Meaningful Work, Remarkable Life

Brook McCarthy sits down with her client Shaye Thayer — consulting CFO, chartered accountant, and fellow financial feminist — for a conversation that is unapologetic truth-telling about the systemic barriers women face in business.

This conversation is a call to arms for women in business to pay themselves more, and will challenge the way you think about pricing, capacity, profit, and what your business could actually be worth one day.

You'll learn:

1. Why the most experienced women in the room are often the most surprised by what running their own business actually feels like — and what's really going on beneath the surface

2. The invisible ceiling that almost every service-based business owner has built into their model without realising it

3. What most men already know about their businesses that most women have never even considered

4. The specific financial habit that separates business owners who always feel cash-strapped from those who don't — and it has nothing to do with earning more

5. What Shaye got spectacularly wrong in her first years of business — despite having spent years helping other people get it right

6. The surprising thing that is considered an asset in your business that you're probably giving away for free right now

About Shaye Thyer

Shaye Thyer is a consulting CFO for women-led businesses and a chartered accountant with two decades of experience. She works specifically with founders to build profitable, sustainable businesses that deliver real financial independence. You can find her on LinkedIn and on Instagram at @shayethyer.finance. Her next round of the Scale Lab kicks off on the 29th of April.

Connect with Shaye: https://www.wearepallas.io/

What if the thing standing between you and a full client roster isn't your offer, your price, or your website but simply your willingness to sell.

In this episode, I'm joined by the brilliant Kate Cowley, accountability coach, personal trainer, and founder of a brand new gym in Sydney's Northern Beaches that went from zero to 245 members through a sheer volume of phone calls.

Kate is one of the most driven, warm, and genuinely skilled people I know, and this conversation is packed with practical gold. We get into the real reasons good people don't do the things they say they will — and it's not laziness. We talk cold calls, objections, vibe, and the surprisingly deep connection between squatting heavy and resilience in business.

You'll hear:

• The 70/30 rule of sales conversations: why the person who talks less almost always wins
• How Kate enrolled 245 gym members by doing the one thing most business owners avoid
• What to do when a prospect has every objection under the sun, and how to uncover the real one
• How structure, routine, and compartmentalisation make the hard stuff feel less hard

If you've ever talked yourself out of a follow-up email, dreaded making contact with a warm lead, or wondered how some people just seem to do the thing — this episode is for you.

What if the future of business wasn't bigger and faster, but cleaner, greener, fairer, and kinder?

In this episode, I sit down with the legendary Kylie Flamant, CEO of the Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT (SECNA), to talk about social enterprise, our relationship with money, and what it means to build a body of work that actually makes the world better.

Kylie brings rare clarity to some of the biggest questions facing values-driven business owners: how to sell something you believe in (even when you hate selling), how to price your work without guilt, and why the most radical thing you can do right now might be going hyper-local.

You'll hear:

• Why 'social enterprise' may be the business model of the future and what that means for your business
• Why the NSW Government is now actively buying from social enterprises, and why this matters even if you're a one-person operation
• Why so many good humans find themselves struggling with marketing and sales in business – and what to do about it
• The money conversation we're not having: why women receive completely different financial socialisation, and what to do about it
• Kylie's honest take on collapse, grief, and why there is hope (but it starts in your street, not on your screen)

This episode is for every business owner who was ever told that they're "unrealistic", "too idealistic", or couldn't be successful in business while being true to their values. For owners who are building something that outlasts them.

Put down your money baggage and develop your new bulletproof money attitude at Good Money March, my free live audio program: https://www.hustleandheart.com.au/good-money-march/

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Books

• Taboo — Hannah Ferguson
• Hoodie Economics — Manning Bancroft
• Donut Economics — Kate Raworth
• How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell (author not named in episode)
• The Barefoot Investor — Scott Pape (not named directly, referred to as "the best book on money ever" / "think before invested" — likely this one based on context)

Papers & Academic Work

• Deep Adaptation — paper by Jem Bendell

Organisations & Platforms

• SECNA — Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT: secna.org.au
• Buy NSW — buy.nsw.gov.au (NSW Government procurement database)

• Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA) — social enterprise verification
• People and Planet First — global social enterprise verification standard
• Brand Kind — freelancer collective for branding and marketing

Most all people suffer from unconscious self-sabotage. If you ever find yourself arguing against the very thing you say you want, then please know, you're not alone. In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain this very common (and frustrating) patterns that I see in business coaching.

Self-sabotage can show up in surprising ways and it's costing you more than you think. If you know that you're hugely talented but can't seem to move forward, or if you're a coach who struggles with clients who say they want one thing, and then do the opposite, then this one's for you. We explore our invisible barriers, the role of our identity, and the exhausting energy cost of constantly fighting against our best interests.

You'll learn:

1. Why the most successful people still wrestle with this pattern (and what they do differently)

2. The surprising connection between perfectionism and self-violence that nobody talks about

3. What negative automatic thoughts are really protecting you from

4. Why your "I am not the kind of person who..." statements give you a massive clue

5. The counterintuitive relationship between doing, being, and having that changes everything

6. How cynicism is actually grief in disguise (and what you're really mourning)

7. The one coaching question that cuts through overthinking and gets you moving again.

If you've ever felt stuck, caught yourself overthinking, or wondered why you keep getting in your own way despite knowing better, this episode is for you.

When I was 18, I accidentally joined a cult. This left me with one indelible lesson that has shaped my entire career as a business coach: people are astonishingly quick to give away their power.

In this episode, I unpack what that early experience taught me about authority, hierarchy, and how easily we project extraordinary qualities onto other people, especially in the coaching and online business world.

We’re talking about pedestal-building, guru culture, quantum leaps, collapsed timelines, and why this dynamic is dangerous for clients as well as for coaches. Because when someone puts you on a pedestal, they’re not just flattering you. They’re relinquishing responsibility. And the fall, when it comes, can be brutal.

If you’re a coach, consultant, leader, or ambitious woman building something meaningful, this important conversation will have you rethinking your views on power, impact, influence and psychology.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. Why my experience teaching meditation at 18 revealed a hidden dynamic about authority that most business owners never question

2. The subtle but dangerous difference between respecting expertise and projecting magical thinking onto someone

3. How pedestal-building actually gives you a “get out of jail free” card (and why that’s more costly than you think)

4. The early warning signs you’re dealing with a guru, not a leader

5. The small boundary violations that often precede the biggest coaching horror stories

6. Why “just copy my blueprint” ignores systemic privilege, context, and lived reality

7. The mature relationship to power that most values-based business owners were never taught

8. A simple but powerful question to ask when a client puts you on a pedestal — and how it changes the dynamic instantly

This episode is for you if you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “She’s just different. I could never do that.” It's especially for you if you’ve experienced an energy vampire client, struggled with boundaries, or want to lead without becoming authoritarian.

Many thoughtful, intelligent women in business have a complicated relationship with power. We’ve seen it abused. We may have experienced manipulation from others multiple times. We’ve been undermined. It's time for a new vision of power.

What happens when everything you've done successfully for years stops working? When your flagship program bombs after a decade of success, when wait lists go cold, and when sales calls become an exercise in ghosting?

This isn't your typical "crushing it" business recap. In this behind-the-scenes episode, I share what it really looks like when the market shifts beneath your feet—and what you do when the old playbook no longer works.

You'll discover:

• Why the first quarter of 2025 felt like tap dancing in quicksand (and the exact date when everything changed)
• The strategy that I use to launch and sell my new Momentum Mastermind
• The marketing hierarchy that's working now—and why your email list alone isn't enough anymore
• Why someone paid $5,500 out of nowhere while my carefully nurtured wait list sat idle for 10 years
• The uncomfortable question a creative writing teacher asked that's making me rethink everything about how I work with clients
• The trust recession phenomenon and why it cut my sales calls nearly in half
• Which "sure thing" bombed spectacularly (packed room in November, crickets in February)
• Why I'm questioning whether taking people's money when they won't do the work is empowering or enabling
• My Sri Lanka story — and how not giving myself space almost derailed everything

This episode gets pretty granular, personal, and occasionally uncomfortable. But if you're tired of highlight reels and want the real story, this one's for you.

What if nothing you do in your business is wasted? Because all of your efforts are compounding, even if your results appear lacklustre?

In this episode, I reflect on 2025, the year that demanded relentlessness — not hype, not hustle-for-show, but quiet, stubborn commitment when clients weren't buying and things aren't turning out the way you hoped. I share the behind-the-scenes story of launching Momentum Mastermind… and why it only worked on the third attempt.

This episode about momentum that’s built, not manufactured. About effort that compounds long before results show up. And about why belief — not format, not funnels, not perfection — is often the missing ingredient.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your work is leading anywhere… this conversation might land exactly where you need it.

1. Why no effort is ever truly wasted — even when it feels like it went nowhere

2. The real reason my first two versions of Momentum didn’t work (and what changed the third time)

3. The question that quietly determines whether a group program thrives or fizzles

4. Why commitment beats motivation — every time

5. The one thing I do before designing any group program — and why skipping it keeps people stuck

6. The manifesto principle that got me out of two years of “coulda, woulda, shoulda”

7. The uncomfortable truth about why people don’t commit (and why it matters more than strategy)

8. How to tell whether you’re over-engineering… or avoiding the real work

9. Why business often only makes sense in hindsight

If your success were inevitable and it was only a matter of 'when', would this stop overthinking? What effort would you keep making, even without proof?

Join me on Feb 11, 2026 for our hands-on, practical workshop, Design your $400K Offerings Ecosystem for 2026.

Forget funnels; think ecosystems instead.

In this episode, we explore a radical shift in how people find information, seek answers, and making buying decisions. From linear to circular, this episode explores practical ways to approach your marketing, sales, and business growth in 2026, that responds to how humans actually buy.

You’ll learn:

• What an offering ecosystem is, how it differs from a typical offer “suite”, and why it matters
• The single most important approach to take to creating bingeable marketing content
• How to turn bingers to buyers
• The marketing channel you're neglecting and why it can't be an afterthought if you want people to buy straight from your content

Join me on Feb 11, 2026 for our hands-on, practical workshop, Design your $400K Offerings Ecosystem for 2026. Register now: https://www.hustleandheart.com.au/redirect-offerings-ecosystem/

2025 marked my 17th year into business and 13 years in business coaching, and one thing was unmistakably clear: the people who are thriving aren’t the cleverest, the most polished, or the most strategic on paper. They’re the most committed.

In this episode, I share the ten biggest lessons I’ve learned from my own business this year, alongside what I’ve witnessed across dozens of my client's businesses navigating uncertainty, changing buyer behaviour, and what many are calling a trust recession.

We talk about ego and embarrassment, identity and conditioning, adaptability, collaboration, and why clarity consistently outperforms cleverness. We explore why some business owners are accelerating while others feel stuck, exhausted, or quietly disengaged, plus, what actually makes the difference.

• Why “cringe” (ego and embarrassment) is one of the biggest things holding business owners back—and how to stop letting it run your decisions
• The difference between unwavering commitment and conditional effort, and why it’s such a powerful separator
• How emotional regulation and social conditioning quietly shape your business results
• Why adaptability mattered more than ever in 2025 – and what it really looks like in practice
• How to think about your offerings as an ecosystem, not a collection of disconnected services
• Why asking directly for what you want is a business skill (and how many of us were conditioned not to)
• Why clarity consistently beats cleverness, especially for highly experienced experts
• How collaboration became a growth strategy in a trust-starved market
• The role identity plays in either accelerating or sabotaging your business growth
• Why relationships, community, and genuine connection are becoming the real competitive advantage

If you’re building a values-led business, feeling the shift in how people buy, or questioning what actually matters now, then this episode will help you recalibrate and move forward with more confidence and conviction.

Ready to design your 2026 Offerings Ecosystem? Join me on February 11.

You’ll walk away with:

What if coaching wasn’t just a business model but a radical act of equity, care, and future-making?

In this episode I sit down with Trudi Lebrón - author of The Anti-Racist Business Book, executive coach, DEI strategist, and thought leader reshaping the future of coaching.

We explore what happens when coaching moves beyond sales tactics and into systems change, supporting not just individual transformation, but collective liberation.

You’ll hear:

• How Trudi’s early work in theatre, youth development, and social psychology shaped her radically human approach to coaching
• The surprising overlap between DEI work and coaching, and why both are essential in navigating this moment of cultural tension and change
• The critical difference between building a business and building a body of work, and how to know when it’s time for more meaning
• How we can (and must) decentralise the coaching industry and equip everyone in human-facing roles with these essential skills

This episode is a call to every coach, facilitator, and values-based business owner who wants to go deeper, lead better, and create a legacy that lasts.