One quiet sales week and suddenly the offer's wrong, your messaging isn't landing, Instagram is dead and you're 36 hours away from rebuilding your entire funnel.

Sound familiar?

In this episode of The Rebellious Leader, I'm talking about something I see all the bloody time with successful business owners and am very capable of doing myself:

Reacting to discomfort as though it's evidence that something in the business needs fixing.

Because a disappointing result is data. It isn't automatically a problem.

There's a big difference between responding strategically to what your business is telling you and emotionally reacting because you don't like what just happened.

And when you're a high-achieving founder who's very good at solving problems, doing something can feel far safer than sitting still long enough to work out whether there is actually a problem to solve.

In this episode, I talk about:

1. Why one bad sales week isn't necessarily a sales problem
2. The difference between an event and a genuine pattern
3. Why successful founders can become addicted to fixing things
4. How emotional reactions to business data create questionable strategy
5. Why boredom can make you want to unnecessarily reinvent a successful business
6. How to tell when your business genuinely does need changing
7. Why observation is an active part of good business strategy
8. The questions to ask before you fuck with your funnel

If you like the way I think about business, leadership and the invisible problems underneath what's happening on the surface, you'll love my book, The Rebellious Leader A Business Book for Women Done Playing by the Rules.

Buy The Rebellious Leader: LINK HERE

Or come and find me on Instagram: @mills_gray

Ever feel like your branding is "fine" but something still doesn't sit right? This week I'm joined by Vanessa Jennings, founder of Bake Brands, who spent a year building a "neutral" personal brand before realising it was the exact opposite of who she actually is. We talk about ditching the coach label for strategist, why bold branding attracts the right clients, the AI slop ruining content right now, and what actually makes a brand magnetic online. If you've been quietly rebranding in your head for months but haven't pulled the trigger, this one's for you.

In this conversation with brand marketing strategist Vanessa Jennings, we get into:

• How to know when your branding isn't aligned with who you are
• Why she moved from "neutral" branding to bold, colourful, and unapologetically her
• The difference between positioning yourself as a coach versus a consultant or strategist
• How five redundancies in the fashion industry built the resilience to run her own business
• What actually makes a brand feel magnetic to the right clients
• Her honest take on using AI in business, including why AI-written content is killing trust
• The stat on personal branding and employee advocacy most business owners are sleeping on
• How human design and gut instinct shaped her rebrand

• Come say hi on Instagram @mills_gray — I love sending voice note responses to your questions. Share this episode to your stories and tag me for a happy dance.
• Website: https://www.millsgray.com
• The Rebellious Leader Book: https://www.millsgray.com/book/

• Instagram: @VanessaEves
• Business Instagram: @bake.brands
• Website: bake-brands.com

After 220 episodes, Soul Leaders is coming to an end, and Mills is telling you exactly why. This isn't a goodbye though. It's a rebrand. In this personal, unscripted episode, Mills talks through the signs you've outgrown your business, why the podcast that started as a lockdown project no longer represents who she's become as a business owner, and how to know when it's time to rebrand your business, even the parts that are technically still working. If your business feels stuck even though nothing is really wrong with it, or you've been quietly wondering whether you've outgrown your own niche, this episode is for you.

• Why Soul Leaders is ending after 220 episodes and becoming The Rebellious Leader
• Why business owners outgrow their niche, identity and offers even when everything is "working"
• The difference between the presenting problem and the real problem in business
• Why Mills believes better questions create better strategy, not the other way round
• How 18 years in business shaped Mills's philosophy on mindset, identity and change
• What's actually changing (and what isn't) about the podcast going forward

• Come say hi on Instagram: @mills_gray
• Website: https://www.millsgray.com
• The Rebellious Leader Book: https://www.millsgray.com/book/

Welcome to The Rebellious Leader the business podcast for smart, successful women whose businesses work, but still feel harder than they should.

I’m Mills Gray, business coach, strategist and author of The Rebellious Leader. After 18 years in business and transforming over 200+ businesses, I’ve learned that the problem you think you have is very rarely the actual problem and another strategy isn’t always the answer.

Every Thursday, we’ll go underneath the obvious stuff: business strategy, sales, leadership, identity, psychology, positioning and the invisible rules shaping how you run your business. Expect real client stories, brilliant guests, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty of questions that might change how you see your business.

Because better questions create better thinking. Better thinking creates better strategy.

Formerly the Soul Leaders podcast. Find me on Instagram @mills_gray or at www.millsgray.com.

If you've ever felt stuck rewriting your offer, your messaging, or your entire business model, this episode is for you. Mills unpacks the coaching principle that's quietly underpinning all of her client work: better questions create better thinking, and better thinking creates better strategy. Using real client examples around imposter syndrome, health scares, and offer doubt, Mills shows how the "obvious" problem is almost never the real one, and shares the exact questions she asks to get to what's actually going on. The episode closes with a five-question audit you can run on your own business right now.

• Why Better Questions Create Better Business Strategy
• The Coaching Questions That Change Everything
• Better Question Business Audit

Come say hi in the DMs on Instagram @mills_gray , especially if any of this resonated with you. You can also join the conversation over in the Facebook group Mind Your Mindset, or head to www.millsgray.com to find out more about working with Mills. And if you want more on the thinking behind all of this, check out Mills's book, The Rebellious Leader.

Mills has been quietly analysing her own coaching calls, not to improve her coaching, but to work out what actually makes her different in a crowded industry. What she uncovered wasn't a framework. It was a philosophy. This episode is for any business owner who has tried to stand out with a clever offer name or a signature process and still feels like everyone down the road is doing the same thing. Mills breaks down where your real USP is hiding, and why you can't invent it, only discover it.

1. Why Your USP Isn't Your Framework, Offer, or Logo
2. The Real Question to Ask When Finding Your Unique Selling Point
3. How I Discovered My Coaching Philosophy by Reviewing My Own Calls
4. Why You Can Copy a Framework But You Can't Copy How Someone Thinks
5. The Real Pattern Behind Every Coaching Conversation

Come say hi on Instagram: @mills_gray

Website: https://www.millsgray.com

The Rebellious Leader Book: https://www.millsgray.com/book/

Join the community: Facebook group Mind Your Mindset

What if your birth chart could explain why certain things in your business feel like pushing water uphill and show you the exact energy you need to lean into instead? That's exactly what we're unpacking in this episode.

I'm joined by Charlotte Nixon, evolutionary astrologer and one of my own collaborators (yes, she's my client AND I'm hers we'll get into that). Charlotte shares how astrology isn't about fortune telling or horoscopes it's a practical tool for self-awareness, strategic planning, and showing up in business in a way that actually feels aligned.

This one got personal. We talked about my book launch, my Gemini rising, my Leo sun, and the business houses ruled by water that Charlotte keeps nudging me to lean into more. Fair point, Charlotte.

1. What Astrology for Business Actually Looks Like
2. Understanding Your Sun, Moon and Rising Signs
3. Using Astrology to Plan Business Launches
4. Why Your Shadow Side Is Your Biggest Business Asset
5. Astrology and Parenting: Understanding Your Kids' Charts
6. Breaking Generational Patterns Through Chart Work

1. Let's work together: DM me on Instagram @mills_gray
2. Website: https://www.millsgray.com
3. Connect with Charlotte Nixon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aligned_bodyandstars
4. Website: https://www.alignedbodyandstars.com

What does it really cost women to keep climbing? And what happens when you choose to step off the ladder not because you failed, but because you finally got honest about what you actually want?

Mills is joined by Dolly Jones, former editor of British Vogue and author of Leaving the Ladder Down a book about the realities of working motherhood that started with a conversation in a London taxi and ended up interviewing women from every walk of life.

This is a conversation about identity, imposter syndrome, the stories we tell ourselves about success, and what it looks and feels like to build something that actually fits your life.

WHAT WE COVER

1. Dolly's route into journalism work experience at Vogue, being put in a basement in 1998 to figure out 'this internet thing', and becoming editor
2. Getting promoted while pregnant and why one man's completely unbothered reaction was more radical than it should have been
3. The moment in Italy that changed everything: removing her heels and crawling back into bed with her ill son
4. The Bloomberg job she turned down because she wasn't willing to give up the school run
5. Why leaving Vogue felt like being released from a very glamorous prison
6. Identity after corporate: the consultancy bridge, the imposter syndrome that didn't disappear, and building her third act
7. The taxi driver who inspired the book and why Dolly deliberately sought out the full spectrum of working mothers
8. The myth of the "strung-out working mother" and why the narrative needs to change
9. What she learned about herself writing the book (hint: the inner critic was very loud)
10. Her unexpected wind-down: weekly piano lessons with an 80-year-old teacher at 50

RESOURCES MENTIONED

1. Leaving the Ladder Down by Dolly Jones
2. The Professional Troublemaker
3. Advance — charity supporting survivors of domestic abuse (Dolly is on the board)
4. Come say hi on Instagram: @mills_gray
5. Website: https://www.millsgray.com
6. The Rebellious Leader Book: https://www.millsgray.com/book/

Grab your coffee, get comfy, and let's dive into something that trips up nearly every business owner I work with: the difference between being seen and being trusted. I'm pulling back the curtain on a new marketing experiment I've just started, and using it to break down the four things every business actually needs to make sales. Spoiler: more reach on its own isn't one of them.

1. Why Getting More Reach Doesn't Automatically Grow Your Business
2. The Difference Between Being Seen and Being Trusted
3. The Four Stages Every Business Needs to Grow Sales
4. How to Find Your Business Bottleneck With a Simple Audit
5. Why Paid Features and Ads Alone Won't Build Client Trust

Come say hi on Instagram: @mills_gray

Website: millsgray.com

The Rebellious Leader Book: https://www.millsgray.com/book/

This episode is a little different. No guest, no framework, just me pulling back the curtain on the most stretchy thing I have done in business so far: writing and publishing my first book, The Rebellious Leader.

I'm talking about why I did it, how I actually wrote the thing (it was not conventional), what it cost me, the expensive mistake I made with page numbers, and what I want every service-based business owner to take away from it. The link is below. Go get it.

1. Why a dyslexic, never-going-to-write-a-book person wrote a book
2. How I actually wrote it
3. The premise behind The Rebellious Leader
4. Why the selling chapter is my favourite
5. Self-publishing with Kindle Direct Publishing
6. The expensive mistake that cost me 188 quid
7. How I found my editor
8. The competition: Supper with the Author

Instagram @mills_gray | Website

The Rebellious Leader is available now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H27BPK2L

Book links: https://www.millsgray.com/book