On Your Terms®

I'm taking a little summer break, not just from the podcast, but from working in general. And yes, my friends are already cackling about that one, because as my friend Steve put it, he can't wait to watch me be the most productive person he knows this summer. Fair.

So in this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on what a summer break actually looks like for a business owner. What I'm doing, what I'm not doing, and the honest truth about whether you're ever really "off" when your name, face, and voice are all over your business.

For the podcast specifically, you'll be hearing weekly Substack essays read aloud by me for the next several weeks while the team gets a break from the production grind, and I get to focus on what I actually love right now: writing. I'll be back in full force with regular episodes on September 14th.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why I'm taking a break from podcast recording (but not from my newsletter or Substack), and the difference between work that drains me and work that fills me up
• What "bare maintenance mode" looks like behind the scenes of a multi-seven-figure business, and the systems that make it possible
• I'm manifesting The mindset work behind taking time off, including the guilt, the fear of being "lapped," and what my therapist had to say about it
• My practical advice for designing your own break, even if it's just two weeks or a pause on one platform

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• 👩🏻‍💻 REGISTER FOR MY FREE LIVE LEGAL CLASS --> https://www.samvanderwielen.com/live-legal-workshop
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack
• Check out Jennifer Diaz, Sam's mindset coach
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

If you've ever wondered what it's actually like to attend one of the best conferences in the online business space, I'm bringing you along this week. Every June, I pack my bags for Boise, Idaho to attend Kit's Craft + Commerce Conference, and this year I recorded real-time clips along the way so it would feel like we were just hanging out in the hallway together.

This is officially my fifth Craft + Commerce, and in this episode I'm sharing my full recap: why I keep going back, what my week actually looked like behind the scenes, the tactical tips I'm already using in my own business, and the bigger mindset shifts I'm walking away with this year, including a few things I picked up from a private mastermind with James Clear. You'll also hear some of my favorite on-the-street interviews including a quick chat with Kit founder Nathan Barry.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why I keep going back to Craft + Commerce every year, and why Boise (yes, Boise) might be part of the magic
• On-the-street interviews with Mallory Rowan, Nathan Barry, Steve Kamb, and Barrett Brooks
• Three tactical takeaways from the conference, including Kit's new Signals feature and a workaround for connecting Substack and Kit
• The mindset shifts I'm walking away with around quality versus quantity, wanting something versus working for it, and finally feeling like I belong
• James Clear's "category killer" concept, and the difference between his concentrated strike and tailwind marketing strategies

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Get your first month of Kit free (affiliate link)
• 👩🏻‍💻 REGISTER FOR MY FREE LIVE LEGAL CLASS --> https://www.samvanderwielen.com/live-legal-workshop
• Steve Kamb's book, How to Try Again
• Follow Barrett Brooks on Instagram or visit barrettbrooks.com
• Follow Mallory Rowan on Instagram or visit malloryrowan.com
• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

“Must be nice.” It sounds harmless. Like a throwaway comment, a passing thought, something you mutter when you see someone doing something you wish you could do. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think that little phrase is one of the most dangerous things you can say to yourself as a business owner.

Because here’s what it’s actually doing: it’s letting you off the hook. It’s a quiet way of deciding something doesn’t apply to you before you’ve even given yourself the chance to find out if it could. And I’ve been getting a lot of these comments lately, in my DMs, in the comments, in the tone behind the questions I get, and I finally needed to say something about it.

Not to call anyone out. I’ve thought it too. But because I think the story underneath “must be nice” is costing you more than you realize, and I don’t think it’s actually true.

In this episode, I’m getting honest about what people don’t see: why the nos and the boundaries came before the revenue, what really shifted the way I run my business (hint: it wasn’t hitting a certain income number), and what it looks like to start building a business on your own terms right now, wherever you are.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why “must be nice” is actually one of the most dangerous things you can say to yourself as a business owner
• The truth about what actually came first in my business: the permission, the nos, and the boundaries, before the money and the team
• How grief completely changed my relationship to what felt urgent in my business and what that meant for everything that came after
• Why saying yes to everything is not the path to making more money (and what to do instead)
• What the “arrival fallacy” has to do with building a business and why hitting a revenue milestone won’t be the thing that finally lets you say no
• How to take inspiration from someone ahead of you without dismissing their strategies because your situations look different

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Grab Sam's Book When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy
• 👩🏻‍💻 REGISTER FOR MY FREE LIVE LEGAL CLASS --> https://www.samvanderwielen.com/live-legal-workshop
• Grab The Ultimate Bundle® on sale through Friday, June 26th.
• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

Everyone keeps coming up to me like they're attending my business's funeral. "How are things?" And I'm standing there like... everything's actually great? My business keeps growing. But I get it. There's no shortage of people online saying digital products are dead, courses are dead, the whole thing is over.

Here's the thing: the market has changed. A lot. And if you have a digital product or course, you've probably felt it. Buyers are taking longer to make decisions, coming in with their guard up, asking more questions. But "harder" is not the same as "dead." After 10 years in this industry and $9M in digital product sales, I want to give you my honest take on what's actually happening, what's changed, and exactly what it takes to build and sell a digital product that still works in 2026 and beyond.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why buyer skepticism is at an all-time high and what actually caused it
• How the 2020-2021 online business boom (and AI) flooded the market with low-quality products
• The real reason information-only products are struggling, and what to do instead
• Six things your digital product must do to succeed in today's economy
• Why cold-audience funnels are suffering the most right now
• What "long game trust" actually looks like, and why it's your biggest competitive advantage
• The honest truth about how much work building a successful digital product takes

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• 👩🏻‍💻 REGISTER FOR MY FREE LIVE LEGAL CLASS --> https://www.samvanderwielen.com/live-legal-workshop
• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Get Sam's Book "When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

You know reels are one of the best ways to grow your business on Instagram. You've seen other people crushing it. You've probably even sat down to film one yourself, maybe more than once, and then... you just didn't post it. Or you did, and it flopped, and somewhere along the way, the whole thing started to feel way more complicated than it's worth.

Here's what I actually think is happening: you're drowning in advice that was designed for influencers, not for people who run a real business. Hook formulas, trending audio, CapCut tutorials, edit transitions... it is A LOT. And most of it doesn't apply to you.

So in today's episode, I'm breaking it all the way down to the actual basics: how to find ideas, how to script a reel, how to film it, and how to batch the whole thing so it doesn't take over your life. No dances. No pressure to go viral. Just what actually works to get you more clients from Instagram.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why you shouldn't be getting content inspiration from competitors (and where to look instead)
• How to write a hook that stops the scroll, even if you hate writing
• The one structural shift that's making reels perform better right now (hint: stop giving it all away in the video)
• Filming best practices that make a real difference, even with just your phone
• How to batch your reel production so you're not starting from scratch every single week
• The four reel formats explained, so you can pick what actually works for your personality and schedule

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• 👩🏻‍💻 REGISTER FOR MY FREE LIVE LEGAL CLASS --> https://www.samvanderwielen.com/live-legal-workshop
• Kit (affiliate link)what I use to build my email list, send emails to my list, and create opt-in forms & pages
• Episode 291. 11 'Bad Habits' That Actually Built My 7-Figure Business
• Natasha's YouTube video on YAP content for Instagram
• B-roll reel example with Text Overlay
• B-roll reel example with Audio Overlay
• Scripted reel example
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

Every entrepreneurship influencer on the internet has an opinion about what you should be doing. Six AM wake-ups. A content calendar mapped out six months in advance. Tracking every metric. Showing up on every platform all at once. But here's the thing — what successful founders say they do and what they actually do behind the scenes? Often very, very different.

I know because I'm one of those founders. And when people meet me in real life, the thing they always say is, "Wait, your business is so chill and simple. You don't do any of the stuff people say you're supposed to do."

So today I'm pulling back the curtain and giving you the real list: my 11 "bad habits" that I genuinely believe built my seven-figure business. The stuff I do, don't do, and intentionally skip — and why I think it's actually the reason this whole thing has worked at all.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why ghosting your Instagram Stories for days (or weeks) at a time might actually be good for your business
• How skipping the perfectly planned content calendar has made Sam a better, more creative writer
• The surprising reason oversharing the good, the bad, and the ugly has been one of her biggest trust-builders
• Why saying yes to almost everything early on was one of the smartest moves she made
• How staying resistant to every shiny new platform or trend has kept her business simple and wildly profitable

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Mallory Rowan on Instagram (original carousel that inspired this episode)
• 👩🏻‍💻 REGISTER FOR MY FREE LIVE LEGAL CLASS --> https://www.samvanderwielen.com/live-legal-workshop
• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Grab Sam's book When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

I recently apologized to my shower handle.

No, really. I turned off the water before rinsing out my conditioner, reached back to flip it on again, and instinctively said sorry to a cold, metal, completely inanimate faucet. And that moment stopped me dead in my tracks, because if I'm apologizing to shower handles, what else am I unnecessarily apologizing for in my life and business?

This episode is a little different. I'm reading you an essay I originally published on my Substack, Beyond Business, because I genuinely believe so many of you need to hear it, not just read it. It's something I was almost too scared to put out into the world. But here's what I know: the over-apologizing so many of us do, especially as women in business, is costing us. It's costing us deals, visibility, clients, confidence, and the kind of success we've worked incredibly hard for.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why so many of us learned to over-apologize long before we ever started a business, and how that pattern is still running the show
• The jaw-dropping (and infuriating) moment at a law firm that made me feel like my ambition was something to be ashamed of
• Where over-apologizing shows up in your business, including in your marketing, your pricing conversations, and how you manage your team
• A reflection prompt to help you identify where you might be apologizing unnecessarily, and what to do about it

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Grab a copy of Sam's book, When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

You're busy. You're building. You're making a thousand decisions a day — what to post, what to buy, what to eat, what to cut. And somewhere along the way, all of that choosing started to feel like its own full-time job.

Here's the thing: we've been sold this idea that more optimization equals more freedom. That if you just find the perfect system, the perfect routine, the perfect answer, you'll finally be able to relax. So you keep researching and refining and second-guessing. And the relaxing never actually comes.

This episode is about what happens when you stop. It's about de-optimizing your life — and why I think "good enough" isn't a consolation prize. It's the entire point. I'm sharing what's been quietly shifting for me (some of it unexpected, some of it born out of grief), and how I'm starting to let go of the pressure to have, do, and be the best version of everything, all the time. Spoiler: it feels a lot like relief.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• How grief cracked open my relationship with time and completely reorganized my priorities
• Why I stopped chasing "biggest business ever" and started making my business the least interesting thing about me
• What happens when you spend less time on screens (hint: everything slows down, in the best way)
• The three unexpected shifts I've noticed from de-optimizing: more confidence, more assuredness, and serious relief
• The "consequences" framework that's helping me stop agonizing and start choosing Three ways this mindset shift is showing up in my business right now

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Grab Sam's book When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

What if stepping back from social media was actually the thing that made it work better for your business?

I'll be honest with you: my relationship with social media has been a lot. It helped me build a multi seven-figure business. Then it became my number one addiction. Then it turned into a coping mechanism I reached for every time life got hard. And then, after losing both of my parents, I basically wanted to throw my phone into the ocean and never look back.

In this episode, I'm sharing the full, messy truth of my relationship with social media, including the part that surprised even me: that since pulling way back, my content is performing better than it ever has. But here's what's different about this conversation: it's not just a "hire a team and disappear" story. It's a real mindset shift that I believe anyone can adopt, no matter what size your audience is or what stage your business is at

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why my relationship with social media went from exciting opportunity to full-blown addiction (and how grief changed everything)
• The honest truth about why pulling back actually made my content perform better
• The specific tools and strategies I use to protect my time and attention without disappearing from my business
• How I restructured my content creation process so I spend less time on the app but show up with way more intention
• Why posting less might actually be the smartest move you can make, even if you have a small audience

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• The Brick (phone-locking device) [affiliate link]
• Read Sam's Substack Post About the Brick
• Shine with Natasha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shinewithnatasha/
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER

Have you ever wondered why people in your audience don't think of you when they're ready to buy — even though you've been showing up, creating content, and putting offers out?

Here's the hard truth: it's probably not your audience size. It's not your content. It's not even your offer. The real problem is that nobody knows what to associate your name with. And the good news? That is a very fixable problem.

In this episode, I'm diving into why so many online business owners stay invisible — and what it actually takes to become the "McFlurry" of your industry. (Yes, we're going there. McDonald's, Wendy's Frosties, Burger King's unfortunate dessert menu, and what all of it has to do with YOUR business. I told you I always land the plane.)

In this episode, you'll hear…

• Why shiny object syndrome is the #1 reason people can't figure out what you do
• How adding too many offers actually dilutes your brand instead of growing your revenue
• The "keeping up with the online Joneses" trap that pulls you away from what you actually want
• Why the gurus telling you to pivot, rebrand, or go viral profit from your instability
• The three things you actually need to do to become known for something in your industry

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Grab Sam's book When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Clay Hebert — follow for messaging and positioning guidance
• If you have a question you’d like Sam to answer on a future podcast episode, you can submit it here.
• Click here to be notified when new episodes of On Your Terms® come out

CONNECT:

• Get Sam's weekly newsletter, Sam's Sidebar
• Follow Sam on Instagram
• Follow Sam on YouTube
• Subscribe to Sam's Substack, Beyond Business
• Take Sam's free legal workshop "5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business"

DISCLAIMER