Shauna Lynn Simon (01:49.934)

Hello, and welcome to the Real Woman Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and today's guest is Steph Ramirez. She is a strategic marketing consultant and certified identity coach for ambitious women. After more than 15 years in corporate leadership and marketing, Steph left the traditional path to build a more aligned definition of success and now helps entrepreneurs, executives, and thought leaders to strengthen their personal brands.

increase their impact and create opportunities through authentic visibility from the inside out. Steph is also a speaker, a voice actor, and a lifelong learner. And she's passionate about helping women trust themselves, embrace reinvention, and build meaningful success without burnout. On today's show, we're going to be talking a little bit about some high achieving women and how that's showing up for us in our everyday life, how that is actually getting in the way of some of our success.

And so this is really for that woman who has accomplished a lot, but still maybe feels like you're chasing something. We're gonna talk about some of the patterns in terms of overachieving, perfectionism, self-sacrifice, what entrepreneurship reveals and how this all fits into your marketing strategy, your visibility, and how you're showing up every single day in your business. So you're gonna love this episode. Steph, welcome to the show.

Shauna Lynn Simon (01:50.07)

Hello and welcome to the Real Woman Real Business Podcast. I'm your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today's episode is gonna be a little bit different because I'm not talking about a client experience that I had or a conversation that I had with someone or even a strategy or something I figured out. I'm actually talking about something that I'm in the middle of right now. And I felt that it would be really important to share this with my audience. because as you know, I always like to keep it real. We're called the Real Women Real Business Podcast for very good reason.

And why not share something that's maybe a little bit uncomfortable in all honesty? I think that's exactly why I feel like I need to share it. So today I want to talk about why I am intentionally scaling back my one-on-one coaching clients and what that decision has really felt like from the inside. Because if you've ever made a business decision that made complete strategic sense on paper, but still felt really, really hard to do, then this one is for you.

Shauna Lynn Simon (01:49.902)

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and today's guest is Jeanne Foote, founder and CEO of The Recovery Concierge. Jeanne and her team support individuals and families through mental health challenges, addiction recovery, trauma healing, and peak performance using a holistic, trauma-informed approach with lived experience and credentials as an international certified alcohol and drug counselor.

Plus training in hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming, otherwise known as NLP. You've heard us talk about that on the show, and somatic work. Jeanne is known for helping people build real resilience and sustainable change. So today we're gonna be talking about what recovery can look like in everyday life and why emotional sobriety and nervous system regulation might be some of the most practical leadership tools we have. And don't worry, we're also gonna explain what all those things we just mentioned actually are. So, Jeanne, welcome to the show.

Jeanne Foot (02:44.322)

Thank you very much for having me. It's my pleasure to be here.

Shauna Lynn Simon (02:47.702)

I'm really excited to get into this. And I want to start with talking about recovery because I think there's probably a lot of people who are listening to this and are saying, like, listen, Shauna Lynn, I'm not an addict, I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not recovering from anything. And you actually say we're all in recovery from something. So what do you mean by that? Because we've got a whole lot of high functioning women listening to this who might not be relating to this word recovery quite the same way. So can you explain that a little bit?

Shauna Lynn Simon (01:50.222)

Hello and welcome to the Real Woman Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today's guest is Dr. Rosenna Bakari an empowered psychologist, leadership consultant, and the founder and CEO of Seven Exits. With over 30 years of experience studying and teaching human behavior, she's known for translating deep psychological insight into practical strategies that help individuals and leaders to create real change without the burnout and without the constant push.

Now, Dr. Bakari is a Cornell University graduate with a PhD and ICF coaching certification. And her work spans higher education, corporate, and community settings, supporting leaders, organizations, and high-performing professionals through meaningful, sustainable growth. She's also the author of Seven Exits: Leave Behind Who What No Longer Serves You. Gee, that sounds like a

podcast episode I watched it. We're gonna have a great conversation here. So today we're gonna be talking about the often overlooked prerequisites of business success, like emotional maturity, self-awareness, and the internal capacity to hold what you're actually building. So Dr. Bakari, welcome to the show.

Shauna Lynn Simon (01:50.846)

Welcome to The Real Women Real Business Podcast. I'm your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today's episode, this came straight out of a recent group coaching call that I had inside the Real Women Real Business Mastery Program. And I knew immediately that I needed to make this into an episode. Because if you weren't in that conversation, you are missing out on some real clarity that we discussed as a group. Because what came up in that conversation is something that I see time and time again with women, especially in

business. And one thing I want to say is that women, we have the sixth sense. We have a level of intuition that is immeasurable. And it's something that has actually been documented over the years, that it is actually something that women are really, really good at being intuitive about things. The challenges that I find in women in business sometimes we're not doing enough gut checks. And so this actually brings us to what today's episode we're going to covering is

how to do those intentional gut checks when certain things are pulling you in a bit of a different direction. So let me set the scene a little bit for you. So one of the women in the group, she's a service-based business owner. She's been building her business for a few years now. And she came to the call with what seemed like a pretty straightforward question about marketing and updating her website. But as we dug into her question, it actually became clear that there was something bigger that was happening. The work that she'd originally planned to have as the core of her business

Shauna Lynn Simon (01:50.094)

Hello and welcome back to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today's episode is for the woman who looks like she's got it all handled, but privately it feels just a little heavier. Not necessarily because you're not great at business, not because you're not fully capable, but because you might be carrying a story that you're not actually saying out loud. A lot of "Accidental CEOs" are leading from these unspoken scripts, things like I have to be the strong one. If I slow down, everything falls apart. If I'm not impressed, if I'm not safe.

And those stories don't just live in our personal lives, but they show up in our pricing, our boundaries, our capacity, and just how exhausting it can feel to lead. So today's guest, Jennifer Griffith, is an author, speaker, and host of the About Your Mother podcast. Her work explores the relationships and defining moments that shape us. And her debut memoir, Both Sides of Then: Finding Love After Abandonment, is a powerful reminder that rewriting your next chapter doesn't mean erasing the backstory. It means telling the truth about it.

and choosing what comes next. So if you've been craving a little more honesty, a little more self-trust, and a lot less performing, this conversation is going to be for you. So Jennifer, welcome to the show.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and today I'm joined by Shari Leid. Author, speaker, and founder of the Flip the Box Movement. Shari helps leaders and entrepreneurs turn disconnection into a strategic advantage, strengthening relationships, improving communication, and leading with more clarity and confidence. She's also the author of Table for 51, a project that took her across all 50 states.

exploring the role of connection in leadership and life. So Shari, welcome to the show.

Shari Leid (02:22.754)

Thank you. It's great to talk to you today.

Shauna Lynn Simon (02:25.426)

I'm super excited to talk to you as well. And so I want to talk about like some of the things that I kind of said in your intro there can come across as sort of buzzwords essentially for some of the people listening. I think we all get a little bit fatigued sometimes by some of the buzz that's out there, but we're gonna get it down to the actual meat of things. So when you talk about connection and you say that connection is a driver of performance, what are we talking about in kind of plain language? What does that mean?

Hey there and welcome back to the Real Woman Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today I want to talk about something that comes up more often than I care to admit in a lot of conversations that I have with women surrounding their business, especially in industries like home staging, interior design, business coaching and consulting, and really any service-based business where it can feel kind of like everybody is watching everybody. And the topic I want to talk about is actually competitors. And

As someone who comes from a background in home staging, in staging, we like to consider our competitors colleagues. It's a very collaborative industry, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we're always feeling super collaborative, especially when we're watching what other people are doing online and seeing. It's really easy to look around when you're building a business and you want to know what are other people charging? What are they offering in a staging business, for example? What are the rental terms someone else is offering? An interior design, what type of services are they offering?

Hey there and welcome back to How to Sell Your Home Staging Business, a Real Women Real Business Podcast mini-series for home stagers who are thinking about what it could like to eventually sell their business or at least make sure that they have some options in order before that day comes. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and I have been walking you through over the last few episodes many different elements of selling your home staging business. We've talked about

Exit readiness, sellability, numbers, valuation, inventory systems, systems and operations, team members, and transferability. And we've done this through the lens of what a buyer is going to be looking at in your business. And as we've identified, it's not all that different sometimes to selling a house. And of course, as home stagers, we know a whole lot about that. But today I want to talk about what happens once the business actually starts to move forward with the sale.

Welcome back to How to Sell Your Home Staging Business, a Real Women Real Business Podcast mini-series for home stagers who are starting to think about what it could look like eventually to sell their business. And they want to build a profitable business now that also builds a valuable and sellable asset for later. So I'm your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And in the last episode, we talked about inventory. And we talked about why your inventory matters, but it is not the actual business.

Inventory supports value when it helps the business to produce revenue in a clear and organized, transferable way. But a warehouse full of furniture on its own is not the same as a sellable business. And it does not contribute to the listing price of your business the way that you might think that it does, nor does your annual revenue that you're bringing in. So if you haven't listened to that episode, I highly recommend you go back and listen to that first. This is part five today. We've got four other

parts to this series that we've already recorded that you can go back and listen to. And all of the information in those, each one adds on to the next. So if you haven't listened to some of those previous episodes, please go back and do that before listening to today's episode. Because today we're going one layer deeper. Because once a buyer now understands what assets are included in the business, the next question they're going to have is can this business actually continue without the current owner?

Hello, and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today's guest is Kalee Boisvert, a financial advisor, author, and speaker who helps women build wealth while staying true to themselves. With over 15 years in finance and an MBA in finance, Kalee blends practical money conversations with honest reflections on identity, self-worth, and what it really means to create a life that feels good to live.

So we're be talking about why money is really just about money and how to redefine rich in a way that supports your business and your capacity. So Kalee, welcome to the show.

Kalee Boisvert (02:25.666)

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Shauna Lynn Simon (02:27.982)

I'm so excited to have you here because money conversations are my jam. This is something we talk about quite often on this show. And I don't think we can possibly ever say enough things about it. So I want to dive in right away to something that actually came up in your bio there. And that is that you say that money is rarely just about money. Tell me what you mean by that.

Welcome back to the How to Sell Your Home Staging Business Podcast mini series, a real women, real business podcast mini-series, specifically for home stagers who are starting to think about what it could look like to eventually sell your business and want to build a profitable business now and build a valuable and sellable asset. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And in the last episode, we talked about your numbers. Hopefully, you have recovered from any stress that that might have caused, because I know.

We're not all numbers people, and it might not have been the most comfortable conversation, but hopefully you got some really valuable insights out of it. Specifically, what we talked about was how to look at your numbers through a buyer's lens. We talked about why revenue is not the same as value, why your net income may not be telling the full story, and why valuation is often connected to what the business actually produces for the owner. Now, if you missed it.

You're going to want to go back to that one and take a listen to that one before you listen to this episode because I promise you it's all connected and this episode will make way more sense to you if you've already listened to that last episode. So if you haven't done that yet, go do that now and I'll see you when you get back. Okay. So today we need to talk about one of the biggest valuation assumptions.

Welcome back to How to Sell Your Home Staging Business, a Real Woman Real Business Podcast mini-series for home stagers who are starting to think about what it could look like eventually to sell their business. And they want to build a profitable business now and build a valuable and sellable asset so that they can leave that as a part of their legacy when they decide to leave this industry. I'm your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And in the last episode, we talked about what actually makes a home staging business sellable.

And the big idea was this that a buyer is not looking at your business the same way that you are. You see the history and the relationships and all the effort, the late nights, the blood, sweat, and tears that you've put into this, the inventory investments, the agents you've nurtured, the clients you've helped, the jobs you've pulled together when everything was going sideways and you still managed to pull it off.

A buyer doesn't see all that. What they see is something a little bit different because they're asking, can I understand this business? Can I see exactly how does it make money? Can I see what would continue in a positive way, in a strong way after the current owner has stepped away? And can I see the value clearly enough in order to make a confident decision? So today we're going to be moving into one of the biggest pieces of that confidence, and that is your numbers.

For anyone who knows me, you might recall that I actually do have a bit of a numbers background. My original career path was actually in mathematics. I have a bachelor of mathematics degree and I worked as an analyst for several years before becoming a home stager myself. And while I would love to say that that makes me a financial guru, it's not necessarily the same thing, but I do admit that I do enjoy the data that numbers provide. And that's the same thing that your buyers are going to be looking at.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And listen, have you ever looked at your business and thought, you know, this is really working? So why am I not okay? Because a lot of "Accidental CEOs" who listen to this podcast, you don't necessarily build your business on what we would consider a sustainable system. Instead, we build it on survival systems, right? You're in survival mode. It's the kind that you know gets results, but ends up behind the scenes costing you things like your health, your relationships.

Your capacity, and honestly, at times, even your joy. So today's conversation is for the high-achieving woman who's been holding it all together with bubblegum, duct tape, whatever you've got to hold it together. And you've been doing this for far too long. And maybe you're starting to realize that your nervous system has been running your business. Well, I'm sitting down today with Christina Kantzavelos, a California licensed psychotherapist, writer, and chronic illness advocate.

And the founder of Begin Within Today and WithinMe. After developing severe Lyme disease and navigating complex chronic illness, Christina was forced to rebuild her life, identity, and career from the ground up. And now she supports people navigating chronic illness, trauma, burnout, and nervous system dysregulation through trauma-informed and somatic approaches. And she brings a rare perspective as both a therapist and an entrepreneur.

Shauna Lynn Simon (00:08.878)

Welcome back to the How to Sell Your Home Staging Business, a Real Women Real Business Podcast mini-series for home stagers who are starting to think about what it could look like to eventually sell their home staging business or at the very least, make sure that they have options. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and I'm so glad that you could join me today. In the last episode, we talked about why you don't always get to actually pick your exit date. And if you haven't listened to that one yet, I'd really recommend going back to it because it does set the stage.

For this whole conversation. The main point of it was essentially this that exit readiness is not the same as selling. So just because you're getting prepared does not mean that you're actually planning on selling tomorrow or even this year, even in the next 12, 24, 36 months. You may not even be sure if selling is something that you'll ever want to do. And that's totally fine too. But being sell ready is about building something that

Could continue beyond you. And if that's if that's what you want to choose to do, while making your business easier to run and more profitable to run now. So today we're talking about the next step. We're going to talk about what actually makes a home staging business sellable. And we're going to start with one of the biggest misconceptions about this. And that is that a busy business is not necessarily a sellable business.

I know, annoying, right? But how often do we hear people say, you know, how are things going? you know, I'm busy. Well, busy is good, right? Is busy always actually good? We're gonna talk about that today because as business owners, we tend to look at what we consider visible proof of our success. The calendar is full, the warehouse is empty, and the phone is ringing nonstop. Agents know who you are. You have a strong portfolio, you've built relationships, you've built a reputation.

Welcome. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today we're starting a short mini series specifically for home stagers who have ever wondered, could I sell my hostaging business someday? Or perhaps maybe a little bit more honestly, what happens to this business when I'm done? And although this mini series has been intentionally designed specifically for home stagers, and it's going to have staging business specific references in it.

The information that we're providing is honestly quite valuable for any small to medium-sized business that wants to plan out their exit strategy. Now, hold on a second before you go and flip to another podcast because you say to yourself, you know, I'm not really planning on selling my business anytime soon. So this isn't really going to apply to me. Before you turn away from this, I just want to share two very important things that you need to know. So the first is that just like staging a house for sale, the power and the profit.

Is in the preparation. And you need to ensure that you are preparing sell-ready financials at least two to three years before you even want to sell. Even if you've been keeping great books, how you see your books and how a buyer might see them are two different things. So you really want to ensure that these are in a buyer-ready state, sort of that move-in ready that we're doing for our clients. And that can take two to three years because you can't actually go backwards to fix your books. You can only go forward.

Hey there and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and I got a question for you. Do you think about money? Like I think about money. Do you think about money? I think about it a lot. and I don't just mean though in the how do I make more money? Where's my money going to come from? How do I get money? Although all that, of course, matters, but I want to talk about the way that money affects our decisions, our confidence, our boundaries, our pricing.

And even just the way that we show up in our businesses. So something that I've noticed over the years, and especially more and more recently, I'm having so many conversations with entrepreneurs about this. And that is that money itself isn't always necessarily the actual problem. The bigger issue is generally the pressure that we're feeling from the money, around the money. So we don't have enough money. We need more money. You know, money isn't coming in the way that we want it to or in the amounts that we want it to, all these different things cause this pressure around money. And what that does is it starts that pressure starts making decisions for us, decisions that we might not make without that pressure. And the problem is that a lot of us don't realize that pressure even exists. So today I want to talk about a couple of things, but one of them is a really big question that I want us to think of before making a money related decision.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today we have really exciting guest. I'm joined by Joy Lynskey. She is the founder and CEO of Jewel Toned Interiors, which is an award-winning women-owned interior design studio based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Now Joy is known for pairing design excellence with operational strategy, leading projects across luxury, multifamily, workplace, wellness, and residential spaces.

with many projects focused on the underserved communities. Joy also brings a broader leadership lens though to the built environment. She served as the first woman president of the Construction Executives Association. So today we're gonna be talking about what it really takes to cultivate a culture of creativity and contribution, how leaders build trust without lowering standards and where to start if you want a stronger team culture, but you're already feeling stretched a little bit too thin. So Joy, welcome to the show.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today I'm joined by Danielle Kepics. She is the founder of Empowered Mind and Body and co-founder of Unconventional Collaborative, a community for practitioners who want to elevate their work. Now Danielle's background is seriously multi-layered. She's worked as a physician assistant, had a master's in counseling psychology, and now blends that experience and expertise into an integrative coaching approach.

that helps people improve energy, hormones, digestion, sleep, libido, and so much more. So in this episode, we're gonna talk about a whole lot of things here. I think we're gonna get into a little bit about what it looks like to leave conventional medicine, start a business before it's perfect, and build something that's sustainable that actually fits your life. So Danielle, welcome to the show. Hi!

Hello and welcome to the Real Woman Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today I am challenging the idea that the newest strategy, the loudest expert or the latest business trend is automatically the smartest path forward. For many of my "Accidental CEOs", as I affectionately refer to my "Accidental CEOs", these are people who followed more passion than plan and woke up one day and realized, oh my goodness, I am the CEO of a company.

What I find for many of them is that the problem is not that they don't know enough. It's that they have started ignoring what they already know works in favor of whatever is currently getting the most attention online. Whatever that latest fad is, whatever that latest trend is, that latest hack. And there's a very good chance that one of the smartest strategies that's available to you right now is actually something that you are already doing or something that you used to do, but you've started to dismiss it because it doesn't feel new, exciting.