Write a Book, Get Booked for Life with Bryan Cohen

Jaden Hummel just got back from a sold-out conference. Its host talked about the event every single day, and she started selling next year’s tickets the moment this year’s sold out. In this solo episode, Jaden explains why selling is natural human behavior. You already do it every time you tell a friend about a restaurant you love.Jaden shares what happened when an Open Field member’s in-person workshop came in under her signup goal, and the one question that turned it around: “If someone else were hosting this, what would you need to know before signing up?” She also tells the story from her early coaching days that ended her worry about whether people could afford her. And she explains why your work deserves to be heard.If you have an offer you believe in and you’re not talking about it enough, this episode is your invitation to pick up the megaphone.In this episode:Why marketing is natural human behavior, and how you already sell all the timeThe wrong conclusions people draw when a launch doesn’t sell, and what to ask insteadHow to show cool people, a shift in perspective, fun and real value in your marketingWhy it’s never really about money, and why other people’s finances aren’t your responsibilityArguing with evidence: how real sales end the stories you tell yourselfFinding the clean, congruent reason you’re excited to sell your offerTimestamps:00:00 The sold-out event that sparked this episode01:46 Marketing is natural human behavior04:48 When your offer doesn’t sell: drawing the wrong conclusions06:08 The workshop story and asking “what’s right with me?”10:03 What would your buyer need to know?13:29 “I can’t afford it” and the story that changed how Jaden sells16:00 Your job is to tell people18:43 Finding the angle that excites you20:15 Argue with evidence22:59 Selling is generousWork with Jaden:Open Field is a place to unearth your best work and a life you’re proud of. Weekly coaching calls for founders who want to build bigger, more aligned and more congruent businesses.Apply now: https://www.jadenhummel.com/open-field-coachingDM Jaden on IG to join: https://www.instagram.com/jadenbhummel/Connect with JadenInstagram: @jadenbhummelWebsite: jadenhummel.com

The book you keep saying you'll write someday is already in you. And it might be the thing that keeps you booked for life.On this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel sits down with Bryan Cohen. He's a two-time USA Today bestselling author and the CEO of Best Page Forward, the book marketing company behind more than 2,000 book descriptions. His new book, Booked for Life, is about writing a book that builds your business.Bryan's first major book started as a stack of blog posts. It sold more than 30,000 copies and changed the direction of his career. He says you don't need to disappear into a cabin for three months to write a book. You build it from what you're already making: voice notes, videos, webinars, emails, conversations. Whatever gets the ideas out of your head and into the world.They get into what a book actually does for your business. It builds trust before a client ever gets on a call with you. It deepens relationships. And when it's written for the right reader, it becomes the reason people find you, hire you and send their friends.Then they talk about what happened when Bryan stopped putting "silly Bryan" on the shelf. He's a former improv comedian who spent years keeping his humor out of his business. Letting his full personality back in is what helped the business grow.Bryan also shares two questions that broke through a financial ceiling for him: "Why does it have to be that way?" and "What do you want?"If you're a founder, coach or expert and you know a book is part of your path, this one is for you.In this episode:How Bryan's first book grew out of blog posts and sold 30,000+ copiesWhy you don't need a cabin, a sabbatical or a perfect plan to write your bookHow to build a book from the content you're already creatingHow a book builds trust and keeps future clients coming to youHow to figure out what your book should actually be aboutWhy your ideal reader should shape your book's angle and titleThe difference between being aligned with yourself and being clear to your audienceBringing humor and personality into your personal brandThe question "Why does it have to be that way?" and the ceiling it brokeLetting your creative process flow instead of forcing it into someone else's modelCongruence doesn't always look the way you pictured it. Sometimes it starts with asking why. Sometimes it's asking what you actually want. And sometimes it's realizing the thing you've made hard is allowed to be easy.Your book is already in you. Write it your way, and let it keep you booked for life.Connect with BryanInstagram: @bryancohenblurbsBook: Booked for LifeConnect with JadenInstagram: @jadenbhummelWebsite: jadenhummel.com

What does it take to win at the highest level, and what happens when the old way of winning stops fitting who you're becoming?On this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel sits down with Kendall Reusing, an eight-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion (three of those titles at black belt), co-owner of four Gracie Barra academies, sports broadcaster, and entrepreneur.Kendall has spent her whole life winning. Now she's competing less than she ever has, walking away from money, prestige, and big matches on purpose. Newly married and about to turn 29, she's asking questions she never had to ask before. What does winning mean when you're no longer in survival mode? Where do motherhood and being a wife fit alongside big ambition? And how do you trust that something bigger is building when you can't see it yet?This conversation is honest, practical, and for any high performer whose old reasons for chasing goals have stopped working.In this episode:— What high performance means to Kendall now, and why your 100% looks different on different days— Push vs. pull: how to tell whether you need to go harder or step back— Why Kendall is competing less, even though it doesn't make sense to anyone else— Using fear as a sign that it's time to make the leap— Her goal of needing less pain before she's willing to make a change— How her motivation shifted once survival was off the table— The tidal wave metaphor: saying no to small, easy wins so something bigger can build— "I'm the f*cking best": the champion mantra she uses in business, marriage, and life— Why an extraordinary life takes more grind and more play than you thinkResources mentioned:— Books by Pema Chödrön— Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker— Tony Robbins and Alex Hormozi's podcast conversationConnect with Kendall— Instagram: @kendallreusing— Her new program, WinningConnect with JadenInstagram: @jadenbhummel

What happens when you finally give yourself permission to stop doing what you think you should be doing—and start doing the work that actually lights you up?In this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel sits down with web designer Ann-Britt Hakansson, founder of The Radiance Creative, for a conversation about finding your zone of genius, trusting your intuition, and creating beautiful work that feels deeply aligned with who you are.Ann-Britt shares how an honest conversation with a close friend helped her recognize that hypnotherapy wasn't actually the work she was meant to be doing—and that her real zone of genius had always been in the world of design.Together, Jaden and Ann-Britt explore what it looks like to pay attention when something no longer feels right, recognize the difference between what you're capable of doing and what you're meant to be doing, and build a business around the work that brings you alive.They also talk about the importance of supporting women who are creating meaningful, beautiful work in the world—and how design can become a powerful way to help someone's vision, voice, and business come to life.In this episode, you'll hear about:— Finding and trusting your zone of genius— Recognizing when you're working outside of your natural strengths— The power of having friends who are willing to ask you honest questions— Knowing when your intuition is pointing you toward something different— Moving from “what can I do?” to “what do I actually want to do?”— Creating beautiful work that feels aligned and meaningful— Supporting women and their ideas, businesses, and creative visions— Why doing work that lights you up can change the way you show up in your business and lifeSometimes the most congruent path isn't about learning to become better at something you're already doing. It's about having the courage to admit that something else has been calling you all along.Connect with Ann-BrittInstagram: @annbritt.hakanssonConnect with JadenInstagram: @jadenbhummel

What would it take to wake up every day in a life you don’t want to escape?Jaden Hummel sits down with Erika Drolet, an entrepreneur, author, surfer and runner who has spent the last decade building a life on her own terms, and rebuilding it more than once. She sold her first company at 24, left on a one-way ticket, and started choosing only what was truly hers. Since then she has built a house in El Salvador on her own, launched experiences that sold out before they existed, written a book, and made movement the foundation of her creativity and confidence.Erika is honest about what it means to build your dreams. A life can look incredible from the outside and still stop fitting on the inside. In this conversation she shares how she knows it’s time to change, why freedom is worth more to her than any salary, and the harder, lonelier parts of the dream life nobody posts about.In this episode:— How she juggles ten projects without burning out, and the daily focus practice that keeps it all moving— Why movement is her one non-negotiable, and how sport fuels clarity and creativity— Why women underestimate themselves, and how small physical wins become proof that you can do hard things— The high achiever’s summit problem, and where real satisfaction actually lives— Why the cost of giving up your freedom is “billions”— Leaving a life that looked perfect, emptying the backpack, and keeping only what’s truly yours— How to get off the fence when you want everything at once— Building her dream house alone, and what it taught her about doing life with othersIf you’ve ever looked at your life and wondered how you could make it even more fulfilling and yours, this episode is for you.Connect with ErikaInstagram: @erika_droletConnect with JadenInstagram: @jadenbhummel

What if the energy you bring to your work matters as much as the work itself?On this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel talks with Tara Middleton. Tara is a professionally trained chef, an entrepreneur, an educator, and the founder of Source to Fork. Her classical culinary training and experience in professional kitchens taught her technique, timing, and precision. A trip to India taught her the ingredient no culinary school mentions: the energy of the person doing the cooking.In India, Tara watched women make simple meals with a kind of peace, joy, and presence she had never seen in a professional kitchen. That changed how she understood food. It also changed how she understood her work. What you make carries the energy you were in when you made it.Jaden and Tara follow that idea out of the kitchen and into business. Energy shapes how a meal tastes, and it shapes how your work lands. Magnetism comes from being congruent. Sharing your gifts is a form of generosity. Taking a risk feels different when you know you're doing what you're here to do.Tara also talks about the difference between eating "healthy" and actually nourishing yourself. She explains why your body's needs won't look like anyone else's, and she shares a three-breath practice that shifts your energy before you start cooking. You can use the same practice before a sales call, a launch, or a big decision.In this episode:— Why you are an ingredient in everything you create— How Tara went from professional chef to founder of Source to Fork— What Tara's experience in India taught her about food, presence, and joy— The three-breath practice for shifting your energy before you begin— Bringing curiosity to the kitchen, the grocery store, and your business— The difference between "healthy" and truly nourishing— Listening to your body's signals instead of trying to fix it— How energy and congruence create magnetism in business— Why sharing your gifts is an act of generosity— Taking aligned risks as an entrepreneur— Treating failure as information and a reason to pivot— The simple first step to changing your relationship with foodTara's invitation: get curious before you get critical. Notice how you feel, what your body is asking for, and what energy you're bringing into the room.You don't need another rule. You need to start listening.Energy • Alignment • Congruence • Nourishment • Food • Entrepreneurship • Intuition • Magnetism • Embodiment • Self-trustFollow Tara & learn more about Source to Forkhttps://www.instagram.com/taramiddleton_/Work with Jaden HummelJoin Open Field, the ongoing coaching advisory for soul-led foundershttps://www.jadenhummel.com/open-field-coachingFollow Jaden on IGhttps://www.instagram.com/jadenbhummel/

Choose What You Actually WantWhat if the thing keeping you stuck isn't a lack of discipline, motivation, or productivity—but simply that you haven't decided what you actually want yet?In this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel explores the idea of priority motivation: the understanding that whatever matters most to you will ultimately shape the choices you make.We can have competing desires at the same time. One part of us wants to grow, expand, make more money, build a bigger business, or put ourselves out there. Another part wants safety, comfort, stability, or simply to keep things exactly as they are.The problem isn't necessarily having both desires. It's staying caught between them.Jaden shares how she experienced this tension in her own business—first choosing to focus on strengthening the foundation and allowing the business to grow gradually while she prioritized personal growth, and later intentionally choosing bigger collaborations and expansion. The difference was not that one season was more ambitious than the other. It was that she was choosing what she actually wanted in each season.She also explores why getting honest about your priorities can eliminate so much of the guilt and frustration we experience when our actions don't match our desires.Because you don't have to want to 10X your income. You don't have to want to be on a bigger stage. You don't have to constantly be expanding.You just have to be honest about what you want—and then let that choice guide your actions.In this episode, Jaden talks about:What ambivalence is and why competing desires can keep us stuckHow your primary motivation shapes what you actually doThe tension between safety and expansionWhy we sometimes want a bigger life while simultaneously wanting to stay comfortableHow to stop feeling guilty about not pursuing something you aren't actually choosing right nowJaden's own experience of intentionally prioritizing personal growth over rapid business expansionWhy your priorities can change from one season of life to anotherThe importance of choosing rather than constantly questioning your choicesUsing your deeper vision as a North Star for decision-makingWhy congruence isn't always about doing more—it can also mean choosing rest, saying no, or staying exactly where you areHow to recognize whether your current choices actually reflect what you wantThe question to take with you this week:What is the most important thing you're working toward right now?Do you want safety and stability? Do you want rest and enjoyment? Do you want growth and expansion?There isn't a right answer. The invitation is simply to choose honestly—and then stand behind that choice.Work with Jaden HummelJoin Open Field, the ongoing coaching advisory for soul-led foundershttps://www.jadenhummel.com/open-field-coachingFollow Jaden on IGhttps://www.instagram.com/jadenbhummel/

Changing your mind is part of building an authentic brand.In this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel sits down with entrepreneur, thought leader, and personal branding expert Amy Mashburn to talk about identity, reinvention, visibility, and what it really means to choose yourself.Amy has spent more than a decade building businesses online. She's navigated sobriety, motherhood, personal branding, and major career pivots, and through every season she's practiced something that's harder than it sounds: you are allowed to become someone new.Jaden and Amy talk about the grief of outgrowing an old identity, and why stepping into a version of yourself you haven't met yet can feel uncomfortable. Amy shares how sobriety became one of her first experiences of choosing herself over other people's expectations, and how that same practice has carried through motherhood, business, and her career.They also get into what it's like to build a personal brand online. When thousands of people can have opinions about you without knowing you, how do you stay grounded? How do you handle criticism, misunderstanding, and the pressure to stay consistent with things you said years ago? Amy's answer: let people have their opinions and keep choosing yourself.Then the business side. Why you don't have to share everything online to build something successful, the difference between being an influencer and being a business owner, why experimenting beats waiting for the perfect blueprint, and how to build a business around the life you actually want.In this episode:— Why changing your mind can feel like an identity crisis— The grief that comes with outgrowing an old version of yourself— Choosing yourself over belonging and other people's expectations— Handling criticism and misunderstanding as you become more visible— Why you don't have to process your life in real time on social media— Building a personal brand vs. building a business— Experimenting instead of waiting for the perfect strategy— Learning to trust yourself after years of looking outward for answers— The role of coaches, mentors, and people who ask better questions— Designing a business around your real life and capacity— Building wealth without sacrificing your family, time, or nervous system— Giving yourself permission to be bad at something before you're good at it— The freedom of realizing you're allowed to mess up in publicOne of the most powerful ideas in this conversation is that the next version of you may not feel familiar at first. Alignment doesn't always feel comfortable. Sometimes becoming who you want to be means doing things that feel completely foreign. And sometimes the biggest act of congruence is deciding you no longer need to convince everyone else that you're allowed to change.Reinvention • Identity • Personal branding • Sobriety • Entrepreneurship • Self-trust • Visibility • Building a business you loveFollow Amy on IG & learn more about her workhttps://www.instagram.com/amymashburnofficial/Work with Jaden HummelJoin Open Field, the ongoing coaching advisory for soul-led foundershttps://www.jadenhummel.com/open-field-coachingFollow Jaden on IGhttps://www.instagram.com/jadenbhummel/

Social media can feel incredibly complicated. But it doesn’t have to be.How often should you post? Which hooks are working? How many followers do you need? Reels, carousels, or talking-head videos? What does the algorithm wantIn this episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel sits down with social media strategist and founder of Rise to Evolve Content, Anastasia Petrou, to talk about what actually creates a successful personal brand, and why it has far less to do with vanity metrics than most of us have been led to believe.Anastasia helps clients move past the overwhelm of endless templates, viral hooks, AI-generated content, and algorithm advice by getting clear on something more fundamental: who you are, why you're showing up, and what you want your brand to do.Jaden and Anastasia explore the intersection of alignment, authenticity, strategy, and visibility, and why your energy behind your work matters just as much as the content you put online.In this episode, you'll hear about:— Why followers, likes, and views aren't the whole story when it comes to a successful brand— The difference between vanity metrics and meaningful data— Why more followers doesn't always mean a more successful business— How to use AI without letting it replace your voice, creativity, or point of view— Why knowing your intention on social media changes everything— How sharing your story can be an act of generosity— Why the best content starts with being genuinely excited about what you do— Anastasia's journey from personal training to network marketing to building her own social media business— The role self-trust plays in taking the next entrepreneurial leap— How to build an Instagram profile that tells people who you are, who you help, and what to expect from you— Why your bio, pinned posts, and overall profile should work together like a landing page— How often you actually need to post, and why two intentional posts a week can beat posting constantly and disappearing six months later— How to build a content plan around your actual goals: growth, connection, or conversion— How to take yourself out of the equation and focus on the person you're servingOne of the biggest takeaways from this conversation is that your personal brand doesn't mean you have to become someone you’re not. You don't need to chase every trend. And you don't need to create content just because someone on the internet told you to.To have a magnetic brand is to build a presence that communicates what's already true and makes it easier for the right people to find you.Personal branding • Social media strategy • Instagram • Authenticity • Content creation • Entrepreneurship • Visibility • AI and content • Messaging • Consistency • Brand strategy • Alignment • Business growthFollow Anastasia on IG & learn more about her work: https://www.instagram.com/risetoevolvewithana/Work with Jaden HummelJoin Open Field, the ongoing coaching advisory for soul-led foundershttps://www.jadenhummel.com/open-field-coachingFollow Jaden on IGhttps://www.instagram.com/jadenbhummel/

What does it actually mean to live congruently?In the first episode of Congruent, Jaden Hummel explores the idea that alignment isn't about identifying everything that's wrong with your life. It's about continually asking a much more useful question: Does the life I'm building actually feel true to me?Jaden shares the personal experiences that taught her this lesson—from flipping houses and building a successful window-washing business to working in real estate and ultimately realizing that external success means very little when you're not excited about the life you're creating.Because sometimes the thing that looks like the obvious path isn't your path at all.In this episode, Jaden explores:Why bigger goals and deeper fulfillment don't have to be opposing forcesThe difference between creating a successful life and creating a life you actually wantHow she learned that money and accomplishment can't compensate for feeling disconnected from yourselfWhy the “easier” or more logical option isn't always the most congruent oneWhat happened when one client chose her actual vision over the business model that seemed easierHow another client's decision to make music and write her book transformed both her creativity and her businessWhy doing things your own way can create opportunities you couldn't have planned forHow to recognize the places where you're overriding your own desiresWhy congruence requires listening to the quieter voice underneath fear, judgment, and conventional wisdomJaden also shares a simple challenge for the week ahead:How excited are you about what you're building?If the answer isn't what you want it to be, don't immediately assume you need to work harder. Ask yourself where you might be abandoning what you actually want—and what would happen if you listened to yourself instead.Sometimes living congruently means making a tiny shift.Sometimes it means making a completely different choice.Either way, it starts with listening.In this episode:Living congruently • Purpose • Business alignment • Intuition • Personal growth • Success • Entrepreneurship • Fulfillment • Building a life you loveWork with Jaden HummelJoin Open Field, the ongoing coaching advisory for soul-led foundershttps://www.jadenhummel.com/open-field-coachingFollow Jaden on IGhttps://www.instagram.com/jadenbhummel/