Choose Courage Inc.

Vivianne Castillo
  • 5.0 (45)
  • Business

We're reimagining business and workplace experiences with we-aint-afraid-to-go-there conversations. Choose Courage Inc. is an experience designed for leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who are ready to break free from outdated norms and build workplaces, experiences, and businesses where people, creativity and courage come first.

  1. 1d ago

    Ep 69 | The Offer Underneath: What You're Actually Selling (ft. Elizabeth Burke)

    If you've ever built something that looked right on paper and still wasn't landing, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Elizabeth Anne Burke, founder of Collective Expansion, who helps purpose driven entrepreneurs turn their existing work into courses, curriculum, and content that actually serves people. Together they untangle the real difference between a marketing problem, an offer problem, and an identity problem, and why most of us default to fixing the wrong one. YOU WILL LEARN The difference between a marketing problem and an offer problem, and why most people diagnose the wrong oneWhy trying to solve every problem in one offering waters down all of themHow corporate conditioning trains us to chase the urgent instead of the importantThe difference between capitalism and commerce, and why commerce is built on relationshipWhy repetition over research moves you forward faster than waiting for something to feel perfectYOU WILL BE READY TO Name whether what's stalling your offer is the product, the marketing, or your own resistance to being seenQuestion the belief that you have to solve every problem in one offeringRecognize when you're grinding instead of building from what you actually valueGive yourself permission to change an offer without treating the old version as wasted workAsk for help instead of treating entrepreneurship as something you have to grind through aloneIf this resonated, share it with someone who's still detoxing from corporate thinking💙 Elizabeth Anne Burke is the founder of Collective Expansion, where she helps purpose driven entrepreneurs and practitioners refine, rebuild, and expand their offers, from turning existing content into courses to weaving in somatic coaching. A former high school art teacher, she brings a background in curriculum design and audience first content strategy to her work, alongside training through the Hendricks Institute in somatic, body based coaching. Resources Mentioned: Collective Expansion — Elizabeth's business helping purpose driven entrepreneurs build and refine their offers.Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you.

    Ep 69 | The Offer Underneath: What You're Actually Selling (ft. Elizabeth Burke)

  2. Sep 13

    Ep 68 | 5 Phrases to Ground You

    Vivianne keeps a short list of phrases she returns to, not affirmations, more like operating instructions for the moments she's scared, deciding something big, or losing track of her why. In this episode, she walks through five of them and the real work underneath each one: noticing that the language we repeat to ourselves quietly becomes the pace we work at. YOU WILL LEARN Why the phrases we absorb from scarcity culture ("move fast and break things," "sleep when you're dead") function as instructions for your nervous systemThe difference between Poco a poco and productivity language, and why patience and momentum rarely show up in the same phraseWhat "slow is smooth and smooth is fast" actually protects you from during a burnout-driven exitWhy "you fall to the level of your systems" isn't a character flaw, it's a systems problem (and why that distinction matters)Why "fortune favors the bold" only holds up when there's a floor underneath itYOU WILL BE READY TO Name the phrase you run on most and ask if you'd say it to someone you loveRecognize the difference between what's comfortable and what's actually okayGive yourself permission to build at a pace your life can hold, not the one everyone else is bragging aboutSeparate discipline from systems, and stop making it about your characterQuestion whether your version of "bold" has a floor under it before you leapIf this resonated, share it with someone who's still detoxing from corporate thinking💙 Resources Mentioned: Atomic Habits by James Clear — the book behind the "you fall to the level of your systems" line Vivianne unpacks in this episode.Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you.

    Ep 68 | 5 Phrases to Ground You

  3. Sep 6

    Ep 67 | Some Reflections with Vivianne

    If you've been telling yourself you have to keep enduring, this episode is your permission slip to stop. Vivianne gets honest about being tired, heading into Rest and Resist Week, and what it's meant to close one business to build a life she actually wants instead of one she's just gritting her teeth through. It's a reflection on the difference between growing old and growing, and what it costs to keep choosing endurance over design. YOU WILL LEARN Why Vivianne built Rest and Resist Week into Choose Courage Inc., and the belief that rest is not a scarcityThe difference between growing old and actually growingWhy she wound down HmntyCntrd to lean fully into regenerative commerce over capitalismHow corporate systems condition people to endure more instead of live moreWhat it actually means to design a life instead of getting dragged through oneYOU WILL BE READY TO Name the difference between enduring your life and designing itQuestion whether you're increasing your capacity to endure instead of your capacity to liveRecognize that a "one foot in the door" approach to entrepreneurship still countsGive yourself permission to grow instead of just growing olderDecide what's actually grounding you when the world feels heavierIf this resonated, share it with someone who's quietly questioning their path💙 Resources Mentioned: AI, Creativity & Intellectual Property Webinar — a free webinar on September 16th with Vivianne's attorney on what you legally own when using AI to build your business.Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you.

    Ep 67 | Some Reflections with Vivianne

  4. Aug 30

    Ep 66 | The Slow Build: Staying Grounded on the Way (ft Phillip Hunter)

    If you've ever felt that itch to build something of your own but couldn't quite picture the first step, this one's for you. Vivianne sits down with Phillip Hunter, a longtime voice and conversational AI product leader who left corporate life behind to build something new. Together they talk about what it actually looks like to stay steady while you're figuring things out, one small step at a time. YOU WILL LEARN-Why self-approval, not external validation, is often the real fuel behind becoming an entrepreneur-The difference between fearing failure and getting genuinely curious about it-How "hustle harder" culture quietly convinces us that slow progress means no progress-Why a clear, personal why keeps you going when things get dull or hard YOU WILL BE READY TO-Notice when hesitation is just your body catching up, not a red flag-Let a slow season count as real progress-Name your own reason for doing this, instead of borrowing someone else's-Take a step without having the whole map figured out-Give yourself permission to measure success by who you're becoming, not just what you've shipped If this resonated, share it with someone who's got an idea and just needs a nudge to take the first step.💙 Phillip Hunter has spent nearly two decades designing for voice and conversation, from early touch-tone speech recognition systems to leading experience direction for Amazon Alexa Skills. He now runs Conversational Collaborative AI Services, a consultancy focused on AI agents and conversational product design. After stepping away from corporate work, he's building new products at the intersection of his design background and the current generation of language models. Resources Mentioned:Follow Phillip on LinkedIn.Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you.

    Ep 66 | The Slow Build: Staying Grounded on the Way (ft Phillip Hunter)

  5. Aug 23

    Ep 65 | What to Expect When Negotiating a B2B Contract (ft. Ray Knickmeyer)

    If you've ever sat in the silence between sending a proposal and hearing back, wondering if you did something wrong, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Ray Knickmeyer, a former corporate leader with 20 years at places like Verizon and Capital One, now running their own consulting business, to unpack what three months of B2B procurement actually felt like from the inside and how to hold your terms without turning rigid. YOU WILL LEARN-Why the dead zones between emails are often more anxious than the actual contract terms-The difference between a hard boundary (money down, IP protection) and one you can flex (payment schedule, signature timing)-How "you created your own luck" reframes years of quiet relationship building into real leverage-Why a corporate client's master service agreement almost always leaves wiggle room through the statement of work YOU WILL BE READY TO-Name the difference between catastrophizing silence and an actual red flag-Ask for a non-refundable deposit without apologizing for it-Separate what you're willing to negotiate from what protects your business and your IP-Give yourself permission to walk away from a client who won't respect your terms If this resonated, share it with someone who's still detoxing from corporate thinking💙 Ray is the Founder & Principal Strategist at Knickmeyer Strategic Facilitation where they partner with leadership teams to dismantle broken systems and build the human-centered scaffolding teams need to thrive. Blending architectural rigor with deep empathy, Ray helps organizations stop paying what they call the Misalignment Tax, the hidden cost of circular debates, strategic guesswork, and team friction. Their work replaces the standard corporate offsite with a diagnostic-first methodology that solves the root cause of a team's exhaustion instead of treating the symptoms.---Follow Vivianne on ⁠LinkedIn ⁠for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you.Connect with Ray on LinkedIn

    Ep 65 | What to Expect When Negotiating a B2B Contract (ft. Ray Knickmeyer)

  6. Aug 16

    Ep 64 | The Art of the Pivot: Finding Clarity in Change (ft. Michael J.A. Davis)

    If you've ever wondered whether the second pivot is supposed to feel easier than the first, this episode will complicate that. Vivianne sits down with Michael Davis, founder of Tiny Cup Coffee and author of Coffee Rest Rituals, and a former participant in Choose Courage's From Corporate to Entrepreneurship cohort. This time, the shift isn't about escaping something broken. It's about protecting a vision he already believes in. YOU WILL LEARN-Why a pivot shows up in the body months before it shows up on a calendar (and why overriding that signal is a skill many of us were trained into)-The difference between emotional endurance and just enduring-Why a second pivot can feel harder even when it's easier, because there's no longer an outside villain to blame-How rest quietly turns into payment when it has to be earned first-The role old fear plays in disguising itself as something new YOU WILL BE READY TO-Name what your body has been telling you before your calendar caught up-Recognize when you're crashing out instead of actually in crisis-Question whether you're fighting a villain or just gathering provisions for the next leg of the journey-Separate rest as ritual from rest as reward-Give yourself permission to protect a vision instead of abandoning it If this resonated, share it with someone who's in the meantime season and needs permission to trust it💙 Michael is the founder of Tiny Cup Coffee, built around rest and resistance to grind culture, and the author of Coffee Rest Rituals. After nearly two decades as a designer working at the intersection of design and DEI, he left corporate to found his coffee company and now lives and works between Egypt and the U.S. He's also building Tiny Cup Studio, a creative offshoot supporting food and beverage brands with their identity and storytelling. Resources Mentioned:Tiny Cup Coffee — Michael's coffee company, built around rest and resistance to grind culture.Coffee Rest Rituals by Michael — his book on using the five senses to turn small daily rituals, like making coffee, into real rest. Try the code CHOOSECOURAGE for 15% off.Self-paced The Walkout — for anyone who knows they want something different but doesn't yet know what.Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually.

    Ep 64 | The Art of the Pivot: Finding Clarity in Change (ft. Michael J.A. Davis)

  7. Aug 9

    Ep 63 | Betting on Yourself: The First 90 Days After the Leap

    If you've been sitting in that in-between space, numbers pulled up on a spreadsheet, trying to talk yourself into or out of the leap, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Nathaniel Deal, who left a director-level corporate role to bet on himself, to talk through what actually happened in his first 90 days of full-time entrepreneurship. Not the highlight reel. The real math, the real fear, and the healing nobody warns you about. In This Episode: Why "job security" is often just a story you tell yourself to stayThe difference between chasing wealth and building something sustainableHow a $40,000 hiring lesson taught Nate to trust his own decisions againThe role community played in turning stealth-mode grinding into real momentumWhy leaving corporate doesn't automatically mean you leave corporate habits behindWhat it actually means to heal financial trauma, even after you've "made it"The hidden cost of chasing a promotion that was never built for youYou're not just changing your income. You're unwinding a nervous system that was trained to endure. If you've been waiting for permission to trust your own timeline… if you've been quietly doing the math on what freedom might cost… you're allowed to move before you feel ready. You're allowed to bring your whole, unfinished self into the next thing. Resources Mentioned: Atomic Habits by James Clear: the "you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems" line referenced in the conversation.The Walkout, self-paced version: explore what Nate worked through in this episode.Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you.Nathaniel Deal spent years as a corporate director before betting on himself and building his own contracting business, now working toward becoming a founder who buys back his own time. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

    Ep 63 | Betting on Yourself: The First 90 Days After the Leap

  8. Aug 2

    Ep 62 | The 5 Words Keeping You Stuck in Corporate

    If you've been stuck on "what would I even do?" every time you think about leaving corporate, this episode is for you. Vivianne opens season four by naming the advice everyone gives before you leave, pick your niche first, and why that sequence keeps good people frozen instead of moving. She traces her own path across three careers, counseling, UX research, and Choose Courage Inc., to show that clarity was never the starting point. In This Episode:-Why "pick your niche first" turns a career question into an entry exam-How a frozen nervous system gets mistaken for a lack of direction-The difference between introspecting and gathering real data-Why paid attention tells you something polite attention never will-What "motion" actually means, and why it's not hustle-How the sunk cost pull shows up disguised as strategy-The one weekly practice that starts direction work with zero financial risk Direction isn't something you find by thinking harder about it: it's something you build by making contact with real work and letting the results tell you something. -----------------Resources Mentioned:⁠The Walkout⁠: Vivianne's self-paced program for corporate professionals in UX, design, and tech working through the exit, including the direction, readiness, and money pieces (https://choosecourage.samcart.com/products/sp-the-walkout).Follow Vivianne on⁠ LinkedIn⁠ for more reflections on courage, entrepreneurship, and building a life that actually fits you. If this resonated, share it with someone who's been waiting to feel certain before they'll let themselves move💙

    Ep 62 | The 5 Words Keeping You Stuck in Corporate
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5
out of 5
45 Ratings

About

We're reimagining business and workplace experiences with we-aint-afraid-to-go-there conversations. Choose Courage Inc. is an experience designed for leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who are ready to break free from outdated norms and build workplaces, experiences, and businesses where people, creativity and courage come first.

Information

  • Creator
    Vivianne Castillo
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Choose Courage Inc.
  • Show Website
    Choose Courage Inc.

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