Picture this: you're so committed to serving everyone that you literally can't walk. Dr. Nikki Cottis was adjusting patients in professional heels, over-giving her way to financial struggle, until she tore her Achilles. When the orthopedist said she needed eight weeks off for surgery, Nikki knew something had to radically change.

What unfolded was a complete identity reconstruction. She went from the woman who thought she had to save all of Alabama to the systems genius who teaches practitioners how to create sustainable practices without losing their hearts.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The moment her body literally stopped her from over-giving and how that physical breakdown became her greatest breakthrough
• Why switching from heels to sneakers wasn't just about comfort but about stepping into authentic alignment
• How COVID stripped away all the excess and revealed what actually creates growth in practice
• The difference between capacity limits that are real versus the lies we tell ourselves about what we can handle
• How asking ChatGPT to help her be a better coach revealed she wasn't celebrating her own wins
• The conversation every team leader needs to have about life seasons, responsibilities, and shared grace

Nikki proves that the most powerful systems are built on understanding humans, not controlling them. She shows us what happens when you stop apologizing for wanting structure while still crying with your patients, and that you can demand excellence while honoring everyone's different life seasons.

Nikki's journey from the woman who couldn't say no to the coach who helps others find their capacity reminds us that sometimes the most radical act is admitting you're not that serious all the time. She's a Penn State football fanatic who wants to be known as someone's funniest best friend, building something meaningful while staying completely, unapologetically herself.

BONUS: Are you ready to discover what it means to build something beautiful with your team? Join us September 12th and 13th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a leadership experience where people don't just show up, they come alive. This isn't your typical conference. It's where heart meets strategy and your team learns to thrive together. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with Dr. Nikki Cottis: Website: chiroconnectgulfshores.com Coaching Platform: The Wealthy Practitioner Instagram: @drnikkicottis Podcast: Aligned for Success

Connect with us: Instagram:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com
• Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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Picture this: You're the CEO of your practice, but every decision still runs through your brain. Every metric, every strategy, every team challenge lands squarely on your shoulders. Sound familiar? Today's conversation dives deep into the messy, magnificent reality of what it actually takes to build a team that thinks like owners, not just employees. Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa unpack the evolution from solopreneur to strategic leader, sharing the exact frameworks they use to develop team members who ask the same questions they'd ask as business owners.

This isn't about micromanaging with fancy spreadsheets. This is about creating a culture where your team becomes so invested in the business's health that they start solving problems before you even know they exist.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The three essential questions every team member needs to answer monthly to understand their role's impact on business health
• How to identify impact drivers versus KPIs and why most practice owners get this backwards
• The strategic difference between developing leaders who execute tasks versus leaders who think like CEOs
• Real examples of role-specific health indicators that transformed team accountability in both practices
• Why quarterly strategic reviews create sustainable growth instead of constant firefighting
• The art of inviting team members to co-create their own success metrics instead of imposing top-down goals
• Navigating the delicate balance between small business execution and scalable systems without getting your cart before your horse

Here's what this conversation really reveals: the businesses that thrive aren't the ones with the smartest owners—they're the ones where everyone on the team operates from the same strategic mindset. When your team starts asking the questions you'd ask and bringing their own unique genius to it, that's when you know you've built something sustainable.

If you're curious about how you can develop this kind of strategic thinking with your team, join us for The Heartwork Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee this September 2025. This isn't just another conference, it's where you and your team discover what it means to build something beautiful together, creating a culture where people don't just show up, they come alive. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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Picture this: You're killing it in real estate, everyone calls you "one of the best," money's flowing in—and you're literally writing in your journal that meetings make you nauseous. That was Callan Faulkner's reality until a ChatGPT demo in July 2023 flipped her entire world upside down.

Most people would've pushed through the sick feeling, stayed for the "security." Not Callan. She shut down her profitable land investment business, launched The Uncommon Business Co., and built it to $4 million in revenue at 40% margins in just 18 months. Now she trains what she calls "high-frequency humans" to use AI without losing their souls. Turns out, following your obsessions over your obligations is actually a business strategy.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why your body's "no" is actually divine guidance trying to save you—and how Callan's nausea in land meetings led to her AI obsession
• Why emotional regulation and nervous system work ARE business strategies for building sustainable success
• How to activate your team's highest potential instead of keeping them busy with low-level tasks
• The hiring philosophy that changed everything: asking about trauma and choosing frequency over skill
• Her mission to free "Donna" from 30 years of cubicle fluorescent lights—and why AI fluency will matter as much as email skills

This conversation will mess with everything you think you know about business, success, and what it means to build something that matters. Callan's not just teaching AI—she's showing us how to stay human while we rebuild the world.

BONUS: Join us for The Heartwork Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee this September 2025! This isn't just another conference—it's where you and your team discover what it means to build something beautiful together. We're filling the gap that's been missing in our profession: how to create a culture where people don't just show up, they come alive. From intimate development sessions at Freedom Chiropractic to transformational experiences on a stunning private property, this weekend is designed for solo entrepreneurs, high-level team members, and entire teams ready to align around something bigger. Limited spots available—register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with Callan:

• Website: https://theuncommonbusiness.co
• Instagram: @callanfaulkner
• Email: hello@theuncommonbusiness.co
• Interesting in one of Callan’s Programs: Start with Foundations of AI (3-hour course)
• Get on the waitlist for Automate to Accelerate (Fall 2025)

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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What does it actually take to evolve from shouldering every decision, every stress, every late-night task alone to genuinely enjoying your practice again? This isn't about productivity hacks or delegation tactics - this is about rediscovering the joy that brought you into this work in the first place, and learning how to build something beautiful with other people.

Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa dive deep into the transformation that happens when you stop trying to be everything to everyone and start creating space for others to step into their brilliance alongside you. From recognizing the lies we tell ourselves about being indispensable, to the profound relief of sharing both the load and the victories with associate doctors and high-level team members, to watching your people grow beyond what they thought possible - this conversation explores what it really means to build something sustainable and joyful. They examine how releasing the death grip on control doesn't make you less of a leader; it makes you the kind of leader people want to follow and grow with.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The moment you realize you never want to practice alone again and what that shift actually feels like
• How to navigate the vulnerability of being truly seen and supported by your team
• Why some entrepreneurs stay trapped in solo stress patterns and how to break free
• The specific identity work required before sustainable collaboration becomes possible
• Creating systems where individual growth and collective vision amplify each other

This conversation challenges the narrative that successful entrepreneurs must sacrifice joy and connection for growth. Instead, Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa show how building with high-level team members creates a multiplier effect where everyone's growth amplifies the impact you can make together.

BONUS: We're announcing our first-ever Team and Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville this September! This intensive will focus on heart-centered leadership development and creating cultures where both you and your team can thrive. Stay tuned for details.

Connect with us: Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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What happens when you're having your best month in two years and then one slow day sends you spiraling into "what if I have to fire everyone and change everything"? When the very success you've worked so hard to build becomes the thing that triggers your deepest fears about worthiness, sustainability, and whether you're chasing the right things?

Dr. Sara gets vulnerable about her recent fear spiral - from celebrating record profits to panicking about summer volume drops in the span of a week. But here's what's beautiful: this isn't a story about failure or weakness. This is about what happens when you've done enough inner work that a trigger that used to derail you for days now gets processed in 10 minutes. Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa dive into the three powerful questions their coach Pablo asked that cut straight to the heart of what was really happening: Are you chasing an idol? Are you flowing in your lane or someone else's? Are you being distracted from your main thing?

🔥 In This Episode:

• How success can become an idol that keeps you trapped in performance cycles
• The difference between your potential and your limits (and why crossing that line takes you away from your calling)
• Why volume-based metrics can trick you into thinking impact only comes from seeing more people
• How to recognize when seasonal business fluctuations trigger deeper identity fears
• The evolution from needing days to process triggers to handling them in minutes

This conversation challenges every entrepreneur who's ever felt like they're one bad day away from losing everything they've built. Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa show how the triggers that feel like setbacks are actually invitations to go deeper, get clearer on your vision, and stop sacrificing your life to chase someone else's definition of success.

Resources Mentioned:

• "Train Analogy" episode
• "Hell Yes or Hell No" episode
• Free Self Love Challenge PDF

BONUS: We're announcing our first-ever Team and Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville this September! This intensive will focus on heart-centered leadership development and creating cultures where both you and your team can thrive. Stay tuned for details.

Connect with us: Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

What do you do when that voice inside gets so loud you can't ignore it anymore? When your body literally feels like it's on fire until you take action? For Dr. Stephanie Wigner, that divine whisper turned into a roar that led her to build three seven figure businesses in five years while raising a family, drinking Mountain Valley Spring water, and renting red Ferraris without apology.

This isn't your typical "hustle harder" success story. This is about a woman who grew up navigating parents with addiction, never quite fitting in with her outdoorsy family because she didn't like getting dirty, and channeling that outsider energy into something extraordinary. Stephanie went from working for someone else for 10 months (until her body screamed "NOPE") to building an empire that includes five chiropractic offices and The Wealthy Practitioner coaching company that's turning the entire industry upside down.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why that divine voice gets louder until you finally listen and how to trust it completely
• How to scale from 12 hours of back to back coaching calls to systems that work without you
• Why she fired a seven figure client who wouldn't do the work (and how that changed everything)
• Navigating the fear of success when you're already visible and about to get MORE visible
• The real conversation about money, judgment, and why people get triggered by your success
• How she and Kyle navigate building empires while protecting their marriage and energy
• Her vision for speaking on Tony Robbins level stages and why she's creating her own instead

Stop apologizing for wanting more. This episode is pure permission to dream so big it scares you, to trust that voice that's been whispering (or screaming), and to build something that makes massive impact without sacrificing the people you're building it for. Stephanie proves that when you do the work, listen to your intuition, and refuse to dim your light, the universe conspires to make space for your expansion.

Connect with Stephanie:

• Instagram: @drstephaniewigner
• Business Instagram: @wealthypractitioners
• Website: www.stephaniewigner.com
• Podcast: The Wealthy Practitioner

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: support@theheartworklife.com

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group

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What happens when you find yourself sitting on a couch with a gun in your hand, contemplating ending it all because of a toxic relationship? For multimillion-dollar real estate agent Lauren House, it was her cat Bentley and a fierce refusal to let someone else "win" that sparked one of the most raw transformation stories we've ever heard.

This episode gets real about the messiness of rebuilding yourself after surviving a narcissistic, psychopathic relationship that stripped away your identity. Lauren doesn't sugarcoat anything. From the black heart numbness that follows trauma to setting boundaries as an attractive woman in business who refuses to work with men who "just want to bang me," this conversation is for anyone who's ever lost themselves and had to claw their way back to wholeness.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why she stayed in a toxic relationship for two and a half years and the "God moment" that broke the spell
• Her "black heart theory" and navigating emotional numbness while still showing up for life
• How healing isn't linear and you can't predict what will trigger you until you're back in the situation
• Building a multimillion-dollar real estate empire while doing deep inner work
• Expanding from Scottsdale to Miami and why romanticizing dreams doesn't match reality
• The reality of attracting mini versions of toxic partners until you do your own healing work

Stop choosing between healing and building your empire. This episode proves that when you refuse to let someone else define your worth, when you do the brutal work of looking in the mirror and transforming from the inside out, you can build something extraordinary from the ashes of who you used to be.

Connect with Lauren:

• Personal Instagram: @laurenmhouse
• Business Instagram: @realbrokerage
• Email: lauren@laurenmhouse.com
• Website: https://laurenmhouse.com/
• Book: "Entrepreneurial Insight: 102 Quotes to Shape Your Path with Perspective" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV4QQ99W

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: support@theheartworklife.com
• Join our community: The Heart Work Life Facebook Group
• Download our Free Self-Love Guide

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What happens when the chiropractor who built one of Utah's leading family wellness practices realizes she's been sacrificing everything to prove her worth? Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa sit down with Dr. Kristina Kill (formerly Stitcher) for the most raw conversation yet about the brutal cost of having no boundaries, the health crises that forced her to face hard truths, and why sometimes loving your profession means learning to say no.

This episode isn't just about chiropractic, it's about the courage to rebuild your entire approach to success when you realize you've been running on fumes and calling it passion. From spinal fusion surgery to divorce, from cancer to finding her voice again, Dr. Kristina proves that your deepest challenges aren't derailing your purpose, they're refining it.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The moment Dr. Kristina realized "getting adjusted" wasn't enough when she was pushing herself beyond physical limits
• How weight struggles, spinal surgery, and health crises became her greatest teachers about authentic service
• "Care but don't carry" — the boundary that will revolutionize how you serve patients
• The power of saying "we're not a good fit" with love and watching the universe deliver the right patients
• Why the profession's "prove yourself" mentality is killing practitioners and how to break free through authentic boundaries

After 21 years, a spinal fusion, cancer, divorce, and complete practice transformation, Dr. Kristina has MORE fire in her belly now than when she started. Because real success isn't about proving you can handle everything. It's about knowing what deserves your energy and what doesn't.

Connect with Dr. Kristina Kill:

• Website: PracticeEvolution.com
• Email: dr.kristina@practiceevolution.com
• Instagram: @kristinakill
• Podcast: Chiropractic Evolution
• Practice: Family First Chiropractic & Wellness Center

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: support@theheartworklife.com

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group

Support the show