tena talks

Before You Pivot, Invite

What if the thing that feels like it isn’t working anymore… isn’t actually broken?

When numbers drop, engagement gets quieter, or something that used to work starts to feel different, our entrepreneurial instinct is often to change it.

New offer. New messaging. New strategy. New plan.

But before you pivot, there’s another question worth asking:

What was I doing when this worked that I’m no longer doing?

In this episode of Tena Talks, I’m sharing a simple story about my husband’s Sunday morning hiking group—and what happened when a group that had dwindled to just two people received something incredibly simple the following week:

A personal invitation.

More than a dozen guys showed up.

Same hike. Same time. Same place.

The difference was the invitation.

We’re talking about how quickly we can turn one disappointing result into a conclusion, what happens when we accidentally automate the human parts out of our businesses, and why some of the things that feel too simple to count might actually be our biggest advantages.

Because sometimes the thing you’re trying to replace with a strategy is actually one of your Cheat Codes.

• Why quiet doesn’t automatically mean something has stopped working

• The difference between information and a conclusion

• Why it’s worth looking at what you were doing when something worked well

• How automation and scalability can unintentionally remove the human part of business

• The power of a personal invitation

• Why the things that come most naturally to you are often the easiest to overlook

• How those natural behaviors can point directly to your Cheat Codes

• Three questions to ask before you pivot

• One simple action you can take this week

I reference a recent message from Pastor Sten Carlson at Midcurrent Church in this episode—especially his thoughts around making people feel personally seen.

Watch the Midcurrent Church sermon on YouTube

Some of the things that come most naturally to you may be the exact things you’ve stopped recognizing as an advantage.

Use the Cheat Code Bot to start uncovering the patterns, instincts, experiences, and ways of working that make you uniquely effective.

Get the Cheat Code Bot at TenaPettis.com

Choose one thing in your business that has gotten quieter—but that you still believe has value.

Then think of one person who would genuinely benefit from it.

Send the text.

Send the email.

Send the DM.

Tell them you thought of them.

Invite them.

Because before you assume the thing has stopped working, it might be worth asking whether you simply stopped doing the things that helped it work.

Don’t confuse “I stopped working it” with “it stopped working.”

And before you pivot…

Invite.

In This EpisodeLinks + ResourcesMidcurrent Church — Pastor Sten CarlsonFind Your Cheat CodesOne Thing to Try This Week

I don’t think most women in business have an information problem. I think we have an accumulation problem.

Saved posts. Unread emails. Half-finished courses. Screenshots we promised ourselves we’d revisit. Ideas scattered across six different places.

Collecting all of it can feel productive, but every new input creates another decision and makes it harder to hear our own instincts.

In this episode, we’re talking about what digital clutter is really costing you, why organizing and curating are not the same thing, and how making room can help you recognize your own ideas, evidence, and Cheat Codes again.

Because you probably don’t need another idea. You need enough room to recognize the good ones you already have.

SHOW NOTES

Discover your Signature Cheat Code:
www.tenapettis.com

Join Make Room, the 5-Day Curate Your Digital Life Experience:
www.tenapettis.com/make-room

I have always loved the idea of decluttering.

I’m not a full minimalist, but I want to be. I love the calm of less. I love the clarity it brings. And I’ve learned (the hard way) that when my space is heavy, my brain usually is too.

This episode started because I decluttered 2025 in 2025—and now I’m doing the same thing with 2026. Not in a dramatic, rip-the-house-apart way. Just intentionally asking: What doesn’t need to come with me?

Especially after closing tena.cious and the salon, I realized how much stuff I was holding onto that belonged to old seasons. Boxes, papers, things I hadn’t touched—but also hadn’t released.

-------------------------------------------------------

What I Talk About in This Episode

• My long-standing obsession with decluttering and my wannabe minimalism
  

• Why clutter piled up after closing businesses—and what that taught me
  

• Watching Hoarders and realizing clutter is almost never about the stuff
  

• What I’ve learned (and borrowed) from Marie Kondo and Minimal Mom, including:
  

• If you can replace it for $20 or less, let it go
  

• The container rule (your space decides, not your emotions)
  

• Why 5 minutes actually matters more than an all-day purge
  

• The difference between organizing clutter and actually reducing it

-------------------------------------------------------A Few Stats Worth Sitting With

• 80% of Americans feel overwhelmed by home clutter
  

• A cluttered space can reduce creativity by up to 20%
  

• 50% of people say clutter makes it hard to find what they need
  

• Unread emails and digital files create mental clutter that increases stress and lowers performance (Cleveland Clinic)
  

• The average American household has over 300,000 items, and most people say it’s too much
  

-------------------------------------------------------Resources I Mentioned

• 2026 Declutter Sheet This is what I’m using to track what I’m intentionally not bringing into the year ahead:

  👉 https://www.canva.com/design/DAG8MK0aTbU/yUKhyC7pvNGw_6xhCQYzfw/edit?utm_content=DAG8MK0aTbU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
  

• Permission Slip Instagram Channel This is where I’m sharing updates, reflections, and a 2026 declutter challenge:

  👉 https://www.instagram.com/channel/AbZkRMwMdSB6vt8o/?igsh=d3l0bXZ4Y2FqNXV1
  

-------------------------------------------------------Final Thought

Before you decide what you want more of in 2026,

it might be worth deciding what you’re done carrying.

Less stuff.

Less noise.

More room to think.

If this episode resonated, come join the conversation inside the Permission Slip channel. I’ll be there—decluttering one decision at a time.

In this episode, I share a moment from my son Leighton’s Junior Gold hockey season that stopped me in my tracks.

For the first time, I noticed teams shaking hands before the game instead of after. At first, it felt a little ridiculous. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

These are 15- and 16-year-old boys.

They’ve been trash-talked for 90 minutes.

Emotions are high.

Bodies are tired.

So the adults changed the rule—not because tradition was wrong, but because the season was different.

That moment sent my business brain spinning.

I talk about the changes I’ve made that felt the same way:

• Hiring my first graphic designer when design was part of my identity

• Closing tena.cious, even though it “worked” and made sense to everyone else

• Letting go of hustle-heavy seasons that once fit, but no longer did

There was a time when more content, more offers, and more hustle made sense.

Now, consistency beats intensity.

Connection beats reach.

Depth beats scale.

Same woman.

New rules.

We also talk about the quiet thoughts so many women carry:

• “I built this business on grit, but I don’t have grit like that anymore.”

• “If I slow down, people will think I couldn’t handle it.”

• “This still makes money, but I dread delivering it.”

• “I don’t want to quit… but I don’t want to do this forever.”

And why those thoughts don’t mean you’re failing—they mean something has shifted.

I also share stories from women I deeply respect—like Sara Capecchi of Capecchi & Company and Kim Peterson, founder of KPT Collaborative and KPT Mortgage—who made intentional changes not because something failed, but because they could feel the season shifting and chose to lead ahead of it.

You can learn more about their work here:

🔗 Sara Capecchi – https://www.capecchiandcompany.com/

🔗 Kim Peterson – https://kptcollaborative.com/ +  https://www.kptmortgage.com/

If this episode feels like it’s poking at something for you, here’s what I want you to know:

You’re not inconsistent.

You’re not flaky.

And you’re not failing.

You’re in a new season.

This is the work I do inside FLOW—helping women adjust the rules before burnout, resentment, or exhaustion makes the decision for them.

If you’re curious, you can learn more here:

👉 www.tenapettis.com/flow

No rush.

No pressure.

Just an invitation.

What are you still doing in your business simply because it used to work—even though your season of life and definition of success have changed?

Sometimes the tradition isn’t wrong.

It’s just outdated for the season you’re in.

Tena Pettis

www.tenapettis.com

www.intagram.com/tenapettis 

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way. I don’t like McDonald’s. But I do love marketing. I can sniff out a good marketing strategy from a mile away.

So when the Grinch fries started trending, I knew something was up. And when I realized they also dropped an adult Happy Meal with socks and DIY fry salt, I thought, oh, they are not playing. They are going straight for the 80’s kid in all of us.

Here is the truth. They are not selling fries. They are selling the feeling of being 8 again.

In this episode, I walk you through the entire promo from the socks (yes, four pairs, and yes, I would need to collect them all) to the shaking the salt in the bag moment that people cannot stop filming for the gram. McDonald’s basically built an experience around french fries. And it worked.

And if your brain has not already started spinning with ideas for your own business, it will.

Because nostalgia is one of the most powerful marketing tools we have and almost no one is using it intentionally.

In this conversation, we dive into:

• Why we are always selling a feeling, not a product

• How nostalgia makes people feel more like themselves and why that matters

• The NKOTB moment in my book and why my editor instantly knew I was her people

• The purple Grimace playground chair and how identity lives in moments

• The conference DJ who nailed her audience with one song

• The dōTERRA Breathe oil that smells exactly like Vicks VapoRub and why it always hits

• Why pop culture references make you instantly relatable

• How nostalgia can turn your marketing from noise into a dopamine hit

Then we take it further and talk about how you can add nostalgia into your brand this week. Nothing complicated. Nothing gimmicky. Just fun, smart, deeply human ideas you can put to work immediately.

We talk about:

1. Adding nostalgia to your offer through the name, the gift, or the experience

2. Using throwback language and why it builds connection

3. Creating something collectible like stickers, badges, or punch cards

4. Sharing childhood stories so your audience feels seen and connected

If you have been feeling stuck, boring, overwhelmed, or like your content is blending in, nostalgia might be the cheat code you have been looking for. And honestly, this might be one of my favorite episodes so far.

Let’s Connect

If memories came flooding in while you listened, I want to hear them. Send me a message on Instagram @tenapettis and tell me what came up. Your Happy Meal toy, your TGIF lineup, your scent-trigger memory, all of it.

Sharing this episode with a friend is the best way to support the show and it truly means a lot.

Grab the Book

If nostalgia is your jam and you’re looking for your next biz read, you may just want to grab up my book over on Amazon: Remind Them of No One https://a.co/d/f5ccqkm

Tena Pettis

www.tenapettis.com

www.intagram.com/tenapettis

After 20+ years of carrying the dream of writing a book, I finally did it. But here’s the thing: Remind Them of No One is not what you might expect. In this episode, I’m sharing why I wrote it, what it’s really not about, and three lessons from the writing process that apply to any big dream you’re chasing.

Whether you’re thinking about starting a business, launching a new project, or finally saying yes to the thing you’ve been sitting on—this episode is for you.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

Why I finally sat down to write the book (after decades of waiting).

The moment my editor caught a big miss (yes, I forgot one of my kids 😳).

Why resistance is actually a good sign when you’re chasing a dream.

How clarity shows up once you start moving—never before.

A cheat code you can apply right now to take one imperfect step forward.

Links + Resources:

Grab Remind Them of No One on Amazon (available August 20). https://a.co/d/23D1Sht

Come celebrate at the launch party on September 11 — RSVP here. https://tenapettis.myflodesk.com/booklaunch

In this episode of Tena Talks, we introduce Sarah Ball, a dynamic entrepreneur, owner of Snø Hill Chapel in Ellsworth, WI and co-founder of the ORIGIN Marriage Ministry (with me!). Sarah shares her inspiring journey, from her background as an ER nurse and health coach to her passion for event planning, community building and simply loving people well. She reveals how her dream of owning a little white chapel became a reality with Snø Hill Chapel, a historic Norwegian church transformed into a vibrant event center.

Sarah and Tena discuss their shared passion for supporting marriages through ORIGIN Marriage Ministry, which hosts regular date nights to foster connection and intimacy among couples. They also touch on the serendipitous way they met through their mutual therapist, highlighting the power of unexpected friendships.

This episode is the first in a series featuring Sarah, where she will delve deeper into her vision for Snø Hill Chapel and our shared mission with ORIGIN . Tune in for an uplifting conversation about turning dreams into reality and the importance of community and friendship. 

Sarah (Englund) Ball • www.instagram.com/sball1180

Snø Hill Chapel • www.snohillchapel.com + www.instagram.com/snohillchapel

Tena Pettis • www.tenapettis.com + www.instagram.com/tenapettis 

Origin Marriage Ministry • www.instagram.com/originmarriage

Tena Pettis is back! After a long break, Tena returns to the podcast, sharing how amazing it feels to hit the record button again. This episode dives into the magic of networking—specifically the unintentional yet impactful connections that happen in coffee shops. Tena shares personal anecdotes, lessons from her dad’s networking skills, and why face-to-face interactions can’t be replaced.

Discover how your favorite local spots can become community hubs, fostering authentic relationships that support both personal and professional growth. Plus, hear how Tena uses these interactions to create meaningful connections for her business while reminiscing about her journey from small-town Minnesota to vibrant coffee shop communities.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Notable Quotes:

Connect with Tena:

Join the Conversation:
Are you excited about Tena’s return? Have you experienced the magic of organic networking? Share your thoughts and coffee shop stories on Instagram or leave a comment on the podcast page.

Episode Challenge:
Find a local coffee shop, strike up a conversation, or reconnect with an old friend. See how the power of small, intentional interactions can create big impacts in your life and business.

Start brewing your favorite coffee, grab your notebook, and tune in to this heartwarming and actionable episode!

1. Choose one pivotal aspect of your business to work on right now – something that will bring you a concrete win.
2. Dedicate specific time in your schedule to these critical tasks. Making working on your business a priority is essential.
3. Paint a vivid picture of what these efforts will achieve when they're completed. Visualize the impact and benefits they'll bring to your business.

• Productivity Retreats: These retreats allowed me to step away from the daily grind and focus on strategic planning and growth.
• "Fall in Love with Twitter" Online Course: Taking 3 days to write, design and launch a new online course.
• "Contagiously Confident" Program: Creating this program not only generated income but also expanded my brand's reach and reputation.
• "FLOW" Group Membership: One week to pull together an idea and create an entire community. Here is more information on this current membership: www.tenapettis.com/flow 

I interrupt this somewhat mostly biz podcast to shed some bright lights on parenting. If you are a mama or dad to littles (meaning, anyone that lives in your house rent free) -- this episode will surely be a breathe of fresh air for you. I have had a coach in nearly every area of my life, but a parent coach was not one of them. When I met Pam (my guest today) I just knew I had to learn more about her practice and message.

Pam Thompson is a Certified Parent Coach with Connected Families who specializes in grace, truth and hope. She has 4 messages she wants every parent to be able to learn and implement for themselves and their kids: 

1. You are safe with me. 
2. You are loved no matter what. 
3. You are called and capable. 
4. You are responsible for your actions.

The details she goes into on this episode about these 4 messages are ones you will want to write down! 

I cried. It doesn't happen often, but when it does -- you know it. This topic of parenting is a tough one for me. We have had our fair share of 'I knew that happened... but not to me or my kids'. Thankfully I've never been the parent to say 'my kids will never...' phew, cause that was most certainly a close one. We have walked thru much of it really messy with a lot of sorry's and I love you's. These messages from Pam have been so helpful to truly bring grace, truth and hope to our home. 

You can contact Pam on her website www.cordsofhopecoaching.com or email [email protected] 

- tena pettis
www.tenapettis.com
www.instagram.com/tenapettis