Making of an Empire

Aditi sits down with Susanne, the visionary founder of Poynt, to challenge the "hustle harder" narrative that keeps so many entrepreneurs stuck. This episode is a masterclass in the courage required to dismantle a successful but draining business model to make room for a scalable, high-profit empire.

Let’s Dive Into the Highlights

• The Cinnamon Bun Trap: Why being "the best" at a service you no longer enjoy is the fastest way to stall your growth.
• The 30-Hour Work Week: How Susanne has successfully maintained a four-day work week for a decade while serving top-tier corporate clients.
• Revenue vs. Profit: Understanding why a smaller, leaner business can often result in a much larger personal take-home pay and more freedom.
• Auditing for Autonomy: How to transition from being the person who "does the work" to the person who "leads the strategy."

Behind the Breakthrough

Susanne spent a decade building a high-performing agency before realising she was on a "merry-go-round" of execution-based tasks. By radically pivoting toward strategic advisory and board positions, she reclaimed her vision and scaled her influence without increasing her hours.

A "forever learner" and former PayPal specialist, Susanne has founded five companies and invested in nine startups. Today, as the General Manager at Poynt, she bridges the gap between high-level marketing and AI for the energy and IT sectors. Beyond the boardroom, she is a Keynote Speaker, a Podcast Producer, and a Lecturer at the University of Stavanger and BI.

The Guest Said It Best 

"Don't let fear run your business."

"The most important thing is just to get started, right?"

"It's scary obviously, but it's also necessary sometimes to do the scary things"

"I want to be proud of the work that I do and if I know that I'm not creating a change anymore then I don't want to be there"

Key Takeaways

1. Efficiency is a Choice: If you give yourself a 40-hour window, tasks will expand to fill it; restricting your time forces you to be more effective.
2. Profit is the Only Real Metric: High revenue is a vanity metric if your costs, and your stress levels, are equally high.
3. The Goal is Autonomy: A true empire should serve the founder's life, allowing for freedom of time and the “audacity” to say no to misalignment.
4. Leverage Modern Tools: AI shouldn't just be a convenience; it should be the engine that automates your "low-value" tasks so you can focus on your unique genius.

A Question for You

Susanne proves that efficiency is a choice, not a luxury. If you were forced to run your entire empire in just 30 hours a week, what 'faffing around' would you have to cut today to make it work?

Connect with Susanne:

• Website: www.poynt.no
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todnem/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susannetodnem/
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/avdelingsm%C3%B8te/id1506734170
• Sign up to On Poynt here: https://www.poynt.no/nettbutikk/medlemskap 

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website:https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/ 
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

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Have you ever felt like you were "stuck" with the personality you were born with? Aditi sits down with communication coach Ty Hoesgen to challenge the idea that confidence and charisma are fixed traits. In this episode, we explore how communication is actually a muscle you can build one "rep" at a time to transform how you show up in your business every single day.

Let’s Dive Into the Highlights

• The 3C Success Formula: Ty breaks down his core model for professional growth: Confidence, Charisma, and Clarity.
• The "Gym" of Communication: Aditi and Ty discuss why improving your speech is exactly like lifting weights; you might not see the "muscle" immediately, but consistent reps lead to a total transformation.
• Unfamiliar vs. Unauthentic: That "fake it till you make it" feeling is usually just the discomfort of doing something new. If a habit feels weird, it’s likely just unfamiliar, not a sign that you're being untrue to yourself.
• The "Point-Reason-Point" Method: A simple structure to ensure your main message is the first and last thing people hear.

Behind the Breakthrough

Ty Hoesgen didn’t start as a "natural" leader; he grew up as a shy kid on a small farm, often letting his sister do the talking for him. His turning point came during a painfully embarrassing boardroom meeting where he realised that "getting by" wasn't enough. By obsessively researching and practicing, he discovered that communication is a learnable skill that can radically advance your career—a journey he now helps others navigate through the Advanced Growth Institute.

The Guest Said It Best

“Stop trying to be interesting and start being interested.”

"The people who are the best communicators, they're the ones who get the promotions. They're the ones who get the raises. They're the ones who get the opportunities."

"When you take up space, you're telling the world, and your own brain, that you belong there."

"Your body language speaks before you even open your mouth. It's the first thing people notice, and it's the thing they remember the most."

Key Takeaways

1. Confidence is Two-Sided: It involves the external (voice/body language) and the internal (the belief that you are worthy of being listened to).
2. Stop Consuming, Start Experimenting: Reading books won't make you a better speaker; you have to put the tools into practice in real conversations.
3. The Power of Recording: Record your sales calls or meetings; you’ll notice "autopilot" habits like rapid blinking or "ums" that you never knew existed.
4. Active Listening is a Superpower: Use the phrase "It sounds like..." to mirror back what you’ve heard, which builds trust and clarifies misunderstandings immediately.

A Question for You

If you look at the leaders you admire most as you build your own empire, is it their technical knowledge you're drawn to, or the way they make you feel when they speak? What is one 'behavior' of theirs—like a confident pause or a warm smile—that you can start practicing in your own meetings this week?

Take the Next Step

Ready to find your voice? You can find Ty’s free 7-day course, Speaking Like a Confident Leader, at howtospeakbetter.com.

Connect with Ty:

• Website: https://www.advancedgrowthinstitute.com/
• LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/tyhoesgen 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tyhoesgen/

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/ 
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

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How can AI become a game-changer for your business? In this episode, AI strategist and educator Tannya Jajal breaks down how small business owners, solopreneurs, and coaches can leverage AI to save time, scale faster, and stay competitive in a rapidly changing world.

Tannya, Founder of AIDEN and author of Thinking Machines: AI and the Intelligence Explosion, shares actionable insights and tools to help you move beyond the hype and make AI a seamless part of your operations.

Episode Highlights:

• Step-by-Step AI Implementation: How to build and train your own custom GPT to handle tasks like content creation, strategy, and more.
• Time-Saving Tools: Discover how AI can take over repetitive tasks, freeing you to focus on growth and strategy.
• Avoiding Common AI Pitfalls: Learn how to protect your data and avoid misinformation when using AI tools.
• Practical Applications for Experts: From social media strategy to market research, explore how AI can work for you, no matter your niche.
• Future-Proof Your Business: Why AI is no longer optional for staying competitive and how to get started today.

This episode is packed with real-world examples, practical tips, and a hands-on walkthrough of AI tools that you can start using immediately.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Whether you're starting your AI journey or looking to optimize your processes, this episode will inspire and equip you to make AI work for you.

Connect with Tannya:

• Website: www.aiden.global
• Book: Thinking Machines: AI and the Intelligence Explosion
• LinkedIn: Tannya Jajal
• Instagram: @tannyadj

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

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Most brands are built to be seen. A legacy brand is built to last. In this episode, Aditi sits down with brand strategy duo Petchy and Rachel Allen, founders of Triple Diamond, to explore what it actually means to build a brand that outlives the trends, outlasts the noise, and outlives you. This is not a conversation about going viral. It is a conversation about going the distance.

Let's Dive Into the Highlights

• The Triple Diamond Method: Why the most powerful brand strategy is never done for you. It is done with you, and the client's willingness to get into the messy middle is everything.
• Legacy is Not a Timeline: There is no fixed point at which a business becomes ready to build a legacy brand. Petchy and Rachel make the case that the shift is internal and psychological, not chronological.
• Words Make Worlds: Rachel's core philosophy that underpins everything Triple Diamond does. The right messaging does not just describe a business. It builds the world that business wants to exist in.
• The Hammer and the Carpenter: Petchy and Aditi unpack the AI conversation with honesty and nuance. The tool is not the problem. Knowing how to build the house is.
• The Brand That Grows With You: How do you build a brand today that does not trap you tomorrow? Petchy and Rachel share how flexibility, values, and a gap analysis approach allow brands to evolve without losing their essence.

Behind the Breakthrough

Petchy is a values-centred brand strategist with over 20 years of experience creating remarkable branding for the quietly rebellious. Half British, half Norwegian, she grew up on a remote island off the west coast of Norway before spending almost a decade studying and working in the UK. She was a shy, fiercely defiant kid who turned to art, nature, and books. That combination of deep noticing and values-led thinking is exactly what informs her work today.

Rachel Allen is a fast-thinking, deeply nerdy marketer with 15 years of experience in heart-led, data-driven outreach for businesses and nonprofits. Raised in rural Appalachia and then nomadically across Asia and Europe before settling back in the US, Rachel fell sideways into copywriting and never looked back. Her philosophy is simple and far-reaching: words make worlds.

Individually, they are exceptional. Together, as Triple Diamond, they are building legacy brands for bigger picture businesses. They take on just two clients a quarter, they never launched publicly, and they have zero interest in the churn economy. They are playing a completely different game.

The Guest Said It Best

"A legacy brand is a brand whose vision is bigger than just lining their own pockets. It needs to have that sort of eternal quality. It's not a disposable brand."

"They’re those businesses you build because you’re trying to make a change in the world that lasts beyond your lifetime."

"They've got everything already inside their hearts and inside their brains. They just need our help to facilitate, to get it out there and make sense of it so that they can communicate it."

"You can have a hammer, but you're not necessarily a carpenter. You need to know how to build the house."

Key Takeaways

1. Legacy Starts with Values, Not Vision Boards: Before the brand strategy, the copy, or the design, Petchy and Rachel go looking for values. That is the bedrock everything else is built on.
2. Readiness is Psychological, Not Chronological: You are not ready to build a legacy brand at year three or year six. You are ready when you have done the uncomfortable internal work and can articulate why you are really doing this.
3. Flexibility is a Feature, Not a Flaw: Build a brand that can evolve. The goal is not a brand that never changes. The goal is a brand whose core never has to.
4. Done With You, Not For You: The most important thing a client brings to the Triple Diamond process is their willingness to be vulnerable, ask hard questions, and sit in the uncertainty long enough for the real answers to surface.
5. Your Consistent Message is Your Competitive Advantage: In a world where anyone can say anything, the brands that rise are the ones saying the same true thing over and over, with a distinct signature attached to it.

A Question for You

Petchy says the biggest mistake she sees business owners make is not daring to think big enough. So what would your brand look like if you stopped playing small and started building for legacy? Not for the next launch. Not for the next quarter. But for the next generation.

Take the Next Step

Ready to explore what a legacy brand could look like for your business? Here is where to find Petchy and Rachel and everything Triple Diamond.

• Triple Diamond Website: https://triplediamond.vip/ 
• Brand Guidelines: https://guidelines.triplediamond.vip/ 
• Friends of Triple Diamond: https://boltfromthebluecopywriting.notion.site/Friends-of-Triple-Diamond-e0af13b137254b428e39733e2a9c0827 
• Triple Diamond Brand Conversations (Podcast coming soon): https://triplediamond.substack.com/ 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/triplediamond/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/triplediamond.vip/ 
• Petchy's Website: https://petchy.co/ 
• Rachel's Website: https://boltfromthebluecopywriting.com/ 

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/ 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/ 
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy!

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P.S. The episode that made me log off and sign a $20,000 coaching contract with Natalie. 

Have you ever felt like you had to "pack your offers with crap" just to justify a higher price point? Aditi sits down with sales coaching consultant Natalie Bullen to debunk the myth that high-ticket is just a price tag. In this powerhouse conversation, we dive into why high-ticket is actually a business model rooted in radical responsibility, elite delivery systems, and the courage to stop playing small.

Let’s Dive Into the Highlights

• The Price vs. Value Equation: Natalie explains why "high-ticket" is entirely subjective and must be a "stretch" for the specific community you serve to be perceived as luxury.
• The 3 Controversial Pillars: To sell high-ticket, you must have demonstrable expertise (5X ROI), robust client delivery systems with a continuity plan, and a cash reserve to protect your integrity.
• The "Lexus" Branding Effect: Why your brand must communicate a "multiple" of your base level to justify premium pricing—branding matters because it signals your level of mastery.
• The Passive Income Myth: Natalie pulls back the curtain on why "passive" offers are often the hardest to sell and why they require more marketing infrastructure than most realise.

Behind the Breakthrough

Natalie Bullen didn’t set out to be a high-ticket sales expert; she started as a "money coach" with a background in securities and finance. Her turning point came when she realised her middle-class clients were circumventing their own retirements just to say they owned a business—a realisation she calls "naivety as the answer". Today, she uses her experience from 10,000+ sales calls to help service providers build "rejection-free" sales processes that align with their temperament and protect their peace.

The Guest Said It Best

"High ticket is a business model. It is not just a price point."

"We sell like we buy. We buy middle class. We sell middle class."

"You have a fiduciary duty to earn profit in your business. Your current and future stakeholders deserve your business to be financially solvent."

"There comes a time where you have more money than time and you will pay to buy your time back."

Key Takeaways

1. Stop "Packing" and Start Solving: High-ticket clients don't want more modules or iPads; they want their time back and an expert who can solve an expensive problem correctly the first time.
2. The Continuity Plan is Non-Negotiable: You cannot ethically charge premium prices if your business disappears the moment you get sick; you need systems (and people) that make your clients whole regardless of your personal circumstances.
3. Sell to Your Temperament: If you are "rejection-sensitive," build a sales process filled with so much high-quality content that the "close" becomes a logical next step rather than a high-pressure pitch.
4. Know Your Costs: You cannot determine if a high-ticket offer is profitable if you haven't performed a time study and a cost analysis on the delivery.

A Question for You

Are you 'packing your offers with crap' because you’re afraid the value isn't enough? If you stripped it back to just the solution, would you still have the courage to stand behind that price tag?

Take the Next Step

Ready to stop chasing revenue and start building personal wealth? See how Natalie can help you: Private Strategy Sessions

Connect with Natalie:

• Website: https://unapologeticwealth.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebullen/

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/ 
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

--

Your brain is not broken. It is doing exactly what it was designed to do. In this episode, Aditi sits down with Ed Ley, neuro leadership coach and founder of CXO Secrets, to pull back the curtain on why the habits that hold us back are not character flaws. They are survival mechanisms. And once you understand that, EVERYTHING changes.

Let's Dive Into the Highlights

• The Battery Brain: Why your brain is always trying to conserve energy, and how understanding this single principle can unlock faster, more sustainable habit change without the self-blame.
• The Implementation Gap: You already know what to do. The real question is why you are not doing it. Ed reframes the problem from one of information to one of implementation, and the distinction will shift how you approach change forever.
• Neurons That Fire Together: Ed breaks down the neuroscience of habit formation and why the "21 days to form a habit" rule is a myth. Habits are built on repetition and reward, not a fixed number of days.
• The White Space Problem: Why high-performing founders are secretly terrified of doing nothing, and how that fear of empty space is silently sabotaging the very growth they are working towards.
• Making Yourself: Ed and Aditi explore the idea that you are not discovering a fixed self. You are actively creating one. And that means the behaviours and beliefs you thought were locked in are far more flexible than you have been told.

Behind the Breakthrough

Ed Ley is a coach who uses the neuroscience of transformation to help CEOs and leaders understand and work with their brains rather than against them. His work supports clients in moving away from overworking, overthinking, and overwhelm, towards high energy, enjoyment, and excellence in themselves and their teams.

With a BSc in Sport Conditioning, Coaching and Rehabilitation from the University of the West of England, Ed has delivered TEDx Talks in both Bristol and Denmark on behavioural change. He works with clients across the US, the UK, Europe and Asia, and six years ago made the move from the UK to the coast of Copenhagen, where he now lives with his family.

Ed is one of those rare people whose perspective does not just inform the room. It shifts it entirely. His thinking shows up in his content, his talks, and every corner of his body of work, and this conversation is no exception.

The Guest Said It Best

"The work can be done alone. It's much more fun and it's much faster to do it with someone."

"Most of us are just driving with the brakes on."

"You can't just jump to the top of the mountain. You've got to take a step either over it or around it."

"Our brain is never not creating habits. Not in any single moment is it not creating a habit."

Key Takeaways

1. You Have an Implementation Problem, Not an Information Problem: Most founders already know what they need to do. The gap is not knowledge, it is execution. That is where the real work lives.
2. Start with Subtraction: Instead of asking what you need to add to your life, ask what you could stop doing. One removed friction point creates more forward momentum than ten new strategies.
3. Habit Formation is About Repetition and Reward, Not Days: Stop counting. Your brain does not care how many days have passed. It cares whether the behaviour was rewarding and whether it is worth repeating.
4. White Space is a Skill: Creating mental and calendar space feels uncomfortable because your brain is wired to fill it. But the leaders who master it make better decisions, faster.
5. You Are Making Yourself, Not Finding Yourself: The identity you are building is not fixed. Every belief you hold is a tool, not a truth. Run experiments. See what fits. Let yourself evolve.

A Question for You

Ed says that most of us are driving with the brakes on in every area of our lives. So before you add anything else to your plate this week, what is the one thing you could stop doing that would create the most momentum for where you are trying to go?

Take the Next Step

Want more of Ed's thinking? He has just launched his newsletter, CXO Secrets, which you can find via his website and LinkedIn, where he shows up consistently and generously.

Connect with Ed:

• Newsletter: https://www.edley.net/cxo-secrets
• Website: https://www.edley.net/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-ley/

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/ 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/ 
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

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Since the beginning of time, humans have rallied around the storyteller. And it’s no different today. We’re just wired that way - stories draw us in, move us, influence our thoughts, ideas, and actions, inspire us. 

And that’s exactly what my guest on this episode, Francisco Mahfuz, and I dive into: Unlocking the power of storytelling to take your influence, income and impact to the next level. 

Francisco is a sought-after keynote speaker, renowned author of "Bare: A Guide to Brutally Honest Public Speaking," and a storytelling coach trusted by global organizations like PepsiCo, HP, and the United Nations to inspire effective communication through intentional storytelling.

From discussing why some people prefer longer colonoscopies to unraveling the essence of brutally honest public speaking, we’ve literally gone everywhere with this conversation. 

Episode Highlights: 

• How to craft a compelling story 
• The concept of ‘Relatable Pain and Credible Power’
• The storytelling secrets that have helped Francisco turn it into a communication power tool 
• The most challenging audience in the world 
• Delivering a great story 

And so much more! 

Intrigued? Jam on those pods and get into the episode! 

And if you want more, you can join Francisco’s newsletter, Story Club. The first rule of story club is: You do not talk about story club. So you’re just going to have to get in to find out what it’s all about ;) 

Connect with Francisco:

Story Club Newsletter: https://storyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fmahfuz/

Website: https://www.franciscomahfuz.com 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

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Some stories you don't read so much as sit inside. Jose Pereira spent five years held in a military basement, marking time he couldn't see, writing letters smuggled out with the rubbish. What he carries out of that isn't bitterness. It's a quiet, hard-won understanding of what people are capable of when everything is stripped away.

In this episode, Aditi sits with Jose to trace how a man rebuilt himself, and why he now spends his days teaching others to do the same.

Let’s Dive Into the Highlights

• The phone call that changed everything: How Jose's life turned on a single call during a Saturday at the movies, and the idea that adversity so often arrives the same way.
• The survivor plan: How six executives ran their confinement like a board meeting, built a daily routine, and gave each other something to stick to.
• Leaders emerge: What crisis reveals about who steps up, and why bonds beat hierarchy when everything is on the line.
• Connection across difference: Lessons from a career spanning Italian, Japanese, and Venezuelan teams on meeting people where they are. 
• Retraining the brain: The decompression and trauma work that taught Jose recovery is a choice, and a process, not a finish line.
• Finding purpose in the aftermath: Why Jose moved from supporting other hostage families to coaching leaders through adversity.
• There's always a new process: Coming home isn't the end of the story; it's the start of the next one.

Behind the Breakthrough

Jose Pereira was one of the "CITGO 6," a group of oil and gas executives wrongfully imprisoned by the Venezuelan government between 2018 and 2022. A former CEO with a decades-long career in the industry, Jose was detained while travelling for what he believed was a routine budget meeting, and held in conditions he and his fellow executives nicknamed "the submarine."

He came home a different man. After trauma therapy, a military decompression program, and a long recovery, Jose found purpose in an unexpected place: resilience coaching. His program, LIFE PILLS FOR A SURVIVAL GUIDE (LPSG), draws on his career and the survival strategies the six built together to help business owners and CEOs lead through adversity. He's also writing about the experience, beginning with his book From Hero to Villain: The True Story of the CITGO 6.

The Guest Said It Best

"It's not about what happens to you in life, it's about how you handle the things that happen to you."

"You can teach anything, but you have to make your choice to really do it. Because the thing today is that your brain really can be retrained."

"When you create those bonds in your company, if something is going wrong... you can maybe understand his situation better and maybe can help him."

Key Takeaways

1. Adversity often arrives without warning. Jose's whole life turned on a single phone call. You can't always prevent the call, but you can decide how you meet what comes after it.
2. A plan turns chaos into something survivable. The six executives built a structured daily routine (work, exercise, reading, study) and assigned a "plan keeper" to hold them to it. Structure gave them focus, and focus made the time pass.
3. In a crisis, leaders emerge, and bonds matter more than rank. They made it a rule that no one went down alone; if someone struggled, the others came. The strength wasn't in any one person, it was in the connection between them.
4. Resilience starts with self-awareness. Jose teaches that people first have to understand themselves: the workaholic has to learn to stop, the poor communicator has to learn to connect as a human being, not a boss.
5. Connection means accepting differences. Across a career working with Italian, Japanese, and Venezuelan colleagues, Jose learned that you connect with people by understanding where they come from and embracing how they're different.
6. You can adapt, but you still need a plan. Live one day at a time, but have scenarios ready, and don't try to face them alone. Even the strongest leader has weaknesses, which is exactly why support matters.
7. Recovery is a new process, not a finish line. People assume that surviving the hard thing means it's over. Jose's experience says the opposite: coming home begins the next process, and how you handle that matters just as much.
   
   
   

A Question to Sit With

Think about a difficult stretch you've been through. When it ended, did you treat it as "done," or did you give yourself room for the process that came next? What might change if you saw recovery as its own chapter rather than the closing of one?

Take the Next Step

Connect with Jose:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-angel-pereira 
• Website: https://joseconnect.com/ 
• Blog: https://fromheroetovillian-thetruestoryofthecitgo6.com/ 

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/ 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/ 
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

--
Have you been staring at a blinking cursor, waiting for a "magical time" in the future when the doors will part and your book will finally write itself? Aditi sits down with ghostwriter and book strategist Jennifer Locke to dismantle the myth of the perfect writing moment. Together, they explore how to turn your expertise into a high-impact book that serves as both a vulnerable piece of art and a strategic tool for your empire.

Let’s Dive Into the Highlights

• The Procrastination Trap: Jennifer explains why we "beat ourselves up" with the word procrastination when, in reality, we just lack the proper scaffolding and support for such a massive project.
• The Power of the Pivot: We discuss why the title of your book is often the hardest thing to identify, and how renaming a project can be the difference between a flop and a million-view masterpiece.
• Strategy vs. Authenticity: Aditi and Jennifer debunk the idea that having a business strategy for your book "kills" its authenticity.
• The Ghostwriting Blueprint: A look behind the curtain at how professional ghostwriters pull stories out of authors to build a collaborative, intensive blueprint for success.

Behind the Breakthrough

Jennifer Locke brings a unique "fiction writer's approach" to the world of non-fiction. With a background in writing fiction since 2011, she now helps entrepreneurs untangle the web between their thinking and their writing time. By focusing on the "transformation of the reader" rather than just the "notoriety of the author," Jennifer has helped numerous leaders move from a blank screen to a published work that truly resonates.

The Guest Said It Best

"I don't think being an expert necessarily means that you have mastery over a certain thing."

"And the truth is, even a book that you loved and recommended to so many people, it changed your life. You're going to find one star reviews and people who said how much they hated it. So, that polarization is always going to be there."

"I love the idea of somebody picking up that book and feeling seen because I think that's the one perspective that so many creators forget, or lose touch with."

"I think an author needs to be truly vulnerable… they need to be unafraid to share their true stories authentically."

"Every piece of work has done its job if it goes out there and changes one person's life."

Key Takeaways

1. Write for ONE Person: Stop trying to write for 10,000 sales. If you write a conversation for the one person who truly needs your message, you create ripples that can reach across continents.
2. Imposter Syndrome is a Sign of Growth: Don't view your book as the final, absolute word on your expertise. It is simply a reflection of your thoughts and feelings at a specific moment in time.
3. Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: Traditional publishers are looking for your audience and platform numbers, while self-publishing allows you to keep more of the sales but requires you to fund the process yourself.
4. The "Book in Six" Method: You don't need vast amounts of time to start; you need a framework. Breaking a 50,000-word goal down over six months makes the daily "rep" surprisingly manageable.

A Question for You

Are you actually procrastinating, or do you just lack the 'scaffolding' to support your big ideas? If you had a solid blueprint instead of a blank screen, would you still be standing at the starting blocks, or would you finally be running your marathon?

Take the Next Step

Connect with Jennifer:

• Website:https://jenniferlockewrites.com/
• LinkedIn: Jennifer Locke

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey 

The Help Me Unlock Podcast has been rebranded to Making of an Empire. Same magic, same awesome guest line-up, just a bit of that empire energy! 

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Are you just speaking, or are you actually being heard? Aditi welcomes vocal coach and communications expert Kim A. Page to bridge the gap between having a message and mastering the instrument that delivers it. In a world of virtual meetings and high-stakes presentations, Kim breaks down her "Right Kind of Loud" framework to help you expand your comfort zone and eliminate "audience suffering." Whether you're prepping for a TED stage or a boardroom, learn why the voice is a physical superpower that most of us have never been trained to use.

Let’s Dive Into the Highlights

• The "Audience Suffering" Concept: Kim explains the silent pain of disengaged listeners and how most speakers accidentally "bombard" their audience rather than inviting them in.
• The Antelope and Jante Law: A fascinating look at Nordic social codes and how the cultural "fear of sticking out" can sabotage your professional presence and vocal power.
• The Voice as an Instrument: We explore why speaking is a physical skill, like driving or playing an instrument, and the two key principles of an "embodied" and varied voice.
• The Subtext Scanner: Discover why an audience will always believe your nonverbal cues over your spoken words, and how to align your "gut brain" with your message.

Behind the Breakthrough

Kim A. Page is a vocal coach, TEDx speaker, and author of The Right Kind of Loud. With a career that began in the arts, spanning poetry in Berlin and overtone chanting in Oslo, Kim eventually transitioned into the organisational world, teaching at the Copenhagen Business School. Her unique background allows her to merge "right-brain" creativity with "high-status" corporate communication. Today, she helps global professionals find their "word wonder" and transform their communication from a source of anxiety into their greatest competitive advantage.

The Guest Said It Best

"When there's a conflict between the words and the voice, the voice is always going to win.”

"The prayer of the audience is: please make this relevant, make this special, make it count."

"Eight out of 10 presentations at least, they're gonna be disengaging. We don't even expect it to be engaging, because most speakers are asked to talk about stuff because they know a lot about the stuff, but not because they're good speakers." 

“We're not born speakers. I started again, trembling on the stage, and I learned it by going on the stage tons of times… When you get a driver's license, you take lessons. It's a skill."

Key Takeaways

• SoundRight & MoveRight: Impactful speaking starts with the body. Ensure your voice is "embodied" (coming from the stomach, not just the throat) and supported by nonverbal cues that signal presence.
• The "Audience Baby": Treat your audience with generosity. They like "colors," surprises, and drama. Don't just give them data; give them a story with a "valley of desperation" and a "sunshine" solution.
• Break the Jante Law: If you grew up in a culture that taught you not to "stick out," you must consciously reclaim your right to be heard. You cannot lead if you are hiding.
• Eliminate Speed as a Shield: Speaking fast to "get it over with" is a form of speaker nerves that creates a barrier. Slowing down gives your audience a "chance to enter" your world.

A Question for You

How many hours have you spent training your technical skills versus training the voice that actually sells those skills? If you viewed your communication as a physical practice rather than a chore, how much more "space" could you command in your next meeting?

Take the Next Step

Connect with Kim:

• Website: www.rightkindofloud.com 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-a-page/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimapagedxb 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kim_a_page/ 

Connect with Making of an Empire

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Making of an Empire! Our mission is to help you unlock the tools you need to build a business and a life that reflects your highest potential.

Connect with Aditi:

• Website: https://www.plentitudestrategy.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditijnewey/
• Substack: https://substack.com/@aditijnewey