This episode has it all -  better systems, smarter workflows, and the truth about having a favorite pet (we all have one). Karalee shares why so many founders stay stuck with too many tools and not the right processes. And she doesn't leave us stuck there, but talks about creating real capacity and not overwhelm.

At The Productivity Impact, Karalee doesn't just give advice on a great system. She lives it. In this episode, she shares how to spot signs your business systems are breaking down, and why mapping your client journey before choosing software will save you time, money, and stress. 

Whether you’re a freelancer, solopreneur, or growing team, this conversation is a reminder that it’s never too early — or too late — to create a stronger operational foundation.

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About Karalee:
Some people see messy businesses and run. Not Karalee. She sees messy businesses and immediately starts mentally rebuilding the operations. Known for her blunt honesty with compassion and ADHD-fueled pattern recognition, she helps overwhelmed CEOs untangle chaos, fix bottlenecks, and stop running their businesses entirely from memory, sticky notes, and panic.

Karalee is the founder of The Productivity Impact, a Certified DOO, and the kind of operator who can hear “everything feels chaotic” and somehow translate it into systems, structure, and an actual plan that works for your brain. Her approach blends strategy, operations, and real-talk leadership that makes people feel both called out and deeply supported at the same time. She’s deeply committed to helping service providers stop operating in constant survival mode and build businesses that don’t depend on their exhaustion to function.

Around here, systems conversations often include cat stories (she has 13), strong opinions about inefficient workflows, and at least one moment where entrepreneurs realize the problem was never actually project management etc. Karalee has a talent for spotting the thing everyone else is politely ignoring: the bottleneck, the avoidance pattern, the “system” living entirely inside the CEO’s head, and helping service providers fix it without shame, fluff, or forcing them into someone else’s version of productivity that was never built for how their brain actually works.

When she’s not rebuilding businesses from the inside out, she’s probably creating systems for fun, being emotionally manipulated by one of her teenagers, or telling overwhelmed CEOs the thing nobody else will say out loud. 

Karalee's Impact Hub membership launches July 1. Join before July 13 to receive founding membership perks. Find it here: https://theproductivityimpact.com/impact-hub

Listening is an under-rated skill. It takes a willingness to close your own mouth and put aside your own thoughts in honor of someone else. Scarlett Riu, the new CEO of Moxie, is listening. Her own thoughts and ideas aside while she listens to the Moxie community and what they need from Moxie. 

In this episode, Scarlett shares her approach to leadership, starting with empathy, curiosity, and a community-first mindset. She’s planning to listen deeply to the Moxie community, identify real pain points, and build solutions that genuinely serve freelancers and solopreneurs.

Hear about Scarlett's reveals her 30-year journey through tech - from QA to leadership - and also her favorite coffee.

We talk about:

• The underrated value of QA in the tech industry and why it’s a crucial skill for every developer. 
• How Scarlett’s diverse background, from blood banking systems to RV life, shapes her innovative leadership style. 
• Her plans for building a product that reduces admin complexity, so freelancers can focus on what they love. 
• Her strategy of conducting a "listening tour" to truly understand community needs before implementing change. 
• Why a community-centered approach creates opportunities for independence, growth, and empowerment in freelancing.

Why does this matter? Because the next phase of Moxie’s growth depends on authentic connection and understanding user pain—and Scarlett’s approach could reshape how tech companies serve their communities.

Perfect for entrepreneurs, community builders, and future-focused tech leaders, this conversation will leave you inspired by the power of following your intuition while staying tuned into the voices of those you serve. 

We’re wrapping another rocking season of The Hectic Podcast! Join Darryl, Michelle, and me (Emily) as we discuss this season, our favorite guests, annnddd pretty much anything else that comes to mind. 

We might make the podcast for our listeners, but we all learn from each guest and enjoy every episode we create. In the season wrap, you can experience the love and excitement we have for these weekly conversations. We’re so thrilled to be part of this podcast—we hope that you have as much fun with it as we do!

As we wrap season four, we want to give a huge thank you to every listener and guest. You guys are the reason we’re here and we’re so grateful for you! If you want to send comments, feedback, or suggestions for next season, drop a note to [email protected]. 

See you next season!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. How the episode with Marley Parker (my favorite this season!) is helping me pursue my dream job.
2. That connections are the foundation of a thriving freelancer/entrepreneur community, plus how you can be a part of this ecosystem.
3. What Michelle has learned through booking the podcast’s guests through the seasons.
4. Whose episodes Michelle and Darryl enjoyed the most and why.
5. About the way a guest challenged us this season and how it reinforced our approach.
6. Why curiosity was the common theme I saw throughout the season.
7. That doing the work to learn from your experiences and develop a good relationship with yourself produces the theme Darryl loved the most this season.
8. To just faff and take breaks for rest’s sake, which is what Michelle heard consistently this season.
9. How our guests’ willingness to share so much of themselves allows us and our listeners to learn so much from them.
10. Why we all need trusting relationships with people who tell us we’re wrong.

This week, we’re so excited to bring you the most important episode of the podcast so far. We’re thrilled to introduce you to Olivia, Darryl’s daughter and the Hectic Podcast’s biggest fan! 

Though Olivia is just 11 years old, she has so much wisdom to share. We talked about her love for the podcast, her favorite guest so far, and what she has learned from it. Olivia showed us how her creativity and ADHD superpower work together, plus why she loves having ADHD. You’ll also get a chance to hear Olivia, Darryl, and Michelle answer everyone’s favorite question on the Hectic Podcast.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. What Olivia loves about listening to the podcast.
2. Why Lindsey Jo Scott is the guest she related to the most and why that matters.
3. The ways her ADHD helps her hyperfocus on the things she wants to do, such as organizing her closet, bathroom, and room.
4. About Olivia’s doodles and how they help her learn.
5. How she nurtures her creativity today and hopes to continue doing so throughout her life.
6. Why she wants the adults of the world to always take time for themselves.
7. That Michelle is a superfan in every area of life and is eager to learn and celebrate everyone’s passions.
8. How Darryl’s desire to give all of himself to everyone and be the most curious person in the room defines him.
9. That Olivia is silly, loves to organize, and is absolutely obsessed with dogs.
10. Why seeing her ADHD differently is what she is most proud of.

Listen to Lindsey Jo Scott's episode and find her amazing work online.

If you’re willing to try something new and listen to the wisdom others offer, you can do anything. Yann Ilunga, our guest this week, has used this philosophy to do incredible things, particularly in the podcasting space. He’s interviewed renowned guests, organized global conferences, and seen extraordinary success - all while enjoying the freedom and flexibility that comes with running his own business.

Yann took us through his freelance journey, sharing how he found his strengths and the steps he took to keep growing and learning. Fresh from his first work-free vacation, he gave us some great tips for making sure you can unplug and refresh on your breaks. Having conversations with people is the best way to learn, so we’re excited to have had this opportunity to hear everything Yann has to share!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. Why vacationing is often so hard for freelancers and entrepreneurs.
2. The important lessons Yann learned before, during, and after his time away.
3. His journey from working as a journalist to making a name for himself in podcasting and lead generation.
4. That freedom isn’t sipping cocktails on the beach but following a schedule that produces his best work.
5. About the three Ts and how to use them to find your strengths.
6. To listen to and be curious about people, using their insights and connections to succeed in your pursuits.
7. How Yann’s podcasts started as a way to build connections and grew into the work he does today.
8. That differences in age and experience won’t matter if you see those you’re curious about as just people.
9. To look at unpopular or emerging spaces as opportunities to experiment and establish yourself in them before anyone else.
10. How you can take elements from one space and use them to pioneer a new market in another.

Find Yann through LinkedIn to grow your professional network as you learn more from him. Just be sure to mention that you heard him on the Hectic Podcast when you reach out!

Dee Dee Bridgewater is the jazz artist that Yann mentions in the episode.

Katherine Barner, our guest this week, is committed to helping others live the lives they desire and deserve. Though she loves her work as a trauma and grief counselor, she is so much more than this role. During our conversation, Katherine helps us understand how to separate your calling from who you are in the specific season you’re in.

Recognizing and claiming the life you desire and deserve is often seen as a negative, but it shouldn’t be. In this episode, we explore the ways self care can help you do and be your best in every part of life. Katherine also shows us how grace and space work hand-in-hand to reveal and nurture our fullest selves.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. Why motorcycles (but not mopeds), talking to fish, and numerous daily FaceTime sessions with her granddaughter are essential to who Katherine is.
2. The many reasons she loves her work and feels called to it.
3. That self care is a bit selfish and that’s okay, plus how it helps you show up better for everyone and everything in your life.
4. How your triumphs over the other hard things in life will help you get through the scary discomfort of self work.
5. To appreciate the ways your childhood coping skills helped you get to this point and how to develop more positive options.
6. Why giving yourself grace and giving yourself space have to work together.
7. That turning off your cell phone is the first step to understanding what you want and need.
8. Practical ways to take care of yourself without feeling guilty about getting the renewal you need.
9. How to love your work and calling without making it your identity.
10. To understand that different seasons in life have their own needs, but you can still carve out the space required to find joy and margin.

Find Katherine on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Are you dissatisfied with your life or the season you’re in? Do you wish you could just pinpoint the reason you’re stuck so you can change it? If so, this is the episode for you. 

This week, we were joined by Madeleine Dore, the author of one of our favorite books, “I Didn’t Do the Thing Today.” During our conversation, we explored the ways routines can take over our lives and how ruts can show us what we need to change. Madeleine shared how curiosity can be our greatest weapon. We also got a great reminder that resting for rest’s sake is just as important as the things we do.

This conversation was filled with warmth and laughter from the moment we met. Madeleine has so much to share from what she’s learned and how she’s living it out. After listening, don’t forget to check out the link to the book below so you can keep finding your own way of being in the world!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. About our weekly ruts and routines and what we’re learning from them.
2. How to get curious about your ruts and routines so you can see the value in both.
3. Why routines often lead to feelings of failure rather than the control they’re supposed to create.
4. How to find your own way of being when it’s not supported by the world around you.
5. Plus, how trying to be the person you want to be can become its own illusion of perfection.
6. The importance of being a sponge and embracing the sweetness of doing nothing.
7. Why we need these periods of absorption to have seasons of squeeze.
8. Tips for letting go of the guilt that comes with rest and appreciating downtime as an opportunity to absorb.
9. That comparison can be the flipside to curiosity, using what you learn from others to deplete you rather than feed you.
10. Why Madeleine wants to inspire people to be more curious about each other, ourselves, and our stories.

Find Madeleine on Instagram and on her website, where you’ll also find her book, “I Didn’t Do the Thing Today.”

The "Flexible checkbox" approach of Austin Kleon can be found here.
You can find “Master Your Emotions” here.

It might take a while to learn who this week’s guest is and what she does, but it won’t take long to see the passion she has for her life’s mission. Cynthia Pesantez strives every day to use compassion and accountability to work toward justice. She is challenging the dominant culture and societal hierarchies from the ground up, focusing on community relationships first to achieve lasting change.

We hit the ground running in this powerful conversation. Cynthia shows us how everyone’s contribution is needed for change, from being a leading voice for justice to supporting others through childcare and growing food to intentionally engaging curiosity about race. By putting your humanity and vulnerability first, you can make a difference for those around you and everyone who comes after you.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. How George Floyd’s death sparked a turning point in her life and approach to racial justice work.
2. Why she focuses on building real human connections first to create sustainable, lasting change in our communities and the world.
3. That it took all kinds to build an oppressive system and it will take the same to break it down and create new ones.
4. Tips for talking about race every day in a way that promotes curiosity instead of judgment.
5. To honor where limited survival tactics like judgment come from and use compassion to make them something expansive.
6. How to be curious about everyone and everything so you can learn to critically imagine how the world could be.
7. The importance of lived experiences and vulnerability in both work and life, plus how they defeat the exclusivity of credentialism.
8. That systems of oppression take something from all of us, even those in supposed power.
9. How society forces you to deny your humanity and compassion toward others to survive.
10. About Comadre Speakers, Cynthia’s newly birthed speaker’s bureau that is bringing her values into the world.

Find Cynthia on her website, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The 21 Day Equity Challenge can be found here.

When you have a question about workplace wellness or need some productivity tips, Kat Boogaard is your girl. Over the past eight years, she’s built a thriving career as a freelance writer. She spends her days completing projects, sharing everything she’s learned with other freelancers, and enjoying time with her growing family.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Kat joins us this week to share the realities of starting out as a freelancer and learning to balance work and family today. From big wins to Hot Cheeto cryfests, she takes us deep into her journey. Whether you need encouragement for your own freelance experience or want to know how to live a life aligned with your values, this is one conversation you don’t want to miss.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. Why you should let writers know that their work made an impact, plus the best ways to do it.
2. What led Kat to pursue freelance writing when she wanted to venture out on her own.
3. How she went from lifestyle blogging to writing about storage units to finding her niche in career-focused content.
4. Her struggle to find clients and paying work in the first few years of freelancing.
5. To recognize the hard moments, your decision to keep trying, and everything you learned in those struggles.
6. How Kat learned to trust herself and have confidence in her ability to do hard things.
7. That success may require hard work, skills, connections, and grit, but sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time.
8. The ways freelancing tests your relationship with surrender.
9. To know your values so you can find fulfillment and contentment in the work you do.
10. About the hard decisions you have to make every day to shape a work-life balance that brings you joy.

Find Kat on her website, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Colleen Welsch focuses on actions, not outcome. Whether she’s working on her freelance writing work, coaching freelancers, creating social media content as an influencer, writing music, or performing comedy, she is driven by the joy these passions bring, not the money they might make.

Though she has a lot going on, Colleen is careful to separate her businesses from her identity. She believes that using her gifts to their greatest potential is how she lives a purposeful, authentic life. This mindset has helped her find incredible success, as well as a desire to help others do the same.

In this week’s episode, you’ll get a chance to learn more about Colleen, her journey, and how she is able to do it all in a 10-hour work week. 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

1. How Colleen went from working a stressful corporate job to charging hundreds of dollars per hour as a freelance copywriter.
2. The ways that your financial mindset might be limiting your success.
3. Why you should unlearn the traditional 9-to-5 so you can find the structure that works for you.
4. About Colleen’s “Jesus Year” and how it’s changed her perspective on life.
5. That doing scary things as a joke can help you get past the obstacles you create for yourself.
6. Tips for letting negative things go so they don’t drive reactionary decisions.
7. Why doing things with the right intentions leads to your best work.
8. That everything is figureoutable if you’re willing to research and reach out to people who are already succeeding in your interests.
9. Why her authenticity is what Colleen is most proud of from her career.
10. How to find success through your natural gifts rather than being defined by a high-status career.

Find Colleen on Instagram and TikTok. For her freelance course and coaching resources, visit her website, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

The book Colleen read is Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port.
Find more about Human Design Type here.
"Everything is figureoutable" is from Marie Forleo's work.
Alex Fasulo is not Colleen's mean commenter. Her TikTok is lovely.
More of Colleen's music can be found on Spotify.