Trusting Your Intuition in Business (Winnie Rodgers)

Winnie Rodgers describes a specific, strange feeling: standing outside her own body, looking down at herself, thinking "nothing is wrong here" while everything in her actually knew something was wrong. Intellectually, on paper, her life checked every box. Her real estate business was thriving. But she'd built all her structure, her habits, her boundaries, for her work life, and none of it for her personal life. So when her personal life went sideways, she had nothing to catch her, and no practice noticing her own intuition telling her so. Winnie is a top real estate agent in Charleston, South Carolina, and a marketing strategist with over two decades of experience who now teaches college classes on values and branding. We talk about what it actually looks like to trust your intuition instead of overriding it with your intellect, and the specific, real-world version of that problem for women in sales: the nights out, the drinks, the "cool girl" persona that keeps the deal alive, and how to say no to an inappropriate advance from someone with power over your business without burning the bridge. Winnie doesn't offer platitudes here. She tells you exactly what she says now, word for word, when someone crosses a line. We also get into the morning ritual that keeps her grounded through a job that requires her to be "on" and shiny for everyone else, and why the industry's brutal first-year attrition rate has less to do with talent than with whether you've done the work to know yourself. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kXNscWnQPc In this episode Why Winnie's business stayed rock-solid while her personal life fell apart, and what that revealed about where she had (and hadn't) built healthy boundaries The exact, no-excuse way Winnie now says no to a man crossing a line, without giving a reason that becomes ammunition ("I'm not interested in having dinner with you," full stop) Why she wishes she'd built a strong circle of women around her sooner, ones who'd check her, not just men she trusted who couldn't How Winnie learned to trust her intuition again after years of overriding her body's signals with "intellectually, nothing is wrong" Her actual morning ritual (reading in bed, a green drink, breathing, sage) for showing up "on" all day without losing herself Why a slow month in real estate isn't a crisis if you've learned to trust the cycle, and what to do with that downtime instead of panicking Timestamps (00:01) Welcome and intro: meet real estate expert and marketing strategist Winnie Rodgers (05:12) Standing outside her own body: what it felt like to ignore her intuition (08:19) Why her business stayed steady while her personal life spun out (11:48) Real estate's after-hours culture, and the "shiny cool girl" pressure to never leave the table (15:49) The advice for women who don't want to burn a bridge but don't want to cross a line either (22:53) The exact words Winnie uses now to say no, without an excuse to argue with (26:53) What has helped Winnie navigate the instability of entrepreneurship and sales (35:18) Winnie's grounding morning ritual: reading, a green drink, breath, and sage (40:10) Where to find Winnie: Instagram and her teaching website About Winnie Rodgers Winnie Rodgers is a dynamic real estate expert and marketing strategist with over two decades of experience in digital and print marketing, and a top real estate agent in Charleston, South Carolina. She also teaches classes built around values and branding. Connect with her on Instagram, or learn more about her teaching at Winnie's website. Favorite quotes "I'm not interested in having dinner with you. [...] In the past, I would have given a reason, I would have given an excuse, I would have softened it so that it didn't hurt his feelings." —Winnie Rodgers "I felt like I knew my business better than I knew myself at that time." —Winnie Rodgers "It isn't necessarily that you're not good at it. It is that there's something that is challenging or pushing against one of your boundaries or one of your values, and you just haven't identified it yet." —Winnie Rodgers Resources mentioned Winnie Rodgers on Instagram: @winnieandcompany Winnie's website: home to her teaching on values and branding Related episodes Curiosity: The Bridge to Connection: Mette Reebirk on questioning the mind's stories, a great companion piece to Winnie's case for trusting the body's signals instead. How to Trust Your Intuition After Trauma: more on learning to hear and trust your own intuition again. Boundaries - Why Can't I Set Them?: Dana's own deep dive into what actually gets in the way of setting the boundary you know you need. Subscribe & connect If this episode gave you something to sit with, follow Phoenix and Flame so you never miss an episode: all apps in one place, or jump straight to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or YouTube. And if it moved you, leave a review; it's the easiest way to help another listener find the show. Learn more about Phoenix and Flame, connect with Dana, and listen to more episodes here. Curious where your own boundaries stand? Take my free Work Boundaries Quiz: danaskaggs.com/quiz