In this very first episode, I’m joined by Paula Louise Dixon, coaching and business psychologist, and founder of Hazon Consulting.

Paula’s story is about trusting her instincts and building a career (and business) that aligns with who she is. From teaching and working with young people, to discovering occupational psychology and starting her own consultancy, Paula’s journey is full of lessons about growth, identity and doing business your way.

We talk about values, stress, self-awareness, and why understanding how you work is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Paula found her way from education into business psychology
• The difference between personal and brand values, and how to make them work together
• Why self-awareness and stress management are key to sustainable success
• The importance of community when you’re doing your own thing
• Practical ways to identify your personal values and use them to guide decisions

About Paula Louise Dixon

Paula is a coaching and business psychologist and founder of Hazon Consulting, where she helps individuals, teams and organisations optimise their potential through psychology-informed coaching and development. Her work focuses on helping people understand themselves better, align with their values and build healthier, more fulfilling careers and businesses.

Links

Learn more about Paula and Hazon Consulting, and ThinkND

Connect with Paula on LinkedIn

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them.

I started my business for the same reasons you did: I was sick of being told how I “should” be doing things, and I wanted the flexibility and freedom to do life and business my way.

But strangely enough, just saying “I’m going to do things differently” doesn’t actually mean it’s happening. Weird that. Turns out bringing it to life requires a fair bit of graft.

It ended up taking years to get things right. Yes, years. That’s how long it took to truly leave behind the “should”s and expectations of working life that were so deeply ingrained in me.

Because we all do it at some point. We work weekends, burn out, overcommit, people-please, say yes when we don’t mean it, compare ourselves to everyone else, and second-guess every decision we make. All while telling ourselves “yeah, I’m definitely doing business my way”.

Ever gone full pelt in your business for the entire year, then got to December not just completely wiped out, but confused about why you’re completely wiped out? Yeah, then you’ll know what I’m on about.

Cut to early 2024, and I knew things had to change. My burnout left me no choice but to stop, and take a long, hard look at what I was doing.

Since that moment, I’ve been completely redesigning my business from the inside out. And this time, I’ve been doing it, not just talking about it.

I’ve been at this for over a year now, and let me tell you, doing your thing feels pretty flippin’ good. I’ve learnt a lot along the way, and my business is really starting to feel like it's all mine. But don’t get me wrong, I’ve still got so much left to learn.

That’s sort of why we’re here.

Do your thing is a space for all of us to figure it out as we go along, and hear from some brilliant folk who are doing the same. We’ll hear from people who’ve made intentional choices about how they work. People who’ve gone against the grain. People who are building businesses that fit them – and helping others to do the same.

We’ll talk about what’s helped, what reallyyy hasn’t, and what’s still a work in progress. The messy bits. The mindset shifts. The little things that end up making the biggest difference.

I truly believe you can build a successful business around what you really want out of life, and make solid money while doing it.

You can run a business that supports you instead of draining you.

And you don’t have to follow someone else’s rules to get there.

I’m Fliss Lee. I’m a brand coach for founders and freelancers, and the founder of Honest Folk. I help people join the dots between their brand, their business and their goals, so they can do their thing, find their groove, and live life with oomph.

If you’re like me, you’re figuring out how to do your thing, and you’re down for some real talk, helpful habits, and a few laughs along the way. So strap in, and let’s figure this out together.

This is Do your thing. Let’s go.