This year taught us how to recognize when our ego was driving versus when our heart was leading. Sara spent the first half of the year wrapped up in performance, chasing money and success and notoriety, until she started asking herself "is this what my brain thinks I should want, or is this what my heart actually wants?" Marisa navigated building her business, hiring team, creating space for rest, only to realize she's been searching for stability in all the external things instead of finding it within herself. This episode is us reflecting on what 2025 taught us. How our egos got us to where we are (which is beautiful), and also how this year invited us to go deeper and discover what our hearts have been trying to tell us all along.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The difference between building your life from ego (for protection and safety) versus building from your true self
• How comparing your current reality to what you think it should be keeps you from celebrating what's actually working
• What it means to find internal stability instead of constantly looking for it in your business, your relationships, or your achievements
• The invitation to exist and trust instead of forcing outcomes, and why that's so fucking simple but not easy until you've journeyed through it

If you've been running hard all year and wondering why you still don't feel settled, this episode is your reminder to pause. Reflect on where you've been. Celebrate what's working. And stop measuring your life by metrics that were never meant for you in the first place.

Mark Your Calendar: We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 12th and 13th! This is the deep dive workshop where we walk you through exercises like this in real time and help you build the kind of leadership that actually empowers your team.

Connect with us:

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

Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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We talk a lot about scaling your business, but nobody talks about what it actually takes to scale yourself as a leader first. The truth is, if you're frustrated with your team, resentful of clients who don't show up, or exhausted from giving so much to people who take without reciprocating, the problem isn't them. It's you. And we know that's hard to hear because we've both been there. This episode is about the shift that happens when you move from startup survival mode into actually leading an established business, and why the boundaries you didn't think you needed in year one become non-negotiable by year three.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why having the same team for a full year changes everything and what it takes to actually get there
• The startup to scaling transition and how your leadership has to evolve when you're no longer just trying to survive
• How to recognize when your ego is disguising itself as generosity and why saying yes to everyone is actually hurting your business
• The red rope analogy and why raising your standards for who gets access to your business is necessary as you scale
• The mirror test: how to look at yourself first when something in your business feels off or out of alignment

If you're in that messy middle stage where you're no longer a startup but don't quite feel established yet, or if you're realizing that the way you led your business in year one isn't working anymore, this episode is for you. Because you can't scale your business without scaling yourself first. And sometimes that means getting brutally honest about the people, energy, and situations you've been allowing in. We are imperfect leaders leading imperfect human beings, and that's the whole point.

Mark Your Calendar: We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 12th and 13th! This is the deep dive workshop where we walk you through exercises like this in real time and help you build the kind of leadership that actually empowers your team.

Connect with us:

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

Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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We get asked all the time how to become a better leader. And here's the truth nobody wants to hear: it starts with you doing your own inner work first. You can't empower your team if you're not aware of your own stuff. You can't lead people through transformation if you haven't walked through it yourself. This isn't about reading more leadership books or implementing better systems. It's about radical ownership of who you are, what you're creating, and what's getting in your way.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The "I am and I create" framework that will shift how you see yourself, your business, and your leadership
• The four things your brain is constantly seeking (feel good, be right, be in control, look good) and how they keep you stuck in patterns
• Why "I cannot, so I should" is laced with guilt and shame, and how to shift to "I am, so I choose to, and I will"
• The practical ways to invite your team into their own heartwork journey once you've done the work yourself
• Why you have to actually let go when you delegate and how to build trust without micromanaging

If you're tired of surface level leadership tactics and ready to do the real work that creates lasting change in yourself and your team, this episode is your starting point. Because the quality of your leadership is a direct reflection of the quality of your inner work. Stop trying to fix your team and start looking at what you need to own first.

Mark Your Calendar: We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 12th and 13th! This is the deep dive workshop where we walk you through exercises like this in real time and help you build the kind of leadership that actually empowers your team.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com
• Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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We get asked all the time how we convert so many people from pain-based care into wellness and lifestyle adjustments. The answer isn't one magical conversation. It's a hundred small ones that happen from the moment someone sees your website to the moment they sign their wellness plan. You're either guiding the conversation proactively or you're scrambling to convince someone reactively. And one of those feels good, the other feels like you're selling something you shouldn't have to sell.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why wellness care needs to be communicated from the first phone call, the tour, the paperwork, and every touchpoint before someone ever gets adjusted
• What table talk is and how we use our EHR system to prompt specific conversations at specific visit numbers so nobody falls through the cracks
• How to prep conversations at certain visits, reinforce them along the way, and have specific talking points throughout their journey before they finish their initial plan
• Why sharing stories of other patients (especially the hard cases and the flare-ups) builds more trust than only celebrating the wins
• The practice of tracking objections and questions to figure out where you need to add table talk earlier in the journey so you're not reactive

If you're noticing people dropping off after they feel better, or if you're having to convince people to stay instead of them already expecting to transition into wellness, this episode is your blueprint. Guide the conversation. Don't wait for them to make assumptions in their own heads that you then have to work backward from.

Connect with us:

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

Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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We're getting ready to close out 2025 and step into 2026, which means vision casting season is here. But before you start setting a million goals that you'll feel like crap about not hitting, we need to talk about the difference between goals and objectives. Goals are specific, time-bound, results-driven. They aim for a destination and if you don't hit it, you can feel like a failure. Objectives are broader, flexible, focused on the journey and the learning along the way. They keep your hands open to magic you didn't even see coming. This episode is our full download on how we do vision casting and annual planning with our teams, why we celebrate before we strategize, why you don't need to plan the whole year in one meeting, and how to create space for your team to dream instead of just checking boxes.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The metrics we actually track in our practices and what we do with that data to inform where we're going next
• The homework we give our team before vision casting so they come prepared to celebrate and dream
• How to structure the meeting so it feels expansive instead of suffocating, and why the order actually matters
• How to break your vision down from big picture objectives into quarterly focus and then monthly actionable steps
• The invitation to loosen your grip on outcomes and celebrate the humans in front of you instead of just checking boxes

If you're someone who sets goals and then beats yourself up when life happens and things shift, this episode is your permission slip to loosen your grip. Celebrate where you've been, understand where you are, and dream about where you want to go. That's what vision casting is actually supposed to be.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com
• Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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Custom cowgirl hats, fine line tattoos, cold plunges, and conversations that cracked people wide open. We just got back from Scottsdale for our second Expanders retreat with Stephanie Wigner and we are not the same. This is what happens when you stop competing and start calling each other forward. When the goal isn't to impress but to go deeper. When guards come down, ego gets checked at the door, and nobody's pretending anymore.

This weekend was about expansion in every direction. Quantum friendships that actually make you better. Honest conversations about how hard you're really working and whether it's even the right kind of work. Recognizing when your ego is trying to lead and choosing presence instead. Learning the difference between storytelling and story-selling. And being reminded that the rooms you choose to be in will either lift you up or keep you comfortable. This is our unfiltered download of everything that shook us, stretched us, and reminded us why we do any of this in the first place.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The difference between storytelling and story-selling, and why your content might be missing the part where you actually invite people into transformation
• Callan and Steph's conversation about working 60 to 80 hour weeks for a season, and why that's different than committing to a busy life forever
• Why your brand needs to answer simple questions for people who are struggling, not complicated explanations of what you do
• The ego activation that happens in rooms like this and how to recognize when you're performing instead of just being present
• How to evaluate whether your mentorship groups are actually encouraging growth or just creating competition

If you're in containers, masterminds, or mentorship groups right now, take a minute to ask yourself: are these people making me better or am I just trying to keep up? The rooms you put yourself in matter. And the friendships that come from those rooms can literally change the trajectory of your life and your business.

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

If you're noticing your team struggling to close care plans, if you're hearing resistance when you raise prices, if there's a heaviness around financial conversations in your practice, this episode is your invitation to go deeper. We're talking about how to create space for your team to examine their money beliefs without shame. How to get them dreaming again about what's actually possible instead of staying stuck in what currently is. And most importantly, how to lead this work from a place of your own vulnerability and honesty, because your team will only go as deep as you're willing to go first.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why your team won't convert high-value care plans if they don't personally believe they could afford what you're selling, and how that energy shows up in every patient interaction
• The importance of starting with yourself and sharing your own money struggles before expecting your team to open up about theirs
• How to use resentment as your indicator that you've crossed a line in giving, and why that signal matters for both your personal life and your leadership
• The practical exercises we've done with our teams: fake money guns, gratitude journals, scavenger hunts with real cash, and abundance vision boards
• Why you need to understand what triggers discomfort in your team around money before you can actually help them shift their perspective

Money is energy. Abundance is a choice about how you interpret what's in front of you. And leadership is about inviting people into new perspectives without forcing them into change they're not ready for. This work matters because it's not just about your business thriving. It's about helping your team break generational patterns and step into lives they didn't know were possible.

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Dr. Jess Bohlke was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 20 years old. Doctors told her she had five years to live. That diagnosis became the catalyst for everything she's built since: a thriving chiropractic practice, a family, a life she genuinely loves. But here's what she's learning now, eleven years later: surviving and thriving are not the same thing. And the hustle that got her here won't take her where she actually wants to go.

This conversation goes deep. We're talking about what happens when you build a beautiful life but realize you've been too busy building to actually live in it. Jess has spent the last seven weeks bedridden with a health crisis, and what she's discovered in that stillness is changing everything about how she shows up as a mother, a leader, and a human being. If you've ever felt like you're performing for your worth, if you're great at creating and building but terrible at just being, this episode is for you.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The validation that came with a cancer diagnosis: when your body was telling you something all along and you finally had proof you weren't weak or crazy
• How to strip away the complexity of any health condition and remember that your body was designed to regenerate from the inside out, whether it's a paper cut or stage three cancer
• Why Jess invested in a team bigger than she technically needs, and how that one decision changed everything about her leadership and her life
• The gut check for overgiving: if you're feeling resentment or giving out of fear of losing someone, that's your sign you've crossed a line
• What the audience would be screaming at you if your life were a movie, and why that question might be the most honest mirror you'll ever look into

You can't lead other people until you're leading yourself. And you can't lead from a place of wholeness if you're asking your team, your patients, or your family to fill a void inside you. This conversation is about learning to lead from overflow instead of lack, and about finally giving yourself permission to be present in the life you've been working so hard to build.

Connect with Jess:

• Instagram: @drjessbohlke, @journeychiro.kc
• Website: drjessbohlke.com, journeychirokc.com

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