What if your business was never supposed to be the main thing?

In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rache Brooks gets honest about what it cost her to build a business on top of her life instead of underneath it — the burnout, the bitterness, the resentment toward the very thing she built to set her free. And what finally changed.

If your business feels like a burden right now, this episode was made for you.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why so many purpose-driven women end up imprisoned by the very thing they built to be free
• The real reason your business cracked when life got hard — and it has nothing to do with your effort
• The 3 things your business actually needs to support your real life, not your highlight reel
• Why your business must be able to run on your worst days, not just your best ones
• How to stop performing your business and start actually living it

Scripture for the Soul:

"Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established." — Proverbs 16:3

Key Quotes:

"The problem wasn't my effort. The problem was that I had built a business on top of my life instead of underneath it."

"A simpler business is not a smaller dream. It's actually a smarter one."

"Your life is not a liability to your business. It's the whole point."

Your Next Step:

If this episode landed for you, the next step is simple. Every Thursday at 8am, Rachel goes deeper on building a simple, sustainable business rooted in faith and freedom. Join the conversation:

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly: iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

When you're ready to do the work: The Freedom Framework — iamrachelbrooks.com/freedom

Connect with Rachel Brooks:

The Confident Woman Weekly: iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

The Freedom Framework: freedom.iamrachelbrooks.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/iamrachelbrooks

Website: iamrachelbrooks.com

If you have been through a season that rewired you — grief, loss, collapse, or the quiet kind of breaking that nobody sees from the outside, and you can feel the pull to create again, but you keep talking yourself out of it, this episode is for you.

In this solo episode, Rachel Brooks gets honest about the tension between healing and building, why most faith-fueled founders keep waiting for a finish line that never comes, and what it actually looks like to start creating again before you feel ready. This is not a conversation about motivation. It is a conversation about permission, and why the only person who can give it to you is you.

What You'll Learn:

• Why healing and building are not two separate seasons, you live back to back, and what you lose every day you treat them like they are
• The "graduation day" lie that keeps driven, faith-fueled founders stuck in the in-between longer than they need to be
• How to tell the difference between creating from surrender and creating from striving, and why that distinction changes everything about what you build
• What it actually means to simplify your business from a place of discernment, not defeat or burnout
• Why the business built in the rebuilding season is often the truest, most sustainable thing a founder ever creates

Key Quotes:

"Healing doesn't have a graduation day. And if I waited until I felt fully healed before I allowed myself to create again, I would be waiting for the rest of my life."

"You don't have to be finished to start. You just have to be honest about where you are and be willing to build from that place."

"Creation is not the opposite of rest. When it comes from surrender instead of striving, it is the rest."

Ready to Keep Going?

If this episode met you where you are, here is where to go next.

If your business feels as scattered as your life has been and you need one clear, simple foundation to build from, start with The Freedom Framework. It is the step-by-step system for the faith-fueled founder who is done overcomplicating and ready to build something that actually holds.

If you are doing the identity work and the business work at the same time and realizing they have always been the same thing, I Am Becoming meets you there.

If you are done waiting and need someone to look at the full picture, tell you the truth about what is broken, and hand you a blueprint to fix it, a Strategic Clarity Session is 90 minutes that changes the next 90 days.

And if you want to go deeper every Thursday, real talk on building a simple, sustainable business rooted in faith and freedom, subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly. It lands in your inbox every Thursday at 8:00 AM.

Connect with Rachel Brooks:

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Subscribe to the Newsletter

Most women are not hiding because they don't want to be known. They're hiding because they've decided the real version of them, the full, unedited, messy, complicated version, would cost them their seat at the table.

Tommi Vincent spent decades believing that too. Then she realized the ingredients she was most ashamed of were the ones God intended to use all along.

In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, host Rachel Brooks is joined by Tommi Vincent, author of The Table of Life: Nourishing the Soul with Food, Love, and Faith. Part memoir, part cookbook, entirely soul-stirring. Tommi is a classically trained chef, a domestic violence survivor, and a sought-after speaker who has stood on stages for the NFL, JP Morgan Chase, and TED Sports. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and Savoy Magazine. But what makes this conversation powerful is not her resume. It is what she has had to confront privately to get there, and what she has built on the other side of it.

This episode is for the woman who has been showing up as a curated version of herself so no one sees what is really going on inside. The woman who has been carrying something she has never said out loud. The woman who is tired of performing and ready to find out what God can actually do with her whole, unfiltered story.

Talking Points and Takeaways

• Why the things you think disqualify you are actually your greatest qualifiers
• How healing anchors, whether cooking, fitness, or faith, reveal your true state of wellbeing
• What it means to build your own table one dish at a time using all the ingredients of your life
• Why naming your pain is how you turn the light on it
• How to feel the hard things without letting them consume who you are becoming
• Why belonging begins when you stop hiding the parts of yourself you are most ashamed of

Quotes

"The things I thought were my disqualifiers were actually my greatest qualifiers. I brought those ingredients to the table."

"God was not turning the light out. He was turning the light on so I could finally see me."

"Feel it, but don't allow those feelings to prosper."

"When you name it, that's turning the light on it. And the moment you turn the light on, the darkness can't exist."

Next Steps

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly — where Rachel goes deeper every Thursday on identity, faith, and building a life and business rooted in freedom. Subscribe: www.iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

Connect with Tommi Vincent

Book: The Table of Life (Amazon)

Website: tommiv.com

Social: @ChefTommiV

Connect with Rachel Brooks

The Confident Woman Weekly: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

The Freedom Framework: https://freedom.iamrachelbrooks.com

Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com

LinkedIn: Rachel Brooks

You open your laptop, you've got your sticky notes and your plan of attack — and within minutes, you're overwhelmed. Not because you don't know what to do, but because you have too many things you could do and no idea what actually moves the needle.

That's not a motivation problem. It's a systems problem. And it's the most expensive one in your business — because it disguises itself as productivity.

In this solo episode, Rachel breaks down why your business feels chaotic, walks you through three diagnostic questions to find the source, and shares her simplification framework for building a business that actually converts — without the burnout.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why caring too much leads to overcomplication — and how "doing more" is actually keeping you stuck
• Three honest questions that reveal whether your business is chaotic or just busy
• The "hallway vs. maze" framework for simplifying your customer journey
• Why selling from a past version of yourself creates misalignment (and what to do instead)
• A simple exercise to find your ONE offer and realign everything around it

Scripture for the Soul:

"For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." — 1 Corinthians 14:33

Key Quotes:

"You're not failing because you're lazy. You're failing because you're doing too much without a clear path."

"Your business should feel like a hallway, not a maze. One door in. One path forward. One destination."

"Simplification isn't shrinking. It's stewardship."

Your Next Step:

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly — where Rachel goes deeper every Thursday on building a simple, sustainable business rooted in faith and freedom. → Subscribe: www.iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

Resources + Links:

• The Confident Woman Weekly (newsletter): www.iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe
• The Freedom Framework: freedom.iamrachelbrooks.com
• Website: www.iamrachelbrooks.com

Connect with Rachel Brooks:

• LinkedIn: Rachel Brooks
• Website: www.iamrachelbrooks.com
• Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks

What happens when you've rebuilt your identity—but your business no longer fits who you've become?

In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, host Rachel Brooks tackles the question no one talks about after reinvention: "Now what do I build?"

After a year of deep identity work through grief and loss, we're turning a corner—from processing to building. And we'll be discovering that rebuilding your identity doesn't automatically tell you how to rebuild your business.

In this episode, Rachel shares:

• Why you can't rebuild the old business with a new identity—and what to do instead
• How simplification became a necessity (not just a strategy) when life stripped everything down to essentials
• The uncomfortable truth about letting go of who you were building for—and why your audience might change when you do
• The 3 questions every woman in reinvention needs to ask about her business
• What to build now: one core message, one core offer, and a business rooted in faith instead of hustle

This episode is for you if:

• You've done the inner work but don't know how to translate that into your business
• You're carrying offers, content, or structures that no longer align with who you're becoming
• You're burned out from trying to be everything to everyone
• You're ready to simplify and build something sustainable

Key Quotes:

"Reinvention isn't about becoming someone new. It's about building from who you've become."

"You can't serve everyone. And trying to will kill you."

"God doesn't waste your wilderness. He uses it to prepare you for what's coming."

Resources Mentioned:

I Am... Becoming - Rachel's identity-level program for women ready to stop rebuilding the same life with a different label and start building from wisdom instead of wounds. → Start here: www.iamrachelbrooks.com/i-am-becoming

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Newsletter - Weekly strategies for building a simple, sustainable business delivered every Thursday at 8 AM. → Subscribe: www.iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

Connect with Rachel Brooks:

Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks

LinkedIn: Rachel Brooks

Website: www.iamrachelbrooks.com

Questions for Reflection:

1. What am I carrying from the old version of my business that no longer fits who I'm becoming?
2. Who am I actually called to serve—and am I trying to serve too many people?
3. What would simplification look like if I applied it ruthlessly to my business?

Someone asks you to take on something new—an opportunity, a project, a leadership moment—and before you even consider it, your brain shuts it down with two words: “I can’t.”

In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel breaks down what limiting beliefs really are—not the loud, obvious ones, but the quiet, automatic stories and phrases you repeat so often they start to sound like truth.

She explains why limiting beliefs are dangerous, how they quietly shape your identity, and how to change the internal conversation that keeps you stuck—so you stop speaking death over your potential and start speaking life.

This conversation is grounded in Scripture and practical application, giving you a simple framework to identify one belief that’s been costing you momentum and replace it with truth and action.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What limiting beliefs actually sound like in everyday life
• Why “that’s just how I am” is one of the most dangerous phrases we say
• How your words shape your identity and future
• Why awareness is the first step to real change
• A simple assignment to challenge one belief this week with action

Scripture for the Soul:

• Proverbs 18:21
• 2 Corinthians 10:5
• James 1:19

Action Step:

Identify one limiting belief you’ve been repeating—out loud or internally. Ask yourself: Is this actually true, or just familiar? Then take one small action this week that contradicts that belief.

Because new evidence creates new beliefs—and new beliefs create new identities.

Next steps:

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly https://iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

Start with I Am Enough (10-Minute Reset) https://iamrachelbrooks.com/reset

Connect with Rachel Brooks:

Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com

Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks

LinkedIn: iamrachelbrooks.com/linkedin

You can chase “success” for years and still feel empty, exhausted, and off on the inside. In this solo episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks breaks down why real success isn’t the boxes you check, the titles you collect, or the numbers you hit—it’s personal, values-based, and rooted in what actually matters to you.

Rachel talks about the cost of living by everyone else’s standards, why boundaries are self-respect (not selfishness), and how perfectionism keeps you stuck—hesitating, overthinking, and refusing to start unless the outcome feels guaranteed.

She also names what a lot of women won’t say out loud: you can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely—and if the community you need doesn’t exist, sometimes you have to create it.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why “success” is personal—and what changes when you stop living by someone else’s definition
• How boundaries protect your peace, time, and identity (and why they’re self-respect)
• What perfectionism actually does to your progress—and how “good enough” unlocks movement
• Why loneliness shows up even when you’re “doing everything right,” and how to find or build real community
• A simple end-of-episode check-in: are you investing your energy in what matters most?

If this episode hit you, share it with a woman who’s tired of striving and needs language for what she’s been carrying.

Next steps:

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

Start with I Am Enough (10-Minute Reset): https://iamrachelbrooks.com/reset

trategic Clarity & Stewardship Session: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/strategy-session

Connect with Rachel Brooks:

Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com

Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks

LinkedIn: iamrachelbrooks.com/linkedin

Fear doesn’t usually stop people loudly. More often, it works quietly—shaping decisions, limiting confidence, and keeping capable leaders stuck in patterns that no longer fit.

In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks sits down with Thea Wood, co-founder of Hive Fit Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, to talk about fear, faith, confidence, and what real transformation actually requires. Hive Fit Club is more than a gym—it’s a wellness experience rooted in community, recovery, and whole-person health. But what makes this conversation powerful isn’t just what Thea has built publicly; it’s what she’s had to confront privately to get there.

Thea shares her journey through insecurity, fear, and rebuilding—personally, spiritually, and professionally—and how those experiences shaped her leadership, marriage, and mission. Together, Rachel and Thea unpack why fear is the number one killer of dreams, how faith anchors confidence when uncertainty shows up, and why lasting change always begins internally before it ever shows externally.

This episode is for leaders, founders, entrepreneurs, and builders who appear strong on the outside but know fear has been quietly influencing their decisions. If you’ve been navigating growth while wrestling with fear, this conversation will meet you where you are and invite you forward.

Talking Points & Takeaways

• Why fear often disguises itself as logic, responsibility, or caution
• How faith reshapes confidence, identity, and leadership
• The difference between motivation and true transformation
• Why community is essential for lasting change
• How personal healing often precedes professional growth
• What it looks like to take bold action even when fear is present

Memorable Quotes

• “Fear doesn’t usually stop us loudly—it convinces us quietly.”
• “Confidence isn’t the absence of fear; it’s knowing who you are when fear shows up.”
• “Transformation that lasts always begins internally.”
• “You don’t build a strong life by doing it alone.”

Next Steps

If this episode stirred something in you and you know fear has been influencing your decisions, your next step doesn’t have to be complicated.

Visit START to choose a clear next step based on where you are right now—whether that’s reflection, deeper identity work, or personalized guidance. 👉 https://iamrachelbrooks.com/start

Connect with Thea Wood & Hive Fit Club

Hive Fit Club — Scottsdale, AZ

https://hivefitclub.com

Instagram: @thehivefitclub

Thea Wood on Instagram: @theawood

Kick Fear In The Face: @kickfearintheface

Connect with Rachel Brooks

The Confident Woman Weekly: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/subssccribe

Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com

Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks

Starting over sounds simple in theory—a fresh page, a clean slate, a new beginning. But in real life, starting over is rarely neat or easy. It’s often messy, emotional, and uncertain, especially when you’re letting go of a version of yourself that once worked.

In this solo episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks speaks to the woman who feels caught between who she has been and who she knows God is calling her to become. She explores why real starting over isn’t just about changing circumstances, routines, or goals—it’s identity-level work. Without an internal shift, old patterns quietly follow us into new seasons.

Anchored in faith, this episode unpacks why starting over requires surrender rather than control, release rather than hustle, and trust rather than certainty. Rachel shares why uncertainty isn’t the same as danger, how God often reveals the next step instead of the full plan, and why beginning again doesn’t mean failure—it means awareness.

This episode is an invitation to stop forcing what no longer fits and allow God to redefine you from the inside out.

Talking Points & Takeaways

• Why starting over is emotional, spiritual, and identity-level
• How old patterns follow you into new seasons when identity doesn’t change
• The difference between uncertainty and danger
• Why surrender is the doorway to peace
• How letting go of survival-based identities creates space for growth

Scripture for the Soul

“If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, and the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Memorable Quotes

• “Starting over isn’t just external. It’s internal.”
• “Uncertainty isn’t always unsafe—it’s where faith can breathe.”
• “Starting over doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re awake.”

Next Steps

If this episode resonated and you’re ready to begin again but need clarity on what comes next, visit START to choose your next step with intention. https://iamrachelbrooks.com/start

If you’re seeking high-level clarity and direction, you can also explore a private strategy call. https://iamrachelbrooks.com/work-with-me

Connect with Rachel Brooks

Listen to more episodes: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/play

Subscribe to The Confident Woman Weekly: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/newsletter

Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com

Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks

Have you ever reached the end of a season and realized you moved through it on autopilot—doing what you had to do to survive, but never stopping long enough to reflect on what it shaped in you?

In this solo episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks invites you to slow down and take honest inventory of your life. Not to relive the past or judge yourself for how you handled it, but to learn from it with clarity, compassion, and wisdom.

This episode is a guided reflection designed to help you move forward without dragging unnecessary weight into what’s next. Rachel walks through three powerful reflection questions that help you notice gratitude you may have missed, patterns that need to be named so they stop repeating, and what this season taught you that you’re meant to carry forward—or finally release.

Reflection isn’t about getting stuck in the past. It’s about redeeming it. When you take time to understand what a season required of you and what it formed in you, hindsight becomes a teacher instead of a critic.

This conversation is for anyone who feels like they’re rushing into the next chapter without fully understanding the one they’re closing. It’s an invitation to pause, reflect, and move forward with intention instead of pressure.

In this episode, you’ll reflect on:

• Why reflection is essential before moving into a new season
• How to look back without judgment or shame
• What this season taught you that you couldn’t have learned any other way
• Gratitude you may have missed while you were just getting through
• Patterns that continue until they’re named
• What you’re meant to carry forward—and what you’re done carrying

Scripture For the Soul

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” — Psalm 90:12

Continue the Reflection

If this episode stirred something in you and you want a quiet, intentional space to continue reflecting, you can explore Create Your Own Story. This inspirational blank journal-style, paired with reflections and points to ponder, is designed to help you process seasons of transition, identity, and becoming.

→ Explore Create Your Own Story: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/create-your-own-story-journal

To receive weekly faith-anchored reflections and updates from The Confident Woman, subscribe to the weekly newsletter.

→ Subscribe here: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/newsletter

And if you’re ready to pause and begin with intention, you can start here:

→ Start: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/start

Connect with Rachel Brooks

Listen to more episodes: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/play

Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com

Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks