Entrepreneur Kristen Nicholson left a 22-year corporate career to build Urban Sweat, a luxury wellness studio offering infrared sauna, red light therapy, and cold plunge.

The decision built over years. What pushed her over the edge was when in 2022,

"I heard three times in one day that I should bet on myself.”

She later acquired a multi-site sauna studio and also co-founded Comfort Imaging, a center delivering non-compression, gravity-based breast CT for pain-free, high-clarity imaging.

We discuss the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship (why it feels like a cold plunge), the discipline and meaning that replaced her old “safe” paycheck, and how she hires, empowers, and leads. We dig into sleep as a keystone for health, proactive wellness vs. sick-care, and why she’s betting big on a more dignified approach to women’s imaging.

Mentions
- Urban Sweat — infrared sauna, red light, cold plunge: https://urban-sweat.squarespace.com/

- Comfort Imaging (Breast CT) — non-compression, gravity-based imaging: comfortimagingtn.com

- EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) & Catalyst (Nashville Entrepreneur Center) — peer forums & accountability

- The E-Myth Revisited (Michael Gerber) — on working on vs. in the business

- EMDR & binaural beats — mentioned as tools for anxiety regulation and perspective

If you lead teams in messy, growing companies, you will find refreshing, practical execution wisdom in this interview. We cover the five jobs of leadership, balancing this week vs. the next 90 days, turning field shadowing into product improvements, and keeping your compass true at work and in art.

Frazer argues great operators are “born with an operator brain,” but the muscle is honed by doing five jobs relentlessly: hire great people, set strategy, monitor behaviors, measure results, and model culture. He shows how to split attention between the here and now and a 90-day horizon, why iteration beats ideation once you’ve found a promising arc (from ~25% to ~80% maturity), and how to build a culture of risk-free candor so problems surface fast and get fixed. We also dig into his unexpected right-brain practice: making sculpture and canvas works from creek limestones—how “flow” keeps the work and the person honest.

Timestamps

00:00 – Operator DNA & the 5 jobs of leadership

03:00 – Two horizons: this week vs the next 90 days (and how to allocate time)

04:30 – KPIs, reviews, and the operating cadence

05:30 – Shadowing the field: product fixes you only see on the front line

08:00 – Building risk-free candor so problems surface fast

11:00 – “No plan survives first contact”—why conference rooms lie

13:00 – Shiny objects vs focus; iteration > ideation; the 25% → 80% arc

18:00 – ELT composition, offsites, and a living North Star

20:00 – Change your environment to think better (and schedule deep work)

24:00 – Paper before PowerPoint (story first, slides later)

27:00 – Why growth companies > big-company optimization

28:30 – Aligning clinicians and business around the patient

33:00 – Frazer’s art: limestone sculptures and stone-on-canvas

42:00 – Flow state, imposter feelings, and keeping the work honest

52:00 – The career funnel & becoming the most prepared candidate

55:00 – The three-circle target for a satisfying career

56:30 – What’s next in art; where to see his work

An introduction to the podcast.