Business Origin Stories for Entrepreneurs, Coaches, and Leaders

Send us Fan MailHow to Scale a Business as a Mom with Beth MazzaWhat if the biggest obstacle to growing your business is how much you're trying to do yourself?For entrepreneurial mothers, the responsibilities don't stop when the workday ends. There are clients to serve, financial decisions to make, teams to lead, and families to care for. It's easy to believe the answer is becoming more productive.But Beth believes scaling requires something different.Beth is a three-time entrepreneur, two-time exited founder, and mother of four. Alongside her longtime business partner, Victoria, she has built companies, navigated major business decisions, and learned how to grow without personally managing every detail.Together, Beth and Victoria have nine children. They're also the authors of Entrepreneur Like a Mother and the founders behind The Female Maverick, a business focused on helping mothers pursue entrepreneurship.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Beth shares the lessons that shaped her approach to business ownership, leadership, and motherhood.One of the most memorable stories comes from a time when Beth and Victoria were running a multimillion-dollar business. Victoria was still preparing invoices late into the night, and billing had fallen nearly two weeks behind schedule.They finally made a decision: hire financial help and take that responsibility off her plate.Beth explains why decisions like that are essential for founders who want to grow. She also shares how giving employees more responsibility revealed talented team members who later became partners in the business.In our conversation, you'll hear:Why Beth challenges the assumption that corporate employment is always the safer choiceHow she thinks about motherhood, ambition, and the pressure to do everything wellThe three types of people she recommends including in your “kitchen cabinet”Why doing one difficult business task each day can create meaningful progressHow to identify which responsibilities only you should handleWhen to consider making your first hireWhy founders need both current financials and an aspirational financial planHow Beth prepared for high-stakes meetings despite experiencing self-doubtWhat she and Victoria did to support parents in their companiesBeth's message isn't that growing a business is easy or that mothers can accomplish everything without support.It's that building the right team, making deliberate financial decisions, and focusing on the work that matters can change what's possible.If you're a founder who wants to scale but keeps finding yourself responsible for every task, this conversation will give you practical ideas to consider.Connect with Beth MazzaThe Female Maverick: https://femalemavericks.comBook: Entrepreneur Like a MotherFree newsletter: Founders Files, available through The Female MaverickInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailHow to Grow Your Business on LinkedIn with Molly GodfreyWhat if your next business opportunity is already somewhere in your LinkedIn network?For founders and business owners, LinkedIn can feel like a confusing mix of professional updates, unsolicited messages, and advice about what you should be posting. But behind all of that is something valuable: a network of people who may already know your work, understand your expertise, or need the services you offer.Molly Godfrey is a LinkedIn strategist and coach based in New York City who helps female founders use the platform to grow their businesses.Her path into entrepreneurship didn't begin with a content strategy.Molly studied finance and entered the corporate world, working in tech sales, product, and partnerships. When she reached a company sales record by generating $1 million in gross revenue by June of one year, she started questioning what she might be able to accomplish in a business of her own.Around the same time, her employer was being acquired. Molly decided to leave and take a sabbatical, without knowing exactly what would come next.She began writing.First on her own blog, then on Medium, where she developed an audience and connected with other writers and creators. A friend's suggestion to share her writing on LinkedIn eventually helped her discover the platform that would become central to her business.Today, Molly has worked one-on-one with more than 200 founders and leads Impressions, a membership community focused on LinkedIn strategy and relationship building.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, we discuss:How Molly moved from corporate sales into writing and entrepreneurshipWhy an existing professional network can be a major advantage on LinkedInThe three activities she recommends: content, outreach, and engagementHow to return to LinkedIn after years of not postingWhat makes a post worth readingWhy commenting can create business opportunitiesHow to make your LinkedIn profile easier for prospective clients to navigateWhy clarity matters more than a clever professional titleHow Molly uses Sales Navigator to organize and nurture relationshipsWhy building a business through LinkedIn requires patienceMolly also shares a reminder for founders who feel pressured to be everywhere online: LinkedIn isn't the right platform for every business or every person.She chose it because she enjoys long-form writing, teaching, and relationship building.If you're ready to use LinkedIn more intentionally, this conversation offers a practical starting point without promising overnight results.Connect with Molly GodfreyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-godfrey/Website: mollygodfrey.comInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailWhat if the standing ovation isn't the best measure of a successful presentation?For CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professional speakers, the real challenge isn't simply holding an audience's attention. It's communicating an idea clearly enough that people remember it, discuss it, and do something differently afterward.Brian Miller knows the difference because he's experienced both sides.Before becoming a keynote speaker and message-design specialist, Brian spent a decade working as a professional magician. He knew how to make audiences laugh, applaud, and respond enthusiastically. But when he brought those same expectations into professional speaking, something wasn't working.His audiences loved the presentations. The repeat bookings and referrals weren't coming.Eventually, Brian recognized that the people sitting in the audience and the people paying for the event had different needs. A successful keynote had to serve both.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Brian shares what changed in his approach and how he now helps speakers design messages around the people they're trying to reach.We also get personal about my TEDx Cambridge experience. When I had just six weeks to prepare, Brian's team helped me rebuild my talk. His lead consultant, Francisco, worked directly with me while Brian contributed feedback behind the scenes.In our conversation, you'll hear:Why audience applause doesn't necessarily translate into business resultsThe question Brian asks event stakeholders to understand what success looks likeHow to make complex expertise accessible without talking down to peopleWhy memorizing a speech is only the beginning of delivering it naturallyHow Brian builds one signature program that can work as a keynote, workshop, or hybridWhat it took to transition client delivery to another consultant without losing qualityWhy Brian rewrote his book, The One Page Keynote, after completing the first manuscriptBrian also introduces a principle that runs through his work: Audience First, Always.Instead of asking, “What do I want to say?” he encourages speakers to ask, “What does this audience need to hear?”It's a useful distinction whether you're preparing a keynote, leading a company meeting, presenting a proposal, or trying to help your team understand a change.Because the goal isn't to prove how much you know. It's to help someone else take the next step.Connect with Brian MillerInstagram: @brianmillerspeaksLinkedIn: @brianmillerspeaksBook: https://onepagekeynote.comBook title: The One Page KeynoteInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailHow to Stop Feeling Behind and Finish What Matters with Christine SveenHave you ever crossed twenty things off your to-do list and gone home thinking about the seventeen you didn't finish?For ambitious entrepreneurs and leaders, that feeling can become a familiar part of everyday life. There's always another project, another email, another idea, or another responsibility waiting for attention.Christine Sveen knows that experience firsthand.Based in Oslo, Norway, Christine has built businesses, held senior corporate marketing roles, and served as CEO of a marketing agency. She's also a mother of two boys and someone who genuinely enjoys working, creating, and making things happen.But for years, she struggled with one recurring problem: no matter how much she accomplished, she never felt done.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Christine shares how that frustration became the foundation for her newest business, a premium analog planner designed to help high-capacity people decide what matters, finish their priorities, and recognize when the workday is complete.Her entrepreneurial story actually began years earlier, during maternity leave in 2009. After struggling to find a wall mural she liked for her child's room, Christine designed one herself. When readers of her home-building blog began asking where they could get it, she found a manufacturer and started creating more designs.That experience led to her first business. She later returned to corporate work, climbed into executive leadership, and eventually made another leap into entrepreneurship.In our conversation, we explore:Why accomplishing more doesn't always make you feel more accomplishedChristine's experience with burnout while continuing to work and createHow her first business began with a problem in her own homeWhat it felt like to leave behind the CMO and CEO titles she'd worked towardHer approach to quarterly goals, monthly outcomes, and three daily prioritiesWhy an unfinished to-do list can keep work on your mind long after you've logged offHow a planning system she used with clients became a physical productWhy Christine believes being done is something you can decide each dayOne of my favorite moments comes when Christine compares work to her years as a competitive swimmer. She had ambitious goals, but when practice was finished, she got out of the pool and trusted the process.She began asking why she couldn't approach her working life the same way.If you're a founder, executive, or idea-rich person who finds it difficult to switch off, this conversation offers a practical way to rethink what a productive day can look like.Connect with Christine SveenPlanner: https://theplnr.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinesveenInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

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Send us Fan MailWho do you turn to first when you have a difficult decision to make?Your partner? A colleague? A coach? A friend?Hannah Holt wants you to add one more person to that list: yourself.Hannah Holt is a speaker, coach, and breathwork facilitator whose work explores the relationship we have with ourselves and how it shapes the decisions we make. Through coaching, breathwork, and immersive experiences, she helps people reconnect with their own voice and become the person they turn to first.Having worked with hundreds of individuals and supported global organizations, Hannah says she has seen the same pattern again and again: we look outside ourselves for reassurance, validation, and direction, while rarely including ourselves in the conversation.Her work challenges that pattern.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Hannah shares how her own years of chasing achievement and external validation eventually led her to question how she was living, what she actually wanted, and whose voice she was listening to.That journey now informs the work she does helping others build self-trust, strengthen the mind-body connection, and make choices that feel more like their own.In this conversation, we explore:Why we so easily outsource decisions and look to others for validationHannah’s “pause, ask, listen, choose” framework for self-leadershipWhy self-trust is something we build through practiceHow to tell the difference between resistance and something that genuinely isn’t right for youWhy entrepreneurs can leave corporate life and still recreate its rules inside their own businessesHow Hannah combines coaching and breathwork to help people respond under pressure instead of simply reactingSimple practices Hannah uses to begin and end the day with greater intentionOne of the biggest questions Hannah leaves us with is also one of the simplest.The next time you need advice, before automatically reaching for someone else, have you asked yourself?Because becoming the person you turn to first doesn’t mean you stop seeking wise counsel. It means your own voice gets a seat at the table too.Connect with Hannah Holt: https://www.hannahholt.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/hannahhighonloveInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailWhat does it take to build a million-dollar business while raising a family, and what happens when the business you built enters an entirely new season?Crystalee Beck knows both sides of that story.She is the owner of Comma Copywriters, a content growth partner now focused on healthcare companies, and The Mama Ladder, an organization helping women create and climb their own ladders as mothers and entrepreneurs.A major part of that mission is the High Five Grant for Moms, a business grant competition for mom-owned companies that Crystalee and The Mama Ladder have hosted since 2018.To date, the High Five Grant has awarded $115,000 in grants to 80 women in business, with that total expected to reach $138,000 after the current round. More than 2,500 women have applied, and the program has also provided more than $43,000 in goods and services.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Crystalee shares why access to capital for women matters so deeply to her, what she has learned from the women who have gone through the grant process, and why the impact extends beyond the women who ultimately receive funding.We also get into Crystalee’s own evolving business story.After seven consecutive years of growth, Comma experienced its first down year as longtime clients in B2B tech and SaaS struggled and contracts disappeared. Now Crystalee and her team are repositioning the company around healthcare while she works on The Mother’s Guide to Building a Million Dollar Business.In this conversation, we talk about:How the High Five Grant is helping mom-owned businesses access capital and pursue growthWhy Crystalee originally decided to build a business around time and money freedomWhat reaching $1 million in revenue actually requiredHow she is navigating Comma’s shift into healthcareWhy reaching a major business milestone does not guarantee continued growthWhat she has learned about separating business performance from personal identityWhy she is interviewing 100 mothers with million-dollar-plus businesses for her upcoming bookIf you are building a company, navigating a pivot, or trying to create a business that supports the life you actually want to live, this conversation offers a candid look at what growth can really require.Connect with Crystalee BeckHigh Five Grant: www.highfivegrant.comThe Mama Ladder: https://themamaladder.com/Crystalee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalee/Instagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailYour resume can look polished and still fail to communicate why someone should hire you.Zach Nold, executive recruiter, entrepreneur, and founder of Crucial Hire, has spent years studying what makes candidates stand out. His conclusion is straightforward: be obvious about the value you create.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Amy and Zach dig into how professionals can build stronger resumes, improve their LinkedIn positioning, communicate measurable results, and make themselves easier for recruiters and potential employers to find.Zach explains his “5W” approach to professional storytelling. Instead of filling a resume with vague descriptions or responsibilities, he looks for concrete information about who you worked with, what you accomplished, where the work happened, when or how frequently it occurred, how you did it, and why it mattered.He also shares a memorable comparison: without results, Michael Jordan and a bench player could theoretically have very similar job descriptions. Both practiced, traveled with the team, listened to coaches, and played basketball. The difference becomes obvious when you include the results.In this conversation, you'll hear:How to make your LinkedIn profile easier for recruiters to understandWhy results matter more than generic job descriptionsHow to quantify your work without feeling like you're braggingWhy Zach encourages professionals to become a “master of their past”What long-term career patterns can communicate to recruitersWhy entrepreneurs should still maintain a resumeHow often Zach recommends updating your professional storyHow AI can create beautiful resumes that still say very littleWhy specificity makes your professional story easier for other people to repeatZach also explains why a career transition should look like a destination rather than simply an escape from your previous work.Whether you're actively looking for a job, hoping to get headhunted, building your executive presence, or simply trying to communicate your professional value more clearly, this conversation offers a practical framework for making your experience easier to understand.ConnectZach Nold: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachnold/Crucial Hire: crucialhire.comInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailTechnology can help an organization move faster. But what happens when the people expected to use that technology aren’t moving with it?Tres Roeder, president of Roeder Consulting, has spent 25 years helping organizations decide what matters and get important initiatives done. His philosophy sounds simple: do fewer things better.But getting those things done requires more than timelines, software, budgets, and project plans.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Tres shares how his own approach to project management evolved after he realized that the technical side of execution was only part of the equation.Early in his business, Tres focused heavily on project mechanics. Then a colleague pointed out something he had completely missed during a project meeting: a vice president was quietly signaling that he wanted Tres’s project eliminated. The project was eventually killed.It was an important lesson. Execution depends on understanding people, personalities, organizational politics, emotions, and the things leaders don’t always say directly.That lesson feels particularly relevant as companies rush to determine where AI belongs inside their organizations.Tres argues for “talent over technology.” Rather than building implementation plans solely around technical requirements, he encourages leaders to create a parallel human timeline that gives people an opportunity to understand, test, influence, and ultimately adopt new technology.In this conversation, Amy and Tres discuss:Why organizations often have more strategic initiatives than they can effectively manageWhat it means to “do fewer things better”Why alignment is the first requirement for successful executionHow a human timeline can improve technology adoptionWhy there isn’t one perfect process for every projectWhere AI can support project work and where human judgment remains essentialWhy leaders should decide how technology serves people instead of allowing people to become servants of technologyTres also shares a powerful challenge for professionals navigating AI: learn the technology, but don’t compete with the machine. Strengthen the capabilities that require humanity, judgment, listening, and an ability to notice what isn’t showing up in the data.For leaders determining how AI fits into their companies, the question isn’t simply, “What can this technology do?”It’s also, “What do we want our people to do?”Connect:Roeder Consulting: roederconsulting.comInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co

Send us Fan MailWhat if the business problem you keep trying to solve isn’t actually the problem?For many entrepreneurs and leaders, the instinct is to respond to a challenge with another strategy, a new marketing plan, a leadership book, or a spreadsheet. But Martijn Meima, a business coach since 2007, takes a different approach. He helps entrepreneurs use what he calls “pure intuition” and methods including business constellations to uncover what may be happening beneath the surface of a business problem.In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Amy Schutte talks with Martijn about what intuition actually means in business and why he believes it is different from simply following a gut feeling. Martijn explains six ways people may experience intuition and shares a practical process for slowing down, asking better questions, noticing what comes up, and then translating that information into action.The conversation also explores business constellations, a method Martijn uses to examine dynamics within organizations. Rather than looking only at the visible conflict or business challenge, he describes how constellation work can surface patterns involving a company’s history, leadership, team dynamics, clients, and other parts of the business system.Amy and Martijn discuss:The difference between a gut reaction and what Martijn calls “pure intuition”Six different ways intuition can present itselfHow entrepreneurs can begin experimenting with intuition in business decisionsWhat business constellations are and how Martijn facilitates themWhy a recurring team or leadership problem may point to something beneath the visible issueThree principles Martijn looks for in business systems: inclusion, order, and the balance of giving and takingWhy Martijn views a business as a living organism rather than a machineHow leaders can combine rational business thinking with a more intuitive approachMartijn also shares examples from his work, including a constellation involving conflict within a hospital maternity department and another involving a business owner struggling to attract customers in his local village.For CEOs, entrepreneurs, and senior leaders who have tried the conventional solutions and still feel stuck, this conversation offers a different question to consider: What might you be missing because you’re only looking at what’s visible?Connect with Martijn MeimaWebsite: Intuition in BusinessLinkedIn: Connect with Martijn on LinkedInInstagram: @amyschutte_Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co