You Don’t Have to Burn It all Down To Live!

Today I want to talk about something that keeps so many of us stuck: the belief that in order to live your purpose, you have to burn it all down.

Quit the job. End the relationship. Sell everything and move across the country.

And listen… sometimes that is the path. But for most of us? That fear of having to blow up our whole life keeps us from even taking the first step.

So today I want to share the truth: You don’t have to burn it all down to live your purpose. In fact, Human Design shows us that your purpose starts with tiny shifts … shifts that realign you with who you already are. And those small shifts can change everything.

“I’ll be honest, when I first found Human Design, I thought: oh great, here comes another system telling me I need to completely reinvent myself.

And as a Manifesting Generator? I’d already burned things down more times than I could count. Jobs, businesses, routines… if it didn’t fit, I left.

But here’s the beautiful thing I learned: Human Design isn’t about breaking everything apart. It’s about aligning with the energy that’s already inside you.

For example, when I stopped forcing myself into strategies that didn’t light me up, I didn’t need to throw away my business… I just needed to shift the way I ran it. When I trusted my Authority, I didn’t need to end everything… I just needed to stop outsourcing my decisions and finally listen to myself.

It was never about burning it down. It was about shifting back into sync.

“So let’s talk about what this looks like in real life.

If you’ve been scared to explore your Human Design, or scared to really go after what you want because you think it means tearing everything apart… here’s what I want you to know:

✨ Alignment doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s as simple as saying no when you mean no. Or taking 10 minutes to respond to an invitation instead of people-pleasing.

✨ Living on purpose doesn’t start with clarity, it starts with courage. You don’t have to know the whole plan. You just have to take one small step that honors your design.

✨ Tiny shifts add up. The Projector who starts giving herself permission to rest will find new energy for her work. The Generator who stops forcing and waits to respond suddenly feels excitement again. The Manifestor who stops asking for permission starts feeling powerful again.

It’s not about blowing it all up. It’s about listening, adjusting, and experimenting until you feel your energy click back into place.

“Imagine this: You’re still in the same life you’re in now. Same family. Same job. Same business.

But instead of feeling drained, you feel energized because you’re making decisions that actually fit you. Instead of spinning in circles, you feel clear because you’re listening to your Authority. Instead of feeling like you’re living someone else’s life, you feel like you again.

That’s what purpose feels like. Not necessarily a new life, but a new way of living the one you already have.

So here’s the takeaway, love: You don’t have to burn it all down.

Your next chapter doesn’t have to start with destruction. It starts with permission … permission to realign, to trust yourself, and to make tiny shifts that add up to a life that feels like yours.

And if you’re ready to explore what that looks like for you, I’d love to invite you into The Meant-for-More Session.

On this call, we’ll look at where you feel most out of sync, uncover what living on purpose really looks like in your Human Design, and map out your next steps.

It’s not about fixing you. It’s about remembering you.

The link is in the show notes… go grab your spot. Because you were never meant to settle. You were meant for more.

https://calendly.com/stefcarlstedt/stand-out-strategy-call

The Business Traps Keeping You Stuck (and What to Do Instead)

Let’s be honest…. the online business world is full of rules. Rules about how to sell, how to price your offers, how to market yourself, how often you should show up. And most of them? They don’t actually work… at least not for you.

Today we’re going to talk about three of the biggest traps that keep entrepreneurs stuck: lowering your prices, creating fake urgency, and feeling like you have to be selling all the time just to be seen.

And then we’re going to talk about what actually works instead… the thing that finally shifted everything in my business and in the businesses of my clients. And spoiler alert …it’s not another tactic. It’s alignment.

Here’s the thing. I’ve been in business for over 13 years. And in that time, I have followed all the rules. I’ve lowered my prices when someone said they couldn’t afford it. I’ve tried fake urgency with countdown timers and ‘enrollment closes tonight’ offers. I’ve pushed myself to show up and sell every single day even when I felt exhausted.

And let me tell you: none of those things created sustainable growth.

What they did create was burnout. Frustration. That awful question … ‘what’s wrong with me? Why does this work for everyone else but not for me?

And if you’ve ever thought the same thing, let me just pause here and tell you the truth: there’s nothing wrong with you. The problem isn’t you. The problem is that you’ve been building your business on rules that were never designed for you.

One of the biggest traps I see business owners fall into is lowering their prices.

It usually starts with good intentions. Someone says, ‘I really want to work with you, but I can’t afford it.’ And because you care about people, because you want to help, you think, ‘Maybe I should lower my price so they can say yes.”

But here’s what actually happens when you do that:

• You weaken your own belief in your offer. If you’ll bend once, you’ll bend again, and suddenly your pricing feels like it’s on shaky ground.

• You send the message to yourself that your work isn’t worth what you decided it was worth.

• And here’s the truth when someone says they ‘can’t afford it,’ it’s rarely about money. If they truly believe your offer is the solution to their problem, they’ll find a way. We’ve all seen it: people spend money on what they value.

So when you lower your price, it’s not actually helping the client. It’s teaching them to undervalue the transformation. And it’s teaching you to doubt yourself. That’s a lose-lose.

The second trap is fake urgency. You’ve seen this a million times — countdown timers, bonuses that ‘expire,’ doors that ‘close’ but then magically reopen next week.

Here’s the problem: fake urgency creates quick yeses, but they’re not solid yeses. They’re pressure yeses. Which means they often turn into cancellations, refunds, or worse…clients who don’t show up fully because they only said yes out of fear of missing out.

I’ve been on both sides of this. I’ve bought from fake urgency and regretted it. And I’ve used fake urgency in my business and felt gross about it. Neither felt aligned. Neither created the kind of long-term, sustainable sales that actually feel good.

And then there’s the third trap: constant selling. This is the idea that you have to show up every single day, selling nonstop, or else your business will crumble.

That’s a lie.

What happens when you buy into this is you’re always in chase mode instead of leadership mode. You’re scrambling to be visible, scrambling to get noticed, scrambling to make the next sale. And that scramble energy is repelling the very people you want to attract.

The right clients don’t need you to beg them or chase them. They don’t need convincing. They need clarity. They need resonance. And when you’re showing up in alignment with who you really are, that’s what they feel.

This is where Human Design comes in.

Human Design showed me that there isn’t just one way to sell. There isn’t just one way to market yourself. There isn’t just one way to run a business.

There’s your way.

When you understand your design …your type, your strategy, your authority, your profile … you stop second-guessing everything. You stop wondering if you should lower your price. You stop feeling pressured to create urgency or sell nonstop.

Because you know how you are designed to sell, lead, and show up.

And that’s when business gets easier. That’s when sales feel natural instead of forced. That’s when you stop hustling for validation and start magnetizing the right people, the right opportunities, the right clients.

And this… this is exactly what I’m teaching inside my free 3-day workshop called Burn the Biz Rulebook.

If you’re tired of playing the game by everyone else’s rules… if you’re tired of being told that you just need to lower your price, or sell harder, or follow some one-size-fits-all strategy… this workshop is for you.

We’re going to dismantle the BS, uncover what’s actually been draining your business momentum, and show you how to rebuild your business in alignment with your unique design.

You don’t need another formula. You need clarity. You need permission. You need your energy back.

And that’s exactly what you’ll walk away with in this workshop.

You can save your free seat right now at stefcarlstedt.com/burnit

And if you’re listening to this thinking, ‘I don’t want to wait. I want to start right now,’ I’ve also created a 2-week experience called the HD Business Jumpstart.

It’s a focused, two-week process where we take the first steps of integrating your Human Design into your business. By the end, you’ll know exactly what to shift, what to stop doing, and how to start selling in a way that feels good for you.

So here’s your takeaway today: you don’t need to follow the rules that don’t feel good. You don’t need to lower your prices. You don’t need to fake urgency. You don’t need to sell every second of every day.

You need to build your business your way. By design.

I’ll see you inside the workshop.

ROOTING FOR YOU!,

Stef

The Hidden Places You Are Copying and Slowly Killing Your Business Results

Alright… let’s be real.
You probably think you’re building your business your way.
You’ve put in the work, you’ve got your offers, you’ve got your strategy… but, and hear me out, there’s a very good chance you’re unknowingly copying someone else.

And no, I don’t mean stealing content.
I mean adopting the way you price, market, sell, or even work every day… just because it’s what you’ve seen everyone else do.

Here’s the thing… you can’t build a truly sustainable, profitable business that feels like home if you’re running it based on someone else’s blueprint.
And I say this with so much love… but also from 13 years of trial-and-error. I’ve been there.

Today, I’m breaking down the sneaky ways copying happens without you even realizing it, how it’s secretly draining your momentum, and how Human Design is the key to getting your business back to being 100% yours."

"So, here’s how this happens…
We enter the online business world, and suddenly we’re in this sea of experts and gurus saying:
‘Here’s the formula.’
‘Here’s the launch plan.’
‘Here’s the only way to get clients.’

And without even thinking, we start adopting it.
Why? Because it’s everywhere. It’s normalized. It’s ‘the way things are done.’

I did this for years. I copied launch schedules, offer structures, even how I was supposed to post on Instagram. I convinced myself that because it worked for someone else, it had to work for me.

But here’s what I learned the hard way when you try to succeed using someone else’s rules, you end up exhausted, frustrated, and doubting yourself.
It’s like wearing shoes that are the wrong size. They might look great, but after a while, they just give you blisters.

"Let’s talk about where this shows up, because I want you to actually check yourself here.
Here are the 5 most common places I see business owners , maybe even you , unknowingly copying:

1. Pricing — You set your prices because ‘that’s what coaches charge’ or ‘I saw someone else at this level charging this.’ No reflection on your design, your energy, your audience… just an autopilot decision.

2. Offer structure — You mimic the course layout, group program format, or even length of someone else’s offer because it’s ‘what works,’ not what actually lights you up to deliver.

3. Marketing cadence — You follow the 5-posts-a-week, 12-emails-in-a-launch rule without asking if it fits how you’re designed to work. And spoiler: for many of you, it doesn’t.

4. Sales style — You push urgency tactics, scripts, or calls-to-action that make you feel… kinda gross. But you keep doing it because someone told you it’s how to close a sale.

5. Work schedule — You try to fit yourself into the 9-to-5 or the ‘CEO morning routine’ because it’s what everyone preaches… even though it leaves you drained.

If you’re nodding right now, you’re not alone. This is the reality for so many entrepreneurs. And again… this isn’t about blame. This is about awareness.

So why does this matter?
Because when you operate out of alignment with your Human Design… your type, your strategy, your authority… you’re making every part of business harder than it needs to be.

You’re leaking energy in a hundred small ways. Your clarity gets fuzzy. Your momentum dies down. Sales feel inconsistent. And suddenly, you’re wondering if you’re even cut out for this.

And that’s the most dangerous part… you start making your results mean something about you… when really, it’s just that you’ve been building a business designed for someone else.

So how do you stop this?
Step one… get crystal clear on your design.

Your design tells you why certain things feel heavy, why some strategies take twice the energy for you, and why you’ve been drawn to approaches that don’t actually work for you long term.

Here’s a quick example: A Generator might thrive on a consistent content rhythm and doing more live interaction, while a Projector will burn out fast if they try to keep that pace their energy works differently.

This is why Human Design isn’t just some fun personality test. It’s literally your instruction manual for how to run your business in a way that works for you.

And if you’re listening to this and realizing, ‘Wow… I’ve been copying way more than I thought,’ you need to be in my free 3-day workshop, Burn the Biz Rulebook.

Inside, we’re going to uncover exactly where your business is out of alignment where you’re forcing strategies that don’t fit and I’ll show you how to rebuild using your unique Human Design so you get your energy, clarity, and momentum back.

This is where we stop the copy-paste business model and finally create something that’s 100% yours.
You don’t need another formula. You need your own blueprint and that’s exactly what we’ll start mapping out together.

Save your spot now at stefcarlstedt.com/burnit , and let’s start building a business that actually fits you.

NEED YOUR FREE CHART AND REPORTS.. HERE YA GO:)

How To Attract Clients With Aligned Energy

Have you ever put something out into the world .. a post, a reel, a program… and felt so excited about it... only to hear crickets?

You’re doing everything “right.”
You’re following what they said to do.
But somehow… it’s not landing. It’s not resonating. It’s not converting.

If you’ve ever felt like your message is technically correct but energetically off , this episode is going to shift everything.

Because today, I’m introducing you to something you were never taught in your business strategy course:
My Mentor calls it Your Vibe of Tribe and how this one energetic key unlocks your clarity, connection, and clients.

Let’s dive in.

🎯 Segment 1: What is Vibe of Tribe and Why No One’s Talking About It

You’ve probably been taught to build your brand around what you sell or who you serve.
But what if the most important piece isn’t what you say… but how your people feel in your presence?

Your Vibe of Tribe is the energetic feeling your ideal client needs to experience from you before they ever click buy.

It’s not your brand colors.
It’s not your niche statement.
It’s the frequency you’re here to embody one that magnetizes the right people when you’re living it.

Vibe of Tribe comes from the line of your Conscious Sun in Human Design and every line carries a different energetic imprint. It’s like the unique energetic “signature” you’re meant to embody and express.

And here’s the part no one tells you:

👉 If your content isn’t resonating…
👉 If your offers aren’t selling…
👉 If you feel like your people aren’t “getting it”...

You might be showing up in a way that isn’t aligned with your Vibe of Tribe.

And the moment you shift into your real energetic voice?
Everything starts to land.

🧬 Segment 2: Real-Life Examples of Each VOT (Brief Overview)

Let me give you a feel for what this looks like, because this isn’t abstract — this is practical energetics.

• Line 1 (mine): Your tribe needs to feel safe. You’ve done your research. You’re grounded. You are the lighthouse in the storm. This isn't guesswork .. you bring depth and credibility.

• Line 2: Your tribe needs to feel your natural genius. They want to watch you be in your zone. It’s not forced … it's intuitive and inspiring.

• Line 3: Your tribe needs to know you’ve lived it. You’ve failed. You’ve risen. You’re in the realness of life. They trust you because you’ve walked through the fire.

• Line 4: Your tribe needs community. Connection. They feel seen and held by you. You’re the heart-centered bridge.

• Line 5: Your tribe needs solutions. Clarity. They come to you when they’re in a pinch and need it fixed fast. You’re a powerful guide with direct insight.

• Line 6: Your tribe needs wisdom. They see you as the mentor. They want the big-picture vision, not just the day-to-day.

Now here’s what happens when you ignore this…

You’re a Line 1 but trying to be flashy and overly expressive.
You’re a Line 3 trying to teach like a guru instead of sharing from experience.
You’re a Line 5 trying to “connect” when your genius is actually cutting through the noise.

Do you see how this creates disconnect?

💡 Segment 3: How to Find Your Vibe of Tribe and Use It in Your Business

This isn’t a “nice to know.”
This is the bridge between “meh” messaging and magnetic leadership.

Here’s what you can start doing today to align your voice to your Vibe of Tribe:

1. Learn the Line meaning and what your tribe is seeking
   → Your people aren’t randomly following you. They are energetically wired to seek the specific feeling you embody when you’re aligned.

2. Audit your content
   → Is your content giving them that feeling?
   → Are you being yourself... or trying to “market” like everyone else?

3. Create from your frequency
   → For example, as a Line 1, I’m here to make you feel grounded, safe, certain. So my reels, my offers, my stories they come from that place.
   → I’m not here to hype you up. I’m here to calm your nervous system with truth.

When you stop chasing tactics and start embodying your natural vibe that’s when people say: “I don’t even know why, but I trust her.”

That’s the power of Vibe of Tribe.

💬 Final Segment: If You’ve Been Misunderstood, This Is Why

Here’s the truth: most people are building their business based on someone else’s energy.

And it’s exhausting.

But you? You’re not here to be a copy.
You’re here to be a frequency.

And when you return to your natural energetic voice the one that was always yours .. you stop trying to prove.

You just become magnetic.

🎧

1. Go grab your free Human Design chart at stefcarlstedt.com/hdreport

You’re not for everyone … but you are for your people.
And your energy is what they’re waiting for.

snag your FREE BUSINESS AUDIT HERE!

The Truth About Social Media and Your Design

Welcome back. Today I want to have a real conversation… one that might feel a little edgy, especially if you’ve built your business like I did: online, on social media, constantly “showing up.”

This episode is called “The Truth About Why I’m Posting Less (and Growing More),” and I’m going to walk you through not just what I’m doing differently, but why it took me so long to admit that it wasn’t working for me anymore.

🧠 Part 1: The Shift I’m Making.. And Why

I used to think that success looked like consistency. Like always having something to post. Like having a “content calendar” that mapped out the next 30 days. Like making sure my face and voice and message were constantly being seen.

And that worked. Until it didn’t.

Because even though I built a multi-six-figure brand, I started noticing the cost:

• I felt drained.

• I felt performative.

• I was measuring my worth by views and saves instead of depth and alignment.

And it hit me: I wasn’t out of alignment with success. I was out of alignment with myself.

🔑 Part 2: My Human Design Helped Me See It

I’m a 3/5 Manifesting Generator with Sacral Authority, and everything in my design was whispering:

“This isn’t how your energy wants to work.”

Here’s what that means:

• My 3/5 Profile means I’m here to try, fail, refine and lead from experience, not perfection. So curated content felt fake.

• As an MG, I move fast when it’s right, but I was burning energy on content I didn’t even feel turned on by.

• With Sacral Authority, I’m here to respond from my gut not push through a strategy.

• And my Valleys Environment? I’m built for depth, not noise. Social was loud.

Add in my Vibe of Tribe 1: I’m not here for the masses. I’m here for the right people the ones who feel my energy and say “this is it.”

And none of that aligned with the 24/7 content hamster wheel.

🚨 Part 3: The Lie We’ve Been Sold

Let’s be honest: we’ve been taught a lie.

We’ve been told:

• “You have to post daily or you’ll be forgotten.”

• “Your value is in your visibility.”

• “If you’re not on social, you don’t have a business.”

But I’m calling BS. Because I know too many brilliant people who are burning out in the name of algorithms. Too many geniuses stuck editing Reels instead of refining offers.

Visibility ≠ viability.
Performance ≠ prosperity.
Consistency ≠ alignment.

And AI is only speeding this up. Anyone can create content now , but not everyone can transmit truth.

🌿 Part 4: What I’m Doing Instead

So here’s what I’m choosing now:

• ✨ Depth over daily posts

• 🎙️ Podcasting instead of pushing out content for the algorithm

• 💌 Email… where I can tell real stories, not chase trends

• 🤝 Magnetic Business Audits, because real resonance is better than reach

I’m still showing up. Just differently.
From a place of desire, not demand.
From my design, not someone else’s blueprint.

🌀 Part 5: If You Feel This Too…

If you’re listening to this and thinking, “Oh my gosh, I thought it was just me,” it’s not.

You’re not lazy.
You’re not inconsistent.
You’re not “bad at marketing.”

You’re likely just building in a way that was never meant for you.
And if your body is begging you to stop … it’s because it knows something your mind hasn’t caught up to yet.

🎯 Final Invitation

If you want support building your business in a way that fits using your Human Design to guide your niche, your message, your offers, your marketing rhythm…. let’s talk. HERE!

I’m offering free Magnetic Business Audits where we explore what’s actually aligned for you and how to build a business that feels like you.

💛 Book your call

Until then, go trust your energy.
It’s always been the strategy.

What Your Human Design Profile Reveals About Your Marketing Style

Hey friend!

welcome back to The Magnetic Business Podcast.

You’ve likely heard all the advice on marketing…

Post Reels. Share value. Show your face. Be an authority. Build a personal brand. Have a call-to-action. Tell stories. Sell more. Be vulnerable. But not too vulnerable.

It’s a lot.

And most of it feels like you’re wearing someone else’s skin — performing a version of a business owner instead of being one.

If you’ve ever felt like marketing is draining, confusing, or like you’re “just not good at it,” I want you to know:

You’re not doing it wrong.

You’ve just never been shown how to market as yourself.

Today’s episode is going to change that, because your Human Design Profile holds the exact clues to how you’re designed to communicate, build trust, and show up magnetically in your business.

Let’s get into it.

THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETING + PROFILE

When most people hear “marketing,” they think:

How do I get more attention?
How do I convert more people?
What do I say that will make them buy?

But in Human Design, marketing isn’t about manipulation or performance… it’s about resonance.

And your Profile … the two numbers in your chart like 1/3, 4/6, 5/1 … is one of the most powerful tools for finding that resonance.

Because your Profile reveals:

• How you’re here to be seen
  
  

• What role you play in others’ transformation
  
  

• The tone of your brand voice
  
  

• The kind of relationships you naturally build
  
  

• How trust forms between you and your audience
  
  

When you ignore your Profile and follow random “content hacks,” you’ll always feel off.

But when you embrace your Profile?
Marketing becomes easy. Natural. True.

LET’S BREAK IT DOWN: EXAMPLES OF PROFILE IN BUSINESS

Let’s look at a few examples so this lands in your body, not just your mind:

💡 1/3 – The Researcher & Realist
You're here to build trust through depth and real experience.
You’re not just sharing fluff you’re saying “I’ve tested this. I lived this. Here’s what actually works.”
👉 Your best content: Honest breakdowns. Lessons learned. Myth-busting. Long-form content with research + raw truth.

💡 4/6 – The Heart-Centered Role Model
You’re all about connection and embodiment. People trust you because they feel your heart and see your integrity.
👉 Your best content: Personal storytelling, community building, real-time life lessons. You don’t need a script just speak from your lived wisdom.

💡 5/1 – The Practical Visionary
People see you as a leader and they want solutions. You’re meant to offer bold, clear guidance, but it has to be grounded.
👉 Your best content: Strategic how-tos. Strong opinions. “Here’s how to fix it” energy but backed by your deep research.

💡 2/4 – The Natural
You’re not meant to force visibility. Your magnetism comes when you’re in your zone and your audience calls you out of hiding.
👉 Your best content: Behind-the-scenes creation, voice notes turned to Reels, “This came to me in solitude” wisdom.

Your Profile doesn’t just shape your content.
It shapes your presence. Your pace. Your people.

And once you learn to market from that you stop second-guessing, and start showing up with soul.

Because YOU are finally being seen for who you actually are.

And that’s the power of Profile.

If this episode lit a fire in you, here’s what to do next:

🌀 Step 1: Download your Free Human Design Business Report
Inside, you’ll find your chart, your energy type, AND your full Profile breakdown in business terms.

🎧 Step 2: Listen to the Private Podcast Series: The Magnetic Business Blueprint
I go deep into what your energy type + profile mean for offers, voice, and sales.

💫 Step 3: Book your FREE Magnetic Business Audit!

Marketing isn’t meant to feel like a performance.
It’s meant to feel like you.

What your Chart knows that you don’t!

This episode is for the business owner who keeps asking, ‘Why does this STILL feel off — even when I’m doing everything “right”?’

Hey love . welcome to The Magnetic Business Podcast (THE NEW DIRECTION OF THIS PODCAST AD BLOG).. the space where we rewrite business from the inside out, using your Human Design as the compass, not the rulebook.

I’m Stefanie Carlstedt — Human Design & Business Coach, mom, creator, and woman who’s walked the path of doing all the “right” things… and still wondering why it felt so wrong.

If you’ve landed here, I’m guessing you’ve felt that too.

You’ve hired the mentors. Signed up for the courses. You’ve downloaded the launch guides, tried the content batching, the buyer psychology hacks…
But your business still feels heavy. You’re still second-guessing yourself. You’re still waking up with this quiet whisper that says,
“This isn’t it.”

Today we’re talking about why that happens — and why your Human Design might be the only tool that can show you what’s really going on beneath the surface.

Because friend… your chart knows something your mind doesn’t.

THE INVISIBLE GAP

Let’s talk about that invisible gap you feel.

You’ve “done the things” — and logically, you should be further ahead. But no matter what you try, it’s like something in your business still doesn’t click.

The branding might look polished.
The offers might make sense.
You’re posting consistently, you’ve worked on your mindset…

…but it all still feels a little off.

And maybe you’ve even wondered:

• “Do I just not have what it takes?”
  
  

• “Maybe I’m not meant to do this…”
  
  

• Or the deepest one: “Am I broken?”
  
  

Let me pause right here and say:
No. You’re not broken.
You’ve just been building a business that’s out of alignment with your natural energetic blueprint.

Because business doesn’t fail at the strategy level first. It fails at the energetic level — long before the algorithm, the pricing, or the marketing plan.

WHAT YOUR CHART REVEALS (THAT GOOGLE NEVER COULD)

This is where Human Design changed everything for me — and why it’s at the core of my work now.

Your Human Design chart isn’t here to label you. It’s here to liberate you.

When I first saw my design, it explained why I’d burned out — even when I was “successful.”
It showed me why I was attracting clients who didn’t feel aligned,
why I kept launching offers that didn’t feel mine,
and why I’d outsourced my voice — even when I had something powerful to say.

Let’s ground this with my own Keys and Locks — because they’re a reflection of the work I now do with clients.

💥 Gate 55 – Freedom: I’m not here to follow someone else’s system. I’m here to show others how to create freedom by being fully themselves.

💥 Gate 34 – Empowered Energy: I thrive in aligned action, not over-efforting. And that’s what I help others tap into — real, embodied momentum that’s sustainable.

💥 Gate 59 – Deep Connection: My work isn’t surface-level. I hold space for raw, intimate, truth-telling transformation — so you can build a business that’s real.

💥 Gate 20 – Truthful Expression: I’m not here to sugarcoat or perform. I’m here to speak what’s real — and help you find your truest voice in business.

And my Locks?

🔐 Gate 10 – Self-Love: When I tried to perform or perfect my way through business, it drained me. Now I teach from a place of radical self-worth and self-trust.

🔐 Gate 1 – Creative Authenticity: I used to water myself down — until I realized my creativity was the medicine. Now, my clients build brands from their true creativity, not a template.

These aren’t just poetic words in a chart.
These are the energetic codes that explain why I kept getting stuck — and why my clients were too.

THE REAL REASON BUSINESS FEELS OFF

So let’s circle back to you.

You’ve been sold the strategy.
You’ve been told the formula.

But if you’ve never been taught how your energy is meant to move,
if you’ve never been given permission to market and sell and rest and lead in a way that feels natural to you,
then of course your business feels disconnected.

Because you’ve been trying to build a brand by ignoring the blueprint you were born with.

And this is where Human Design steps in and says:

“Hey — you don’t have to keep doing this backwards.”

Your chart shows you:

• What your natural strengths actually are (not just what Instagram says should work)
  
  

• How your body says YES or NO to decisions
  
  

• How you’re meant to sell, connect, rest, and grow
  
  

It’s like finally having the instruction manual to you —
and realizing you never needed fixing.
You just needed permission to be you in business.

PART FOUR: WHAT TO DO NEXT

So if you’ve been stuck in the loop of:

• Doing what worked for someone else
  
  

• Outsourcing your decisions to the algorithm
  
  

• Feeling invisible or “too much” in your business
  
  

• Telling yourself “once I just fix THIS one thing, I’ll feel clear…”
  
  

Then let this episode be the line in the sand.

Here’s what to do next:

1️⃣ Go download your free Human Design business chart + 12-page report — you’ll also get a personalized audio from me about your energy type in business. stefcarlstedt.com/hdreport
This is the starting point — and it’s deeper than any free download you’ve ever seen.

2️⃣ Subscribe to my Private Podcast — this is the behind-the-scenes space where I teach you how to read your chart, understand your messaging, and attract aligned clients.

3️⃣ And if you’re ready to get hands-on help, book a MAGNETIC BUSINESS AUDIT HERE!
On this call, I’ll help you decode exactly where the energetic misalignment is — and show you what your chart says you’re here to do, say, and sell.

Because here’s the truth:

🔥 You don’t need to do more to be successful.
You need to do what was meant for you all along.

And your chart already knows.

Thanks for tuning in to this first episode of The Magnetic Business Podcast.
We’re just getting started — but this is where it begins:

Not with another hack.
Not with another blueprint.

But with you — the truest version of you.

See you next time!

Your Brain On Conditioning

 Hey friend — welcome back to Before the World Told You Who to Be.
I’m Stefanie, Certified High Performance Coach and Human Design guide — and today’s episode is going to make a lot of things click for you.

Because if you’ve ever thought,

“Why do I keep doing things that don’t feel like me?”
“Why do I keep saying yes when I mean no?”
“Why do I keep falling into burnout, frustration, people-pleasing — even after all this self-development work?”

…this is for you.

Today we’re talking about your brain on conditioning — and how Human Design can help you interrupt the patterns you didn’t choose, but keep repeating anyway.

Part 1: The Pattern Isn’t Personal — It’s Programmed
Here’s something I want you to hear loud and clear:

✨ You’re not weak. You’re not broken. Your brain is just doing its job.

Our brains are pattern-obsessed. They’re wired for safety, not truth.
So if you learned at a young age that being liked meant being quiet, or being praised meant overachieving, or love came with conditions — your nervous system took notes.

And every time you followed those rules and avoided rejection, your brain said:
✔️ “That worked. Let’s do that again.”

Even if it didn’t feel like you.
Even if it left you exhausted.
Even if it meant abandoning your own needs.

This is what we call conditioning.
Not just from childhood, but from culture, systems, religion, education, hustle culture… even social media.

And the wild thing is:
You might think you’re choosing your actions — but most of us are actually choosing what feels safest, not what feels most true.

Part 2: Enter Human Design — The Unconditioning Map
This is why Human Design is so powerful.
It’s not here to label you — it’s here to help you remember who you were before the world told you who to be.

Your chart is a literal energetic map. It shows you:

• Where you're meant to be consistent
  
  

• Where you're meant to be flexible
  
  

• How you’re designed to make decisions, interact with others, manage energy, and lead yourself
  
  

• And most importantly — where you’re most likely to be conditioned and pulled off track
  
  

That’s what changed everything for me.
I had all the tools — I was a certified coach, running a business, doing the “right” things — and still felt so off.

Until I realized I was still trying to build success from someone else’s blueprint.
And it was my own chart that helped me finally understand my energy, my patterns, and why all the personal development advice wasn’t landing.

Part 3: Practical Ways to Start Unwinding the Conditioning

Let’s make this real.
Here are 3 places you can start to spot and shift your conditioning using your Human Design:

🔹 1. Your Open or Undefined Centers
These are areas where you take in energy from the world.
For example, if you have an undefined heart center, you might constantly feel like you have to prove your worth.

If you have an undefined head, you might take in everyone else’s questions or ideas and feel like you have to figure everything out.

➡️ ACTION: Look at your chart. What’s open or white? That’s not “bad” — it’s where you’re here to sample, but not attach. Awareness here is freedom.

🔹 2. Decision-Making Through Your Authority
Most of us were taught to make decisions with our minds.
But Human Design gives you a specific inner compass — called your Authority — that tells you how you’re actually designed to decide.

➡️ ACTION: If you’re Emotional Authority — you’re not supposed to be spontaneous. If you’re Sacral — it’s about gut response, not logic. Start experimenting with small decisions using your Authority. Watch what shifts.

🔹 3. Notice Your “Shoulds”
Conditioning often hides in the word “should.”

“I should post every day.”
“I should be able to do it all.”
“I should want this job/life/business/etc.”

➡️ ACTION: Every time you say “should,” pause and ask:

“Is this actually mine? Or is this what I’ve been taught to believe?”

This one question can open everything.

The Real Work is Remembering

The point of all of this isn’t to throw away your brain or blame your past — it’s to gently reclaim your truth.

You’re not crazy for feeling stuck.
You’re not lazy for burning out.
You’re not indecisive, or broken, or “too much.”
You’ve just been living inside a pattern that was never yours.

And the beautiful thing?
You don’t have to force your way out.
You just have to see it.
And then take one aligned step at a time back home to you.

If this landed with you — if something clicked and you want to go deeper — download your free Human Design chart and 17-page guide at stefcarlstedt.com/hdreport.
I’d also love to hear what resonated — DM me on Instagram @stefaniecarlstedt.

Until next time — keep remembering who you really are.

When You Outgrow the Version of Success You Were Told to Want

When You Outgrow the Version of Success You Were Told to Want

Let me ask you something…
Have you ever sat in a moment where, technically, everything in your life should feel like a win — and yet something inside you whispers, “This isn’t it”?

You’re successful on paper.
You’re doing everything you were told would make you happy.
But if you’re being really honest with yourself…

You feel disconnected.
Unfulfilled.
Like you’re playing a part in someone else’s story — and wondering when yours gets to begin.

This episode is for you.

✨ [My personal story — The Crack Open Moment]

I remember sitting on the other side of burnout…
On the other side of 12-hour days, smiling on the outside, people-pleasing to the point I couldn’t even recognize my own voice anymore.
And yet, I was “doing it right.”

I had been successful in network marketing for over a decade.
I was coaching, leading, building, parenting — checking every box.

But I was exhausted from living a life built from other people’s blueprints.

And when I lost my dad — everything cracked open.
Grief doesn’t just shatter your heart… it shatters your illusions.
It made me stop pretending.
And for the first time, I asked myself:

What if the life I built isn’t mine

✨ [The Shift — Enter Human Design]

That was the moment I found Human Design.
Or maybe — it found me.

Human Design didn’t give me new rules to follow.
It gave me permission to unlearn all the ones that weren’t mine.

It showed me why I worked the way I did.
Why I could never sustain hustle culture.
Why rest made me feel guilty.
Why I questioned myself, even when my gut was screaming yes.
Why I kept trying to mold myself into versions of leadership that looked good but felt wrong.

And suddenly… I saw myself.
Not the “me” shaped by childhood conditioning.
Not the “me” trained to people-please, perform, and power through.
But the version of me who had always been there — waiting to be remembered.

If you’re nodding right now, or maybe even holding back tears, I want you to hear this:

You are not broken.

You have not failed.
You’ve just been trying to succeed in a system that wasn’t designed for your energy, your gifts, your voice.

You weren’t made to follow a one-size-fits-all path.
You were designed to lead your own.

Whether you’re a business owner, a team leader, a parent, or just someone trying to feel whole again — your Human Design can show you the way back to yourself.

And not the watered-down, people-pleasing version.

The magnetic, grounded, lit-up version you were born to be.

This is why I do this work.
Because I know what it feels like to lose yourself — and I know what it takes to come home again.

My own journey through the Locks and Keys in my chart taught me that:

• Lock 10 — I’m here to lead by being fully, unapologetically me
  
  

• Lock 1 — That my voice and creative expression aren’t just allowed — they’re necessary
  
  

• Key 55 — That emotional freedom is my compass
  
  

• Key 59 — That depth and connection require truth
  
  

• Key 34 — That my power comes when I honor my sacral energy
  
  

• Key 20 — That the now is where my wisdom lives
  
  

And now — I help other women remember who they were before the world told them who to be.

So if you’ve outgrown the version of success they sold you…
If you’ve built a life that looks good but doesn’t feel like yours…
If you’re ready to finally stop shrinking and start leading…

Then this podcast is for you.

In this space, we’re not here to fix you.
We’re here to unlearn everything that told you you needed fixing in the first place.

You are not behind.
You are not too much.
You are right on time to remember who you are.

Let’s unlearn the noise.
Let’s decode your design.
Let’s rebuild from the inside out.

Because you — exactly as you are — were always the plan.

The Silent Pressure That’s Stealing Your Power

Episode 3: The Real Reason You Feel Behind (It’s Not What You Think)

Part of The Unlearning Sessions
Theme: Releasing shame around timing, progress, and productivity by seeing it all through the lens of Human Design.

Welcome back to The Unlearning Sessions.

Today’s episode is for the woman who keeps whispering…

“Why am I still behind?”
“Why is it taking me so long?”
“Why does everyone else seem to have figured it out already?”

If that’s you, I want to offer you something radical:

You’re not behind. You’re not broken.
You’re just not designed for their timing.

So let’s talk about what that actually means.

💭 The Timeline Trap

We’ve been trained to believe there’s a schedule for success.
A finish line. A checklist. A perfect timeline.

• Start your biz by 25
  
  

• Figure out your niche before you post
  
  

• Hit 6 figures by year 2
  
  

• Launch, scale, grow… without pausing
  
  

And when we don’t hit those markers?
We blame ourselves.

We think:

“I must be inconsistent.”
“Maybe I don’t want it badly enough.”
“Maybe I’m not cut out for this.”

But here’s what Human Design taught me — and what I need you to hear:

You were never meant to follow someone else’s timing.
You were meant to honor your own.

✨ Your Design = Your Pace

Let me break it down for you.

• If you’re a Projector, your energy runs deep but not wide. You’re not built to hustle — you’re built to wait for the invitation, to be seen, to guide.
  
  

• If you’re a Generator or Manifesting Generator, you might think you should be "on" all the time — but unless you're responding to aligned energy, you're just burning yourself out.
  
  

• If you have an undefined root center, rushing feels like survival. But your magic lives in presence, not pressure.
  
  

• If you’re an Emotional Authority, you’re not meant to make snap decisions — and that delay is wisdom, not weakness.
  
  

So no — you’re not lazy. You’re not slow. You’re not inconsistent.

You're just living in a world that never taught you to trust your own pace.

🔥 The Power of Divine Timing

Here’s the truth:
The right action at the wrong time? Still misaligned.
But when you move at the pace of your design? That’s when momentum finally clicks.

It’s not slower. It’s smarter.
It’s not passive. It’s powerful.
It’s not lazy. It’s liberating.

And the more you unlearn the timelines handed to you,
the more space you create for the right opportunities, clients, decisions — to actually land.

🌀 A Quick Story

When I started honoring my own design — as a Manifesting Generator — I stopped trying to make everything linear. I stopped trying to force launches, posts, pivots on someone else’s calendar.

And the wild thing?

When I stopped trying to be on time…
Everything arrived right on time.

The magnetism came back.
The joy came back.
The results came — faster, easier, and with way less forcing.

Because I wasn’t working against myself anymore.
I was working with the way I was always designed to move.

📣 What to Ask Yourself

So if you’ve been feeling “behind,” I want to offer you a new question:

“What if I’m right on time for me?”

Because your design is not an excuse.
It’s your edge.
It’s your clarity.
It’s the strategy underneath the strategy.

And when you learn to trust your own rhythm —
You stop running a race that was never yours to win.

👀 Up Next…

In the next episode of The Unlearning Sessions:

What Strategy Can’t Teach You (But Your Design Can)

If you've ever felt like you’re doing everything right but it’s still not working — you’re gonna want to hear this one.

You’re not too slow.
You’re not too much.
You’re not behind.

You’re you — and that is exactly what the world needs.

ROOTING FOR YOU,

Stef

You Can’t Lead Others Until You Know Yourself!

Hey friends — welcome back.
Today, we’re getting into something I believe every team, every business, and every leader needs to hear:

You can’t lead others if you’re abandoning yourself.
And in so many traditional leadership models — that’s exactly what’s been happening.

We’re told to follow the system. Duplicate the process. Stick to the structure.
But what happens when that system doesn’t work for you?
What if the very way you were taught to lead — is the reason you're exhausted?

That’s what Human Design reveals.
And that’s why we’re talking about it today.

🔥 PART 1: THE LIE OF ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL LEADERSHIP

If you’ve ever felt like you should be more consistent, more productive, more confident…
If you’ve ever wondered why the strategies that work for others seem to drain the life out of you…
Let me offer you this truth:

You’re not broken. You’re just not leading from your actual design.

The leadership world has sold us the idea that there’s one way to show up — and if you’re not keeping up, the problem is you.

But in Human Design, we learn that leadership looks radically different based on your energy type, your authority, your centers — even your environment.

Here’s a truth most leadership spaces ignore:
We are not all built to operate the same. And when we try to — we burn out.

🧠 PART 2: WHAT SELF-LEADERSHIP ACTUALLY MEANS

Self-leadership isn’t about being perfect.
It’s not about always showing up, pushing harder, doing more.
It’s about knowing your energy — and honoring it.

In Human Design, your energy type tells you how you move through the world.
Your strategy tells you how to make aligned moves.
Your authority tells you what your decision-making voice actually is.
And your centers? They show where you’re leaking energy — and where you hold wisdom.

Here’s why that matters in a team environment:
If you’re leading people — whether in corporate, in a coaching container, or in network marketing — and you’re trying to lead them all the same… you’re going to lose them.
Not because they don’t care — but because they’re not you.

⚙️ PART 3: EXAMPLES OF ENERGETIC MISMATCH IN LEADERSHIP

Let me paint a picture:

You’re a Manifesting Generator. Fast-moving. Multi-tasking. Energetically expansive.
But you’re trying to lead a Projector on your team like they should hustle the same way you do.
That Projector is brilliant — but their wisdom comes from guiding, not grinding.

Or you’re a Manifestor — built to initiate. But you’ve been told to “wait to respond” and check in with everyone before making moves.
So you’re shrinking your power instead of starting movements.

Or maybe your Heart Center is open. So you constantly overpromise, overcommit, and try to prove your worth — instead of trusting that rest and boundaries are actually leadership, too.

💡 PART 4: WHY THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

When you start leading from your design, you:

• Conserve energy instead of bleeding it out
  
  

• Make clearer decisions instead of second-guessing
  
  

• Attract the right people instead of chasing everyone
  
  

• Lead from truth instead of performance
  
  

This is why I say — self-leadership is your real system.
Before you lead others, you have to come home to your own energy.
Otherwise, your leadership is a performance — not a transmission.

Whether you’re running a team, coaching clients, mentoring in network marketing, or leading your family…
Human Design gives you the tools to lead better — because you understand yourself first.

I always say this:

You can’t duplicate energy. You can only align with your own.
And when you do? That’s when it clicks. That’s when it flows. That’s when leadership becomes easeful — because it’s true.

XOXO

Steg

Your Parenting Struggles Aren’t Random - They are Energetic Mismatches.

HUMAN DESIGN & PARENTING

Hey friends — this one’s for the parents.
The ones who love their kids deeply… and still sometimes feel like,
“Why is this so hard?”

Maybe your child is wildly sensitive.
Maybe they explode and you have no idea why.
Maybe they’re the complete opposite of you — and you feel like you’re failing because nothing you’ve tried is “working.”

What if I told you… your child isn’t broken?
And neither are you.

They’re not difficult — they’re just designed differently.
And when you start parenting them through the lens of Human Design, it all starts to make sense.

👶 PART 1: WHY HUMAN DESIGN IN PARENTING MATTERS

We are not raising blank slates.
Your child came in with their own energetic blueprint — and when we try to raise them from our conditioning instead of their design, we both suffer.

Most parenting advice says:

• Be consistent
  
  

• Be firm
  
  

• Follow a system
  
  

But what if your child’s system isn’t the same as yours?
What if their energy needs, their decision-making, their emotional process is completely different from yours?

That’s where the magic of Human Design comes in.

🔍PART 2 What “Designed Differently” Really Looks Like — in Real Life

Let’s get real.
Human Design isn’t some abstract concept when it comes to your kids — it’s literally the reason they do the things that confuse or frustrate you.

Let me show you how this plays out, depending on your child’s energy type — and what you can actually do to parent them more effectively.

🔋 GENERATOR & MANIFESTING GENERATOR KIDS

These kids have a motor running — and it’s called their Sacral Center. That means they’re here to move, play, create, respond to life around them. They’re designed to follow what lights them up — and they’ll tell you exactly what doesn’t… through frustration, shutdowns, or meltdowns.

🙋‍♀️ What this looks like:

• They ask 100 questions, bounce from toy to toy, or resist doing things that feel boring or forced.
  
  

• They lose it when you drag them to errands all day with no breaks.
  
  

• They suddenly light up with joy when you say, “Do you want to go to the park?” — that’s a sacral yes.
  
  

✅ What they need:

• Ask them yes/no questions like: “Do you want to wear this or that?” or “Wanna go outside now?”
  
  

• Let them help you make decisions by responding — not by sitting quietly and listening to a lecture.
  
  

• Give them freedom to follow what excites them — they’re not lazy, they’re just not built to push through things that feel flat.
  
  

🚫 What doesn’t work:

• Constantly telling them to “just sit still” or “just get it done”
  
  

• Forcing them to say yes to everything without checking in with their energy
  
  

🧠 PROJECTOR KIDS

These kids are here to guide, not grind. They don’t have that same sacral motor, which means they literally don’t have the energy to go-go-go all day like Generator types. They’re incredibly perceptive, and they shine when they feel seen and invited.

🙋‍♀️ What this looks like:

• They often say things that are wise beyond their years
  
  

• They melt down or shut down after too much stimulation
  
  

• They get frustrated if you don’t listen to their advice or insights — even if they’re “just a kid”
  
  

✅ What they need:

• Rest. Like, a lot more than you think.
  
  

• Pockets of alone time to reset.
  
  

• To be invited into conversations or decisions. Try saying, “I’d love to hear your thoughts — what do you see?”
  
  

🚫 What doesn’t work:

• Comparing them to more energetic siblings
  
  

• Expecting them to follow every rule without question — they’re here to guide, not just obey
  
  

🔥 MANIFESTOR KIDS

These kids are trailblazers. They’re not here to wait for permission — they’re here to initiate. That means they’ll often just do the thing — and get punished for it later. They’re also deeply protective of their freedom and can shut down if they feel controlled.

🙋‍♀️ What this looks like:

• They act first and explain later (“I already built it!” “I already made the plan!”)
  
  

• They get angry when you tell them what to do without informing them why
  
  

• They hate being interrupted or micromanaged
  
  

✅ What they need:

• A heads-up. Manifestors feel safest when they’re informed, not bossed around.
  
  

• Freedom to create and initiate — even if it’s messy.
  
  

• Clear boundaries that honor their independence while keeping structure.
  
  

Try saying: “Hey, here’s what we’re doing today so you’re in the loop” or “You’re free to do that, I just need to know first, so I can support you.”

🚫 What doesn’t work:

• Constant correcting or controlling
  
  

• Surprising them with new rules or last-minute changes
  
  

🌕 REFLECTOR KIDS

These are the most energetically sensitive children — they’re literally reflecting the environment and people around them. That means who and what they’re around matters a lot. Their energy shifts day by day, and they need time to process things slowly.

🙋‍♀️ What this looks like:

• One day they’re outgoing, the next day withdrawn — and both are true
  
  

• They get emotionally overwhelmed in chaotic spaces
  
  

• They absorb moods, stress, and even health patterns from others
  
  

✅ What they need:

• A calm, supportive environment — not constant stimulation
  
  

• Time to make decisions — they’re not built for fast yes/no
  
  

• Permission to feel their emotions and change their mind
  
  

Try saying: “Take your time. You don’t need to decide right now” or “How does that space feel to you?”

🚫 What doesn’t work:

• Forcing them into rigid routines
  
  

• Expecting them to be consistent like other kids — they are supposed to flow
  

🎯 THE TAKEAWAY

Every child is different — not because they’re difficult, but because they’re designed differently.
When you understand their design:

• You stop blaming yourself
  
  

• You stop judging them
  
  

• And you start creating more peace, more connection, and way fewer battles
  
  

Human Design doesn’t give you a script.
It gives you a deeper understanding of your child — and that changes everything.

Would you like me to expand the other sections of the episode to match this tone and depth? Or turn this into a freebie lead magnet PDF for parents in your world?

🧠 PART 3: WHERE PARENTS GET STUCK (AND HOW HD HELPS)

We usually parent from three places:

1. How we were raised
   
   

2. How we wish we were raised
   
   

3. What we read in a book or saw on TikTok
   
   

Human Design invites you into something radically different:
Parent your actual child — not your fear, and not your projections.

That starts with:

• Understanding their energy
  
  

• Respecting their decision-making process
  
  

• Honoring your own design, too — so you’re not leading from burnout
  
  

So if your child needs space and you need answers — you’re not wrong. You just need a map.

💡 PART 4: THE DEEP TRUTH ABOUT PARENTING & DESIGN

Here’s what I want every parent to know:
You don’t need to control your child.
You need to understand them.

You are not here to mold them — you’re here to guide and witness them.

And that means releasing the belief that your child should be like you… or that their differences mean something’s wrong.

Human Design doesn’t fix your child.
It frees them.
And it frees you, too.

If you’ve ever said:

• “I don’t know what else to try”
  
  

• “They don’t listen to me”
  
  

• “They’re not like any other kid I know”
  
  

…then this is your sign to look at their chart.
To look at your chart.
To stop trying to force what’s not aligned, and start learning what actually is.

If this spoke to you, send me the word “PARENT” — and I’ll help you find your family’s design starting point.

Because parenting doesn’t have to be perfect.
It just has to be aligned.

XOXOX,

Stef

The Roles You Took On That Were Never Yours

The Roles You Took On That Were Never Yours

Welcome back to Before the World Told You Who to Be — the podcast for those of us who are done trying to fit into roles we never signed up for and are ready to remember who we actually are.

I’m Stefanie, Human Design guide, coach, and woman who has lived this path of unlearning, unbecoming, and returning to my true self. And today we are talking about something that touches every single one of us...

The roles we took OR the way we use those roles in a way that was never actually US.

SECTION 1: What Roles Are You Performing?

Let me ask you this:

• Are you the one who keeps everything running?

• The emotional glue in your family?

• The one who never says no?

• The achiever, the fixer, the strong one?

We’re handed these roles from such a young age — not through a contract, but through patterns, praise, and pressure.

And after a while, they start to feel like identity. But they’re not. They’re performance. Survival. Conditioned habits. And they keep us from actually meeting ourselves.

SECTION 2: My Story — When the Mask Cracked

I used to believe I had to do it all. The business, the motherhood, the marriage, the showing up for everyone, the proving.

But one day, I woke up and realized I couldn’t feel myself in any of it.

It was after I lost my dad and my business in the same month. Two huge identity anchors. And without them?

I didn’t know who I was. Because I had built myself around the roles I thought I had to play.

That breaking was also my beginning.

SECTION 3: How Human Design Helped Me See the Real Me

When I found Human Design, it was like holding a mirror up to my soul.

I learned that my energy type, my profile, my decision-making authority — they weren’t wrong. They were just never supported.

HD didn’t tell me who to be. It helped me let go of who I wasn’t.

When I saw my chart for the first time, I cried. Because for the first time in a long time, I felt seen.

And now, I help others do the same.

SECTION 4: The Invitation

So I want to ask you today:

• What roles are you still performing?

• What identities are you still holding because you think they keep you safe?

• What parts of you have gone quiet just to keep the peace?

I want to offer this reframe:

Your Human Design doesn’t tell you what to do. It reflects who you are here to be.

And you don’t need to earn that. It’s already who you are.

CLOSING:

Thank you for being here. This work isn’t easy — but it is sacred.

If today’s episode resonated, come tell me what role you’re ready to release. Post it in the Facebook group or DM me privately. I would love to hold space for it.

You don’t have to keep performing. You don’t have to keep pretending. You get to return.

I’ll see you next time.

xo,
Stefanie

What if you were never broken - Just Misdirected??

| Welcome to Before the World Told You Who to Be

A New Era, A New Name

Welcome back. I’m so glad you’re here. I have some exciting news — this podcast has a new name and an even deeper mission.

What was once Business Beyond Strategy is now Before the World Told You Who to Be.

Why? Because I’ve evolved. My clients have evolved. And I’m no longer here just to help women build epic businesses. I’m here to help you come home to yourself. In every part of your life.

Human Design has been a life-changing tool in my journey, and it’s become the key I use to support women like you in parenting, relationships, business, marriage, and most importantly — your connection to yourself.

You’re Not Broken. You’ve Just Been Living Someone Else’s Blueprint.

So many of us are burned out, overwhelmed, anxious, or frustrated — not because we’re doing life wrong, but because we’re living a life we were never designed for.

We’re operating by societal standards. Performing roles we never chose. Checking boxes that were never ours.

This podcast is for the woman who is ready to remember who she really is. To unlearn the patterns of performing, perfecting, and proving. To stop chasing every version of herself that never truly fit.

This Isn’t Strategy. This Is Self-Returning.

You won’t find fluff here.
This isn’t about "just trust the process" pep talks.
This is about real-life alignment. The messy kind.

We’re going to go deep — into identity, into Human Design, into the structures and stories that have shaped us.

If you’ve ever thought, "There has to be more than this," then you’re in the right place.

My Story: From Misalignment to Mission

After I lost my father and my business of 10 years all in the same month, something shifted.

I woke up and realized I didn’t even recognize myself.

I had followed every external blueprint. Built the business I was told to build. Played all the roles I was praised for.

And I was done.

I didn’t want to be her anymore.

That unraveling led me to Human Design — the first tool that truly mirrored back who I am. Not who I thought I had to be. Not who I was trained to be. But who I was designed to be.

Why Human Design Is Different

You may have done the Enneagram, StrengthsFinder, or other personality tools — they’re helpful, yes.

But most are based on how you answer questions — from a conditioned mind, shaped by trauma, upbringing, and social expectation.

Human Design is different. It’s not based on who you think you are. It’s mapped from birth. It’s written in the stars. It reflects your energetic blueprint.

And every single client I’ve walked through their chart? They cry. They exhale. They finally feel seen.

Including me.

This Is a New Era: The Era of Self-Return

We are entering a time where the deepest transformation doesn’t come from external strategy — it comes from remembering.

Your design holds the key to:

• How you’re meant to make decisions

• What environments support your growth

• Your energy flow, communication, and core purpose

• How you relate to your kids, your partner, your work, and yourself

You Are Not Behind. You Are Not Failing.

You are not broken. You are simply buried.

And this podcast? It’s here to help you unearth what’s always been there.

We’ll talk motherhood, marriage, business, environment, identity. All of it. Because alignment isn’t one category of life. It touches everything.

Take the Next Step

✨ Join my free Facebook group HERE, where we continue these conversations and apply this work to real life.

✨ Grab your free Human Design chart + 17-page PDF at [insert link]. It’s the perfect first step.

✨ DM me on Instagram or email me with your thoughts on this new direction — I’d love to connect.

This is Before the World Told You Who to Be. And I’m so glad you’re here.

Discovering My Soul-Led Path with Human Design

Episode: The Alignment: Discovering My Soul-Led Business Path

Welcome back to Business Beyond Strategy. I'm Stefanie, and this is the fifth episode in my journey from hustle culture to aligned success.

So far, I've shared how I built a business following everyone else's rules, watched it crumble, awakened to hustle culture's hold, and began the unlearning process. Today, we're exploring what emerged in that newly created space - my soul-led business path.

SEGMENT 1: The Empty Canvas

After unlearning so many conditioned beliefs about business, I found myself in an unfamiliar place - a space of possibility.

It was both liberating and terrifying. Without the rigid frameworks and blueprints I'd relied on, I faced questions like:

• How do I know what to create next?

• How do I make decisions without strategies?

• How do I know if I'm on the right path?

• What does success even look like now?

I had cleared away what wasn't mine, but I wasn't yet sure what was.

SEGMENT 2: The First Steps into Alignment

My journey into alignment didn't start with big, bold moves. It began with small, quiet practices:

Practice #1: Energy check-ins I started each day by tuning into my energy. Not forcing a particular state, but simply noticing what was present and honoring it.

Practice #2: Listening to body wisdom Before making decisions, I paused to feel them in my body. Did they create expansion or contraction? Lightness or heaviness?

Practice #3: Following curiosity Instead of strategic planning, I began following what genuinely sparked my interest. This felt almost rebellious after years of calculated moves.

Practice #4: Sacred business space I created physical and energetic containers for my work that felt aligned with my natural rhythm, not someone else's productivity hacks.

These practices seemed simple, almost too simple. But they became the foundation for everything that followed.

SEGMENT 3: The Resistance (Again)

I'd love to tell you that the path to alignment was smooth, but the truth is - resistance showed up in new forms.

As I began building from alignment rather than strategy, I encountered:

The doubt spiral: "Is this just making things up as I go? Shouldn't I have a clearer plan? What if this is just self-indulgence?"

The comparison trap: "Everyone else seems to know exactly what they're doing. Look at their strategic launches and clear messaging. Maybe I should just..."

The urgency pull: "I need to figure this out faster. I need to make money now. I don't have time for this alignment exploration."

Each form of resistance was really just my conditioning trying to pull me back to the familiar, even though the familiar hadn't worked.

SEGMENT 4: The Alignment Indicators

Gradually, I began to recognize what alignment actually felt like in my business:

Indicator #1: Flow state When I was in alignment, time seemed to disappear. Work didn't feel like work. Ideas came naturally.

Indicator #2: Energetic expansion Aligned activities left me feeling energized rather than depleted, even when they required significant effort.

Indicator #3: Synchronicities The right resources, connections, and opportunities began appearing at just the right time.

Indicator #4: Client resonance The clients who found me seemed to arrive exactly when I had something they needed, and they responded to my authentic voice.

Indicator #5: Intuitive knowing I began experiencing clear inner guidance about next steps, often in unexpected moments of quiet.

These indicators became my new navigation system - more reliable than any strategy I'd followed before.

SEGMENT 5: The Emerging Business Vision

As I continued following alignment, something remarkable began to take shape - a business vision that actually felt like mine.

This vision was different from my previous business in fundamental ways:

• It was built around my natural energy rhythms, not forced productivity

• It valued depth of impact over breadth of reach

• It prioritized alignment in every decision, from pricing to partnerships

• It allowed for evolution and organic growth

• It measured success by how it felt, not just by external metrics

The most surprising part? This aligned approach didn't mean sacrificing success. In fact, it created results more sustainable than anything I'd built through hustle.

SEGMENT 6: The Permission to Trust

Perhaps the most significant shift was giving myself permission to trust:

• Trust my intuition over expert advice

• Trust my body wisdom over strategic formulas

• Trust my natural rhythm over arbitrary timelines

• Trust that alignment would lead to abundance

This trust didn't come easily. It was a daily choice, especially when fear or conditioning would resurface.

But each time I chose alignment over strategy, the evidence built: This path not only felt better - it worked better.

CLOSING

The journey into alignment isn't a destination - it's an ongoing exploration. There are still days when I slip back into old patterns or question this path.

The difference is that now I have tools to recognize when I'm out of alignment and practices to find my way back.

In our final episode, I'll share how I've rebuilt my business through alignment, the surprising results of this approach, and what success looks like when it's created on your terms.

If you're in that empty canvas stage, feeling both liberated and uncertain after releasing what isn't yours, know this: Your aligned path is already within you. Your job isn't to create it - it's to uncover it.

Until next time, this is Stefanie with Business Beyond Strategy, where we're discovering that the most powerful business model is the one that's aligned with your soul.

The Unlearning : Breaking Free From The Success Conditioning

Welcome back to Business Beyond Strategy. I'm Stefanie , and this is the fourth episode in my journey from hustle culture to aligned success.

So far, I've shared how I built a business following everyone else's rules, watched it crumble, and awakened to hustle culture's hold on me. Today, we're diving into the most challenging part of the journey - the active unlearning process.

SEGMENT 1: The Invisible Prison

After recognizing hustle culture's influence, I faced an uncomfortable truth: my mind had been conditioned in ways I couldn't even see.

My definition of success wasn't actually mine. It had been installed through:

• Business gurus I followed religiously

• Social media algorithms showing constant "success" stories

• Industry norms I never questioned

• Family patterns around work and worth

• Cultural messages about productivity and value

This conditioning wasn't just affecting my business strategies. It had shaped my entire relationship with success, worth, and identity.

SEGMENT 2: The Beliefs I Had to Confront

The unlearning process began with identifying the specific beliefs that were driving my decisions:

Belief #1: "My worth is tied to my productivity." I had internalized the idea that my value as a person was directly connected to how much I accomplished. Rest wasn't just difficult - it triggered actual guilt and anxiety.

Belief #2: "If it's not hard, it's not valuable." I had been programmed to believe that anything that came easily wasn't worth offering. I was actively making things more complicated because I thought that's what made them valuable.

Belief #3: "More is always better." More clients, more revenue, more followers, more offerings. I had never questioned whether expansion was always the right direction.

Belief #4: "Success looks a certain way." I had a rigid image of what "making it" looked like, and it wasn't actually based on what I wanted - it was based on what I thought would gain approval.

Belief #5: "Other people know better than I do." Perhaps the most damaging belief was that experts, gurus, and mentors always knew better than my own intuition.

SEGMENT 3: The Unlearning Process

Identifying these beliefs was just the beginning. Unlearning them was the real work.

Here's what this looked like in practice:

Step 1: Awareness through contrast I began to notice when a decision or action felt heavy versus light. This contrast became my first clue about alignment.

Step 2: Pattern interruption When I caught myself falling into old patterns, I created a pause. Sometimes literally saying "stop" out loud to break the pattern.

Step 3: Belief questioning For each conditioned belief, I asked:

• Where did this come from?

• Is this actually true for me?

• What evidence do I have that contradicts this?

• What would I believe if no one had taught me what to think?

Step 4: Embodied experiments I began testing new ways of working and making decisions:

• Working when I felt naturally energized

• Pricing based on energy exchange, not market rates

• Creating offers that felt aligned, not "strategic"

• Making decisions from body wisdom, not pro/con lists

SEGMENT 4: The Hardest Habits to Break

Some patterns were especially challenging to release:

The validation addiction: I had become accustomed to external validation. Making decisions without seeking approval felt terrifying at first.

The scarcity response: When opportunities arose, my conditioned response was to grab them, whether they felt aligned or not. Learning to pause and check alignment was uncomfortable.

The complexity habit: I had been trained to believe that value comes from complexity. Creating simple, aligned solutions triggered impostor syndrome.

The certainty seeking: I wanted guarantees before moving forward. Learning to trust the unfolding process without certainty was a daily practice.

SEGMENT 5: Finding My Authentic Voice

As I unlearned these conditioned patterns, something unexpected emerged - my authentic voice.

I started to recognize the difference between:

• My conditioned business voice (strategic, certain, authoritative)

• My authentic business voice (intuitive, curious, flowing)

I began to notice when I was speaking or writing from conditioning versus authenticity. The difference was palpable - not just to me, but to those I was connecting with.

My authentic voice:

• Used different language

• Had different rhythms

• Attracted different responses

• Created connection, not just conversion

This voice had been there all along, just buried under layers of "should" and strategic positioning.

CLOSING

The unlearning process wasn't a one-time event. It continues to be a daily practice of noticing when I slip into conditioning and gently returning to alignment.

But with each layer I release, business becomes more natural, more energizing, and more authentically mine.

In our next episode, I'll share how this unlearning created space for true alignment - and how I began discovering my soul-led business path.

If you're feeling the weight of success conditioning in your own business, know that unlearning is possible. It happens one belief, one pattern, one decision at a time.

Until next time, this is Stefanie with Business Beyond Strategy, where we're discovering that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is unlearn what you thought was true.

Designed to Succeeed In Business With Human Design

The Human Design Secret to Breaking Through Business Plateaus

Opening:

Hey there, welcome back to the podcast! I'm so excited you're here today because we're diving into something that has completely transformed my business and the businesses of so many of my clients.

Have you ever noticed how some entrepreneurs seem to attract clients effortlessly while you're working twice as hard with half the results? Or how certain business owners can post something seemingly simple and get an incredible response, while your carefully crafted content barely gets a like?

What if I told you it's not about working harder or even smarter—but about working in alignment with your energetic blueprint?

Today, I'm revealing why your Human Design holds the key to breaking through your business plateau and why following generic business advice might be the very thing keeping you stuck.

If you've been trying all the 'proven' strategies, creating content consistently, showing up on all the platforms, and still feeling invisible to your dream clients, this episode is specifically for you.

Section 1: The Misalignment Epidemic

Let me ask you something: Have you ever purchased a course or program that promised amazing results, followed it to the letter, and still didn't see the transformation you were hoping for?

You're not alone. I call this the misalignment epidemic, and it's rampant in the business world.

I remember working with a client named Jessica. She had invested in three different high-ticket programs, each time convinced that THIS would be the solution that finally helped her break through. She followed every step, created the content, built the funnels, showed up on social media—everything the experts told her to do.

And yet, crickets. Very few clients, minimal engagement, and a growing sense that maybe she just wasn't cut out for business.

Another client, Michael, was constantly told to 'be more visible' and 'post every day.' He forced himself to create daily content, even though it left him feeling completely drained. Despite his consistency, his audience barely grew, and he started to resent his business.

Here's what's really happening: These entrepreneurs aren't failing because they lack discipline or skills. They're struggling because they're following strategies designed for completely different energy types.

It's like trying to force a square peg into a round hole and then blaming the peg when it doesn't fit.

The truth is, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to business success. What works brilliantly for one person might be energetically depleting for another. And when you're constantly operating against your natural energy, you're not just making business harder—you're making it nearly impossible to succeed in a way that feels good.

This is where Human Design comes in as the missing piece of the puzzle.

Section 2: The Human Design Advantage

Human Design is essentially your energetic blueprint—a map that shows how you're naturally designed to make decisions, interact with others, and create success in the world.

When I first discovered Human Design, I was skeptical. But as I began to understand my own design and implement aligned strategies in my business, everything changed. Suddenly, marketing didn't feel like pulling teeth. Client attraction became more effortless. And most importantly, I stopped feeling like I was constantly swimming upstream.

Let me share a few brief examples of how this has transformed businesses:

Sidney was a 3/5 profile in Human Design, which means she's designed to learn through experimentation—through trial and error. But she was following rigid formulas and beating herself up when they didn't work. Once she understood her design, she embraced her natural experimental approach, started sharing her journey including the ups and downs, and her audience connection exploded. Her content went from crickets to conversations, and she filled her program within weeks.

Then there's David, who has a completely different design. He's a Projector type, which means he's energetically designed to be invited and recognized, not to chase or initiate. He was exhausting himself with aggressive outreach strategies because that's what the business gurus told him to do. When he shifted to creating deep, insightful content that showcased his wisdom and waited for the right invitations, everything changed. He now has a waitlist of clients who specifically seek out his unique perspective.

And finally, there's my own story. For years, I tried to follow the conventional wisdom about growing a business. I created elaborate funnels, posted on a rigid schedule, and followed launch formulas down to the letter. The result? Burnout, frustration, and mediocre results at best.

It wasn't until I discovered my Human Design that I realized why. As a 3/5 Innovative Leader, I'm designed to learn through experience, to try things and see what works. I'm naturally built to provide practical solutions based on my own trial and error. But I was trying to skip that experimental phase by following someone else's proven system.

When I finally embraced my design and built my business around it, everything shifted. My content resonated more deeply, my offers filled more easily, and most importantly—I stopped feeling like there was something wrong with me because I couldn't make those other strategies work.

Section 3: The Three Business Energy Types

Now, Human Design is wonderfully complex and nuanced, but for today's episode, I want to simplify it into three primary business energy types so you can start to recognize where you might fit.

The first is what I call the Action-Driven Entrepreneur. If this is you, you're designed to initiate, to make things happen, and to learn through doing. The frustration you experience when misaligned is feeling like you're constantly hitting walls or not seeing results despite your efforts.

When you're aligned with this energy type, you naturally attract clients through your momentum and your willingness to share both successes and failures. Your authentic journey becomes magnetic to others who want similar results.

One strategy that works particularly well for this type is documenting your process rather than just sharing polished results. Your audience is drawn to your willingness to take action and figure things out along the way.

The second type is the Waiting-for-Recognition Entrepreneur. If this is you, you're designed to be seen, recognized, and invited rather than pushing or initiating. Your frustration when misaligned comes from feeling exhausted by constant outreach or feeling invisible despite your expertise.

When you're aligned, you attract clients through your depth of insight and your ability to see what others miss. People come to you for your wisdom and your unique perspective.

A strategy that works well for this type is creating content that demonstrates your insight rather than directly selling your services. Focus on being recognized for your expertise, and the invitations will follow naturally.

The third type is the Responsive Entrepreneur. If this is you, you're designed to respond to what's happening around you rather than forcing initiatives or waiting for recognition. Your frustration when misaligned is feeling either too passive or too forceful in your business approach.

When you're aligned, you attract clients through your authentic responses to real needs and opportunities in your market. Your timing and responsiveness become your superpower.

A strategy that works for this type is creating responsive content based on what you're seeing in your audience or market rather than following a rigid content plan. Your ability to meet people where they are becomes your greatest client attraction tool.

As you're listening, you might be starting to recognize yourself in one of these types. And that recognition alone can be incredibly freeing—to understand that there's nothing wrong with you or your business approach. You've simply been trying to operate in a way that's not aligned with your natural energy.

Section 4: The Alignment Breakthrough

Let me share more specifically about my own alignment breakthrough, because it illustrates exactly how transformative this understanding can be.

Before discovering Human Design, I was constantly comparing myself to other business owners. I'd see someone post daily content and get amazing engagement, while my carefully planned weekly posts barely got noticed. I'd watch others launch with seemingly minimal effort and fill their programs, while I'd pour my heart and soul into a launch only to hear crickets.

I tried everything—hiring coaches, taking courses, joining masterminds. And while I'd get temporary results, nothing seemed to stick. I was exhausted, frustrated, and seriously considering whether I was cut out for entrepreneurship at all.

Then I discovered Human Design, and specifically my 3/5 Innovative Leader profile. I learned that I'm literally designed to learn through trial and error, to experiment and discover what works through direct experience. I'm built to be a practical problem-solver who provides solutions based on what I've personally tested and refined.

This was a complete game-changer. Instead of forcing myself to follow someone else's blueprint, I embraced my experimental nature. I started sharing my process, including the ups and downs. I became transparent about what I was learning along the way.

And something amazing happened. My audience grew. My content started resonating deeply. People began reaching out to work with me specifically because of my unique approach. I went from struggling to fill a program to having a waitlist.

But the most profound change was internal. I no longer felt like there was something wrong with me because I couldn't make those other strategies work. I understood that I was simply designed differently, and that my design was actually perfect for the type of business I wanted to build.

This is the transformation I now help my clients achieve—that alignment between who they naturally are and how they operate their business. And the results are consistently remarkable.

Call to Action:

If you're resonating with what I've shared today, you might be wondering how your specific Human Design is affecting your business results. What aspects of your natural energy have you been fighting against? What strengths have you been overlooking?

That's why I've created the Aligned Business Blueprint call, where we'll uncover exactly why you've been stuck despite your best efforts and identify the specific shifts needed to transform your results.

Realizing Hustle Culture’s Hold On Me

Episode: The Awakening: Recognizing Hustle Culture's Hold On Me

Welcome back to Business Beyond Strategy. I'm Stefanie, and this is the third episode in my journey from hustle culture to aligned success.

In our first two episodes, I shared how I built a business following everyone else's rules, and then watched it crumble. Today, I'm taking you into what came next - the awakening that changed everything.

SEGMENT 1: The Aftermath

After my business collapsed, I went through a period of 2-3 months where I was simply processing what had happened.

I was exhausted - not just physically, but soul-tired. The kind of exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix.

At first, I tried to make sense of it all through the same lens I'd always used:

• Maybe I hadn't implemented the strategies correctly

• Maybe I needed a different business model

• Maybe I just hadn't found the right mentor or program

I was still looking outward for answers, because that's all I knew how to do.

SEGMENT 2: The Pattern Recognition

Then came a moment I'll never forget.

I woke up one day after I lost my dad and realized I’m not who I want to be. I’m living for external validation and trying to fit in when I was born to stand out.

Suddenly, I could see the pattern I'd been caught in:

• Feeling inadequate or stuck

• Looking outside myself for solutions

• Following someone else's blueprint

• Initial excitement and results

• Eventual burnout and disconnect

• Rinse and repeat

I realized I had been caught in hustle culture's web without even knowing it. I had unconsciously bought into beliefs like:

• Success requires sacrifice and struggle

• More is always better

• If it feels hard, you're doing it right

• Rest is a reward, not a necessity

• Your worth is tied to your productivity

SEGMENT 3: The Body Wisdom

What's fascinating is that my body had been trying to tell me this all along.

I started to recognize how hustle culture had affected me physically:

• The tension I carried in my back. constant back pain, even though I went to doctors and chiropractors

• The sleep problems that became normal. i relied on melatonin every night to fall asleep

• The way my energy would crash at certain points

• The anxiety that became my constant companion

My body had been sending signals, but I had been trained to override them, to push through, to hustle harder.

In the stillness that followed my business collapse, I finally started listening to these signals instead of silencing them.

SEGMENT 4: The Question That Changed Everything

In this period of reflection, I asked myself a question I had never dared to ask before:

"What if success could feel good?"

It sounds so simple, but it was revolutionary for me. I had been conditioned to believe that:

• Success requires sacrifice

• Growth must be painful

• Discomfort is always the path to expansion

But what if that wasn't true? What if success could feel aligned, energizing, and natural?

This question cracked open everything I thought I knew about business.

SEGMENT 5: The First Steps Toward Alignment

Once I recognized hustle culture's hold on me, I began to make different choices:

I started with small acts of reclamation:

• Allowing myself to work when I felt naturally energized, not when the "productivity experts" said I should

• Giving myself permission to rest without guilt

• Checking in with my body before making business decisions

• Questioning business advice instead of automatically accepting it

• Noticing what actually felt good, not just what looked good

None of this was easy. Years of conditioning don't disappear overnight. But each small choice to honor my inner wisdom over external rules felt like coming home to myself.

SEGMENT 6: The Resistance

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't resistance.

When you've built your entire identity around hustle culture, choosing alignment can feel terrifying:

• What if I fall behind?

• What if I'm not doing enough?

• What if everyone else succeeds while I prioritize alignment?

• What if this is just an excuse for being lazy?

These fears were loud. Sometimes deafening.

But underneath them, there was something else emerging - a quiet knowing that there was another way. A way that honored my energy, my wisdom, and my unique path.

CLOSING

The awakening wasn't a single moment, but a series of small recognitions that eventually changed everything.

Recognizing hustle culture's hold was just the beginning. In our next episode, I'll share the active unlearning process - how I began to break free from success conditioning and reclaim my authentic voice.

If you're feeling the weight of hustle culture in your own business, I invite you to ask yourself that same powerful question: "What if success could feel good?"

Your awakening might be closer than you think.

Until next time, this is Stefanie with Business Beyond Strategy, where we're discovering that true success comes not from hustle, but from alignment.

The Fall : When my business crumbled overnight

Episode: The Fall: When My Business Empire Crumbled Overnight

Welcome back to Business Beyond Strategy. I'm Stefanie, and this is the second episode in my series about my journey from hustle culture to aligned success.

Last time, I shared how I built a seemingly successful business by following everyone else's rules. Today, I'm going to share something much harder - what happened when it all came crashing down.

SEGMENT 1: The Breaking Point

It didn't happen overnight, even though it felt that way. Looking back, the foundation had been cracking for months.

I had began to feel stressed, anxious, and like if I stopped hustling, it would all fall apart

For me, it started with watching so many others quit. At first, I did what I had always done - I looked for a strategy to fix it. I doubled down on what had worked before. I pushed harder. I hustled more.

But this time, something was different. The formulas weren't working anymore.

SEGMENT 2: The Collapse

Then came the moment that changed everything.

I was sitting with my dad as he was dying and my income was completely gone and i realized that life is too short to do things that do not bring us pure joy and fulfillment. Too short to chase external validation.

Within months, I watched as:

• income slowly disappeared

• clients and teammates left

• I began to resent my business

The business I had built so carefully, following all the "right" strategies, was crumbling before my eyes.

And the worst part? I had no idea why. I had followed the blueprint. I had done everything "right." So how could this be happening?

SEGMENT 3: The Identity Crisis

The hardest part wasn't losing the business itself. It was losing my identity.

For years, I had defined myself by this version of success. I was the person who had "made it" by following the formulas. My worth was tied to my achievements, my client list, my revenue.

And suddenly, all of that was gone.

I found myself asking questions I had never allowed myself to ask:

• Who am I without this business?

• Was any of it ever really mine to begin with?

• If the strategies work for everyone, why did they stop working for me?

• What if everything I believed about success was wrong?

This wasn't just a business crisis. It was an existential one.

SEGMENT 4: The Hidden Gift

It took me [timeframe] to recognize it, but the collapse of my business was actually the best thing that could have happened to me.

Because in that painful space, I finally had to confront the truth:

I had built a business that wasn't truly mine.

I had been:

• Creating from someone else's vision

• Working against my natural energy

• Ignoring my intuition

• Chasing external validation

The collapse forced me to stop running on the hamster wheel long enough to ask: "Is this even the direction I want to be going?"

And in that question was the beginning of my real journey.

[TRANSITION SOUND]

SEGMENT 5: The First Glimpse of Light

In the midst of this dark period, something unexpected began to happen.

For the first time in years, I had space. Space to breathe. Space to feel. Space to listen to the voice that had been trying to guide me all along.

I started to notice subtle shifts:

• Ideas coming to me in moments of stillness, not striving

• A gentle pull toward certain actions that didn't "make sense" strategically

• Physical sensations when I considered different paths forward

• A growing discomfort with the business advice I used to follow religiously

I didn't have a name for it yet, but I was experiencing my first taste of alignment.

CLOSING

The collapse of my business wasn't the end of my story. It was the beginning of a much more authentic one.

In our next episode, I'll share the awakening that followed - how I began to recognize hustle culture's hold on me and took my first steps toward a different way of creating success.

If you're in a place where things are falling apart, I want you to know that sometimes things need to break down before they can be rebuilt in alignment. Sometimes the collapse is actually the universe's way of creating space for what's truly yours.

Until next time, this is Stefanie with Business Beyond Strategy, where we're discovering that sometimes losing everything is the path to finding yourself.

The Unlearning : Rebuilding My Business On My Own Terms

Episode: The Rise: How I Built a 6-Figure Business Following Everyone Else's Rules

Welcome to Business Beyond Strategy. I'm [Your Name], and today I'm starting something different - a raw, honest series about my journey from hustle culture to aligned success.

If you've ever followed all the "right" strategies but still felt something was missing... this series is for you.

SEGMENT 1: The Beginning

Let me take you back to where it all started.

When my dad was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimers, I knew I wanted to figure out this online business thing and create a life where I can be with him and help during his decline.

I was determined to build a successful business. I did what we're all told to do - I studied the "experts." I followed their blueprints. I implemented their strategies.

And honestly? It seemed to be working.

Within [timeframe], I had built a 6-figure business. From the outside, I was living the entrepreneur dream. I had the client roster, the income, the social proof.

I was doing all the "right" things:

• Waking up at 5am because that's what successful people do

• Following the perfect launch formula down to the letter

• Creating content on a rigid schedule

• Networking in all the right places

• Investing in high-ticket programs and masterminds

And I became really good at following these external strategies. So good that I built a business that looked successful by everyone else's standards.

SEGMENT 2: The Success Facade

Here's what my "successful" business looked like on paper:

• 6 figures in annual revenue

• hundreds of clients

• Top .01% in my industry

• Hit all the ranks, trips, etc.

I had followed the blueprint perfectly. I had done everything right.

But what no one saw was what was happening behind the scenes:

• The constant exhaustion

• The disconnection from my own intuition

• The nagging feeling that something wasn't aligned

• The fear that if I stopped hustling, everything would fall apart

I was caught in what I now call the "external validation loop" - constantly looking outside myself for the next strategy, the next tactic, the next blueprint that would keep the success going.

SEGMENT 3: The Warning Signs

Looking back, the warning signs were there all along. I just didn't recognize them.

Sign #1: Success felt heavy, not light. Every achievement came with exhaustion rather than energy. I'd hit a goal and instead of celebration, I'd feel relief... quickly followed by anxiety about the next goal.

Sign #2: My business was built on someone else's rhythm. I was forcing myself into systems and schedules that weren't natural to me.

Sign #3: Decision fatigue was constant. I couldn't trust my own instincts because I was so programmed to look for external validation. Every decision required research, comparison, and overthinking.

Sign #4: My definition of success kept shifting. As soon as I'd reach a milestone, it somehow wasn't enough. The goalposts kept moving because I was measuring success by external standards, not internal alignment.

SEGMENT 4: What I Know Now

What I didn't understand then - but see so clearly now - is that I was building on a foundation that wasn't mine.

I was:

• Using someone else's strategy

• Following someone else's timeline

• Copying someone else's offers

• Chasing someone else's definition of success

The business I built looked like success on the outside. But it wasn't sustainable because it wasn't aligned with my energy, my values, or my natural way of working.

This isn't to say those strategies don't work - they clearly did, at least for a while. But they worked at a cost that was higher than I realized.

CLOSING

Next episode, I'll share what happened when this carefully constructed business began to crumble - and the painful but necessary awakening that followed.

If any of this resonates with you - if you've built success but it doesn't feel like yours - I want you to know you're not alone. And there is another way.

Until next time, this is [Your Name] with Business Beyond Strategy, where we're discovering that the path to true success isn't in another strategy - it's in alignment with your soul.