The World Builders

What if the thing driving your biggest dreams is also the thing burning you out?

In this episode, Jenni and Lindsay get honest about the tangled relationship between ambition, expectations, and self-worth — and how to tell the difference between the kind of drive that's healthy and the kind that's quietly running on empty.

They start by untangling two words we often use interchangeably: expectations and standards. Lindsay shares the "low expectations, high standards" line from her novel The Heart of the Deal, and the two explore how high standards can fuel excellence, while rigid expectations — especially the ones tied to "should" and "supposed to" — can become toxic, even debilitating.

From there, the conversation goes deeper into the real question: how do you know if your ambition is soul-led, or if it's coming from wounding? Jenny opens up about the "scrappy, grabby" voice that chases money and followers as proof of worthiness, versus the quieter, slower, more intuitive voice that actually leads somewhere sustainable. Lindsay reflects on writing five unpublished books before breaking through, and how ego — in the right dose — can be sacred rather than shameful.

They also talk candidly about:

• Anthony Bourdain's "I don't know what I'm running from, but I'm running" and what that trauma-driven hustle really costs
• What happens when your old motivators (money, followers, external validation) stop working — and what replaces them
• Why soul-led ambition often feels less flashy, less urgent, and less dopamine-driven than wounded ambition, and why that can feel like a loss
• Navigating relationships (marriage, friendships, business) when your ambition is "too big" for some people, and why that's a respect issue, not a flaw
• How to hold big dreams and high capacity without needing the outcome to prove you're enough

This episode is for anyone who's ever been told their expectations are "too high," anyone recalibrating their relationship to success, and anyone learning to build from wholeness instead of lack.

Resources:

• Join us in The Collective, a training ground for creative aliveness: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-collective
• Talk to Jenni about joining the Earth Council: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-council
• Download the World Builders' Business Planning Workbook: https://world-builders.kit.com/products/world-builders-business-planning-workbook

Is your drive to help others actually ambition in disguise — or is it a hiding spot? In this episode, Lindsay gets real about a pattern she sees constantly in business owners, coaches, writers, and creatives: using "being of service" as a sophisticated form of procrastination on your own calling.

She shares a personal story from teaching inside the World Builders Collective, where she caught herself using a visibility challenge as a way to stay in launch-and-marketing mode instead of stepping into her own next level of visibility — a subtle but telling sign of ambition pointed outward instead of inward.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

• The difference between genuinely being in service and hiding behind "helping" as an excuse
• Why putting client work first can look like good business ownership while actually blocking your own growth
• The false binary between "all client work" and "all my own creative projects" — and the boundaried middle path that actually works
• How to spot the real root cause when you blame lack of time for not writing the book, building the brand, or sharing your voice
• Why raising your own vibration and expressing your voice is what makes you more valuable to the people you serve — not less

This isn't about choosing between ambition and generosity. It's about recognizing when "helping" has quietly become a martyr story, and reclaiming the nerve to make your own voice, your own work, and your own calling the main character — not just a footnote to everyone else's.

Resources:

• World Builders Collective – The membership community where Lindsay and Jenni teach: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/
• Lindsay's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lkmacmillan/
• Join us for the next free World Builders' gathering, The Clearing: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-clearing

Learn more about joining The Council with Jenni & Alaina: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-council

The coaching industry is having its reckoning — and it's about time.

In this episode, Jenni sits down with psychologist-turned-intuitive business coach Alaina Puff to unpack why the old guru model (pay me $25K, copy my blueprint, become me) is collapsing in real time — including the viral story of a conference that charged women $25,000 to speak on stage, ran hours behind schedule, and is now facing refund demands and lawyers.

Alaina and Jenni get into:

• Why "do no harm" should be the foundation of every coaching relationship — not just therapy
• The hidden codependency that forms when clients attach their worth to a coach instead of themselves
• Why chasing revenue goals without addressing nervous system and root-cause work almost always backfires
• The shift from hierarchy to leadership — walking beside clients instead of standing above them
• Why healing is moving from one-on-one to group containers, and what makes a container actually safe
• How to trust your own "full body no" instead of overriding your discernment for someone with more perceived authority

This is a conversation about integrity — what it actually means to hold space for someone's transformation without positioning yourself as the one who delivers it. If you've ever felt unsatisfied after investing in a coach, or you're a coach wondering what responsible leadership looks like, this episode is your permission slip to trust yourself first.

Resources:

• The World Builders Collective: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-collective
• The Earth Council sign ups: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-council
• Book a call with Jenni to talk about The Earth Council: https://calendly.com/theworldbuilders/free-power-chat?month=2026-07&date=2026-07-09
• Follow Alaina on Instagram and LinkedIn
• Check out Alaina's new nervous system program: https://www.flowstatecc.com/thebridge

What does it mean to be the first woman in your family to make money from your creativity? In this episode, Lindsay and Jenni unpack lineage — the invisible inheritance of beliefs, roles, and nervous system patterns passed down through generations — and why breaking from them can feel terrifying even when you know it's the right move.

They get personal, tracing their own family lines: immigrant grandparents who built stability from nothing, mothers who negotiated flexibility before it was normal, and the quiet (or not-so-quiet) pressure to not "rock the boat." Jenny walks through a real-time case study on money, visibility, and ancestral permission, while Lindsay shares how her own lineage of homemakers shaped — and is now being rewritten by — her refusal to choose between motherhood and ambition.

You'll learn:

• Why visibility, money, roles, and relationships are the four places lineage shows up strongest
• How to tell the difference between your fear and your ancestors' fear
• Practical ways to honor, edit, and release inherited patterns — without disrespecting where you came from
• Why "microdosing" growth builds real nervous system evidence that change is safe

Our grandmothers stayed silent to survive. We're getting loud to survive. This episode is your permission slip to keep going.

Resources:

• The Earth Council — Join Jenni's newest cohort of The Council program opening the week of Halloween, focused on roots, anchors, and uncovering lineage work within a highly curated group: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-council
• World Builders Collective is a gathering space and village for creatives going first. Learn more here: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-collective
• Join us for a free World Builders ceremony: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-clearing

This solo episode with Jenni answers a community member's question: how do you handle it when people don't understand what you're doing — especially when you're pivoting from practical, rational work into your soul's work?

Jenni shares her own journey of shutting down her traditional coaching business (22 one-on-one clients, a group program) to launch World Builders, and the identity rollercoaster that followed.

She shares four core truths:

1. The soul's path takes time to acclimate to. Moving from rational, "makes sense to everyone" work into soul-led work isn't instant — expect a pendulum swing between overly esoteric and overly rational framing before you find center. Jenny describes swinging from pure "lore and poems" into business-model language and back again before landing somewhere in between.
2. Your frequency is changing — and so, thus, is your audience. As your energy/vibration shifts, the people who resonated with your old work may stop resonating, while new people start showing up. Jenny's email list lost 60 subscribers one month and gained 60 new ones — same size, but a full turnover of who's actually aligned. The loss is painful but necessary; it's not rejection, it's recalibration.
3. Honor the version of you that "can't come to the phone" anymore. The old identity (the one who needed to be liked, understood, and safe by fitting into a box) has to be let off duty — not erased, just retired with gratitude. Trying to keep operating as that old self in the new work creates dread and resentment.
4. Being misunderstood is an invitation to heal in real time. The discomfort of someone not "getting" your work flares up old people-pleasing and over-explaining patterns. Choosing the brave, honest description of your work (instead of the easy, palatable one) is the actual growth work — and not being liked by everyone is reframed as freedom, not failure.

The throughline: you're not responsible for being understood by everyone — only by the people who are in resonance with your current frequency. The rest is allowed to leave.

Resources:

• Florence Given
• Chelsea Diane
• The World Builders Collective– community space with workshops, open mics, and Builders Lab sessions (join now to access a two week free trial!)
• The Clearing – a free three-part money ceremony series happening Fridays in October
• The World Builders Councils – six-month cohort programs where do the work of helping you step into your fullest expression and power (applications now open for the Earth cohort, which starts end of October)

Jenni and Lindsay dig into the quiet career crisis so many of us are feeling right now — the sense of disillusionment, burnout, and "what the hell am I doing" energy showing up across careers everywhere. They trace their own breakdowns, from bathroom-stall meditation sessions at Goldman Sachs to the moment Jenni realized she didn't want her boss's job, and unpack why this isn't a personal failure but a generational shift in our relationship to work.

They also consider that this might be more of an awakening than a breakdown, one that asks us to get curious first instead of immediately overhauling our entire lives. By the end, you'll feel less alone in your doubt and have real, practical ways to start listening to what your body and spark are already telling you.

What We Cover:

• The "six-to-eight month cliff" — why new jobs feel exciting at first, then suddenly don't
• Masking at work and the cost of hiding your true self to stay "safe"
• Jenni's moment of clarity: looking at her boss and realizing "I don't want her job"
• Lindsay's story of losing a friend to suicide and how it shifted her relationship to ambition and corporate life
• Why this career disillusionment is generational, not personal — and the Maslow's hierarchy lens on why it's happening now
• The difference between liberation and empowerment over generations
• Why quitting dramatically isn't always the answer; the case for "mini pivots" and decentering your job as your identity
• How to use curiosity (not a five-year plan) as your compass right now
• Letting go of the idea that there's one "dream job" or destination that will finally make you feel okay
• Why talking about this out loud, with other people, is the fastest way out of the spiral

Resources:

• Join The World Builders Collective — community and conversation for creatives navigating this exact shift
• Sign up for The Clearing, a 3-part money series (free) hosted by Jenni in October, which will ask you to get curious about how you make financial and career decisions

This week, Jenni and Lindsay answer an audience question they've received three times over:

How do you prioritize creative work when "practical" work is demanding your time and energy?

They break down why this is actually a false binary: creativity isn't separate from your business or career, it's the engine behind both. From writing books during nap times to drafting a novel in a single month, they share real, unpolished stories of how creative work has fit (imperfectly) into full lives, corporate jobs, and motherhood, and why nonlinear payoff doesn't mean it isn't worth prioritizing.

They also get tactical by covering how to structure sacred creative time even with 45 minutes twice a week, how to identify whether you're in ideation, expression, or output mode, and why accountability, containers, and letting the first draft be "really bad" are essential parts of a sustainable creative practice.

This episode is a permission slip to stop treating your creativity as a side project and start recognizing it as core to your life force, your business growth, and your ability to show up as your fullest self.

• Why creativity and "practical" work aren't actually opposites
• How to build sacred creative time into a packed schedule (even 45–90 min blocks)
• Identifying which creative phase you're in: ideation, expression, or output
• Why creative work often pays off nonlinearly — and why that's the point
• Using accountability and containers to stay consistent with creative projects
• Letting go of perfectionism to protect your creative momentum
• How creativity fuels productivity, promotions, and business growth
• Managing creative guilt and procrastination as a business owner or parent
• Getting family or partners on board to protect your creative time
• Why creative expression is essential to mental, emotional, and spiritual health

Resources:

• Jenni's book, The Sustainable Solopreneur (check out the chapter on creativity)
• The World Builders Collective is now open: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-collective
• Sign up for our October money ceremonies here (free!): https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-clearing
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lkmacmillan/
• Follow Jenni on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenni-gritters-a4837329/

In this candid, unscripted update, Lindsay and Jenni pull back the curtain on what's really happening behind their businesses right now — the pivots, the panic, and the quiet anxiety neither of them expected to still be feeling.

They talk openly about burning down and rebuilding a business model mid-year, outgrowing an offer that was finally working, and the strange grief of watching people unsubscribe or step away when you evolve. It's a real look at what it feels like to be a sensitive, intuitive entrepreneur navigating a "fire horse" kind of year — one full of big leaps, hard falls, and constant recalibration.

This episode is for anyone feeling stuck, overstimulated, or like their inner critic has gotten louder lately. Lindsay and Jenni also share the practical tools, mantras, and mindset shifts getting them through — proof that growth rarely feels as clean as it looks from the outside.

• Why business pivots often come with unexpected anxiety and self-doubt
• How to know when you've outgrown your current business model
• Navigating the fear of losing clients or followers when your work evolves
• Simple grounding tools for calming an overactive, anxious mind
• The difference between building from wounding vs. building from purpose
• Why "enoughness" is a moving target during seasons of growth
• Practical rituals for staying regulated during high-pressure transitions
• Redefining ambition and success on your own terms
• How isolation makes anxiety worse — and what helps instead
• Embracing uncertainty as part of sustainable, aligned growth

Resources:

• What's happening during Libra season & why it's the great re-balancing (Jenni's Substack)
• Jenni's Council program (next cohort begins end of October)
• The Visibility Vortex (co-hosted by Jenni and Lindsay, join by end of September to get access through The Collective!)
• The World Builders' Collective is now open to the public
• Join our free money ceremonies through the month of October
• Lindsay's 1-1 coaching is booking up

Lindsay takes a solo dive into "new paradigm publishing," unpacking four major shifts reshaping the book industry as the old traditional-publishing playbook collapses.

She explores:

• why major influencers are walking away from big book deals in favor of creative ownership,
• why nonfiction sales are cratering under AI-saturation,
• why book deals are now happening in reverse (platform first, deal second),
• and why huge follower counts no longer guarantee a book deal.

Drawing on her own journey — four traditionally published books, one self-published poetry collection, and a USA Today bestseller this year — Lindsay argues that authors must reclaim creative sovereignty rather than wait to be "chosen."

The episode closes with three tactical takeaways: only write a book if it's truly spilling out of you, build your own platform regardless of publishing path, and trust your body/intuition over industry noise.

Key Takeaways:

• Why are influencers refusing traditional book deals? Creative ownership, IP control, and the reality that six-figure advances net very little after publisher cuts.
• Why are nonfiction book sales declining? Market oversaturation, AI-written or AI-assisted books flooding shelves, and readers turning to podcasts/ChatGPT instead of 300-page books.
• How are book deals changing in 2025? Agents and publishers now approach authors after they've built a visible platform and proven demand — not before.
• Do social media followers guarantee a book deal? No — publishers have been burned by high-follower authors whose books didn't sell, so follower count no longer predicts book sales.
• What kind of nonfiction books are still succeeding? Ones with distinct personality, humor, and voice — not generic advice books that could've been a blog post.
• Should you write a book or choose another format? Only write a book if it's an undeniable soul-calling; otherwise consider Substack, podcasting, or short-form writing instead.
• What's the new author success formula? Build an audience first, self-publish or traditionally publish from a place of leverage, and use intuition — not trends — to guide the medium.

Resources & References Mentioned:

• Jordan Younger's Substack — read her essay about returning a multi-six-figure book advance to self-publish instead
• World Builders Collective — join us in community for a 30-day Visibility Challenge (2 weeks free) starting the 25th of September, including a kickoff call, weekly voice notes, and accountability pods
  

Follow Lindsay's work: https://www.lindsaymacmillancreative.com/

Jenni and Lindsay dive deep into their personal, evolving relationships with generative AI, from early curiosity to a genuine "AI hangover" crisis Jenni experienced this spring when she let AI briefly drive her business strategy instead of her own intuition.

They unpack the difference between using AI for operations (scheduling, transcription, budgeting) versus creative origination (writing, strategy, art), arguing that outsourcing the latter dilutes both the work and the creator's growth.

The conversation then moves into bigger territory: the "oracle vs. robot" societal split, AI's spiritual/energetic hollowness, and the risk of AI becoming a tool of distraction and disempowerment, before landing on practical boundaries like calendar-blocking AI use, journaling rituals, and trusting your own creative compass.

Key Takeaways :

• What is generative AI vs. background AI? Generative AI creates new content/strategy; background AI (search engines, accounting tools) just runs quietly in existing software.
• How to know if you're overusing AI in your business: Watch for anxiety, jaw-clenching, "scrolly" addictive pull, and launching too many ideas at once that don't feel like "you."
• Good uses of AI: Transcription, meeting/podcast summaries, PowerPoint/slide design (Gamma), budgeting math, recipe planning, competitive research synthesis, medical symptom research.
• Bad uses of AI: Writing books/poetry, generating business strategy from scratch, building "AI clones" of coaches, writing landing page/sales copy without a human voice.
• The "operations vs. art" framework: Automate logistics; never outsource origination or creative ideation.
• The "oracle vs. robot" path: A societal fork between analog/intuitive/community-based living and full AI/tech integration.
• Why AI-generated creative work feels "hollow": Studies show people don't retain AI-written content; it lacks human resonance and energetic exchange.
• Practical boundaries: Calendar-block AI use, protect a no-phone/no-AI creative window each morning, use AI only after checking in with intuition first.
  

Resources:

• World Builders Collective: Join an AI-free 30-day content creation challenge within our community for $97/month with a 2-week free trial. Details here: https://www.theworldbuilders.co/the-collective