business is deeply personal.

This episode dives into the messy middle of entrepreneurship. The season where you’re doing the work, showing up consistently and still wondering if you made a mistake. Not because you’re failing, but because no one prepared you for how demanding building a business can be.

I share real experiences around burnout, reinvesting everything back into the business and the quiet pressure of holding it all together while the internet makes it look easy. We talk about why passion isn’t enough, why stabilizing can matter more than scaling and why comparing your beginning to someone else’s highlight reel will only slow you down.

Here’s what we covered:
 ✅ The gap between the business dream and business reality
 ✅ Why freedom and flexibility don’t look the way they’re marketed
 ✅ The emotional and financial weight creatives carry quietly
 ✅ Why passion fades and discipline sustains
 ✅ When stabilizing is smarter than scaling
 ✅ How resilience and self-leadership are built in the hard seasons

We also talk about why these parts of business are rarely shared, how polished success stories leave out critical context and why adjusting your expectations can change how you experience this season.

If you’re in the middle right now and questioning yourself, your pace or your decisions, this episode is a reminder that the dream isn’t dead. It’s incomplete. And the struggle isn’t proof you’re doing it wrong. It’s proof you’re doing the work.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about what really happens after you decide to stop hiding. Because the truth is, the moment you choose visibility is the moment the real work begins.

Building on last week’s conversation around Inventing Anna, we explore the uncomfortable gap between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming. Anna walked into rooms with nothing but confidence, while you’re sitting on real skills, real experience, and real results, still questioning if you belong. So what’s actually holding you back?

This episode dives into that awkward in-between season where people start calling you an expert, opportunities show up, and your identity hasn’t fully caught up yet. The part that feels fake, uncomfortable, and tempting to quit, even though it’s actually growth.

I share personal stories about learning how to introduce myself differently, updating my identity publicly, and the hidden cost of reinventing yourself in business. We talk about why this phase isn’t imposter syndrome, why visibility is its own skill, and why awkward doesn’t mean wrong, it just means new.

Here’s what we covered:
 ✅ Why visibility creates discomfort, and why that’s a sign you’re growing
 ✅ The identity gap between the old you and the next-level version of you
 ✅ What it really costs to retire old versions of yourself publicly
 ✅ Why people from your past may struggle with your growth
 ✅ How to talk about your work without minimizing yourself
 ✅ Why being good at your craft and being visible are two different skills
 ✅ How to start owning your worth through practice, not permission

We also talk about updating your bio, pitch, and presence to match where you’re going, not where you’ve been and why waiting until you feel ready is just another way of staying invisible.

If you’re in that weird gap right now and need support navigating visibility, identity, and confidence, I share how you can work with me inside Business Therapy, because doing this work alone is harder than it needs to be.

This episode is for the creative, the quiet expert and the entrepreneur who’s done shrinking. You’re not pretending. You’re practicing. And the work is working.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the real reason so many talented, capable people stay stuck: Confidence. More specifically, the kind of confidence that comes from trusting yourself enough to start before you feel ready.

This episode kicks off the AFRAID series and explores what actually keeps us from starting the thing we know we’re called to do. I break down why lack of confidence isn’t a personality flaw, but a skill you can build, and how visibility often matters more than credentials in the early stages of business.

Using the Netflix series Inventing Anna as an unlikely case study, we unpack powerful and ethical lessons about visibility, positioning, and showing up boldly without waiting for permission. No fraud, no fake credentials, just real conversations about being seen, trusting yourself, and doing the work in public.

Here’s what we covered:

✅ Why lack of confidence is really a lack of self-trust
✅ How breaking promises to yourself erodes confidence over time
✅ The difference between being qualified and being visible
✅ Why confidence is a skill you build through action, not affirmation
✅ How imposter syndrome disguises itself as research and over-learning
✅ Practical ways to rebuild trust with yourself through small follow-through
✅ Why fear isn’t a stop sign, it’s proof that what you’re doing matters
✅ The importance of consistency and having a visibility routine
✅ Why investing in yourself only works when you implement what you learn
✅ How to stop hiding behind preparation and start building momentum

We also talk about ethical visibility, showing up with what you already know, using your real experience and receipts, and claiming your place in rooms where opportunity lives. Confidence gets you access. Competence keeps you there. But nothing happens if no one knows you exist.

If you’ve been waiting to feel ready, more qualified, or more confident before starting, this episode is your reminder that readiness comes after you begin. Visibility isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being intentional, consistent, and willing to be seen while you’re still building.

And if you’re ready for support creating clarity, systems and confidence without the drama, I also share how you can work with me inside Business Therapy to move forward with intention and trust yourself again.

This episode is for the creative, the overthinker, the quiet expert, and the entrepreneur who knows there’s more but keeps hesitating. It’s time to stop hiding your talent and start showing up.

In today’s episode, we’re diving into reflection, resilience, and reset showing up after grief, loss, and the unexpected twists life throws at us. This is a deeply personal conversation about what it takes to keep building your business and life even when everything feels heavy.

I’m joined by myself, Joker, your host. I wear many hats: mom, certified life coach, serial entrepreneur, but at the core, I’m just a Nigerian girl navigating the soft life wrapped in the glorious mess of life and business in America.

We unpack the lessons learned from a challenging year, intentional self-care, and the transformative power of writing and reflection.

Here’s what we covered:
✅ How grief, loss, and exhaustion shaped the start of 2025
✅ Why taking a real reset like a solo retreat can change your perspective
✅ The unexpected ways memories and writing can become therapy
✅ Turning personal reflection into creativity, spoken word, and eventually a book
✅ The story behind my new book, Unmute Yourself, and what it represents
✅ How to embrace your story, own your journey, and lead with purpose
✅ Introducing the SOUL method for clarity, courage, and intentional action

Whether you’re navigating life’s challenges, starting something new, or trying to find space for your gifts while building your business, this episode offers insight, encouragement, and practical ways to move forward.

Creative Business Mindset™
Episode 32
January 2, 2025

Creative Business Mindset is a podcast for entrepreneurs, creatives, and dreamers building businesses in the real world where passion meets pressure and not all the puzzle pieces arrive on time.

Hosted by Joké Durojaiye, certified life coach, serial entrepreneur, and self-described “mom in charge,” this podcast pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to build and sustain a business. From falling flat and getting back up, to navigating identity, mindset, money, and growth, Joké brings candid stories, lived experience, and hard-earned lessons with receipts.

Business isn’t just strategy and spreadsheets. It’s emotional. It’s personal. And sometimes it’s messy. Creative Business Mindset is where we separate the math from the drama, one business at a time.

If you’re tired of fluffy advice, craving honest conversations, and ready to build with clarity, resilience, and intention you’re in the right place.

In this episode, Joké closes out an incredible year with gratitude, reflection, and a clear vision for what’s ahead. She shares what she learned from creating 33 consistent episodes, the highs and lows behind the scenes, and why 2026 is her year of implementation, expansion, and soft strength.

She also announces the official launch of Business Therapy™, her one-on-one clarity and coaching sessions for creative entrepreneurs who need help separating the math from the drama, starting afraid, owning their story, using what they have, and leading with purpose.

Key Highlights

 ✓ Lessons from a full year of consistency
 ✓ What 2026 represents and why she feels unstoppable
 ✓ Why destiny leaves clues about your calling
 ✓ Creativity in every profession, not just design
 ✓ Personal challenges and the resilience that shaped this season
 ✓ Why she’s taking the rest of the year off to reset and return refreshed
 ✓ Introducing Business Therapy™ and the heart behind it
 ✓ A reminder that you already have the seeds of what you’re meant to build

Learn More
Discover Business Therapy™ sessions at www.jokeDurojaiye.me

Final Note
Thank you for a beautiful year. The podcast returns next year, bigger, bolder, softer and stronger.