Today’s topic is a common experience for many listeners, whether in the present, future, or the rear-view mirror. We are discussing the all-important decision to leave the corporate world to leap into entrepreneurship. Our conversation explores the practical and emotional aspects of transitioning from employee to entrepreneur, including overcoming imposter syndrome, building effective networks, and strategically scaling a business. Join us to learn more!

Kym Insana, founder of Always On Digital, shares her journey from corporate digital marketing executive to successful entrepreneur. She built a multimillion-dollar, woman-owned agency serving major brands, like the US Air Force, Johnston & Murphy, and Enfamil. When Kym left a demanding NYC career in advertising to build Always On Digital, her goal was to find flexibility and balance as a wife and mother of four. Her company thrives by empowering talented working parents to blend career success with family life. Kym is a sought-after speaker who has shared her journey and expertise on several national stages and media outlets. 

Show Highlights:

• Kym’s motivation to transition from employee to entrepreneur
• Coming from the place of “What I NEED doesn’t exist; I’ll create it myself.”
• Kym’s practical strategies to build your business:
• Ask, “What do I want this to look like?” (having a clear vision)
• Work backwards from that point to figure out the details. (Reverse-engineer your dream!)
• Self-motivation is essential!
• Dealing with imposter syndrome
• Accepting that you may not be the right fit for every client, but you are an expert
• Handling rejection with a “Who else is out there?” attitude
• Building networks by going to your allies first
• Hiring people for fractional roles as you build traction
• Growth and scaling phase, as you build momentum
• Taking the step to commit to full-time employees and serious operational costs
• Finding the balance between sales and customer service
• Kym’s unique approach to building her team 

Resources:

Connect with Kym Insana

Website

LinkedIn (Kym would love to connect with you through LinkedIn! Tell her you are a STaR Coach Show listener!)

Kym’s profile: AccessSpeakers.biz/speaker/kym-insana-speaker-digital-marketing-expert-business-owner

Connect with Meg

Struggling to enroll more clients? Sign up today for our Enroll More Clients: Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge! It’s free, and we begin on November 10. Get clarity that makes enrolling clients feel natural, not pushy! 

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

As our world becomes increasingly connected, we work with teams spanning continents, cultures, and contexts. What works brilliantly in one culture can completely miss the mark in another. For example, silence in a meeting might mean respect, not disengagement. Humility might be mistaken for a lack of leadership potential, and direct communication styles can either build trust or create distance, depending on who’s listening. If you’re ready to stop making assumptions and get curious about the people you lead and coach, this episode is for you. Join us!

Dr. Ling Hua is an ICF-certified executive leadership coach and former global biotech executive. In today’s episode, she discusses the critical importance of cultural awareness in leadership and shares helpful tips and techniques we can put into practice. Dr. Ling has become an expert in something the world needs more of: leading with cultural respect. Drawing on her experience working across three continents, she explores how leaders and coaches can navigate high- and low-context communication styles, avoid cultural assumptions, and create inclusive environments for diverse teams. 

Show Highlights:

• Understanding what it means to lead with cultural respect 
• High-context vs. low-context communication styles: reading non-verbal cuesFactoring cultural differences into performance reviews
• Mistakes in cross-cultural relationships happen when we don’t understand humility vs. assertiveness.
• Dr. Ling’s tips for cultural awareness in different types of organizations
• The impact of coaching and a coaching mindset on diversity within organizations and individuals
• Dr. Ling’s observations about the evolution of company culture and overall cultural awareness in organizations
• Dr. Ling’s key takeaways about cultural respect in leadership:
• Don’t assume, ask questions.
• Adapt your approach.
• Look beneath the surface.
• Meet people where they are.
• Remember, our differences make us stronger, not weaker. 
• Don’t miss our Enroll More Clients: Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge! It’s free, and we begin on November 10.

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Ling Hua

LinkedIn

Email

Recommended resources for leaders to raise their cultural awareness:

The Culture Map by Erin Meyer and a Harvard Business Review article

“Develop Cultural Intelligence to Lead Global Teams,” by Dr. David Livermore (May 2025)

Connect with Meg

Struggling to enroll more clients? Sign up today for our Enroll More Clients: Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge! It’s free, and we begin on November 10. Get clarity that makes enrolling clients feel natural, not pushy! 

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

Have you ever found yourself staring at your to-do list, desperately wanting to work, but somehow—-NOT working? You’re scrolling through social media, reorganizing your desk, making another coffee—-doing anything but the thing you actually need to do. You are not lazy or broken, and according to today’s guest, your problem isn’t willpower; it’s neuroscience. Are you ready to achieve more with brain-based strategies? Join us for a conversation that will change how you think about productivity. 

Robin J. Emdon, known as “the procrastination slayer,” shares his personal journey from chronic procrastination to accountability coach. After realizing that he took 10 years to complete a 6-year degree due to procrastination, Robin researched the neuroscience behind productivity and wrote Get Resultsology®: The Science of Getting Stuff Done. He explains procrastination through brain science, describing the conflict between threat modality and reward modality. He introduces his “inner productivity team,” the Conductor, the Fun-Sized Warrior, and the Scholar. His work emphasizes that accountability is the critical missing link for sustained productivity, citing research that shows a 33% improvement in goal achievement with the proper accountability structure. Robin’s signature momentum formula, “Do it today–Profit tomorrow–Repeat,” helps clients worldwide turn daily action into meaningful progress and attainable success. He does this from his quiet corner on England’s southwest coast. 

Show Highlights:

• Robin’s journey: a 2019 face-palm moment that changed everything
• The prevalence of procrastination 
• The COVID-19 shutdown—and an opportunity to do meaningful research
• Robin’s embarrassment about his procrastination problem
• The structure of Robin’s book, GetResultsology®: The Science of Getting Stuff Done, divided into three specific sections
• “Money is infinite; you can always make more. Your time and life are finite. Procrastination greatly impacts your ‘time account’.”
• Momentum is the missing link to productivity—and this creates lifestyle freedom.
• To get into “the productivity groove,” you need an inner productivity team: the Conductor (dopamine), the Fun-Sized Warrior (noradrenaline), and the Scholar (acetylcholine).
• Assessing your threat modality vs. your reward modality
• Understanding accountability–and how it drives results

Resources:

Connect with Robin J. Emdon

Website, LinkedIn, and Goalbusters Podcast

Get your FREE PDF copy of Robin’s book, GetResultsology®. Click here. 

Catch Meg’s appearance on Robin J. Emdon’s Goalbusters Podcast. Click here.

Connect with Meg

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

It’s time to celebrate! This week marks 9 years of the STaR Coach Show, so I’m doing something special in today’s episode. I’m pulling back the curtain on the entire journey, sharing the lessons that built this show, the mistakes I’ve made along the way, and the unexpected gifts that come from showing up every week for 9 years.

What matters most is that I’m sharing the most impactful strategy from each phase of the journey, and these are steps you can implement right away. Whether you are considering starting a podcast, offering a course or program, or trying to figure out the consistency element in your own vision, this episode is for you. Join me now, and stick around until the end for a special gift offer!

Show Highlights:

• The beginning, October 16, 2016: My fears about this new endeavor
• Act I:
• Then vs. Now (The podcasting world was a much different place in 2016!)
• No regrets, only resilience and a commitment to my vision

My “one thing” from Act I:

“Stop waiting for the perfect timing.”

Act II:

• Lessons learned:
• Starting is better than perfect.
• I need to partner with genius.
• Know your audience deeply.
• Create systems for a smoother workflow.
• My “one thing” from Act II: “Identify one thing that could derail your biggest business initiative, and figure out how to partner with someone whose genius can remove that obstacle.”

Act III:

• The beautiful benefits and wins over the years are many.
• Your creations allow your work to be in front of more people as they get to know who you are and what you do.
• Meaningful feedback is heartwarming and encouraging.
• My “one thing” from Act III: “When you commit to serving your audience consistently with genuine generosity, the benefits will compound in ways you can never predict.”

Act IV:

• My honest regrets: What I wish I had done differently
• Overcoming hesitancy in letting your audience know what you need from them
• My invitation to join our Know Your People FREE 5-Day Challenge (Find out more at STaR Coach Show.)
• My “one thing” from Act IV:
• “Don’t wait years to ask for what you need. Invite your audience to engage NOW.”

3 questions to ask about doing something new in your business:

• How does it serve my audience?
• How does it align with my passion?
• Will it hold my interest?

Resources:

Connect with Meg

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

Leadership is both a skill and a science. Today’s focus is on what happens the day AFTER a promotion. The problem with promotions is that being good at your job and being good at leading people can be two distinctly different skill sets. This episode will change the way you think about leadership development. Ready to learn more? Join us!

Noel Massie, former VP of Operations at UPS, discusses intentional leadership and value-based development. In his role at UPS, Massie supported and guided package delivery and logistics services in the US, and he continues to mentor young leaders and supervisors even after his retirement in 2019. Drawing from his 40-year career overseeing 200,000 employees, Massie emphasizes that leadership is about influencing behavior without coercion, and that newly promoted supervisors need structured training rather than being thrown into roles unprepared. His book, Congrats! You've Been Promoted, provides practical frameworks like the “four by five method” for feedback and conflict resolution, targeting frontline leaders who are promoted based on technical skills but lack leadership training. You’ll learn how conflict can be handled without raising your voice, why feedback needs a 4:1 ratio to actually work, and the real reason newly promoted supervisors derail within their first year. 

Show Highlights:

• Defining leadership: “the ability to influence a group or individual in their behaviors without coercion”
• Understanding leadership development as a science
• The problem with the promotion gap
• Tips for helping new leaders succeed:
• Care about them.
• Act with some level of daily development.
• Navigating fairness, ethics, and integrity on your team
• Tips for effective feedback (motivational and formative in a 4:1 ratio)
• The “four by five method,” with four perspectives and five levels of intensity
• Using metaphors to disarm the circumstances of a conflict
• Using mentorship and “sticky development” to train leaders
• Noel’s #1 takeaway: “Invest in your development personally. If you make no investment, why would you expect a return?”

Resources:

Connect with Noel Massie: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Congrats! You've Been Promoted

Connect with Meg:

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

Discover how to build an “aligned empire,” a business and life that work together instead of against each other. Today’s guest has mastered the art of balance—not just work-life balance, but proper alignment between career ambitions, family priorities, energy management, and personal fulfillment. Whether you are just starting or feeling overwhelmed by trying to do everything yourself, this conversation will provide a reliable roadmap for building something sustainable that honors your values and ambitions. Join us to learn more!

Kasey D’Amato is a keynote speaker, executive coach, and strategic business advisor who helps business founders and corporate leaders navigate high-stakes decisions and transitions with clarity, confidence, and resilience, without burning out in the process. With over 20 years of experience across healthcare, entrepreneurship, and business consulting, Kasey brings a unique blend of business acumen, human behavior expertise, and emotional intelligence to her work. She has walked multiple career paths, including pharmaceutical sales, founding a global skincare brand, healthcare consulting, and executive leadership advisory. Kasey’s mission is to impact one million entrepreneurs and high achievers, and her core message will challenge how you think about success. She believes a dream life is within reach for those who are willing to lead with intention. You’ll discover Kasey’s “3 Whos” framework that ensures you will never have to navigate your journey alone, and why she swears by 90-day experiments instead of massive overhauls. Kasey is known for her dynamic, actionable, and emotionally intelligent approach to leadership as she guides ambitious entrepreneurs and executives to think bigger, lead better, and align their next move with both performance and personal fulfillment. 

Show Highlights:

• Components of an aligned empire
• Find your Polaris Point™: This is your clear “North Star” that aligns business ventures with personal life goals. Every 90 days, take a step back, assess, and recalibrate your approach. 
• 3 areas of alignment beyond the tactical tools of your industry:
• Self-leadership: mindset, resilience, clarity of purpose/mission, confronting limiting beliefs, and understanding that failure is part of the process (This is 80% of your success!)
• Team leadership: communication, expectations, measures of success, setting examples, and celebrating wins
• Industry leadership: visibility, accountability, a focus on your superpower, and consistency in how you want to be known
• Dream BIG! “Dreams are free in the land of imagination!”
• Implementing 90-day experiments to make progress in specific areas
• Common objections to having alignment partners:
• “I can do it all myself.”
• “I don’t have enough time.”
• I don’t have the money.”
• Hiring with specific growth goals in mind
• Kasey’s framework, your “3 Whos”:
• Who are your mentors and coaches?
• Who are your peers?
• Who are the members of your team?
• Kasey’s biggest takeaways about your journey, guidance, and leaning on your 3 Whos

Resources:

Connect with Kasey D’Amato: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Kasey's Decision Threshold™ Checklist.

Connect with Meg

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

How do you react when a client shares a perspective that fundamentally contradicts everything you believe about fairness, justice, or human dignity? In that moment, you face a choice that could define this session AND the entire coaching relationship. We need to know how to respond when our deeply held beliefs collide with our client’s worldview. Our focus for today’s show is relevant and timely because it is a reality we face more than ever in this polarized world. It is a challenging aspect of professional coaching, and we need to be prepared to navigate this divide. We are discussing practical tools and a framework for maintaining your professional integrity while honoring your client’s integrity and growth. Join us to learn more!

Show Highlights:

• The reality of today’s polarized world: We are more and more likely to encounter clients with deeply rooted differences in values than our own.
• 4 key themes in navigating these values challenges:
• Focus on process over content to maintain coaching effectiveness.
• Use curiosity as the bridge when perspectives diverge.
• Develop the emotional regulation to stay present in the face of discomfort. 
• Cultivate our own self-awareness to recognize when our values might be interfering with our client’s journey.
• Coaching is about the client’s agenda—not the coach’s agreement with that agenda.
• Our job, as a coach, is to balance, support, and challenge that agenda.
• Genuine curiosity transcends judgment and opens possibilities.
• Stay present and remain focused in each session; recognize when your personal triggers are activated.
• Use self-awareness to benefit the client.
• Notice the red flags when your emotional reactions compromise your effectiveness.
• Understanding client-coach compatibility and boundaries
• Ethical considerations to think about regarding race, bias, gender, religion, etc. 
• The core value of humanity in the ISS
• Practical tools for self-reflection (Download my assessment guide to help.)
• Using collaborative (not judgmental)  language about the client-coach partnership
• The coaching mindset in action: Be open, curious, flexible, and client-centered.
• Don’t be afraid of vulnerability and authenticity!
• Your own self-awareness is non-negotiable!
• Mindset is everything.

Resources:

Connect with Meg

Coach’s Self-Reflection Guide

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

External professional achievements, as remarkable as they are, do not always translate to internal fulfillment. There can be a disconnect, so it is essential to take a closer look at success. My guest is joining us from Singapore, and she knows what success is all about! We are covering topics like the paradox of success and holistic well-being. Join us to learn more!

Nancy Ho is a renowned life strategist and personal transformation facilitator with over 26 years of experience helping high-performing professionals, executives, and business leaders achieve both external success and inner fulfillment. Nancy specializes in leadership development, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, integrative self-care, executive presence and influence, and change management. She empowers individuals to overcome internal barriers, embrace vulnerability, and unlock their true potential by designing innovative workshops and providing personalized coaching that fosters authentic growth, resilience, and lasting change. With a holistic approach, Nancy guides clients toward sustainable well-being and peak leadership performance, enriching both their personal and professional lives. She is a featured co-author of Jack Canfield’s book, Success Redefined, as she wrote a chapter titled “The Paradox of Success: Hidden Struggles of High-Performing Professionals.”

Show Highlights

• Redefining success: What is success?
• Nancy’s personal journey to find success
• Striving to find professional achievements and personal satisfaction–and wanting to make a more significant contribution
• Understanding the paradox of success
• Going inward to find alignment and your bigger WHY
• Strategies to find your WHY: (Nancy’s 5-Step Roadmap for Fulfillment)
• Introspection–Identify your core values.
• Individual improvement–Seek continuous growth, no matter your age.
• Integration–Strive for work-life integration, not balance.
• Interpersonal investment–Nurture relationships that truly matter.
• Intrinsic investment–Grow from within and stay current. 
• Finding a different energy to influence and inspire through knowing your WHY
• Nancy’s key takeaway: “What really makes you happy–makes you feel good?”

Resources:

Connect with Nancy Ho: Website, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Success Redefined.

Connect with Meg:

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

Have you ever been tasked with leading a team, only to discover that managing people is nothing like you expected? Have you witnessed talented individuals underperform while you are struggling to gain buy-in on essential initiatives? Are good people leaving your team when you don’t understand why? If any of this sounds familiar, today’s episode is exactly what you need to hear. My guest has cracked the code on the psychology behind team performance, and he’s here to change how you think about leadership forever. You’ll learn the three pillars of building high-performance teams, 11 essential leadership traits, and what makes storytelling your most powerful leadership tool. You’ll also discover the difference between being a manager and being a true leader. Join us!

Manny Fiteni is the CEO of My Growth Corporation and a pioneering leadership strategist with over 30 years of corporate experience specializing in transformative personal development. His core methodology is “the mind congruency,” which he uses along with other innovative platforms. Manny is an author and international speaker who inspires global audiences, equipping individuals with tools for lasting personal and professional transformation. His approach is grounded in real-world applications, delivering measurable results across various industries.  

Show Highlights:

• The difference in management and leadership
• Three pillars of building a high-performing team: environment, true leadership, and mind congruency
• Understanding mind congruency in terms of your operating system
• Using storytelling as a way to overcome barriers and resistance
• True leadership traits:
• The power of us
• Team first
• Mindset
• Consultation
• Open door
• Active listening
• Back them
• Improvement
• Integrity and honesty
• Cut your losses
• Observation
• Manny’s key takeaway: “Look in the mirror to see how you are operating. Awareness is the key.”

Resources:

Connect with Manny Fiteni

Website, LinkedIn, and Mind Growth 360

Connect with Meg

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!

Have you ever wondered why that “perfect” discovery call didn’t convert? Today’s episode covers sales, a topic that makes most coaches break out in a sweat. Most of us don’t know what to do with sales or how to approach selling to achieve success. I’m delighted to welcome today’s guest to share his wealth of knowledge and valuable insights. He teaches us how to shift from fear-based selling to service-based relationship building. Join us!

Jacob Hicks is a keynote speaker and coach with over a decade of experience transforming people’s lives and businesses. He has a special knack for identifying the elements that drive lasting success with systematic approaches that help build lasting engagement.

Show Highlights:

• “Fearless selling:” What it means
• Fear, rejection, and the stories in our heads
• The numbers that tell the truth about sales interactions
• The value we give when we come from a place of service
• Using Jacob’s 5 touchpoints to provide value in specific scenarios
• Systems and processes hold the key to your game plan.
• The power of a handwritten note/card
• Using a CRM to manage interactions with automation
• Examples of a drip campaign using newsletters and mini-courses
• Feeling better about rejection by changing your mindset to one of abundance
• Sell by making connections and providing value
• Consistency is essential!
• Jacob’s takeaways: “Your mindset is huge. Be consistent. Try new things and follow the 80-20 rule.”

Resources:

Connect with Jacob Hicks: Website, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook

Connect with Meg:

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com. 

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT.

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Sprint 5-Day Challenge!