the soulful business podcast with stella habib

when you build and lead from a combination of logic, emotion and inner knowing, your intuition is an essential decision-making tool. you listen for what feels aligned, trusting that your discernment will guide you toward outcomes like clarity, ease or success.but sometimes, even when you listen closely, things don’t unfold the way you imagined. the path that felt right still breaks your heart or the choice that felt clear unexpectedly falls apart. as a heart-led business owner, so much of your confidence depends upon self-trust. so when an outcome contradicts the guidance you followed, it can shake that foundation. you start to wonder: did i misread the signs? was i projecting what i wanted to hear? can i still trust my own intuition?that’s the paradox of intuition: it will always guide you, but it will not always guarantee ease or shield you from discomfort, disappointment or delay along the way. this is a solo episode during which i discuss:• the experience of trusting intuitive guidance, only to face disappointment or delay.• the paradox of intuition: how it can guide us faithfully, but not always gently.• how to distinguish intuition from desire, fear and expectation.• the deeper lessons that emerge when intuition doesn’t lead where we hoped.• what it means to rebuild self-trust and hold faith in what’s still forming.throughout, i share personal reflections on the creative detours that have shaped this oracle deck, and how this process continues to teach me patience, devotion and reverence for timing that i cannot control.i close the episode with reflective prompts to help you reconnect with your own intuition by listening for the truth beneath the noise and remaining faithful to what feels real, even before it’s realized.witness the makingif you value the minutia of the creative process, the pauses, devotion and meaning in-between, i invite you to join the making - a thread of occasional, organic updates that bring visibility to the act of soul-led creation. sign up for behind the scenes updates and be the first to know when it’s ready to emerge, earthside, here.

as creators, we often look for rhythm as a way to steady ourselves. we crave routines, patterns and predictable flows that make us feel anchored in our work and our days. before becoming a mother, i managed my creativity through this kind of consistency: focused stretches of time, clear milestones and reliable support systems that helped me sustain my energy.but when motherhood began, the structures i had once relied on unraveled. what had supported my creativity was interrupted, and what emerged instead was an overflow of inspiration that often arrived faster than i could hold it. at times, it has felt as though i might burst with all that wants to be expressed, yet i don't always have the time or spaciousness to release it. the challenge hasn’t been a lack of ideas, but the tension between creativity and capacity - and learning how to ease the pressure of that tension. so the question i’m constantly faced with is: what does it look like to channel that overflow while living with capacity constraints?this is a solo episode during which i discuss:• finding flow in the fragments - learning to work in pockets of time, redefining progress through micro-milestones and flexible expectations.• creating with what’s available - aligning creativity with energy, and practicing gentleness when output isn’t possible.• recognizing creativity in caregiving - seeing how improvisation, problem-solving and storytelling weave through motherhood itself.• trusting the space between - embracing the interval between arrival and revelation as an essential part of the creative process.• redefining what’s enough - shifting standards of worth, acknowledging the cost of limited time and naming a new measure of “enough.”each theme is paired with reflective invitations to help you explore your own relationship with creativity, time, energy and enoughness.i close the episode by countering the myth that we can “have it all.” instead, i reflect on the challenge of choosing what we have the capacity to hold with care and how that choice can lead to a more soulful creative life.

as entrepreneurs, and as humans, many of us crave preparation to create a sense of stability. we plan, anticipate, strategize and try our best to equip ourselves for the unknown. and for the most part, that approach has served me well in business. but, i also understand that there are some things you simply cannot prepare for - no matter how thoughtful, intentional or self-aware you are. there’s a humbling gap between what we think we understand and what it actually feels like to be in something. to be fully immersed in it, body, mind and soul. and now that i am there, there are elements of early parenthood that have taken me by surprise and continue to stretch me in ways i never expected.this is a solo episode during which I discuss: • the difference between intellectual empathy and lived experience • the six things entrepreneurship didn’t prepare me for and what they are revealing, including the:1. dissolution of autonomy,2. practice of letting be,3. constancy of care,4. invisibility of labor,5. slowness of progress and6. complexity of resentment.each of these topics is paired with thoughtful reflection prompts to help you explore what this brings up in your own life - whether you are a parent, caregiver or navigating your own season of transition.i close the episode with a reflection on what this season is truly asking of me, which is to integrate the ambition, vision and creativity that built my business with the softness, presence and care required in early motherhood. to live and lead from a more whole place by honouring the full spectrum of who i am.

there is an astoundingly negative narrative surrounding the realities of parenthood circulating social media these days. and don’t get me wrong, it is challenging - but many of the fearful seeds that others planted in my subconscious through their stories have, to my constant surprise, not grown into my reality. the internalization of those secondhand experiences caused me to question my ability to withstand the unknown and now that i have gotten a taste of it, i have been reminded of how much more capable i am than i give myself credit for.upon reflection, i’ve realized that there are so many parallels between the lessons that you learn as an entrepreneur and those that you learn as a parent. in many ways, what i am challenged by now isn’t completely unfamiliar to me - it’s simply the next level of it (which, isn’t to imply that there’s anything simple about it). this is a solo episode during which I discuss:• the relationship between entrepreneurship and personal development• how creation is inherent to entrepreneurship and parenthood• five internal lessons that arise in both entrepreneurship and parenthood• give external lessons that arise in both entrepreneurship and parenthoodi close the episode by reflecting on the ultimate lesson that both entrepreneurship and parenthood have taught me - the one i return to again and again to regain perspective when i get bogged down by the day-to-day challenges of running a business and raising a human.

in this teaser for season two of the soulful business podcast, i’m giving you a glimpse into what’s to come as i explore entrepreneurship through the lens of motherhood. after wrapping up season one with a reflection on the challenges of preparing my business for maternity leave as a solopreneur, i’m now diving into the rich, complex journey of balancing both business and family life. this season will be about navigating the tension between ambition and presence, and how to nurture both without losing myself in the process. join me for this sneak peek into the beautiful, messy and unexpected realities of motherhood and business as i strive to create an environment within which they can coexist.

as a solopreneur, there is no such thing as “parental leave”. depending on your business model, choosing to take time off to welcome the arrival of your little one often means that your revenue will take a hit - unless you plan accordingly. however, if you are a first time parent, it can be very challenging to know how you will feel postpartum and how that may impact your capacity to show up. while others will not be shy to give you their advice, every person is unique in how they experience birth and postpartum - so what may be true for others may not be for you. while you can do your best to plan for the future based on your assumptions, not all assumptions withstand the test of time - requiring you to recalibrate your expectations when you face reality.this is a solo episode during which i discuss:• the challenges i faced in preparing my business for ‘maternity leave’,• the parallels between a business and a baby,• the realization that planning driven by fear was starving me of freedom,• the gap in my business model that informed the formation of my plan,• the solutions that i came up with to address the gap,• the unexpected events that threw the plan off course,• the limiting beliefs that muddied my perception of what was possible and• the perspective i have gained postpartum.i end the episode by highlighting the 5 takeaways that came up for me in preparing my business for maternity leave and an update on what offerings i will prioritize moving forward.this episode is the last of the first season.to mark the closing of one chapter, as i embark on another. structuring my podcast in this way feels appropriate, as energetically speaking - i am choosing to cut the energetic cords with my past so that i can give myself permission to savour an intentional pause, without the lingering pressure to show up as i did before.know that once i am ready to re-emerge in this space - i will return for season 2, where i will continue to share about the realities of heart-driven entrepreneurship, but this time - from the lens of motherhood.from the bottom of my heart, thank you for joining me on this journey. 

in this episode i engage in a conversation with julia nethersole - celebrant & ritual artisan. she gives deep feelers permission to be witnessed through intentional reflection, rituals, ceremony, and gatherings.i chose to invite julia to this conversation because she entered my life, not too long ago, and i realized that we are kindred spirits. we first became aware of one another on Instagram - likely through mutual connections - and about a year ago, i felt the nudge to ask her out for a tea, in my attempt to emerge from my introverted shell. in the short time that we have developed our connection, we have discovered that we have an uncanny amount of things in common: to name but a few, we are both leos, in relationships with virgos, projectors in human design, attended mcgill university just a year apart, live in the same unit number and are obsessed with brass and gold jewelry. in recent months, i have been supporting her in traversing transition in her business as she has been supporting me in creating an intimate gathering to welcome our soon to be baby - and while the latter didn’t turn out as anticipated, i’m excited to engage in this conversation to share more from her reflective perspective.in this episode, we discuss:• who julia is and how she would describe her essence,• what her business, glass full, started as and how much space it takes up in her life,• how having a full-time job impacts her relationship with glass full,• what her vision for glass full could be as a full-time entity and what remains unclear,• how she defines ‘self-care’ and why it differs from how must people perceive it,• why intentionality should be at the root of all self-care practices to support a holistic state of being well,• how glass full is evolving beyond a self-care community and how that mirrors her personal evolution,• what it means to be a deep feeler and how she supports deep feelers in being witnessed during life’s transitional milestones,• how she defines ‘ritual’ and ‘sacred’ and what is sacred in how she co-creates with others,• what themes have been present in the sacred moments she has co-created with her clients how it relates to her life,• why she is embarking on a sacred pilgrimage with her mother and grandmother as an intentional walk towards motherhood and• what she wishes for glass full in the future.to learn more about julia and her intentional offerings, i invite you to visit her website and follow her on instagram @glass.full.

in this episode i engage in a conversation with alyssa fry - spiritual mentor & astrological guide. she empowers people to co-create their most authentic life in alignment with their soul and the cosmos.i chose to invite alyssa to this conversation because I have witnessed alyssa navigate uncertainty with a deep sense of trust in herself and her inner knowing. from when we first worked together, in the early years of her business, until now - she has been committed to keeping the spark of her soul alive in her life, business and relationships, even when it has required her to confront her fears and take risks. and i’m excited to invite her into this conversation to chat about how she is choosing to embrace the witchiest part of herself, her dark feminine, and what that means for her moving forward.in this episode, we discuss:• who alyssa is and how she would describe herself and her essence,• what her definition of 'authenticity' is and how it has evolved with time,• how she knows when she is not living in authenticity,• what she has been surrendering and unlearning to step more fully into authenticity,• how she has used astrology as a tool to guide and support her journey,• what a birth chart is, what the major placements are and what each one tells you,• what aspects might be impacted if you do not know your birth time, • what her biggest 'aha' moments have been in understanding the nuances of her chart,• how a birth chart relates to the placements of the planets on any given day and how to form a relationship between the two,• what major themes were present surrounding this year's summer solstice,• what she has been reclaiming in her identity and how that relates to the 'dark feminine' and• how the metaphor of the enchanted forest changed how she perceives her business and how you can meet her in it. to learn more about alyssa and her astrological offerings, i invite you to follow her on instagram at @authentically.alyssa.

once you have run your business for a few (or several) years, it’s not uncommon to reach a point where you start to feel like it’s not quite serving you in the way that it used to. as you sit with that realization you may decide that it’s time to make some changes, but actually following through with those changes requires a significant amount of effort and courage, so you linger within the confines of your comfort zone - sticking to the familiarity of what you know. and while that approach may work, for a while, eventually your internal disconnect will start to starve your soul of the spark it needs to sustain itself, impacting not just you, but those that you serve. this is a solo episode during which i discuss:• how change is natural and inevitable yet something we avoid,• why strategy is dynamic, not static, and requires adaptation following action,• why the emotional reaction of fixating on 'failure' throws us off course,• how to reframe 'failure' when observing outcomes to keep failure within perspective,• what a 'pivot' is in the conventional business world, why the definition is incomplete for solopreneurs and how to more powerfully define it and• what pivoting entails and examples of how i have had to pivot in my business.at the end of the episode, i guide you through a short visualization and follow with a collection of reflection questions to help you begin to navigate a pivot in your business and understand why your needs are such an important part of the equation for change.i also mention a self-guided strategic offering, which is currently under development, which you can learn more about here.

in this episode, i engage in a conversation tasha rooke - multidimensional Healer + ceo. with over 30 years of experience in the realm of spirituality, tasha is a powerful conduit between the physical and the divine.i chose to invite tasha to this conversation because tasha has been in my life for many years now. mot only has she guided me back to the light during my darkest moments through her illuminating healing sessions, but she has also empowered me to trust and cultivate my intuitive gifts through her transformational reiki and akashic record certifications. and more recently, i had the pleasure to support her on her journey to level up and evolve in her business.in this episode we discuss:• who tasha is and how she would describe herself and her essence,• what it means to be multidimensional, • how she would describe her role as a healer,• what the labyrinth is in the context of healing,• what challenging moments she has faced in her labyrinth,• how she distinguishes between intuition and fear,• what the archetypal journeys of seeker to seer, student to teacher and maiden to mother are and what they have in common,• what the difference between spirituality and religion is,• how intuition relates to spirituality, • how she developed her intuitive connection, the intuitive senses and how she experiences them,• what you can expect during a healing session,• why she shifted from offering individual sessions to packages and• what she wants you to remember on your healing journey.to learn more about tasha and her spiritual offerings, i invite you to visit www.tasharooke.com and follow her on instagram @rooketasha.

when we used to offer branding + website design, i spent hours on inquiry calls with people who would voice the challenges they were facing with launching, scaling or evolving their businesses and assume that design would be the solution to their problems. and don’t get me wrong, while design is a powerful problem solving tool, design alone isn’t the answer. while design seems like the obvious answer because it is a visual form of expression, those visuals must arise from clarity of thought. yet, the clarity is what is most often lacking and arises as a product of strategy.this is a solo episode during which i discuss:• why the role of a strategist is difficult to grasp,• why business strategy is valuable and what elements it is made up of,• how there is a difference between intuitive and emotional decision-making,• why you might resist logical decision-making and signs that you may benefit from it,• why there isn’t a single strategy for success and how success can be measured by more than money,• how strategy alone will not materialize success and what will and• how a well-formulated plan will help you in your business.i end by announcing the unveiling of the soulful business strategy waitlist, a self-guided course which i am designing to help you define a strategic blueprint to inform your decisions and promote stable, scalable success.discover the details here: www.thesoulfulentrepreneur.ca/the-soulful-business-strategy-course

in this episode, i engage in a conversation with amber ellis - an intuitive photographer + guide. amber is a creator of light and life. she creates intentional, embodied, intuitive photography experiences for tender humans to feel seen.i chose to invite amber to this conversation because amber was one of the first people who helped me work through the challenges i faced around being seen when i first started my business. over the years, we have both uniquely supported each other through the experience of stepping into full expression. during that time, having a child changed her sense of self on a core level, and the lessons she has and continues to learn through that transformational experience are meaningful, both literally and figuratively, and relevant for anyone who engages in the act of creation.in this episode we discuss:• who amber is and how she would describe herself,• what it means to create light, how that informed the birth of creating light studio and how that has evolved with time,• what lessons she has learned on her journey from maiden to mother,• how her photography work relates to her emerging soul parent spiritual child work through the element of light,• how she has been navigating the juxtaposition between mastery and new beginnings,• how owning hidden beliefs is emboldening and empowering and what beliefs she is ready to voice, • how the practice of connecting with the energy of a creation can help you consciously bring it to life, • how the dandelion is a metaphor for sharing her truth and relates to the concept of creating fertile ground for the act of creation,• what season she finds herself in in her business and when her soul parent spiritual child offering will be available and• what she wants you to consider if you have creations that desire to be born.to learn more about amber, her business creating light studio and her beautiful offerings, i invite you to visit www.creatinglight.ca and follow her on instagram @creatinglight.studio.

the call to specialize often emerges when you are faced with capacity constraints. as a multi-passionate person, it can feel suffocating to limit yourself to doing ‘just one thing’. and the reality is, you don’t necessarily have to. but, in order to truly serve with impact, you do need to identify the common thread that ties your passions together and understand how to translate them into related, prioritized offerings. and for me, that realization did not come overnight but rather, took openness, experimentation and refinement over the course of several years to emerge.this is a solo episode during which i discuss:• the transition from full-time employment to being self-employed, • the initial emphasis i placed on cultivating my intuition in the wellness space, • the realization i had on how to merge my business background with my intuitive gifts to expand my offerings, • the feedback i received that helped me recognize and value what differentiated me and • the challenges i faced that prompted me to simplify and specialize.i end by highlighting some key points to consider if you identify as a generalist and love what you do, yet also feel like you are maxed out in terms of your capacity and not fulfilling your true potential.

in this episode, i engage in a conversation with dana aubrey - a letterpress artist and stationery designer. dana recently launched her business, penships, through which she promotes the gift, the art, and the impact of personal correspondence with artisanal stationery designed in a 19th-century letterpress studio.  i chose to invite dana to this conversation because there are so many aspects of her journey that I wanted to share with you as they speak to the triumphs and challenges that many creators face as they try to monetize their passion in a way that authentically fulfills their purpose.in this episode, we discuss:• who dana is and how she would describe herself,• what has shifted within her to speak with courage and see herself as courageous,• how feedback tests and strengthens our belief systems,• how she embodies both the role of an artist and designer to experience belonging,• when and how the idea for penships first emerged,• how the ink-to-paper connection is a form of transmission for authentic connection,• how she translated her idea for penships into a business,• why she named her inner bully ‘doubterfly’ and what she needed to do to transform it into a butterfly,• how her vision for penships moving forward is driven by her desire to inspire and instill slowness in the act of our connections,• why money shouldn't be the primary motivator in a business and• how to start letter writing and where to purchase her stationery to aid your emotional evolution.to learn more about dana, her business penships and to admire her stationery, i invite you to visit www.penships.com or follow her on instagram @penshipspress.

most businesses aren’t born from a leap of faith alone. instead, they emerge in a moment of clarity which arises from a collection of experiences that contribute to an overall realization that can no longer be ignored. and for me, that realization was that i needed to untangle my self-worth from a state of doing and figure out how to support a more soulful way of being.this is a solo episode during which i discuss my early exposure to entrepreneurship, when i knew that i wanted to start my own business and the experiences that led me to realize that i was ready to begin. i end by highlighting some key points to consider if you find yourself in a position that doesn’t feel right and are considering whether entrepreneurship is the solution to your challenges.

welcome to the soulful business podcast, a collection of intimate solo and guest episodes during which we explore the realities of heart-driven entrepreneurship. i am your host stella habib, founder of the soulful entrepreneur and an intuitive business strategist + coach. i am here to empower you to create a life you love by building an embodied business that is both sustainable and supportive of your needs.i believe that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to entrepreneurship. becoming an entrepreneur can be as challenging as it is fulfilling. and while there may be some parallels, what works on one person’s journey may not work for another. this series was born from my desire to share what i have learned, hold space for others to tell their stories, showcase the twists and turns of each uniquely guided path and remind you that you are not alone on what can sometimes be a lonely journey.each episode is designed to equip you with new perspectives which I hope will guide you to journey into your depths, emerge with clarity and make informed decisions that cultivate an environment within which you courageously live and lead, in full expression, so that you can inspire others to do the same. our journey to embrace the multi-faceted nature of your brilliant soul begins now. may your intuition lead you to the episode that you need to hear, today.