Ever feel like you're running the same day on repeat, grinding at the exact same speed no matter what's happening outside your window, and wondering why you're so fried?

This is a conversation Shay's had simmering for years. We brought back our friend Sam, who's spent 13 seasons running a wedding and event venue on her family's 200-acre farm outside St. Louis, a business so tied to the weather that it forced her to build her whole life around the seasons. She's also been Shay's best friend for 25 years, so this one gets real, funny, and a little woo, fast.

If you've ever felt guilty for slowing down, or like your body just doesn't run on the go-go-go treadmill most of us got handed, consider this your permission slip to do it differently. Expect personal stories, a lot of laughing, and the reminder that we're not here to buy the island; we're here to build a life that feels good all year round.

Enjoy the episode! 😊

In this episode, we explore:

➡️ Why your real New Year might not even be in January

➡️ "Medieval peasant maxing" and what it looks like to actually live with the sun

➡️ The payment-schedule tweak that smoothed out Sam's seasonal cash-flow dips

➡️ Planning your work around your monthly cycle and the moon

➡️ Cheap dopamine vs. the kind you actually have to work for

➡️ Why "how are you?" deserves way more than a one-word answer

➡️ Giving yourself grace when your seasons collide, and honouring the one you're actually in

➡️ Surrender, trust, and Sam's tenth trip through "The Power of Now"

Links & Resources Mentioned:

>> Sam’s website
>> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast

About the Guest:

Samantha Williford is the owner and operating manager at Lost Hill Lake, a weddings and events venue on her family's 200-acre farm. She's dedicated to building an intentional business that prioritizes giving back to its team, their community, the natural environment, and turning a profit. Samantha is a mother to 2 young kids, an avid swimmer with a passion for growth and development work, and a travel enthusiast. You can usually catch Samantha dreaming up her next big idea or taking a nap. "Life's all about balance.”

Website: https://www.losthilllakeevents.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/losthilllakeevents

Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat.

Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e6

Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips.

Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:

>> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast

Learn more about Curiously Guided:

Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned.

✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com
✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided

Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah:

👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay

👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

You know that feeling when you downplay something you're genuinely proud of, just so you don't come across as too much?

Yeah, we get it. This one's an off-the-cuff, totally unscripted conversation about building careers that actually fit the humans we are, holding boundaries (and non-negotiables) without apologizing for them, and choosing our hard on purpose instead of coasting down whatever path's already paved for us.

If you've ever felt like the way you work just doesn't match how everyone around you seems to, this one's for you. Expect a lot of personal stories, a few tangents, and the usual amount of swearing.

Hope you love this one 🥳

Included in this episode:

➡️ Why praise makes us instinctively minimize ourselves (and where that comes from)

➡️ Choosing your hard: picking your shit sandwich on purpose

➡️ The client offer Mariah turns down flat, even at $10k a month

➡️ Sweaty palms, back pain, and other signals we push past

➡️ Why "relaxed and not busy" is the actual goal (and why we pretend to be busier than we are)

➡️ What building a career from stacked income streams is really like

➡️ Two very different business models: face-of-the-brand vs. fully behind the scenes

➡️ "Fuck around and find out" as a lifestyle, and honouring the capacity you've got right now

Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat.

Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e7

Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips.

Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:

>> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast

Learn more about Curiously Guided:

Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned.

✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com
✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided

Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah:

👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay

👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco

AI is going to ruin web design." "SEO is dying." "The online business ship has already sailed." If you've been hearing some version of this and quietly spiralling about it, this episode is your antidote, fam.

Christy Price has run a rock-solid Squarespace business since 2018, and she's been in web design for two whole decades... long enough to have watched Dreamweaver, then WordPress, and now AI each get announced as the thing that would surely put designers out of work. Spoiler: she's still here, busier and feeling more free than ever.

We get into a bunch of personal stories, a few unhinged tangents (Reddit, sleep number beds, a very stubborn puppy), and give you a whole lot of permission to stop panicking - enjoy! ☺️

In this episode, we explore:

➡️ How a stranger on a ski lift talked Christy into a big life decision

➡️ The email-signature move that gives you full permission to log off

➡️ Christy's secret test for every tool she picks

➡️ The reframe that puts you back in charge of your calendar

➡️ How multiple revenue streams become lifelines when you suddenly can't work

➡️ The two-question filter Christy runs her whole business through

➡️ Where all three of us would start from scratch today with zero followers

➡️ Why Reddit might be the last trustworthy corner of the internet

➡️ What happened to entry-level copywriting jobs, and Christy's advice for anyone starting out now

Links & Resources Mentioned:

>> Web Design Roundtable community (currently $17/$37)
>> The Two Day Website System Waitlist
>> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast

About the Guest:

Christy has been working in web design for over 20 years and transitioned her business to focus solely on Squarespace in 2018. She builds websites, posts YouTube tutorials, and enjoys sharing what she’s learning with new and aspiring designers. Christy lives in a house on a hill outside Austin, Texas, with her husband and two Labrador retrievers (one naughty, one nice).

Website: https://christyprice.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@christyprice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christypricewebdesign/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyprice/

Thank you to this season’s sponsor; Adobe Acrobat.

Want an easy place to get access to this seasons information, resources, guests, and more? Check out Curiously Guided’s Season 6 PDF Space: https://go.curiouslyguided.com/s6e8

Play around, chat with AI Assistant, and get everything you need at your fingertips.

Additional Links & Resources Mentioned:

>> Buy us a coffee/support the podcast

Learn more about Curiously Guided:

Curiously Guided, the podcast for intentional business owners & curious minds. Where the outer work meets the inner work, so we can create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling & wildly aligned.

✨ Website: Curiouslyguided.com
✨ Instagram: Instagram.com/curiouslyguided

Connect with The hosts’ Shay + Mariah:

👉 Shay: saleswithshay.com | @saleswithshay

👉 Mariah: mariahmagazine.com | @mariahmagazineco