Truer Business Podcast

Kara Ellery and Lauren Van Mullem
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  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

The Truer Business Podcast is the antidote to the hustle-culture-overnight-success-7-figure-goals noise for creative business owners looking to live and work on their own terms. Led by real-life solopreneurs, ethical copywriter Lauren Van Mullem and website designer Kara Ferreira, the podcast features conversations that get to the truth behind the big questions of entrepreneurship. If you're ready to do work that fills you up with the time and resources to live a life you love, but you aren't chasing shiny pennies and overnight success, we're here to shed more light on: What it's really like to launch and grow your own online business as a solopreneur with kids/partners/pets who need your time and attention too How to mindfully craft your business so it lights you up rather than drains your battery The slow living path to sustainable success Ethical online business practices, plus gray areas, and choose-your-own-adventure values Breaking all the rules and re-envisioning what online entrepreneurship means Our guests are both leading and leading-on-a-smaller-scale entrepreneurs. In season one, we're delighted to have in-depth conversations with Rebecca Tracey of the Uncaged Life, Jessie May Kezele of the Daring Fempreneur, and many other wonderful business-owners. So, if you're ready to build, grow, or pivot your online business while still having time for the little things (like slowly sipping your morning cup of coffee) and the big things (like taking time off to be with your kids or building a 3-day work week just for you), let's dive in!

  1. Sep 9

    3.7 Taking You Business to the Next Level Without Burning Out or Blowing Up Your Life with Hayley Carr

    Haley Carr is an NLP practitioner and business coach, plus a 9X Karate World Champion who's traveled solo across 20+ countries. What's even more interesting to us: She started her business the same year she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and had to sleep for 16 hours a day. She had to grow her business gently, and she tells us how. Favorite quotes: "Only create something that gives you more time, money, energy and inspiration." "Question your outdated rules." "Slow down more than you think you need to." "Focus on what's working." "What if you're exactly where you need to be right now?"  This episode will change the way you think about your business forever—at least it did for us. You can find Haley at https://hayleycarr.tv/ Her NLP certification (which Kara can't rave enough about) is currently enrolling. Learn more about that here.

    3.7 Taking You Business to the Next Level Without Burning Out or Blowing Up Your Life with Hayley Carr

  2. Aug 26

    SEO and AI Search for Easeful Business with Emily Gertenbach

    Today's episode is mostly about how to get found through SEO and AI search results, but we also cover how and why you might get off of social media (especially if you already hate it), and exactly what to do to help your website rise in search rankings. Our guest: Emily Gertenbach advises businesses of all sizes on how to get found organically online—with SEO, and now through AI search results. She's worked as a freelance writer for the better part of two decades, from news correspondent to content writer, to content consultant, and has created a Simple Blogging System to help solopreneurs get on top of the search results pages. Prepare to take notes, because this episode is FILLED with advice you can use right now. Including: Why your blog should have categories! Four of them, to be exact.  Is the pillar cluster model dead? If not, how do you use it? Get Google Search Console to find out what words people are actually searching to get to your site. NOT to be confused with Google Analytics. AlsoAsked - a tool that lets you type in a question you think people are searching for related to your business, and it will create a tree graph of related questions. Why you CAN get off of social media without hurting your business (and potentially helping your mental health—a lot).   You can find Emily Gertenbach at: TiredOf.Tech - pick the platform you're tired of for ways to wean yourself off of it SEO advice and simple blogging system: EGCREATIVECONTENT.COM LinkedIn: Emily Gertenbach YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@emilygertenbach/   Find Kara & Lauren: Lauren's website: https://www.truerwordsbylauren.com/ Kara's websites: https://guidedonline.com/ and https://narrativewebdesign.com/

    SEO and AI Search for Easeful Business with Emily Gertenbach

  3. Aug 5

    Make Your Contract the Bad Guy with Michelle Wilson

    Michelle Wilson is a contract attorney helping service providers, consultants and coaches use contracts to create better boundaries (and have fewer client issues). We're talking about how to use contracts to make our business easier, including termination clauses, getting paid on time, and AI usage disclosure. If you're unsure whether you need a contract, or if your contract is good enough, or what a contract might do for you and your client relationships—this episode is for you! Our favorite phrase from this episode: "If you care about it, have them initial it."  You can find Michelle Wilson and her robust suite of contract templates at https://bymichellewilson.com/. Get her FREE missed payment clause so you can pause work when invoices go unpaid at www.theceolegalloft.com/links Michelle Wilson https://bymichellewilson.com/ instagram.com/thetrademarkattorney_ Connect with Kara & Lauren Podcast website: https://truerbusinesspodcast.com/ Lauren's website: https://www.truerwordsbylauren.com/ Kara's websites: https://guidedonline.com/ and https://narrativewebdesign.com/

    Make Your Contract the Bad Guy with Michelle Wilson

  4. Jul 22

    3.4 Fill Your Cup Days and the foundation every business needs with Theresa Mazzuco

    Theresa Mazzuco is a business coach and consultant who helps women turn their ideas into sustainable businesses. In Your Business Blueprint, she guides founders through everything from offers and pricing to systems, operations, and marketing so they can build a business that actually works. Our theme this season is gentle growth, and the reason we wanted to talk to Theresa is that we both firmly believe that ANY growth (but especially gentle growth) has to have the right foundations, and foundations for sustainable and scalable growth are Theresa's specialty. Theresa talks about her exceptionally varied entrepreneurial origins, and the 10-step framework she created that were critical to every business she's built, and helped others build.  We also talk about pricing, our ideal calendars, the trouble with scaling (and why it's not for everyone), and what new business owners really need to set themselves up for long-term success. Plus: Fill Your Cup Days (let's make it a thing!) You can find Theresa Mazzuco at https://www.yourbusinessblueprint.biz/ and on Instagram @trebuildsbusinesses

  5. Jul 8

    Shulamit Ber Levtov on the Mental and Emotional Toll of Entrepreneurship

    In this episode, we're joined by Shulamit Ber Levtov, a Registered Social Worker, trauma-informed counsellor, and longtime entrepreneur who specializes in founder mental health. Drawing from decades of experience in both mental health and business, Shulamit helps entrepreneurs build the internal steadiness needed to navigate uncertainty, stress, and growth without burning themselves out. We talk about why hustle culture is so harmful, how nervous system regulation impacts decision-making and sustainability, and her framework of "soothe, discharge, nourish." Shulamit also shares practical ways business owners can create a mental health plan alongside their business plans to better recognize and respond to stress before things spiral. You can take her free entrepreneur mental health quiz here.   Shulamit's posts mentioned in the episode: Shula's anti-hustle manifesto The Soothe, Discharge, Nourish framework Post with research data on mental health and entrepreneurship Other links: Book a free chat with Shula Find Lauren at Truer Words by Lauren Find Kara at Narrative Web Design & Digital Marketing (1:1 Services) or at Guided Online Business (for DIY Resources)

    Shulamit Ber Levtov on the Mental and Emotional Toll of Entrepreneurship

  6. Jun 24

    Tad Hargrave on the Art of Strategy, Hospitality and Building a Business That Lasts

    In this episode we talk to Tad Hargrave of Marketing for Hippies. Our big question is how he's built ease into his business model—which has existed in several incarnations, from group programs to the Marketing for Hippies Membership. But along the way, we talk about the business fundamentals you need for anything and everything to work, plus earning trust, being a good host and guest (in life and in business), and why this is all so important for entrepreneurs now—when trust, and humanity, seem to be at all-time lows. This conversation goes deep fast, and there's even a poem involved. It's Tad Hargrave. Of course there is.  About our guest: Tad Hargrave is a hippy who developed a knack for marketing, and then learned to be a hippy again. Since 2001 he has been helping people create profitable businesses that are ethically grown, while restoring the beauty of the marketplace—weaving together strands of ethical marketing, Waldorf School education, local culture making, anti-globalization activism, community building, and supporting local economies.  You can find him at MarketingforHippies.com and we highly recommend his newsletter and following him on Youtube.  POEM: Red Brocade by Naomi Shihab Nye  The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he's come from, where he's headed. That way, he'll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you'll be such good friends you don't care. Let's go back to that. Rice? Pine nuts? Here, take the red brocade pillow. My child will serve water to your horse. No, I was not busy when you came! I was not preparing to be busy. That's the armor everyone put on to pretend they had a purpose in the world. I refuse to be claimed. Your plate is waiting. We will snip fresh mint into your tea.

    Tad Hargrave on the Art of Strategy, Hospitality and Building a Business That Lasts

  7. Jun 10

    Gentle Growth: The Antidote to the Hustle

    Welcome to Season 3 of the Truer Business Podcast! This season is all about setting yourself up for ease — no hustle, no pressure tactics, no pie-in-the-sky goals. Just gentle, sustainable growth. So far, this year has felt anything but gentle, and growth? HAH. Lauren talks about trying to find balance between business and baby. Kara shares her best AI hacks for streamlining email management. And, by the way, AI is coming for us all (and we talk a bit about how we're pivoting our service-based businesses with that in mind).  In this first episode, Kara and Lauren pull back the curtain on what "gentle growth" really looks like in their own businesses right now — including the messy, imperfect, sometimes hilarious reality of it. What we cover in this episode: The reality of building while life is happening. Lauren is navigating new motherhood with a five-month-old and just 10 hours of childcare a week, which has completely reshaped how (and when) she gets work done. Kara reflects on how inconsistent marketing can actually be the gentle approach — you can't always build the thing and market it at the same time. AI, copywriting, and the big pivot. Lauren is repositioning her 18-year copywriting business to meet clients where they are in the age of AI — moving toward a coaching model that helps people get more out of their AI drafts rather than replacing them entirely. We talk about where AI genuinely helps, where it falls short, and why the human on both ends is still everything. Our actual AI workflows. We share the tools and hacks we're using to reclaim time — from Lauren's voice-to-text newsletter method to Kara's Gemini email system that means she barely reads her own inbox anymore. Practical, real, and yes, slightly chaotic. The list that never ends. We revisit a mindset shift that's stuck with Kara since her health coaching days: as a business owner, your to-do list will never be done. And once you truly accept that, something loosens. Protecting your energy. From outsourcing house cleaning guilt-free to setting a hard 5:30 PM stop time, we talk about offloading anything that drains you — because every hour of your time has real business value. Finding the pace that honors your whole self. A mantra Lauren is sitting with this season, and the thread that ties everything together. Resources mentioned: Free AI Copy Framework Workshop: kseocreative.com Lauren's new lead magnet: an AI copy checklist covering what AI misses and how to fix it

    Gentle Growth: The Antidote to the Hustle

  8. May 6

    2.5 New Motherhood & Running a Business — With Becca Tracey of Uncage Your Business

    In this final episode of the 'Babyproofing Your Business" min-series Lauren joins us for her 8-week postnatal update withnew  baby, Kit, and we are also joined by Rebecca Tracey — founder and business coach at Uncage Your Business, and fellow new mama — for an honest, warm, and wildly relatable conversation about what it's really like to run a business while navigating new motherhood. This is the conversation we wish someone had with us before the baby arrived (and the one we needed in the thick of it). Whether you're a new parent, planning to become one, or just want to understand what your entrepreneur friends with babies are actually going through — this one's for you. In This Episode, We Cover: Matrescence — the profound metamorphosis that happens when you become a mother. It's not just a lifestyle adjustment; it's an identity shift. Lauren and Becca share what that transformation has looked and felt like for each of them in the early weeks. Support — what support looks like in practice, what both Lauren and Becca wish they'd had, and how the people around new parent-entrepreneurs can actually show up in helpful (not just well-meaning) ways. How Does ANY Work Get Done?! — yes, this is a real and panicked question Lauren Voxered Becca, and they answer it honestly here. Spoiler: it's messy, non-linear, and that's okay. Life Balance for Lifestyle Business Owners — many of us built our businesses specifically around the freedom to live life on our own terms. So what happens when life gets bigger and more demanding than you planned for? Lauren and Becca dig into what "balance" actually means now. About Our Guest: Rebecca Tracey Rebecca Tracey is the founder of Uncage Your Business, where she helps online entrepreneurs nail their niche, clarify their messaging, and build businesses they actually want to show up for. She's an experienced business coach, a straight-talker, and — as of recently — a new mom navigating all the same things Lauren is. Resources & Links Mentioned Uncage Your Business Matrescence — look up the work of Dr. Alexandra Sacks on this concept A Note from Us We accidentally cut the outro short, so this episode ends a bit abruptly — consider it a very fitting metaphor for new motherhood. Thanks for understanding! Connect with Us Find Lauren at truerbusiness.com and Kara at guidedonline.com and narrativewebdesign.com

    2.5 New Motherhood & Running a Business — With Becca Tracey of Uncage Your Business
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About

The Truer Business Podcast is the antidote to the hustle-culture-overnight-success-7-figure-goals noise for creative business owners looking to live and work on their own terms. Led by real-life solopreneurs, ethical copywriter Lauren Van Mullem and website designer Kara Ferreira, the podcast features conversations that get to the truth behind the big questions of entrepreneurship. If you're ready to do work that fills you up with the time and resources to live a life you love, but you aren't chasing shiny pennies and overnight success, we're here to shed more light on: What it's really like to launch and grow your own online business as a solopreneur with kids/partners/pets who need your time and attention too How to mindfully craft your business so it lights you up rather than drains your battery The slow living path to sustainable success Ethical online business practices, plus gray areas, and choose-your-own-adventure values Breaking all the rules and re-envisioning what online entrepreneurship means Our guests are both leading and leading-on-a-smaller-scale entrepreneurs. In season one, we're delighted to have in-depth conversations with Rebecca Tracey of the Uncaged Life, Jessie May Kezele of the Daring Fempreneur, and many other wonderful business-owners. So, if you're ready to build, grow, or pivot your online business while still having time for the little things (like slowly sipping your morning cup of coffee) and the big things (like taking time off to be with your kids or building a 3-day work week just for you), let's dive in!

Information

  • Creator
    Kara Ellery and Lauren Van Mullem
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Truer Business Podcast