No BS Mastery Podcast

Being great at what you do is no longer enough to make you stand out. In a world drowning in noise, competition, and AI-generated sameness, your prospects need a reason to notice you, remember you, trust you, and ultimately choose you.

David Newman calls that market eminence. It combines visibility, resonance, and brand preference so that you become more than one of many qualified options. You become the obvious choice for the right clients.

In this conversation, David explains why he believes the era of how-to content is over and what experts should create instead. We talk about sharing how you think, challenging outdated beliefs in your industry, and using your experience, battle scars, and point of view to create content that no one else can copy.

We also go on a very worthwhile sales tangent about treating prospects like clients. David shares how to make sales conversations more human, diagnose problems without giving away the entire solution, and confidently ask someone if they would like to work together.

David is a speaker, business strategist, host of The Selling Show, and the author of four books. His latest, Market Eminence, teaches experts, founders, and business leaders how to become the people their markets notice, respect, and prefer.

David’s perspective matters because AI can recreate generic information, but it cannot recreate your lived experience or hard-earned point of view. The experts who are willing to think clearly, speak boldly, and stop trying to sound like everyone else will become increasingly valuable.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• The three elements David believes create market eminence
• Why experts should stop producing generic how-to content
• The three kinds of thought leadership content humans are uniquely qualified to create
• How to uncover the contrarian opinions you already have but may be afraid to share
• Why treating prospects like clients can make sales conversations feel more natural
• How to diagnose someone’s problems without solving everything for free
• Why trying to sound smart and be universally liked makes your work easier to ignore

Learn more about David Newman:

• Get Market Eminence and the companion resources: marketeminence.com
• Website: Do It! Marketing
• Listen to The Selling Show
• Explore David’s books and free resources
• Connect with David on LinkedIn

Resources:

• Join the Scale Solo Masterclass
• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
  Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

Gross. Pushy. Slimy. A sweaty guy in a cheap blazer. 

That’s what came back when Pia asked a room full of business owners how selling makes them feel. And here’s the problem: sales is the lifeblood of your business. If the most important thing you do is the thing you dread most, that’s going to cost you.

In this episode, Pia digs into why selling feels so icky, and it’s not what you think. It’s not that you’re bad at it. It’s that the only version of selling most of us have ever experienced is the pushy one, the version where someone tries to convince you to buy something you don’t want. Nobody wants to be that person, so we overcorrect: we get on calls, give away free value, prove our worth, and quietly hope the person buys. It feels terrible, and it doesn’t work.

Then Pia shares the shift that took selling from the worst part of her business to something that doesn’t even feel like selling: getting paid to diagnose before you prescribe. Using her Advil analogy, she breaks down why you never have to convince anyone who’s genuinely in pain, you just have to find out if they have the headache first.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

In this episode:

• Why “salesy” feels gross, and why that instinct is actually a good one
• The free-proposal trap that quietly loses you the sale
• The fit call vs. the free consultation (and why the difference matters)
• The Advil analogy that reframes selling for good
• How a paid first step, the Lead Product, removes the ick entirely

Mentioned:

• The No BS Clients Lab: nobsclientslab.com
  • The DIY program that walks you through the entire process, the fit call script, the diagnostic brief template, and how to turn that first paid step into much bigger projects.
• The Clients Lab + No BS HQ: nobsmastery.com/bundle
  • Want the Clients Lab bundled with the HQ software (plus the LP bot and three live office-hours sessions)? Get both together at a discount: 

Resources:

• Join the Scale Solo Masterclass
• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

About 10 years ago, I created a more affordable way for people to work with me. We were selling $20,000 branding projects, and plenty of people told me they wanted our help but couldn’t afford us. So I created a DIY program that taught the same process for somewhere between $500 and $1,000.

I assumed it would be easy to sell. It wasn’t. After more than a year of investing time, money, and energy into figuring it out, I finally realized why: I hadn’t created a cheaper version of my existing offer. I had accidentally started a second business.

The program required a different audience, message, promise, sales strategy, funnel, and business model. Selling ten $20,000 projects through relationships is completely different from selling 400 $500 courses through content and email marketing.

This happens in all kinds of ways. You might serve two very different audiences, offer completely different services, or try to use the same process for small businesses and much larger companies. It may look like one business from your perspective, but it can still fracture your attention and make it harder to become known for one thing.

In this episode, I’m breaking down how to recognize when you’re unintentionally building multiple businesses and why focus can help you become more profitable faster. I also talk about what happens when we finally create more time and freedom, only to immediately fill it with another idea because being busy is what feels normal.

There is nothing wrong with building multiple businesses or pursuing more than one income stream. But it should be a deliberate choice. When you make one business profitable and sustainable first, you can invest in the next one with far more clarity, patience, and control.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• Why my affordable DIY program was actually a completely different business
• How selling ten $20,000 projects differs from selling 400 $500 courses
• The hidden ways multiple audiences and offers can fracture your attention
• Why focusing on one market makes it easier to become known as the expert
• How to build multiple businesses without trying to build them all at once
• Why some business owners immediately refill the time they worked so hard to free up
• The questions to ask when your business feels harder than it needs to be

Mentioned:

• The Price to Freedom Calculator™

Resources:

• Join the Scale Solo Masterclass
• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

You can have all the right strategies, but if your fears, beliefs, and stories keep you from actually using them, they aren’t going to grow your business.

That’s why Stacey Brass-Russell describes herself as a transformational coach. She helps people understand that creating a different result requires change, and human beings are wired to resist change even when we desperately want the outcome on the other side of it.

In this conversation, Stacey and I talk about the stories we invent when someone doesn’t respond to our outreach, why the fear of seeming salesy keeps people from selling, and why getting more leads probably isn’t the answer. We also dig into the importance of human connection, especially for experts selling higher-ticket transformational services.

We talk about what it means to see sales as service, how a clear methodology can help you feel more confident selling your work, and why you may need to build that confidence through real experience before charging a premium price.

Stacey is a master transformational coach, business strategist, and sales coach who helps coaches, experts, and service-based entrepreneurs turn their passion, skills, and expertise into businesses that actually pay them. A former Broadway performer and NYC yoga studio owner, she is the founder of the Passionate & Prosperous Academy and host of the Passionate & Prosperous podcast.

Stacey’s perspective matters because there is no strategy that can completely bypass the human side of business. Sustainable growth requires a strong offer and the willingness to examine the beliefs, fears, and habits that keep you from confidently putting it in front of people.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• What it actually means to sell a transformational service
• Why your clients need more than information to achieve meaningful outcomes
• How the stories you invent about other people’s reactions can stop you from taking action
• Why more leads probably won’t solve your sales problem
• The difference between marketing your business and actually selling your offer
• How creating a signature methodology can make you more confident in your expertise
• Why seeing sales as service changes the way you talk about your offer

Learn more about Stacey Brass-Russell:

• Website: staceybrassrussell.com
• Listen to the Passionate & Prosperous podcast
• Explore Stacey’s free resources and trainings
• Connect with Stacey on LinkedIn

Resources:

• Join the Scale Solo Masterclass
• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

Most people assume that a $15,000 project is automatically better than an $8,000 project. But a higher price does not necessarily mean more profit. In fact, it often means the opposite.

Years ago, I worked with someone named Sean who was trying to sell more of his $15,000 full-service projects and fewer of his $8,000 packages. When we ran the numbers, he discovered that the $8,000 package was twice as profitable and much easier to sell. He stopped offering the bigger project completely.

This happens because premium service providers often overdeliver on their most expensive offers. The price makes us uncomfortable, so we throw in the kitchen sink to justify it. That extra time quietly destroys the profit that made the project look so appealing in the first place.

In this episode, I explain how I use the 50/25/25 rule to determine whether an offer can actually support your financial goals. We also look at why filling all your available time with client work keeps you stuck on the hamster wheel, even when you’re booked and bringing in plenty of revenue.

The solution isn’t always to raise your price. Sometimes the smarter move is to tighten the delivery, put better boundaries around your time, or stop selling the bloated offer altogether. A smaller, highly profitable offer can out-earn a large, exhausting one every day.

Understanding your profitability gives you permission to stop chasing impressive price tags and focus on the offers that create more money, freedom, and ease. You cannot determine that by feel. You have to look at the numbers.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• How Sean discovered that his $8,000 package was twice as profitable as his $15,000 project
• Why charging more can cause service providers to overdeliver and erase their profit
• How the 50/25/25 rule protects time for business development and freedom
• Why being booked and busy does not necessarily mean you have a healthy business
• The difference between accepting a lower-profit project for short-term cash flow and building your business around one
• Why tightening your delivery can improve profitability without raising your price
• A simple exercise for comparing your most and least expensive offers

Resources:

• Join the Scale Solo Masterclass
• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

Early in her career, Lieve Hendren spent her days working with consulting executives in high-pressure environments and her nights performing as an opera singer. She began using the performance psychology techniques she learned onstage to help herself and her teams handle stressful meetings, improve their work, and perform at a higher level.

But that constant pressure eventually took a toll on her health. Her search for a more sustainable way to perform became the foundation for her book, The Joyful Flow Formula: Quickly Access Brain States for Peak Performance and Eliminate Needless Work Stress.

In this conversation, Lieve shares practical ways to access flow, from visualizing a meeting before you walk into the room to intentionally creating more joy in tasks you’ve been avoiding. We also talk about leading clients through stressful situations, regulating your own energy, and why a calm, confident leader can completely change the tone of a difficult conversation.

We also get into doom scrolling, procrastination, and how to make challenging work feel more rewarding. Lieve even coaches me through my ongoing struggle with answering the important emails sitting in my red-star folder.

Lieve is a high-performance and workflow coach who helps professionals reduce stress and access creative flow. She has worked with more than 340 leaders and organizations, helped scale a startup from two to 28 employees before its acquisition, and is studying the neuroscience of mental health at King’s College London.

Lieve’s work is an important reminder that doing your best work does not have to mean pushing harder or working longer. When you learn how to manage your attention, energy, and environment, you can create better work while experiencing more joy in the process.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• How Lieve brought performance psychology techniques from the opera stage into high-pressure consulting environments
• Why visualizing a meeting in advance can help you show up calmer and more prepared
• How regulating your own energy can change the tone of a difficult client conversation
• Why joy, playfulness, and curiosity are powerful triggers for creative flow
• Simple ways to make the tasks you’ve been avoiding feel more rewarding
• How Pia uses Brick to reduce mindless scrolling and stay focused
• Why recovery time is essential after high-energy coaching, presenting, or creative work

Learn more about Lieve Hendren:

• Website: lievehendren.com
• Get The Joyful Flow Formula: Book page
• Get the book on Amazon
• Connect with Lieve on LinkedIn
• Follow Lieve on Instagram

Resources:

• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• Program: No BS Mastery: Join No BS Mastery
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

You're booked out for months. You're closing good clients. From the outside, it looks like you've made it. So why are you still stressed about money, still wondering where the next client comes from, still white-knuckling it?

In this episode, Pia goes back to the year her business brought in almost $250,000 and still landed her $40,000 in credit card debt, and explains why that paradox shows up for so many successful expert business owners she met during this year's live events.

The short version: being booked is not the same as being safe. If the model underneath your business isn't built to profit, more clients won't fix it. More revenue won't fix it. The problem is structural.

In this episode:

• Why "fully booked" can still mean "starting from zero every month"
• The feast-or-famine trap and what actually breaks the cycle
• Why having cash in the bank doesn't make the stress go away (and the psychology behind it)
• The one simple marketing strategy Pia teaches instead of complicated funnels
• How to tell if you've got a "model problem" rather than a client problem

  
  Resources:
  
  

  • Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
  • Program: No BS Mastery: Join No BS Mastery
  • The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
  • Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

If you’ve been feeling cognitively overloaded by AI, social media, and the relentless pace of everything right now, this episode is for you.

Sara Connell’s new book, The Download: Train Your Brain. Unlock Your Genius. Create Miracles, explores how we can move beyond the mental noise and get into a state where clarity, creativity, and innovative ideas can actually find us.

In this conversation, Sara shares the science behind what she calls a “download,” walks me through a simple practice for getting inspired when I’m overwhelmed by too many ideas, and explains why white space is so essential for creativity. We also talk about how visualization can help us stay focused on where we’re going, especially when business inevitably gets messy.

We also dig into the future of thought leadership in the age of AI. Sara is a five-time bestselling author and the founder of Thought Leader Media, where she helps coaches, experts, and entrepreneurs become bestselling authors and in-demand TEDx speakers. Her work has been featured by Oprah, The New York Times, Good Morning America, TODAY, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and TEDx.

Sara’s perspective is such an important reminder that while AI can help us work faster, it cannot replace the messy, demanding creative work that gives our ideas a heartbeat. As more people outsource their thinking, genuinely human creativity is only going to become more valuable.

Find this episode for free on your favourite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• How cognitive overload interferes with creativity, clarity, and decision-making
• Sara’s simple process for taking a “download walk”
• Why your best ideas need white space instead of more information
• How to create an anchor image that keeps you focused during stressful moments in your business
• The science behind visualization and mentally rehearsing the outcome you want
• Where AI can support the creative process without taking it over
• Why human-generated thought leadership will become increasingly valuable in the age of AI

Learn more about Sara Connell:

• Website: saraconnell.com
• Instagram: @saraconnell
• Substack: The Download with Sara Connell
• YouTube: Thought Leader Media
• Get The Download on Amazon
• Get The Download from Barnes & Noble

Mentioned:

• Calm
• Dr. Joe Dispenza

Resources:

• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• Program: No BS Mastery: Join No BS Mastery
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

If you know you’re capable of great work but still struggle to start tasks, stay organized, or follow through consistently, it can be easy to wonder what’s wrong with you.

For people with ADHD, that gap between potential and output can create years of shame and self-criticism. Rebecca Tolbert explains why ADHD is better understood as a dysregulation of executive functioning and why it can look completely different from one person to the next.

In this conversation, we talk about working with your brain instead of constantly fighting it. Rebecca shares her SEMPRE framework, the role sleep, nutrition, movement, connection, and enjoyment play in executive functioning, and why she prefers systems and environmental changes over relying on habits or willpower.

We also dig into the resistance many people with ADHD feel when someone tells them what to do, how childhood experiences can turn everyday business demands into emotional flashbacks, and why entrepreneurship can bring these challenges to the surface.

Rebecca Tolbert is an ADHD coach and licensed therapist who helps people understand their brains, work through emotional and practical obstacles, and create systems that make their lives easier. She brings together her professional training and her own lived experience with ADHD to help her clients move forward with more clarity and self-compassion.

Rebecca’s perspective matters because the goal isn’t to force yourself to function like someone else. It’s to understand how your brain works, stop treating your challenges like personal failures, and build a business and life that actually support you.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• Why the name ADHD fails to capture how differently the condition can affect people
• How the gap between your potential and your output can create shame, anxiety, and depressive symptoms
• Rebecca’s SEMPRE framework for supporting your executive functioning
• Why simple environmental changes can work better than relying on habits or willpower
• How resistance to demands can be connected to years of being misunderstood or shamed
• Why emotional regulation is especially important for entrepreneurs navigating rejection and difficult tasks
• The difference between ADHD coaching and therapy and how to know what kind of support you need

Learn more about Rebecca Tolbert:

• Website: Conscious Strides
• Free resource: Task Initiation Flowchart
• Book an ADHD Life Audit and mention Pia for 50% off
• Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn
• Follow Rebecca on Instagram

Resources:

• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• Program: No BS Mastery: Join No BS Mastery
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: Badass Your Brand

Maybe you’re pricing by the hour, writing free proposals that go nowhere, or juggling so many projects that none of them ever get your full attention.

Maybe clients disappear in the middle of a project and return weeks later expecting you to drop everything. Or maybe you’re making decent revenue, but you’re still constantly working and never feel like you’re getting ahead.

It’s tempting to believe the solution is more clients, more revenue, or more hustle. But if the model itself is broken, more of anything just gives you more of the same problems.

All month, I’ve been sharing stories from No BS Mastery students in completely different industries and stages of business. Every one of them had a good reason the model wouldn’t work for them. And every one of them discovered that what they actually needed wasn’t another pile of information. They needed the structure, support, and accountability to put the model into action.

In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly what No BS Mastery is, the four things we install during the 12-week program, and why it’s built around implementation instead of endless learning. I’m also sharing who the program is for, who it isn’t for, and why the same concerns about time and money can either keep you stuck or become the reason you finally make a change.

Enrollment is open now. You can see all the program details at nobsmastery.com/program, or join me for the free masterclass on September 29 at 12 PM ET at nobsmastery.com/masterclass.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

• Why more clients and more revenue won’t fix a broken business model
• The four systems we install during the 12 weeks of No BS Mastery
• Why the program has no video library or modules to “catch up” on
• How a Lead Product™ changes the way you sell and begin client relationships
• Why overthinkers and perfectionists need implementation support, not more information
• How No BS Mastery builds your business around the life you want first
• Why time and money can be reasons to wait or the exact reasons you need to make a change now

Resources:

• Join the free September 29 masterclass: nobsmastery.com/masterclass
• Grab the first chapter of my new book Scale Solo: scalesolobook.com
• Program: No BS Mastery: JOIN NO BS MASTERY
• The Price to Freedom Calculator™: nobsmastery.com/price
• Grab a copy of my book Badass Your Brand: BADASS YOUR BRAND
• Program: No BS Agency Mastery: Apply to Join No BS Agency Mastery