The Gutsy Podcast | Mindset, Personal Development & Entrepreneurship for Women

How much of what you believe about yourself, your career, your business, and even what's possible for you is actually true? And how much of it is just a story you picked up somewhere along the way and never thought to question?

Maybe somebody told you that you weren't good at something. Maybe you watched everyone else do life or business a certain kind of way and assumed that must be the only way. Or maybe you've been living a belief for so long that you don't even realize it's a belief anymore.

Today's guest, Jen Allison, grew up hearing that art doesn't pay the bills. So she studied biology. Then she lost her dad at 25 and learned he'd had her charcoal drawing professionally framed and hung behind his desk the whole time. The story she'd built her life around wasn't the whole story at all.

We get into how these inherited stories show up in business, why it's so easy to hand our power over to somebody who seems like they have the answer, and Jen walks us through her Lens Shift method: noticing, questioning, choosing, and then actually doing the damn thing. 

Recognizing the old story is one thing. Questioning it is another. But at some point, if you want to create a different life or story, you've got to be willing to act without knowing exactly how it's going to end. Sometimes that takes a little curiosity, a big swing, and as Jen would say, a sprinkle of delusion.

In this episode:

• Growing up with "art doesn't pay the bills"
• The Lens Shift method: notice, question, choose, act
• Using "what if" to get curious
• Inherited stories in business
• Familiarity vs. truth
• Going for it without proof of evidence
• Rewriting your story

Jen's free "5 Questions" exercise: A simple way to start noticing the lens you're looking through before you make your next big decision. 

Jen's TEDx talk, "Every Image Is a Decision": Ten minutes that will make you look at images, and the stories behind them, differently.

Auralign Mastermind: My high-touch coaching program for women who know they've got something great to offer and want help making sense of what's in their head, narrowing their focus, and finding the shit that's stopping them. Your business grows because you grow.

Clarity Session: A 30-minute conversation with me to talk through what's going on and figure out your right next step. 

🎙️ Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📲 Follow LauraAura on TikTok: @ThatLauraAura

🔥 Join The Gutsy Collective: Learn More

💡 Work with LauraAura: www.LauraAura.com

Connect with Jen

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Connect with LauraAura

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We find things that work, we start to gain some traction, and then we're like, “oh, wait a second, let me go over here and invent this whole other thing and make this way more complicated so that it feels like I'm not getting any traction.” 

Gosh, why do we do this to ourselves???

Here's what I've learned, from myself and from the women I work with: you already know what works. You have the tools. You've already found the solution, and it's right in front of you. Nine times out of ten, it's the easiest shit in the world, but instead we buy into another program and fill our time with busy work. Or we create something brand new instead of going all in on what we've already built.

You have everything you need, so stop for a second and be honest about what actually works for you. Then, take your Powerback® and give yourself the chance to see it through. 

We’ll go through:

• Why we go back to the busy instead of the thing that's working
• The four reasons we avoid the work that works
• Three ways to handle the mundane
• Asking where your output is exceeding your input
• Closing The Gutsy Collective and why it was a graduation, not a failure
• Your 30-day challenge: pick one thing that works and go all in

Auralign Mastermind: The high-touch coaching program I’m going all in on. It's a small group for women in business who are ready to refine, expand, and evolve what they've built.

Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

How many times have you told yourself, I'll do it when I feel a little bit more confident? When I feel more ready, when I know what I'm doing, when I'm sure that I won't fail, when I stop caring so much about what everyone else thinks...

It's not really how confidence works, is it? Confidence isn't something that you magically acquire and then start making bold moves. You make the moves, and then those moves become the evidence that you can trust yourself to keep going.

Today's guest, Simone Knego, knows this firsthand. She was struggling with self-doubt and didn't feel like she was doing anything big in the world, so when someone asked her to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, she said yes. She is not a climber, but that climb changed how she saw herself, and how her six kids saw her too.

You don't need more confidence to make the move. Sometimes the move is exactly how you become the next version of yourself! 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why confidence is built, not born
• Worrying about what other people think
• Dropping the "just"
• The Control-Alt-Delete method
• Keeping the promises you make to yourself
• Finding your Kilimanjaro
• Handling criticism
• The REAL Method™
• Self-trust and preparation

REAL Confidence: A Simple Guide to Go From Unsure to Unshakeable
Simone's newest book, where she breaks down the REAL Method™: Respect yourself, Embrace your failures, Ask yourself what you want, and Live without limits.

The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You (free audiobook)
Simone's bestselling first book, free in audiobook form for Gutsy listeners.

Her Unshakeable Confidence podcast
The show Simone cohosts with her 23-year-old daughter.

How to Find Your Kilimanjaro (TED)
Want the rest of the mountain story? Simone's talk on finding your own Kilimanjaro, the thing that gets you out of your comfort zone.

Clarity Session
A free call with me to talk through where you're stuck and find out if Auralign Mastermind is your right next step.

🎙️ Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📲 Follow LauraAura on TikTok: @ThatLauraAura

🔥 Join The Gutsy Collective: Learn More

💡 Work with LauraAura: www.LauraAura.com

Connect with Simone

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Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

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We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

We make an average of 35,000 decisions every single day, so it's unrealistic to expect we're going to be fully conscious of every single one of them.

But when it comes to your growth and success, we do need to bring some of those decisions a little more online. Most of them are happening subconsciously, and that's usually where old habits and beliefs live.

Today, I'm breaking down three core decisions that are always going to support your growth: choosing to take care of yourself, choosing your community, and giving yourself space. Are there more? Absolutely. But I've found, not just in my own life, but with the women I work with in Auralign and in my private coaching, that these are the core elements that impact a business’s success and the quality of life underneath it.

So take your Powerback® today and choose just one thing to start with. 

We’ll go through:

• Choosing to take care of yourself
• Choosing your community
• Giving yourself space

Get on the early pre-list for my upcoming book! I’m sharing the behind-the-scenes as I write it, and you'll be the first to know when it's available for preorder.

Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

When you think about building a successful business, what are you actually building toward? More money? A bigger team? More clients, more locations, more growth? 

But are you building something that actually supports the life you want to live?

 There's a real difference between building a business that creates freedom and building one that looks successful from the outside but becomes your own personal hell.

Today's guest, CPA Nancy Benet, gets real about money, business, and what it takes to build something profitable and aligned with the way you want to live. She shares her own story of finding herself divorced with four kids, five failed businesses, and $650,000 in debt, and how changing her relationship with money changed everything that happened next.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Nancy's money story — growing up believing money was scarce and "dirty," and getting her CPA license without it fixing anything
• Hitting bottom at 45: divorced, four kids, no job, $650,000 in debt
• The four-step manifestation process: clear intention, managing your state, baby steps, and releasing control
• The biggest financial mistakes entrepreneurs make  and how to fix them
• Why cash in the bank is non-negotiable, even for solopreneurs
• Building a business that aligns with the life you actually want to live

Tame Your Money Monster: How to Stop Fighting and Find Financial Peace — Nancy's book, available on Amazon

Success Your Way — Nancy's educational platform for women entrepreneurs

Fix-It Accounting —  is the full-service firm Nancy founded, offering bookkeeping, tax prep, IRS resolution, and fractional CFO advisory 

Auralign Mastermind — My high-touch coaching space for vulnerable, judgment-free money conversations.

🎙️ Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📲 Follow LauraAura on TikTok: @ThatLauraAura

🔥 Join The Gutsy Collective: Learn More

💡 Work with LauraAura: www.LauraAura.com

Connect with Nancy

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Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

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We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

“I really need this to work.” 

“I'm running out of time.”

“I need more money to come in.”

“Gosh, I'm so tired.” 

If any of that sounds like the voice in your head lately, friend, you're in the right place.

Today I'm getting honest about the times I've made moves from a place of desperation, including a monthly retainer with a coach that would have absolutely bankrupted me and a rash hire that left me with more work than I started with. We're pumping the brakes, figuring out what's actually feeding that desperation, and building a simple plan to get you back on track instead.

So if you've been in that scrambling, pick-up-all-the-eggs-off-the-floor kind of energy lately, this episode is your permission slip to stop, breathe, and take your Powerback®.

We’ll go through:

• What desperation looks like when you're making decisions, purchases, or moves in your business
• How giving yourself space and getting curious brings your logic back online
• The questions to ask yourself before you act from that reactive, knee-jerk place

The Gutsy Moves Challenge — My live, 5-day challenge running September 21–25, this round focused specifically on making moves in your business. 

Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

Work stress doesn't always stay at work. It follows you into dinner, into conversations with your partner, into time with your kids, and into the moments when you're technically off, but your brain is still running with 47 tabs open, thinking about all your unfinished tasks.

Today's guest, Clarity Coach Samantha Hawley, is here to talk about how to stop letting work stress bleed into the rest of your life by getting underneath the expectations that are creating it in the first place. Samantha shares a simple journaling process you can use to get out of problem-solving mode and make choices based on what works for you instead of what you think you're supposed to be doing.

In this episode:

• Why work stress follows you home instead of staying at your desk
• Getting underneath the expectations, pressure, and "shoulds" driving your stress
• The "dropping all the balls" feeling and why it's so common
• A journaling process for getting out of problem-solving mode

Beyond Awareness (formerly Journal Entries) — Samantha's podcast for successful women in leadership and business who know exactly what they need to do but can't make themselves do it. Listen on Spotify.

Calm Mind Blueprint - A free guide with 5 strategic journal prompts to help overwhelmed women clear mental load so they can make confident decisions and feel inner peace.

The Gutsy Moves Challenge — a five-day live challenge running September 21st–25th to help you stop spinning in indecision and get clear on the goal you've been putting off. 

🎙️ Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📲 Follow LauraAura on TikTok: @ThatLauraAura

🔥 Join The Gutsy Collective: Learn More

💡 Work with LauraAura: www.LauraAura.com

Connect with Samantha

Instagram  | Threads  |  Web

Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

I've got a little challenge for you today. I want to hear your big, wild, audacious goal or idea that you can't stop thinking about. I'm talking about the idea you have a secret Pinterest board for, the one you find yourself smiling about when no one's around.

You've put in the work, you've gained the knowledge, you've completed a chapter, and you have what you need to take this next step forward. Where the disarray and the frustration and the feeling like a bag of turds comes from is when we ignore that rumble for too long, when we tell ourselves we need more planning before we're allowed to claim it.

Today's Powerback® is about playing in the space of what if. What if you actually went for it? I talk you through why it's only wild and audacious until it's your regular life, and why owning that thing in the first place is what makes that shift possible.

It's time, friend. This goal is rumbling because you're ready, so take your Powerback® and go claim it.

We'll go through:

• Why the "rumble" you keep feeling is a sign you're ready, not a problem to fix
• The difference between gathering more information and actually making a decision
• My own story of daydreaming about speaking and coaching for years before making the leap
• Why claiming a goal often speeds things up in ways that feel uncomfortable

Gutsy Moves Challenge — A live, 5-day challenge happening September 21–25, 2026, built to help you make the moves you can't stop thinking about but keep putting off. It's an hour a day, $49, and I’m in the chat with you all week long. 

Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

You can build a business, lead a team, handle pressure, and usually figure shit out. So why does dating or love feel so much harder? 

Today's guest, Laura Nagiel, is a dating and confidence coach and the creator of the DREAM Framework, the method she's used to help high-achieving women find the one. We're talking dating, perfectionism, control, receiving, and all the ways ambitious women unintentionally recreate the same exhausting patterns, not just in work, but in love too. 

But if you dig deeper, this conversation isn't really about dating or your current relationship at all. It’s more about  your relationship with yourself. Self-trust, letting go of control, and being willing to ask yourself some pretty uncomfortable questions about what you actually want and whether you're creating space to receive it. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why high-achieving women struggle with dating even when they excel everywhere else
• The link between perfectionism, control, and people-pleasing in relationships
• How childhood patterns quietly shape adult relationship habits
• What it means to become a "match" for the relationship you want
• Why receiving (love, help, support, time)  is the real common denominator

DREAM Framework — Laura Nagiel's signature six-month coaching program guiding high-achieving women through discovery, healing, and strategy to find a committed, high-value partner. 

Auralign Mastermind — My high-touch coaching space for women who are ready to stop depleting themselves for everyone else and start building a business and life that actually works for them. 

Clarity Session — A casual, no-pressure call with me to talk through what's going on and figure out your right next move.

🎙️ Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📲 Follow LauraAura on TikTok: @ThatLauraAura

🔥 Join The Gutsy Collective: Learn More

💡 Work with LauraAura: www.LauraAura.com

Connect with Laura Nagiel

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Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

Every single person I work with comes to me because I said the thing they needed to hear. I called it for what it was and helped them find the solution to finally fix it.

Today I'm handing you four unfiltered things I've said to my clients that ended up growing their business: slow the fuck down, get rid of an offer, ditch the framework, and talk like you, not your old boss. 

I'm not going to pretend any of this is comfortable to hear. It wasn't easy for me to learn how to say these things out loud either, and it's not always easy to receive them. But if you've been busting your ass and still feel like something's missing, or you've got momentum but it feels heavy and off, that's your sign. 

Let this be the episode that gets you out of your own way, so you can take your Powerback® and finally build the business you want to be building.

We’ll go through:

• Why slowing the fuck down is the fastest way to actually speed things up
• The offer you're holding onto that needs to go
• Why frameworks are textbooks to learn from, not blueprints to follow
• Talking like you instead of your old boss

Clarity Session — a casual, no-pressure conversation with me to figure out what's really going on and get clear on your next right move. 

The Gutsy Collective —my community for driven women making gutsy moves in their lives and businesses. 

Connect with LauraAura

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Support the show

Leave a Review!
We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. It also helps other women like you know they're in the right place to get support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970