Stephanie Ohannesian spent four years producing events for NBC Universal without a single day off, until her body shut down and she landed in the ER. That crisis became Triage Coaching and Consulting, a burnout and stress mitigation company built on a bold idea: most of the stress patterns running your life were never yours to begin with. With a master's degree in decision-making sciences and social cognition, Stephanie breaks down the science of burnout, the warning signs we all ignore, and why building a brand is the most personal thing you will ever do.

In this episode we talk about:

• The red flags Stephanie ignored for four years, and why your body signals stress long before your brain admits it
• Inherited stress patterns: how survival responses get passed down through generations and quietly run your business decisions
• The 2:1 breathing technique that tells your nervous system you're safe before a high-stakes meeting
• How one clear sentence ("we rewire your stress circuitry") did what ten minutes of explaining never could
• Why 95 percent of buying decisions happen subconsciously, and what that means for your website and your brand
• Stephanie's two-column exercise for calling out imposter syndrome on paper

Listener offer: Stephanie is giving away her Low Road Audit, a free 90-minute session on where you stand emotionally with your brand and identity, to the first five to seven listeners who email Triage and mention This Might Get Creative.

Connect with Stephanie:

• Website: triagebalancedlife.com
• Podcast: The Raw Onion
• Instagram: triage_global
• LinkedIn: Stephanie Ohannesian

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:

• This episode is sponsored by Flodesk. Get 25% off your first year: flodesk.com/c/LYONCREATIVES
• Run your client pipeline with HoneyBook: https://share.honeybook.com/svenja7629354

Think your brand could use some work? Take the free Brand Audit Scorecard at lyoncreatives.com/brand-audit-scorecard and find out where you stand.

Caroline Benefield wrote a cozy fantasy series, won best manuscript at a writing conference, and had agents asking for more. Then she realized writing was healing her, not building her career. She founded Southern Grit Digital, a marketing consultancy for women-led businesses, and leaned into the part of her brain she'd ignored for years: data and testing.

In this episode she talks about knowing when to walk away from something you're good at, and the testing strategies that pulled a $4,000 return out of a $300 ad spend.

In this episode we get into:

• Why being good at something is not the same as wanting to build a career on it

• How creative work can heal you without needing to be monetized

• Turbo A/B testing: changing one element every five to seven days for the most data on the smallest budget

• How to segment an email list for real A/B test results instead of a straight split down the middle

• Why your identity is allowed to shift, and why grieving the old version of you helps you move forward

Connect with Caroline:

• Website: southerngritdigital.com

• Instagram: @southerngritdigital

• LinkedIn: Caroline Weeks

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL

A few tools I use and recommend. Some links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

• Flodesk (email marketing): flodesk.com/c/LYONCREATIVES

• HoneyBook (client management): share.honeybook.com/svenja7629354

Audio editing by Mike at Nielsen Audio Solutions.

Think your brand could use some work? Take the free Brand Audit Scorecard at lyoncreatives.com/brand-audit-scorecard and find out where you stand.

Listen: https://thismightgetcreative.riverside.com/

Sarah Mariano built The Stretch Therapists into a global certification company while traveling the world as a digital nomad. Then she made a decision that most founders dread: she stepped back from being the face of the brand she had built from scratch. Not because things were falling apart. Because she had a bigger goal in mind.

In this episode:

• Why stepping back as the face of your brand can feel like grief — and why Sarah says that process was worth it

• Building a personal brand on Instagram at the right moment, and what happens when the platform shifts and your strategy has to shift with it

• The four-year journey to paid ads: wrong coach, right coach, six months running her own campaigns, then finally hiring an agency

• What it takes to build a team that reflects the representation you want to see in your industry

• Why transparency with your team during the hard moments changes the company culture more than any policy ever will

• The book that changed how Sarah thinks about scaling: 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan

Find Sarah:

• Instagram: @thestretchtherapists

• LinkedIn: The Stretch Therapists

• Website: thestretchtherapists.com

Resources mentioned:

• 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan

Tools I use and recommend. These are affiliate links, so I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Flodesk — email marketing: https://flodesk.com/c/LYONCREATIVES
HoneyBook — client management: https://share.honeybook.com/svenja7629354

Ready to see what your brand is actually communicating? Take the Brand Audit Scorecard at lyoncreatives.com/brand-audit-scorecard.

Audio Production

Huge thanks to Mike at Nielsen Audio Solutions for editing this episode. If you have a podcast and you are doing your own editing because you cannot find someone you trust, Mike is the answer. He has been editing every episode of This Might Get Creative and the difference shows. Reach out to him at nielsenaudiosolutions.com

00:00 Sponsor Flowdesk

01:17 Meet Sarah Founder

02:56 Letting Go Clients

06:08 Instagram Face Era

10:22 Certification Model

11:35 Inclusion Mission

14:59 Hiring Growing Pains

21:32 Vision Mission Shifts

28:46 Marketing Pivot Ads

33:28 CEO Mindset 10X

39:10 Leaps Vulnerability

41:16 Wrap Up Connect