How to Run Your Biz Without Hating Your Boss

Episode 12: Be a Troubleshooter: The Key to Leveling Up Small Business Acumen Something in your business breaks. The website goes down, a client's confused, enrollment's dragging, or a piece of software decides today's the day it stops cooperating. Ten minutes later you've gone from "this one thing isn't working" to "everything's on fire and I have no idea what I'm doing." In this episode, we’re talking about troubleshooting — what it means, why it’s such an essential business skill, and how to approach problems without immediately spiraling. We talk about: Why being brilliant at your craft and being good at running a business are two separate skill sets, and nobody handed you a manual for the second one What happens when artists and educators get drafted into being their own IT department overnight How working through problems builds real confidence and self-trust When asking for help is the smart move, and how to ask so you actually get a useful answer A step-by-step way to diagnose what’s actually wrong How to write a support ticket that gets you a real answer instead of a canned one Troubleshooting is a skill worth learning, because every time you work through a problem instead of catastrophizing about it, you give yourself another piece of evidence that you’re capable of running this business. (Oh — and sometimes, yes, you really should just turn it off and turn it back on again!) 🎧 About the Podcast How to Run Your Biz Without Hating Your Boss is the podcast for creative entrepreneurs and service-based business owners who want to thrive professionally without sacrificing their values, peace, or creative integrity. Michelle and Sara share the hard-won wisdom you won’t find in generic business coaching or “just follow my simple formula” advice. ➡️ Join SECO: https://thespeakeasycooperative.com/speakeasy/ 📝 Free Download — What Your Artist Needs Next: https://thespeakeasycooperative.com/next ⭐ Support the Show If this episode resonated with you: Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen Share the episode with a fellow business owner who needs to hear it Let us know what topics, myths, or rants you want us to tackle next — we love hearing from you Send us your listener questions and listener tales! DM us @speakeasycooperative on Instagram Email us at [email protected] with the subject line: Podcast Listener Question/Tale

Episode 11: What to Do When Your Motivation Is in the Toilet What do you do when you have a pile of things to accomplish but absolutely no motivation to do any of them? In this episode, we dig into what motivation actually is, why creative entrepreneurs can struggle with it, and why waiting to feel motivated may be keeping us stuck. We talk about the connection between motivation, procrastination, neurodivergence, urgency, and those dreaded “important but not urgent” tasks that eventually become emergencies. And most importantly, we talk about practical ways to get things done when the motivation just isn't there — including changing your environment, reducing friction, using timers, breaking tasks down, and learning to act without waiting for the right feeling. In This Episode How our constantly connected, dopamine-heavy environment affects our tolerance for boredom How neurodivergence or perimenopause can affect motivation and task initiation The three major inputs that influence motivation: physiology, environment, and past experience Why urgency can feel like motivation — and why relying on crisis to get things done can become a trap The difference between important and urgent Practical ways to make difficult tasks easier to start Why sometimes the answer isn't to find motivation at all — it's to make a decision and do the thing anyway About the Podcast How to Run Your Biz Without Hating Your Boss is the podcast for creative entrepreneurs and service-based business owners who want to thrive professionally without sacrificing their values, peace, or creative integrity. Michelle and Sara share the hard-won wisdom you won’t find in generic business coaching or “just follow my simple formula” advice. ➡️ Join SECO Resources Mentioned 📖 The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents by Nancy Ratey 📖 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear 📖 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg ⭐ Support the Show If this episode resonated with you: Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen Share the episode with a fellow business owner who needs to hear it Let us know what topics, myths, or rants you want us to tackle next — we love hearing from you!

Ep 10: What the Heck is The SpeakEasy Cooperative and Savvy Music Studio? After nine episodes of talking business, creativity, leadership, and all the ways we accidentally make our own lives harder, we realized something important: We never properly introduced ourselves. In this episode, Michelle and Sara pull back the curtain and share the stories behind their businesses, their careers, and their partnership. You'll learn how a vocal performance major and a director/educator ended up becoming business coaches and consultants, why collaboration beats competition, and how their work helps artists and creative entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses without sacrificing their values. This is their origin story. 💡 In This Episode: How Sara's journey led from performance and music teaching to founding Savvy Music Studio How Michelle's path evolved from performer, director, and educator to creating The SpeakEasy Cooperative The identity shifts that happen when artists become business owners How Sara and Michelle began working together and how their businesses overlap The programs, services, and resources available through their businesses 🎧 About the Podcast How to Run Your Biz Without Hating Your Boss is the podcast for creative entrepreneurs and service-based business owners who want to thrive professionally without sacrificing their values, peace, or creative integrity. Michelle and Sara share the hard-won wisdom you won't find in generic business coaching or "just follow my simple formula" advice. ➡️ Join SECO: https://thespeakeasycooperative.com/speakeasy/ ➡️ Email Michelle about Key of CEO: [email protected] ➡️ Join The Music Teacher's Marketing Library: https://savvymusicstudio.com/music-teachers-marketing-library/ ➡️ Explore 1:1 Coaching with Sara: https://savvymusicstudio.com/coaching-for-music-teachers/ ➡️ Email just to say hi and tell us what you wanna hear about: [email protected] ⭐ Support the Show If this episode resonated with you: Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen Share the episode with a fellow business owner who needs to hear it Let us know what topics, myths, or rants you want us to tackle next — we love hearing from you

Episode 9: MTNA Recap: Conversations, Questions, and … Crabs? What happens when two business coaches attend a major national music conference? In this episode, Michelle and Sara share their experience from the 2026 Music Teachers National Association conference in Chicago. From the fun and energizing moments to the deeper patterns they observed in how musicians approach business, money, and growth. They go beyond the highlight reel to unpack the mindset shifts required to move from “artist” to confident business owner. 💡 In This Episode: The highs (and exhaustion) of attending a national conference The problem with vague goals like “more students” Scarcity mindset and fear around investing in your business The shift from “pick me” to taking ownership of your career Why financial literacy is a game changer for music teachers You don’t just have a business – you need to learn how to run one. 🎧 About the Podcast How to Run Your Biz Without Hating Your Boss is the podcast for creative entrepreneurs and service-based business owners who want to thrive professionally without sacrificing their values, peace, or creative integrity. Michelle and Sara share the hard-won wisdom you won’t find in generic business coaching or “just follow my simple formula” advice. ➡️ Join SECO ⭐ Support the Show If this episode resonated with you: Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen Share the episode with a fellow business owner who needs to hear it Let us know what topics, myths, or rants you want us to tackle next — we love hearing from you Mentioned in this Episode: Dr. Joe Welch doing amazing work at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois. Blackburn is the only work college with a student-managed work program.

🎙️ Episode 8: Is Your Business Eating You Alive? The problem isn’t your workload. It’s who’s in charge. In this solo episode, Michelle gets real about what it feels like when the business you built starts running you. Not always in dramatic, burnout fashion, but in the quieter, more dangerous ways: constant mental load, reactive decisions, and the slow erosion of your time, energy, and identity. Including one very real moment: trying to take a break over Christmas, visiting family, intentionally leaving the laptop behind… and coming back to a messy business. When your business is running you, it follows you, quietly taking up space in your mind no matter where you are. If you’ve ever felt like your business owns you, like you can’t step away, can’t think clearly, and definitely can’t “just take a break” this episode is for you. In This Episode, We Explore: What it really looks like when your business is “eating you alive” How lack of clarity turns your business into a reactive machine The identity trap of creative entrepreneurship — and why it’s so hard to separate yourself from your work Why over-giving and under-protecting your energy leads to long-term burnout The difference between reacting to your business and actually running it This is about taking back control. Because the truth is, most business owners were never taught how to run a business. You were handed a machine with no manual and expected to figure it out while also doing the work itself. Grab your notebook and pencil, grab your coffee, your tea, or whatever else helps you cope with your business-induced anxiety… and let’s get started! 🎧 About the Podcast How to Run Your Biz Without Hating Your Boss is the podcast for creative entrepreneurs and service-based business owners who want to thrive professionally without sacrificing their values, peace, or creative integrity. Michelle and Sara share the hard-won wisdom you won’t find in generic business coaching or “just follow my simple formula” advice. ➡️ Apply for the Accelerator Program: https://thespeakeasycooperative.com/how-to-run-your-business-without-hating-your-boss-accelerator/ ➡️ Join SECO: https://thespeakeasycooperative.com/speakeasy/ ⭐ Support the Show If this episode hit home: Subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next Leave a rating or review to help other creative entrepreneurs find the show Share it with someone who needs this reminder Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein Oh, I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor A boa constrictor A boa constrictor I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor And I don't like it - one bit. Well, what do you know? It's nibblin' my toe. Oh, gee, It's up to my knee. Oh my, It’s up to my thigh. Oh, fiddle, It's up to my middle. Oh, heck, It's up to my neck. Oh, dread, It's upmmmmmmmmmmmfffffffffff…