Play It Brave Podcast

D'Arcy Benincosa

The podcast for brave creatives who live in a world that wants you to play it safe. It's time to face facts: You are an indestructible woman fused with super powers that defy convention. Am I right? If so, then this podcast is for you! In Play It Brave, D'Arcy Benincosa dives in deep to her wit and wisdom to teach you about creative a life full of mindset, money, and marketing miracles! Let's get started!

  1. 6 hr ago

    HOW I WENT FROM $4,500 TO $10,500 IN 6 WEEKS

    Sometimes your work grows faster than your identity does. In 2012, I had spent years charging $4,500 for wedding photography when a dream client called me just 27 days before their Sundance wedding. When she asked what I would charge for the weekend, I heard myself say a number I'd never said before: $7,500. She said yes. Two weeks later, I booked my first $10,500 wedding. I didn't suddenly become twice as talented in six weeks. The work had been happening for years. My skill, eye, experience and judgment had already changed. My identity simply hadn't caught up. In this short episode of Play It Brave, we're looking at the version of you who names the price — and whether she's still pricing the work of a woman you've already outgrown. I'll also lead you through a simple rehearsal you can practice for the next 30 days so that when someone asks, "What do you charge?" you don't have to manufacture courage in real time. In this episode: why your identity can lag behind your actual level of mastery · the story behind my jump from $4,500 to $7,500 — and then $10,500 · how to recognize when you're pricing from an earlier version of yourself · what happens in your body when someone asks what you charge · why you don't need to justify your number before anyone has objected to it · a short exercise to rehearse saying your next price · why identity work isn't a substitute for mastery — but can help you finally own the mastery you've already earned. A question to take with you: has your price actually caught up to the person you've become? Your next number doesn't need to be a fantasy. It needs to be a number you have evidence underneath — and are ready to learn how to say. Ready to go deeper? If you know the strategy but something in you keeps pulling back when it's time to sell, be seen, raise your prices or step into the next version of your work — that's exactly the kind of pattern we can explore in a private Breakthrough. Book a free 30-minute clarity call.

  2. 7 Aug

    You're Not Lazy: Why You Can't Jump from Stuck to Motivated

    If you've ever tried to force  yourself out of procrastination, you know how well that works. You can know exactly what to do. You can have the time. You can want the result so badly it aches — and still find yourself answering emails, returning something to Nordstrom, or deciding the junk drawer has to be dealt with right now. That isn't laziness. Laziness would be doing nothing, and you are doing a great deal. You're just not doing the one thing that matters. Which means the problem was never your character. It's the state you're in. In this first Rewire Friday, D'Arcy takes you inside a training room where a woman she calls Sarah volunteered her procrastination for a demonstration and landed on the honest word for it: not incapable, not lazy. Stagnant. And instead of asking how to make her motivated, the trainer asked the question almost nobody asks — what would get you out of the state you're in? Inside: what a state actually is and why naming one changes what you can do next, the cost of turning a behavior into an identity, the difference between the states that push you and the states that pull you — and why procrastination is neither, which is exactly why willpower slides off it. Ten minutes, one rewire, one question to ask before Monday. Timestamps: 2:27 — The word that changes everything: not incapable, not lazy — stagnant 3:00 — The trainer's question instead of "How do we get you motivated?" 3:32 — Why wanting the result isn't enough—and the difference between desire and the state that creates action 4:08 — Why motivation is rarely the next state, and finding the bridge that gets you there 6:11 — The cost of turning a behavior into an identity: "I procrastinated, so I'm lazy" 6:57 — States that push you, states that pull you, and why procrastination is neither 8:15 — Chaining anchors: what change work actually looks like, and why D'Arcy isn't teaching it here 10:42 — What Sarah said when it was over—and why the goal is freedom, not productivity 11:50 — The one question to ask this week instead of yelling at yourself

  3. 4 Aug

    Starting Over at 48: I Fired My Team, Ended My Biggest Love, and Flew to India

    For the first time, the whole story of the last two years — told from the other side. In this episode: The heroine's journey — the map: the hero comes home with the treasure; the heroine realizes she is the treasure, and she is the home The launch that cracked it open: 21 yeses where 90 used to say yes — and the sentence that took over December 2024: the call that was harder than the breakup — and why it turned out to be the first brave decision of the rebirth THE VALUES AUDIT — five signs your season is a values change, not a collapse: (1) the wins land flat, (2) you're still funding your old self, (3) you envy the "wrong" people, (4) you keep changing the strategy but never question the goal, (5) "it's not working" has become a sentence instead of a fact Tonight's ten-minute exercise: your calendar + your bank statement — still, or was What ten days of silence in India returned — and what the new values are building now (new episodes every Tuesday and Friday, starting this week) Timestamps :  00:00 — Cold open: the training and the December call 03:57 — The heroine's journey: the map 05:57 — The empire years 08:19 — Values have seasons 09:21 — The whisper: "It's not working" 10:42 — Trying to fix it 12:22 — December 2024: the call 14:35 — "The first brave decision of the rebirth" 15:36 — It wasn't a failure — it was a values change 18:32 — Old strategies, new values 19:47 — The Paris apartment and the cabin 22:08 — The Values Audit: #1, the wins land flat 22:48 — #2, funding your old self 23:51 — #3, envying the wrong people 24:31 — #4, new strategy, same goal 26:27 — #5, a sentence, not a fact 27:24 — Tonight: calendar and bank statement 27:48 — India, Bali, the silence 30:07 — The return 31:57 — Money and meaning 34:02 — If you're in this season 35:54 — "You are the treasure"

  4. 4 Jun

    Letting the Good In: How to Stop Pushing Away the Things You Actually Want

    What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want isn't a lack of opportunity, talent, or strategy, but your ability to receive? In this episode, I'm exploring a question that has fascinated me for years, both in my own life and in my work with clients: Why do we struggle to receive the very things we say we want most? Love, support, visibility, money, rest, belonging. So often, when those things finally arrive, something inside us pushes them away. I share personal stories, powerful insights from my Receiving Map sessions, and lessons from neuroscience and consciousness work that have completely changed the way I think about healing. Instead of asking, "What's wrong with me?" I invite you to consider a gentler question: "What was this protecting me from?" If you've ever found yourself sabotaging opportunities, downplaying compliments, overworking to prove your worth, or waiting for the other shoe to drop, this episode is for you. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why your nervous system prioritizes safety over happiness, and how that can keep you stuck in familiar patterns How old protective strategies can quietly block love, support, money, and opportunity from entering your life The surprising reason self-rejection often has nothing to do with self-worth and everything to do with self-protection Why trying to "fix" yourself can actually keep you trapped in shame and endless self-improvement loops How to identify the unconscious beliefs that make receiving feel uncomfortable or unsafe The connection between truth, expansion, and freedom, and how false stories create contraction and suffering Why so many high-achieving women struggle to receive help, praise, rest, and abundance A simple practice for noticing the stories that keep you feeling excluded, unworthy, or not enough How integrity, self-acceptance, and surrender create more lasting transformation than perfectionism ever could What it really means to let the good in and become available to your life exactly as it is A Few Questions to Reflect On: What is something you deeply want but struggle to receive? When support, love, money, or opportunity arrives, what is your first instinct? What belief might be standing between you and the thing you're asking for? Does that belief make you feel more expanded or more contracted? What would you do with your life if you trusted that you were already enough? For a long time, I thought healing meant fixing every flaw, understanding every wound, and untangling every pattern. But lately, I've come to believe something much simpler: maybe the goal isn't fixing yourself at all. Maybe the goal is becoming available to life again. Available to love. Available to joy. Available to support. Available to beauty. Available to the goodness that is already trying to reach you. The truth is that most of us don't struggle to get what we want. We struggle to let it land. We stay braced for disappointment because it feels more familiar than trust. But what if today was the day you stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop? What if you let yourself receive the compliment, the opportunity, the friendship, the abundance, the love? You don't need to become someone else first. You don't need to be thinner, wealthier, more successful, or more healed. You can let the good in right now. Book a Receiving Map session here. Click here for more ways to listen to this episode.

  5. 7 May

    From Burnout to Resonance – Building an Elevated Brand from the Inside Out: Live Coaching Call with Kristen Marie

    What does it actually look like to evolve from a successful photographer into a fully embodied luxury brand? In this deeply personal episode of the Play It Brave podcast, I'm taking you behind the scenes with my client and dear friend, Kristen Marie, as she walks through a massive identity shift, creative rebirth, and business rebrand. Kristen has been photographing weddings and adventure elopements for over eight years, and after years of success in the elopement world, her body finally told her something had to change. Together, we talk openly about burnout, redefining success, and the emotional process of growing out of an old identity that no longer fits. We also share what happened during Kristen's immersive coaching retreat at my cabin, where we explored her values, archetypes, subconscious beliefs, and the deeper emotional patterns underneath her business. Then, in a rare behind-the-scenes look, we bring you directly into one of Kristen's real coaching calls along with her brand designer, Kass. You'll hear us brainstorm everything from visual identity and positioning to luxury storytelling, artistic authority, nature-inspired branding, and what it truly means to create a brand that resonates instead of imitates. In this episode, we talk about: The hidden burnout that can happen even inside a successful photography business Why Kristen realized she could no longer continue as an overextended adventure elopement photographer How identity work and nervous system healing play a huge role in luxury rebranding The values and archetypes that shaped Kristen's new direction Moving from "cute girl with a camera" into grounded artistic authority The difference between copying luxury branding and creating true resonance Building a brand inspired by nature, stillness, cinematic storytelling, and emotional depth Why luxury positioning is often more about embodiment than skill level The visual and emotional references influencing Kristen's rebrand, from Ralph Lauren campaigns to Terrence Malick films How photographers can evolve their businesses without abandoning themselves in the process One of the biggest things I hope you take away from this episode is that rebranding is never just about aesthetics. It's not just new fonts, prettier colors, or a more elevated website. A true rebrand asks you to become honest about who you are now, who you've been, and who you're ready to become. Watching Kristen move through this process with so much courage, self-awareness, and openness has been incredibly beautiful. She's not simply trying to book higher-paying weddings. She's learning how to trust herself, honor her energy, deepen her artistry, and create a business that actually supports the life she wants to live. That's the kind of transformation that changes everything. I cannot wait for you to hear this behind-the-scenes conversation and witness what it really looks like to build a brand from the inside out. Click here for more ways to listen to this episode.

About

The podcast for brave creatives who live in a world that wants you to play it safe. It's time to face facts: You are an indestructible woman fused with super powers that defy convention. Am I right? If so, then this podcast is for you! In Play It Brave, D'Arcy Benincosa dives in deep to her wit and wisdom to teach you about creative a life full of mindset, money, and marketing miracles! Let's get started!

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