Kami Guildner's Blog

Some of the deepest wisdom we carry comes from the experiences that have changed us.

In this episode, Kami Guildner is joined by Carrie Koh to talk about navigating challenging seasons, the choices available to us, and how those choices can shape our lives, our leadership, and the impact we’re here to make.

Carrie’s own journey has taught her the power of changing the question from “What choice do I have?” to “What choice can I make?” Together, Kami and Carrie explore the possibility in that shift and how the experiences that change us can reveal something about who we are becoming and the change we’re here to lead.

In This Episode:

How to recognize the choices still available to you when circumstances feel outside your controlThe powerful shift from asking “What choice do I have?” to “What choice can I make?”Four choices that can change how you move through challenging seasons: ownership, focus, identity, and connectionWhy telling yourself the truth can help you see the patterns shaping your life, leadership, and businessHow to find the red thread connecting your experiences to the change you’re here to leadWhy valuing your own opinion of yourself can free you to say what you really believe and use your voice more fullyWhy vulnerability and truth telling are at the heart of becoming truly visibleWhat may be happening when everything in your business feels “fine,” yet you know you’re ready for greater growthWhy you can’t outgrow your identity, and the role identity plays as you step into greater influenceThe questions to ask when you feel stuck and know something needs to shift

Carrie Koh is a trusted Business Advisor to accomplished entrepreneurs and executives. High stakes business leaders see her as their behind-the-scenes strategic partner when growth has stalled despite success. Her work centers on influence, not as persuasion, but as the ability to evolve how you operate without starting over. It’s what allows her clients to access bigger opportunities, create faster alignment, and accelerate revenue without adding more effort or time. Her entrepreneur clients 3X–10X revenue, scale to seven figures and beyond, and reclaim time, while executives she advises expand service lines and drive results with fewer meetings and faster decisions.

About the Host:

Kami Guildner believes women’s voices matter. She is a connector. A storyteller. A business coach for high vibe women entrepreneurs helping them #RaiseUP their Voice, Vision and Visibility for Impact and Business Growth.

Kami helps her clients build businesses they love with more time prosperity and more wealth prosperity. She weaves soulful-inspiration into mindful business strategies, and this Soul+Strategy™ approach to business helps her clients succeed in business and worldly impact.

Her clients scale and grow their businesses with a more feminine, abundant approach. Her community of entrepreneurs is creating a new paradigm of entrepreneurship, helping each other raise up in a ripple effect of impact. Her clients have gone on to reach extraordinary heights as consultants, coaches and leaders – achieving exponential revenue growth, landing on big stages, starting software companies, launching new professional organizations, transforming corporate cultures and transforming lives. They are influential and they are changemakers.

Kami is the founder of the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference and host of the award-winning Extraordinary Women Radio™. She is the best-selling author of Firedancer: Your Spiral Journey to a Life of Passion and Purpose and was named to the 2020 Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Business List by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

“The biggest shift that I made early on was valuing my own opinion of myself over other people’s opinions of me.” ~Carrie Koh

To learn more about Carrie, visit her website and connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Carrie Koh’s Show Notes

If this conversation has you thinking about the choices you’re making in your own life and business and the impact you’re here to make, join Kami at the 12th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference, November 5–7 in Colorado. Ignite is where extraordinary women entrepreneurs gather to explore fresh ideas, expand what’s possible in their businesses, and build the relationships that help us grow with greater purpose, prosperity, and joy. Learn more and get your ticket here.

The post What Choice Can You Make? Finding Possibility in Challenging Seasons with Carrie Koh appeared first on Kami Guildner.

This morning, I had a conversation with a past client, Viveka von Rosen, whose business is thriving. As we talked about what had created so much growth, she shared that her business really began to take off when she brought her technology expertise back into her work.

She had built her business helping women leave the corporate world and start businesses of their own. It was work she cared deeply about, and she understood those women because she had walked that path herself. Yet a valuable part of her experience had been left behind. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she had spent years working in technology.

When we were together at a conference last year, I suggested that technology might belong in the work she was creating now. It was part of her expertise, part of the way she saw the world, and part of what made her uniquely equipped to help the women she served.

She listened. She began bringing that part of herself forward, and the shift created powerful alignment in her business. Her offers became more distinctive. The value of her experience became clearer. Her business grew because more of who she is was included in the work – and in fact, she’s doing some really cool Tech in the Tropics retreats in Costa Rica, in addition to so many other powerful programs.

I see this happen often with women entrepreneurs. We leave a career, an industry, or an old identity because we know we are ready for something new. In the process, we sometimes leave behind wisdom that was never meant to be discarded.

Moving forward does not require us to separate ourselves from everything that came before. We get to choose what we carry with us. Years of leadership, technical expertise, creative work, community building, caregiving, advocacy, or lived experience may hold an important piece of the business we are building now.

I know this from my own journey. When I left the oil and gas software industry, I was ready for a very different way of being and working. Over time, I understood that the business strategy, leadership, marketing, and thought leadership work I had developed in the corporate world belonged alongside my intuition, spiritual awareness, and belief in the wisdom of women. Soul+Strategy™ emerged because all of those parts belonged together.

As our businesses grow, it is worth asking whether we have left an important part of ourselves behind. Maybe it is experience from a former career, a skill we take for granted, or an interest we have not yet connected to our work. Bringing that part forward may open up an entirely new direction for the business.

Sometimes our greatest business expansion comes from integration. When more of who we are is present, our work becomes richer. Our message becomes more specific. The people we are meant to serve can understand why our approach is different and why we are the right person to guide them.

Take a moment to look at the full landscape of your life and work. Consider the roles you have held, the worlds you have moved through, the challenges you have navigated, and the wisdom you have gathered. Then ask yourself:

What part of my experience have I placed outside the boundaries of my current business?What gift or expertise feels so natural to me that I may have overlooked its value?What part of me wants to be brought forward and included now?

The answer may hold the idea, perspective, or expertise that brings your work into greater alignment and opens the way for what wants to grow next.

At Extraordinary Women Ignite, we are bringing all of you into the room: your wisdom, your experience, your vision, and the parts of you that are ready to come forward. Join us November 5–7 for three days of powerful conversations, meaningful connection, and new possibilities for your business and the impact you are here to create. Learn more and reserve your place at Ignite.

The post What Part of You Is Ready to Come Forward? appeared first on Kami Guildner.

Kami Guildner has been bringing more PR into her own business this year, and for good reason. PR is playing an increasingly important role in how businesses become known, trusted, and chosen.

In this episode, Kami is joined by Becca Cooper Leebove to explore why PR is making a comeback, how it fits into your visibility strategy, and the power of your story to help you become known for your work.

Becca will also be joining Kami as a speaker and sponsor at the 12th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference, November 5–7 in Colorado, where she’ll be sharing more about how to use PR and the power of your story to grow your visibility and become known for your work.

In This Episode:

Why PR is playing an increasingly important role in how businesses become known, trusted, and chosenThe difference between marketing and PR, and why earned media creates powerful third-party credibilityHow AI is changing the way people search and why PR can help you become more discoverableWhy your own content and the stories other people tell about you need to work togetherWhat needs to be in place before your business is ready for PRHow a clear point of view helps you become known as a go-to leader in your spaceWhy PR is a long-term visibility strategy that builds upon itselfHow your personal story can help you connect with people and make a greater impactWhy showing up as a human and being in community matters even more in the age of AI

Becca Cooper Leebove, founder of ShuBu Creative Group, has 24 years of experience bringing prominent branding, PR, and marketing initiatives to life. Her career spans leadership roles at Vail Resorts, Regis University, STARZ Entertainment, PorchLight Real Estate Group, and several Denver-based ad agencies, steering large-scale, enterprise-wide branding and PR initiatives across the public and private sectors. At ShuBu, Becca and her team have developed branding, marketing, and PR strategies for hundreds of clients, earning them coverage in U.S. News & World Report, TIME, CNN, and other notable publications. Becca was named a 2023 Outstanding Women in Business awardee.

About the Host:

Kami Guildner believes women’s voices matter. She is a connector. A storyteller. A business coach for high vibe women entrepreneurs helping them #RaiseUP their Voice, Vision and Visibility for Impact and Business Growth.

Kami helps her clients build businesses they love with more time prosperity and more wealth prosperity. She weaves soulful-inspiration into mindful business strategies, and this Soul+Strategy™ approach to business helps her clients succeed in business and worldly impact.

Her clients scale and grow their businesses with a more feminine, abundant approach. Her community of entrepreneurs is creating a new paradigm of entrepreneurship, helping each other raise up in a ripple effect of impact. Her clients have gone on to reach extraordinary heights as consultants, coaches and leaders – achieving exponential revenue growth, landing on big stages, starting software companies, launching new professional organizations, transforming corporate cultures and transforming lives. They are influential and they are changemakers.

Kami is the founder of the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference and host of the award-winning Extraordinary Women Radio™. She is the best-selling author of Firedancer: Your Spiral Journey to a Life of Passion and Purpose and was named to the 2020 Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Business List by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

“Your story is power, so use it.” ~Becca Cooper Leebove

To learn more about Becca, visit her website and connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Becca Cooper Leebove’s Show Notes

The post Why PR Matters More in the Age of AI: Visibility, Credibility & Becoming a Go-To Leader with Becca Cooper Leebove appeared first on Kami Guildner.

Yesterday, I was joined by nine clients and friends at The Women’s Foundation of Colorado Annual Luncheon, alongside nearly 2,000 people gathered in support of Colorado women and their families.

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado is an organization near and dear to my heart. I’ve attended this luncheon for more than a decade, served two terms on the Board of Trustees, volunteered on the development committee for many years, and introduced countless women to the work of this organization. 

I’ve also been a longtime donor through the Power of Extended Philanthropy, or PEP, contributing at least $1,000 each year for more than a decade. And I had the opportunity to serve on the branding committee that helped develop the Foundation’s current brand and tagline: Women Thriving. Colorado Rising.

It has a little Kami flair, doesn’t it?

Yesterday, one of those introductions to the WFCO came full circle.

During her opening remarks, Board Chair Mary Ann Littler shared that she was first introduced to WFCO 12 years ago when I invited her to attend the luncheon. She spoke about how deeply that experience shaped her life, then surprised me by saying from the stage, “Thank you, Kami, for inviting me.”

Thank you for mentioning me, Mary Ann. What a beautiful reminder that we rarely know where one invitation may lead.

Sometimes we invite a woman into a room, introduce her to someone she needs to know, or help her see a possibility she had not yet imagined. Years later, we discover that the moment mattered. She went on to lead, serve, give, and open doors for other women.

This is the ripple effect of women supporting women.

I felt that same pride watching my dear friend Renee Ferrufino take the stage as President and CEO of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado for the second year in a row. I’ve watched Renee rise through the organization from Vice President of Development into this leadership role, and witnessing all she has accomplished is deeply meaningful to me.

Yet the heart of yesterday’s gathering reaches far beyond any one person. It lives in what becomes possible when a community chooses to keep investing in women, especially during a time when that commitment requires clarity and courage.

The luncheon was inspirational and was headlined by an interview with stand-up comedians Margaret Cho and Cristela Alonzo. Both shared stories of growing up in immigrant families and finding their way in industries where few people looked like them.

Margaret offered a line that stayed with me: “Identity is what makes you rich.”

Yes. The fullest expression of who we are is where our richness lives. Our lived experiences, heritage, wisdom, ideas, and stories all shape the voice we bring into the world. When we leave parts of ourselves behind, we leave behind some of the very gifts that allow us to lead and make a difference.

Cristela left us with a question that feels especially important right now: “How do we as humans love each other more?”

Throughout the luncheon, we heard stories of women and girls across Colorado whose lives have been touched by the Foundation’s work. Those stories brought us back to what becomes possible when people choose to care about one another, invest in one another, and keep showing up.

The theme of this year’s luncheon was Unfiltered and Unstoppable, and I loved it because it named exactly what this moment asks of us: to be unfiltered in our truth and unstoppable in our commitment to women. We need the courage to say what matters, stand behind it fully, and keep moving our voices, leadership, and resources toward the future we want to create.

Across the country, some organizations and corporate partners have stepped away from work that could be categorized as DEI. Programs supporting women and historically underfunded communities have faced funding cuts, legal threats, and growing uncertainty. Yet while some partners pulled away, others stepped up to the plate in much bigger ways.

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado answered this moment with bold action, granting a record $5.4 million last year, nearly double the previous year and the highest level of grantmaking in the Foundation’s history.

That investment matters. When we invest in women, we strengthen families, communities, businesses, and economies. We create the conditions for women to lead, build wealth, contribute their ideas, and shape the decisions that affect their lives.

This is also why I continue to bring women into rooms together.

My work has always been about raising women’s voices, visibility, and businesses for greater impact. I believe deeply in the power of an invitation, an introduction, and a community that sees what is possible in a woman before she fully sees it for herself.

Our relationships become part of the infrastructure that supports women’s leadership. One introduction can lead to a new partnership. One invitation can awaken a deeper desire to serve. One woman opening a door can create opportunities for generations of women who follow.

Twelve years ago, I invited Mary Ann to a luncheon. Yesterday, she stood on the stage as Board Chair and shared how that invitation changed her life. Renee, another woman I have known and admired for years, now leads the organization into its next era of impact.

Around me sat nine clients and friends, each carrying her own wisdom, leadership, and capacity to make a difference. I found myself wondering what might grow from the invitations and connections made in that room.

We may never see the full reach of the seeds we plant. Yet every invitation brings another woman into the room, every investment gives an idea room to grow, and every voice raised creates space for more women to lead.

Together, these choices build businesses, communities, and funding models that move women forward.

Because this is how movements grow: one relationship, one opportunity, and one woman believing in another at a time.

This is the spirit behind the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference. November 5–7, we are bringing women together at the foot of the mountain to raise their voices, expand their visibility, and build businesses that create greater prosperity and impact.

You never know where one conversation, connection, or invitation may lead. I would love to welcome you into the room.

Early Bird pricing ends September 15, giving you time to save $200 on your Ignite ticket.

The post When Women Keep Showing Up for Women appeared first on Kami Guildner.

Your voice, your visibility, and the way you use your resources all have the power to create a ripple effect far beyond your business.

Kami Guildner is joined by Jennifer Stapleton, founder of Fire and Bliss, to explore what’s happening in philanthropy right now, how foundations are using their voices alongside their dollars, and how we can become more thoughtful about our own giving. They also dive into the smart visibility and thought leadership strategies Jennifer is using through podcasting, research, white papers, and long-form content to deepen her authority and relationships.

And if you’re ready to bring your own voice and ideas into a room filled with extraordinary women entrepreneurs, join Kami at the 12th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference, November 5–7 in Colorado. Early Bird pricing ends September 15. Come explore fresh ideas, expand what’s possible in your business, and build relationships that help you grow with greater purpose, prosperity, and joy.

In This Episode:

How your voice and your business can create a ripple effect far beyond the people you directly serveWhy speaking up when it matters is part of leadership and movement makingHow to use thought leadership to become known for your ideas and deepen relationships with the right peopleWhy long-form content can be a powerful visibility strategy when you’re building a business around a smaller number of high-value clientsHow listening to your ideal clients can help you understand what they need now and shape stronger offerings around those needsHow to become more intentional about your giving and where your dollars can create the greatest impactWhy building a business that reflects what matters to you can create both meaningful impact and joy

Jennifer Stapleton is an advocate, communications strategist, business owner, and founder of Fire and Bliss. For more than three decades, she has helped philanthropies, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations strengthen their communications, engage audiences, secure funding, and advance meaningful change. Jennifer has worked with organizations including The Pew Charitable Trusts, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Raikes Foundation, and numerous family and community foundations. Her work has helped secure major media coverage, raise tens of millions of dollars, and advance legislative and policy wins. She also serves as Board Chair of Elevated Denver, a nonprofit working to end homelessness in Denver.

About the Host:

Kami Guildner believes women’s voices matter. She is a connector. A storyteller. A business coach for high vibe women entrepreneurs helping them #RaiseUP their Voice, Vision and Visibility for Impact and Business Growth.

Kami helps her clients build businesses they love with more time prosperity and more wealth prosperity. She weaves soulful-inspiration into mindful business strategies, and this Soul+Strategy™ approach to business helps her clients succeed in business and worldly impact.

Her clients scale and grow their businesses with a more feminine, abundant approach. Her community of entrepreneurs is creating a new paradigm of entrepreneurship, helping each other raise up in a ripple effect of impact. Her clients have gone on to reach extraordinary heights as consultants, coaches and leaders – achieving exponential revenue growth, landing on big stages, starting software companies, launching new professional organizations, transforming corporate cultures and transforming lives. They are influential and they are changemakers.

Kami is the founder of the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference and host of the award-winning Extraordinary Women Radio™. She is the best-selling author of Firedancer: Your Spiral Journey to a Life of Passion and Purpose and was named to the 2020 Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Business List by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

“Courageous foundations don’t just fund change. They speak up when it matters most.” ~Jennifer Stapleton

To learn more about Jennifer, visit her website and connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jennifer Stapleton’s Show Notes

The post Your Voice Creates a Ripple Effect: Philanthropy, Visibility & Thought Leadership with Jennifer Stapleton appeared first on Kami Guildner.

When I first started my business nearly 18 years ago, I wasn’t focused exclusively on women. In fact, my very first client was a man, and I have coached many men over the years.

I was simply beginning.

After years in the oil and gas software industry, I was finding my way into a new way of being and a body of work grounded in both inner wisdom and practical business strategy. At the same time, I was finding my own voice. When I sat down to write about leadership, business, and what it meant to create a meaningful life, my natural inclination was to write from my own experiences and desires.

I wrote about what I was noticing. What I was questioning. What I was learning to trust.

For so many years, I had succeeded by listening to the voices around me. I knew how to lead, build strategy, manage complexity, and make things happen. Those years gave me tremendous wisdom, experience, and business acumen. Yet somewhere along the way, I had become disconnected from another kind of knowing. The quieter wisdom within me. My intuition. My spiritual awareness. The part of me that understood there could be another way to lead and build a business.

As I began reconnecting with that wisdom, it found its way into my words.

The language I chose for my brand came from that place. I didn’t sit down with a perfectly mapped-out plan for what it would become. I listened for the words that felt true. Sometimes they seemed to arrive through my own inner wisdom. Sometimes they felt divinely guided.

And women began to find me.

They recognized something in what I was saying because they were seeking it, too. They wanted to grow meaningful, prosperous businesses without disconnecting from themselves in the process. They wanted to trust their wisdom, use their voices, and lead in a way that felt true to who they were.

I couldn’t have seen then where those early words would lead. I didn’t know they would grow into Extraordinary Women Radio, Extraordinary Women Ignite, a community of women entrepreneurs, and a body of work devoted to raising women’s voices, visibility, and businesses.

Today, I can name the vision: to raise the voices, visibility, and businesses of one million women entrepreneurs around the world. I believe women’s wisdom is the medicine our earth needs, and every woman who brings more of that wisdom into her business and leadership expands what is possible for all of us.

I didn’t yet have the language of a movement.

I was following something I knew, even before I fully understood what I knew.

We tend to imagine that movements begin with a grand vision, a bold declaration, or a carefully constructed plan. Sometimes they do. More often, I believe they begin much more quietly.

They begin with something we can’t stop noticing.

Sometimes we keep noticing the same thing. We return to the same question, hear ourselves speaking about the same possibility, or wonder why more people aren’t talking about it. Eventually, we begin to recognize that it may be ours to do something with.

And sometimes a big idea drops in all at once. It feels clear and undeniable, even when we cannot imagine how it could possibly happen. We do not know where the resources, relationships, or path will come from. We only know the idea has arrived, and something within us is asking us to step toward it anyway.

No matter how these ideas come to us, whether as a quiet knowing that grows over time or a vision that arrives bigger than we feel ready to hold, our work is to pay attention. We may not yet understand everything the idea is asking of us. We may only know that it is ours to begin.

Our lives give us perspective. Experience gives us wisdom. Eventually, there are things we know because we have lived them.

Your story matters because of what you now know through living it.

You may know how to rebuild because you have done it yourself. You may have discovered a more humane way to lead or a more meaningful way to work. Perhaps you see a possibility for greater health, belonging, freedom, or prosperity that others have not yet seen.

Somewhere inside that knowing may be an idea worth carrying into the world.

That is often how a movement begins. Not with certainty about the destination, but with the courage to follow what feels true.

Looking back, I can see the red thread running through it all. The woman writing her first words from a newly reclaimed place of inner wisdom was already planting the seeds of the work I lead today. Each time I trusted that voice, the path became a little clearer. Each time another woman recognized herself in those words, the movement grew.

There may be a thread running through your life, too. Something you have known, seen, believed, or cared about long before you had a name for it. Something that keeps asking for your attention. Something your experiences have prepared you to carry.

What have your life, your work, and the people you serve taught you that you are now meant to carry forward?

What possibility do you see because of everything you have lived?

You do not need to have the full vision yet.

You may simply need to begin listening to what you can no longer keep to yourself.

The post The Quiet Beginning of a Movement appeared first on Kami Guildner.

Kami Guildner is exploring visibility and movement making, using our voices to shape conversations, bring people together, and move ideas that matter into the world.

Today, Kami is joined by Hilary Blair, speaker, facilitator, leadership communication coach, and CEO of Articulate Real & Clear. They explore what we may be missing when we avoid friction, what it takes to stay grounded when differences arise, and how our willingness to have real conversations can create greater connection, stronger leadership, and meaningful change.

For those of us who are here to use our voices and create movements that matter, this is such an important conversation.

And if you’re ready to continue these conversations in a room filled with extraordinary women entrepreneurs, join Kami at the 12th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference, November 5–7 in Colorado. Come explore fresh ideas, expand what’s possible in your business, and build the relationships that help you grow with greater purpose, prosperity, and joy. Early Bird tickets are available through September 15. Get your ticket here.

In This Episode:

Why your ability to stay in the conversation becomes increasingly important as your voice, leadership, and impact growHow to recognize friction as an opportunity for new ideas, deeper relationships, innovation, and forward movementWhy separating friction from conflict can completely change the way you enter conversations where perspectives differHow to stay in the “messy middle” between avoiding and attacking, and create more space for meaningful dialogueWhy confidence doesn’t require comfort and how learning to “rock the awkward” can help you stay connected and presentHow self-awareness, breath, and transparency can help you remain grounded when you feel tension risingWhy the different voices and perspectives around the table are essential to stronger businesses, teams, and communitiesWhat becomes possible when women are willing to use our voices, stay in meaningful conversation with one another, and move the ideas that matter forward

Hilary Blair is a dynamic speaker, facilitator and CEO of ARTiculate: Real & Clear. She’s the
creator of Fruitful Friction®, a framework redefining tension as a catalyst for innovation,
collaboration, and trust. Blending her background as a professional actor with deep expertise in
communication and executive presence, Hilary helps leaders stay in conversation when it
matters most. Her work equips teams to engage authentically, communicate clearly, and use
friction to gain traction for growth.

About the Host:

Kami Guildner believes women’s voices matter. She is a connector. A storyteller. A business coach for high vibe women entrepreneurs helping them #RaiseUP their Voice, Vision and Visibility for Impact and Business Growth.

Kami helps her clients build businesses they love with more time prosperity and more wealth prosperity. She weaves soulful-inspiration into mindful business strategies, and this Soul+Strategy™ approach to business helps her clients succeed in business and worldly impact.

Her clients scale and grow their businesses with a more feminine, abundant approach. Her community of entrepreneurs is creating a new paradigm of entrepreneurship, helping each other raise up in a ripple effect of impact. Her clients have gone on to reach extraordinary heights as consultants, coaches and leaders – achieving exponential revenue growth, landing on big stages, starting software companies, launching new professional organizations, transforming corporate cultures and transforming lives. They are influential and they are changemakers.

Kami is the founder of the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference and host of the award-winning Extraordinary Women Radio™. She is the best-selling author of Firedancer: Your Spiral Journey to a Life of Passion and Purpose and was named to the 2020 Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Business List by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

“Friction is inevitable and conflict is optional.” ~Hilary Blair

To learn more about Hilary, visit her website and connect with her on LinkedIn.

Hilary Blair’s Show Notes

The post The Conversations That Shape What’s Next: How Women Leaders Turn Friction Into Forward Movement with Hilary Blair appeared first on Kami Guildner.

Every day, we are making decisions for our businesses and our lives. Some are so small we barely notice them. What gets our attention this morning? Do we take the meeting? Do we answer the email? Do we spend an hour creating something new or finally finish the thing we’ve been putting off?

Then there are the bigger decisions. Do we hire? Raise our prices? Invest in an opportunity? Let an offer go? Say no to a client? Step onto a bigger stage? Put our energy behind the idea we haven’t been able to stop thinking about?

Those decisions carry more weight because they shape what happens next. They influence our revenue and capacity, the work we become known for, the people we serve, and the amount of space we have for the rest of our lives.

I know in my own business there have been seasons when a decision felt incredibly weighty, right up until I actually made it.

I remember May of 2020, when I was trying to decide what to do about Ignite. Like every event producer that year, I was staring at a whole lot of uncertainty. Should I keep planning for an in-person event? Should I wait and see? Should I take the whole thing virtual?

I was keeping myself up at night trying to figure it out. 

And then I finally made the decision to take Ignite virtual. I’ll admit, a pendulum was involved.

But the moment I decided, all of that weight lifted. I could stop circling and start planning. We had months to reimagine the experience, make thoughtful decisions, and build something that could actually work well online.

And it turned out to be exactly the right call. By November, live events still weren’t happening. Because I had made the decision early, I wasn’t scrambling or reacting. I had the space to create a very successful virtual Ignite.

I think about that experience often because the hardest part wasn’t necessarily the decision itself. It was the energy I spent before I made it.

That’s what indecision can do. It keeps us suspended. We revisit the same question over and over, carrying the weight of every possible outcome.

And often, once the decision is made, even if there is still work to do, we can finally move.

That experience came back to me recently as I sat with my Movement Maker Mastermind clients at our Business Alchemy Retreat. We were looking ahead at the businesses these women are building and asking a bigger question: What is your business asking of you in this season?

Because every season asks something different of us. There are seasons to imagine and seasons to build. Seasons to simplify, release, and lead. The wisdom is recognizing which season we’re actually in, rather than continuing to lead from the one we’ve just left.

And that requires decisions. Leadership is the discipline of making intentional decisions.

In the early years of business, so much of our growth comes from learning. As our businesses mature, more of our growth comes from our ability to make better decisions, drawing on the experience and wisdom we’ve accumulated along the way.

I see five kinds of decisions showing up again and again in the businesses I work with: Focus, Boundaries, Leadership, Voice, and Momentum.

These aren’t five decisions to make all at once. Think of them as five lenses that can help us recognize the decision that matters most for the season we’re entering.

Focus: What deserves my attention?

This one sounds simple until you think about how many things are competing for our attention at any given moment.

Every exciting idea, new offer, potential partnership, client request and opportunity asks something of us. And every yes means saying no to a hundred other things. When we choose one thing to focus on for the next quarter, we’re also choosing where our time, energy, money and creativity won’t go. That clarity helps guide all the smaller decisions that follow. That’s why focus is so much more than productivity. It’s a leadership decision. 

As you look at the next quarter, what deserves your focused attention? What could change if you truly gave it your focus? 

Boundaries: What am I no longer available for?

I love this question because sometimes the future becomes clearer when we decide what isn’t coming with us.

Businesses accumulate things. Offers. Habits. Responsibilities. Clients. Ways of working. Expectations we’ve placed on ourselves. Things that once served us can quietly continue taking So often, growth can require subtraction as much as addition. A boundary creates space for what matters most.

Look ahead and ask yourself what you’re simply no longer available for. Your answer may create more possibility than adding another strategy ever could.

Leadership: Where does my leadership create the greatest impact?

This decision becomes increasingly important as a business grows.

Most successful entrepreneurs are capable of doing a lot of things. That’s often how we got here. But eventually, our value can’t be measured by how much we personally do. We have to recognize where our presence, perspective, relationships and decisions create the greatest impact.

Maybe your leadership is needed in the room with your best clients. Maybe it’s developing your team, creating intellectual property, cultivating relationships, speaking, writing, selling, or holding the larger vision.

The question is less about what you’re capable of doing and more about where you make a difference that someone else can’t.

Voice: What conversation am I choosing to lead?

There comes a point when growing our businesses also means growing the reach of our ideas.

You’ve accumulated experiences, perspective and wisdom. You’ve seen patterns. You have opinions about what needs to change. There are conversations you can contribute to in a way that no one else can because no one else has lived your exact combination of experiences.

Voice is the decision to put those ideas into motion. Your voice becomes more powerful when you contribute ideas that matter and choose to lead conversations that move people forward. 

As you look into the future, what conversation has your experience prepared you to lead? There may be an idea you’re ready to give more space, visibility and conviction.

Momentum: What courageous decision creates the greatest momentum?

Sometimes we can spend months making dozens of small decisions while avoiding the one decision that would change everything.

We know the one. It’s usually the decision we keep revisiting, researching, talking about and putting back on the shelf.

Progress doesn’t always come from making more decisions. Sometimes one courageous decision unlocks everything that follows.

As you look ahead, what decision would create movement? Maybe it’s making the hire, ending something that has run its course, making the investment, claiming the new direction, raising the price, having the conversation or finally putting a date on the thing you’ve been saying you’re going to do.

You Don’t Have to Make All Five

This may be the most important part of the process.

I wasn’t asking the women at Business Alchemy to walk out with five major decisions. We were looking into the future and asking them to recognize which kind of decision their next season was asking for.

Maybe yours is Focus. Maybe you know exactly where you’re going, but a Boundary is needed to create room for it. Maybe your business is asking for more of your Leadership or your Voice. Maybe everything is already lined up and one courageous decision would create the Momentum you’ve been waiting for.

Choose the one that has your attention.

Then make a declaration about what that decision means for you and the business you’re building.

This is where I believe experience becomes wisdom, and wisdom becomes leadership. We aren’t looking outside ourselves for another formula to follow. We’re paying attention to what years of experience have taught us and allowing that wisdom to inform what comes next.

At the close of Business Alchemy, we asked another question: What decision will define your next season?

I think it’s a beautiful question for any of us to sit with.

Look out six months or a year at the business and life you want to be living. You don’t need to figure out every decision between here and there.

What is the one kind of decision you’re being called to make now?

And what becomes possible when you make it?

The post The Decisions That Shape the Business You’re Building appeared first on Kami Guildner.

Kami Guildner believes visibility is leadership. Our voices carry our ideas into the world, start conversations, build relationships, and bring people together around something that matters. Movement making happens when those ideas begin to travel beyond us and when others see themselves in the vision and help carry it forward.

Today, Kami is joined by Yev Muchnik, founder of Launch Legal, who has been at the forefront of new ways of thinking about how we build businesses, how we share ownership, and how to bring more people into what we are creating. When war broke out in Ukraine, she used her visibility and relationships in the technology community to bring people together, helping create a global grassroots effort that raised millions for humanitarian needs. That’s visibility as leadership. That’s movement making.

In This Episode:

How to think about visibility as leadership and use your voice to start conversations, build relationships, and bring people together around something that mattersWhat it takes for your ideas to begin traveling beyond you and how community can help your work grow into something bigger than youHow women entrepreneurs can build businesses differently by bringing more voices to the table, creating more collaborative models, and opening new possibilities for ownership and leadershipWhy your relationships and visibility can become powerful catalysts for action when you use them intentionally to gather people around a shared purposeWhat becomes possible when women step into positions of leadership and intentionally open doors for other women to join them, contribute their ideas, and leadWhy you don’t have to be the loudest voice in the room to create influence, and how finding your own way of expressing your ideas gives your voice powerHow mentorship, relationships, and sharing our stories can create a ripple effect that reaches far beyond our own businessesThe question for every woman with important work in the world: What could your voice set in motion, who could you bring together, and what becomes possible when the work you’re here to do becomes bigger than you?

Yev Muchnik is a corporate and securities attorney with extensive experience in digital assets, Web3, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, securities, private equity, fund formation, debt, and equity capital raising, corporate governance, and compliance. As the Founding Partner of Launch Legal, LLC, she assists growth-stage tech and Web3 startups with complex onshore and offshore corporate structuring, regulatory compliance, and financial services interactions, including SEC, CFTC, and FinCEN. Yev has advised start-up and growth-stage companies across diverse industries, including consumer products, agriculture, healthcare, aviation, aerospace, blockchain, artificial intelligence, clean energy, human resources, and SAAS.

About the Host:

Kami Guildner believes women’s voices matter. She is a connector. A storyteller. A business coach for high vibe women entrepreneurs helping them #RaiseUP their Voice, Vision and Visibility for Impact and Business Growth.

Kami helps her clients build businesses they love with more time prosperity and more wealth prosperity. She weaves soulful-inspiration into mindful business strategies, and this Soul+Strategy™ approach to business helps her clients succeed in business and worldly impact.

Her clients scale and grow their businesses with a more feminine, abundant approach. Her community of entrepreneurs is creating a new paradigm of entrepreneurship, helping each other raise up in a ripple effect of impact. Her clients have gone on to reach extraordinary heights as consultants, coaches and leaders – achieving exponential revenue growth, landing on big stages, starting software companies, launching new professional organizations, transforming corporate cultures and transforming lives. They are influential and they are changemakers.

Kami is the founder of the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference and host of the award-winning Extraordinary Women Radio™. She is the best-selling author of Firedancer: Your Spiral Journey to a Life of Passion and Purpose and was named to the 2020 Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Business List by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

“Your voice is not extra, it’s essential.” ~Yev Muchnik

To learn more about Yev, visit her website and connect with her on LinkedIn.

Yev Muchnik’s Show Notes

Join Kami at the 12th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference, November 5–7 in Colorado. Explore fresh ideas, expand what’s possible in your business, and build the relationships that help you grow with greater impact, prosperity, and joy. Early Bird tickets are available through September 15 here.

The post When Your Voice Becomes a Movement: How Women Entrepreneurs Can Use Visibility to Create Greater Impact with Yev Muchnik appeared first on Kami Guildner.

A few weeks ago, I spent four days doing some of my favorite work in the world. We began with two days at my Equine Vision Journey Retreat, where the horses invited us into a deeper kind of listening.

There were insights about leadership, boundaries, focus, relationships, and what each woman wanted more of in her life and business. There was laughter and emotion, quiet moments and big realizations, and space to hear the wisdom that can be hard to hear when we’re moving quickly through our everyday lives.

In between our two retreats, the women stepped in front of the camera for a professional photo shoot with Candace Smith. It felt like the perfect bridge between the two experiences, an opportunity to bring their light to life and allow themselves to be seen through the lens of everything they had just uncovered.

Then we moved into two days of my VIP Business Alchemy Retreat, where we took all of that inner knowing and brought it to the business table.

Nine brilliant women gathered together, each bringing years of experience and different perspectives. Each woman had dedicated time to bring forward the questions that mattered most to her, and then we went to work.

We talked about leadership, business models, offers, pricing, positioning, relationships, visibility, and where each woman wanted to take her business next. There were those wonderful moments when someone would say something and you could feel the whole room recognize it. A question would open a new possibility. Someone would see a thread another woman hadn’t seen. We’d put numbers around an idea and suddenly it felt possible.

As I’ve reflected on those two days, four lessons have continued to rise to the surface. And I think they’re worth considering in your business too.

1. Knowing what you want changes the strategy

We often approach strategy by asking, “What should I do?” During Alchemy, we kept going deeper. Who do you really want to serve? What work do you most want to be doing? What conversations do you want to lead? What do you want your business to make possible?

The more specific the desire became, the more focused the strategy became. Business development, offers, visibility, relationships, and even how someone spent her time began to look different.

Power Question: What do I really want to create in this season of my business?

Let yourself answer that before deciding what you should do next.

2. Look at what is already here

I was struck by how often possibility was already sitting right in front of us. Years of experience that could be brought together in a new way. People ready for greater leadership. Relationships that could open doors. Offers that belonged together. Intellectual property and ideas that had been quietly developing for years.

As accomplished women, we can be so quick to look for the next thing. Yet there is tremendous richness in looking at what we’ve already built and considering how we might use it more fully.

Power Question: What have I already built, learned, or created that I’m ready to use more fully?

There may be far more possibility there than you realize.

3. Your role gets to evolve as your business grows

Several of our conversations came back to leadership. As a business grows, the woman leading it gets to grow her role too.

Maybe your greatest value is shifting toward vision and relationships. Maybe you want fewer offers and deeper client work. Perhaps you’re ready to lead bigger conversations, empower other people on your team, or bring decades of experience into a bigger body of work.

You have agency in how you lead your business. You get to decide where your wisdom and energy create the greatest value now.

Power Question: What does my business need most from me at this stage of its growth?

Your answer may be very different from what your business needed from you three years ago.

4. There is power in being deeply known

One of the things I felt most grateful for around the Alchemy table was the depth of relationship in the room. These women know one another. I know their businesses, their visions, the decisions they’ve made along the way, and the bigger possibilities they’re building toward.

That kind of partnership changes the conversation. We can go deeper more quickly because we’re building on work we’ve already done together. A question isn’t being considered in isolation. We can see how it connects to the business model, the message, the leadership, the life she wants to create, and the vision she has shared with us over time.

I love communities that bring women together. There is tremendous value in meeting new people, expanding your circle, and being exposed to fresh ideas. I’ve also experienced the extraordinary value of having people in my own business who know me and my work deeply. They can see what I can’t always see for myself, remind me of what I’ve said I wanted, challenge my thinking, and hold the bigger vision with me.

I’m deeply honored that I get to be that kind of partner for my clients and create spaces where they can become that for one another. There is something powerful about building a business alongside people who are invested in your success and have enough history with you to recognize the significance of what is unfolding. 

And perhaps one of the best reflections of what happened in that room came from the women themselves. Before we were finished, they were already asking for more. They asked if we could have two Business Alchemy Retreats next year. I’m listening. So in 2027, we’ll be adding a second Alchemy Retreat to the Movement Maker Mastermind experience. I love that this next evolution of the program came directly from the women in the room and what they knew they wanted more of. 

Power Question: Who knows your business deeply enough to help you see what you can’t see on your own?

The inner work changes the business work

There were powerful decisions made during Business Alchemy too, and I’m saving that conversation for another day because I think decisions deserve an article of their own.

With the horses, we had spent time listening first. The women had connected with what they wanted, what mattered, what they were ready for, and how they wanted to lead. Then we brought that knowing into a room where they were surrounded by women who knew their businesses, believed in their visions, and brought their own wisdom and experience to the conversation.

I’ve had this kind of partnership in my own business, and I know how valuable it is. There are times when someone else can see a possibility you haven’t fully seen yet, ask the question that changes your perspective, or remind you of the bigger vision you’re building toward. Having a coach and trusted community who understand the deeper context of your business creates room for conversations that can shape what comes next.

This is the heart of Soul+Strategy™ inside my Movement Maker Mastermind. We do the inner work, we bring smart strategy to the table, and we build relationships deep enough to truly know one another’s businesses and visions. It is one of the greatest honors of my work to walk alongside these women as they grow their businesses, expand their leadership, and bring more of their wisdom into the world.

So as you look at your own business this week, consider one final power question:

What do I already know, and who do I trust to help me build from there?

That’s where the alchemy happens.

Want to know more about the Movement Maker Mastermind and what it could look like to have this kind of support around your business? Contact me, I’d love to start a conversation.

The post This Is Where the Alchemy Happens appeared first on Kami Guildner.