Start-Up Simply Podcast: Recent Episodes
Debbie Lee
The Podcast for start-ups, side hustlers and solopreneurs who want to build a business that does good and feels good. Tune in for practical tools, actionable ideas and thought provoking interviews with guest experts.
If you want to find out more…
🌱 Come say hi on Instagram I love love love hearing from you and finding out more about where you are at with your own business journey. You’re so welcome in my DMs any time @debbieleeco, or give me a tag on your own stories.
🌿 Whether you are a side hustler, a start-up or a fully fledged business owner then you might enjoy my weekly newsletter where I share stories from my own business as well as tips and tools to help you in yours! Sign up now
🌳 If you’d like to find out more about how I can support you through Embodied Coaching and Business Mentoring, head over to my website to learn more www.debbielee.co.uk
💛 Finally, if you know someone who would love this episode you can send them this link, that also includes the full show notes and links to listen on their favourite App www.debbielee.co.uk/podcast
Got a topic you’d like to request, a guest to recommend or a request for a guest interview? Drop me an email
Episode webpage ↗️
If you want to find out more…
🌱 Come say hi on Instagram I love love love hearing from you and finding out more about where you are at with your own business journey. You’re so welcome in my DMs any time @debbieleeco, or give me a tag on your own stories.
🌿 Whether you are a side hustler, a start-up or a fully fledged business owner then you might enjoy my weekly newsletter where I share stories from my own business as well as tips and tools to help you in yours! Sign up now
🌳 If you’d like to find out more about how I can support you through Embodied Coaching and Business Mentoring, head over to my website to learn more www.debbielee.co.uk
💛 Finally, if you know someone who would love this episode you can send them this link, that also includes the full show notes and links to listen on their favourite App www.debbielee.co.uk/podcast
Got a topic you’d like to request, a guest to recommend or a request for a guest interview? Drop me an email
Episode webpage ↗️
Through the month of August The Balancing Act Podcast is taking a break. We’ll be back and raring to go in September with an exciting new title and logo. Watch out for updates over on Instagram @debbieleeco and on here.
If this episode has sparked something inside of you, come tell me more! Come say hi on Instagram I love love love hearing what you think, getting your perspective on the topics I discuss here and finding out more about where you are at with your own business journey. You’re so welcome in my inbox any time @debbieleeco, or give me a tag on your own stories. 🌱
This episode I'm talking about how to trust that niggle inside so that you can act on it in a way that feels good!If you'd like to hear more about How to create a business that you can commit to going all in on sign up to the free workshop here: https://debbielee.lpages.co/stepup/
This week I'm talking about one of the most common challenges I see facing corporate mums building their own thing. Inevitably your day job culture spills over into your start up and the often unwritten mantra that "the whole point in business is to make money".
This week I'm sharing a personal example of feeling the fear and doing something from my recent musical debut!
Hitting go on your business feels like a big deal! When you get to that point, you've already taken it further than many people ever will.
When you are starting out in business, finding the focus that you need to make progress with the work you love can be really tricky. And for very good reason. I see there things getting in the way:
This week I'm bringing back one from the archives. This proved to be a super popular episode about what productivity really means to you.Let me know what you come up with by dropping me a message on Instagram @debbieleeco
Setting and charging the price that you want in your business can be one of the most challenging aspects of getting established. In this episode I'm sharing the three most common approaches I see new business owners taking, why this is often not sustainable and what comes next when it comes to charging your worth.
I've tried many different side hustle's along the way, hoping that they would be 'the one'. But always, I ended up getting so caught up in how I was going to make it work, that I found myself stuck in a warren of busy work with a business that just didn't feel feasible.
Do you fluctuate between motoring your way through a To-Do list that you will never complete vs a lot of time spent thinking but not actually doing anything?
We so often hear the mantra "Feel the fear and do it anyway" I just don't subscribe.When we aren't able to gauge the level of fear in our body and aren't clear on the intention behind our action, "doing it anyway" can often lead to an experience that we never want to repeat. And so we don't!
The prospect of better work-life balance is often one of the main motivators I hear for starting out in business. I get the appeal of feeling like you have more control over your time and flexibility in how you spend it.
When it comes to social media and just starting out, it's tough to feel like you are doing everything right and yet still not getting any response. Tune into this episode where I'm talking about:
This week I'm talking about what we need to do to feel deserving of our achievements. This can show up in both personal and business life where part of the achievement comes from the hardship along the way. And so we make things complicated, often unnecessarily so!
A life of luxury often isn't what we think it is.If I ask you to tune into what would feel luxurious to you right now, I suspect that you wouldn't come up with a flashy car or a bigger house. I suspect it would be something that is instantly obtainable, like quietness, calm or spaciousness.
My coach asked me one of those slightly mind blowing questions the other week "Where are you not being honest with yourself?".
If you say you’re not motivated by money and you’re open to a different perspective, tune into this episode where I’m offering about just that.
I’m all for following nudges and mixing things up a bit, but when your whole business is based on that it can easily result in lots of unfinished ideas and not a lot of action.
When life gets busy it's easy feel like the goals and intentions we took the time to set have just vaporised into thin air. When our energy and attention is scattered then we don't focus on acknowledging our progress. So even the progress we have made has fallen off our radar.
Business has been such a great vehicle for self exploration for me and it's such a privilege to pass this experience on to my clients too.
This week I'm sharing more about why I've decided to close my Free Facebook Community. Really, it's based on three reasons:
This is a big one! So often, from other women, and in my own head I hear the phrase, "I know I'm being silly but...." And often what follows is an expression of our deepest desires and dreams.
Do you find yourself see-sawing between a firm resolve to quit your job and do something different, and the opposite end of feeling like actually things are ok the way they are? If so, this is the episode for you.
This week I'm sharing some exciting changes coming to The Balancing Act. What I have found from my own experience and that of my clients is that the most common reason we struggle to find balance is being unfulfilled at work.
It can feel like one thing after another at the minute and sometimes balance feels like a distant dream that might happen one day, but certainly isn't for now. Tune in to this week's episode hear me talk about:
I know so well what it feels like to be stuck in the frustration of daydreaming about things that you don’t truly believe will ever happen. And so this week on the podcast I’m sharing What to do when your big dreams feel too far away.
I am a big fan of goals, but not necessarily New Year's Resolutions, controversial I know coming from a coach! But I find that so much of the time resolutions are based on denying ourselves something pleasurable, which isn't really what I'm in to.
At the end of 2021 I did a 90day experiment of sharing two episodes every week, one guest interview and one solo episode. I absolutely loved it and know that you found the guests really valuable.
This week I am chatting with Gemma Brady, founder of Sister Stories. Gemma's offering to the work is in creating space for people to come together and share their own story. Through this experience we get to communicate and connect on a level that is very different from everyday life.
This week I am talking about what can feel like a conflict of energy at this time of year. It can feel like one of the busiest time's of year for many of us and yet our body naturally wants to turn inwards, rest and restore itself.
This week I am joined by Thalia Pellegrini, the Knackered Mums Nutritionist. Thalia supports mums who are tired out, worn out and fed up and supports them in making their nutritional needs a priority.
I believe that as mums we have an incredible opportunity to show up as leaders is all areas of life. Every day we are setting an example to our kids, our partner. our friends and our colleagues of how we want the world to be. For me, being the leader that we desire starts from balance within. This is my biggest driver for my work, because I believe that both individually and as a collective of mums we can create the change we want to see in the world.
This week I am having a really gorgeous conversation with Amy Simpson, an Embodied Fertility Coach. We talk all about how to nurture and nourish ourselves as mums through the journey to conceive and beyond.
This episode is about becoming aware of how you talk to yourself on the small scale, to be able to catch and then change those stories, knowing that this will also be the way you talk to yourself about the big stuff too.
This week I am chatting with Ruth Poundwhite, a business coach and mentor for highly sensitive and ambitious humans.
This week's episode is a brilliant guest interview with Sarah Dodsley, Empowerment and Confidence Coach. Sarah specialising in working with people pleasures, supporting them in letting go of old stories that keep us stuck.
Autumn is in the air. Autumn is a time for directing our energy inwards and contemplating what needs to be shed. We see it in the trees all around us as they let go of their leaves.
This week I have the absolute pleasure of interviewing Isabelle of Joyous Journeys. Isabelle is a Book and Business Doula who supports entrepreneurs birth their books and grow their business.
This week is another fabulous guest interview with the amazingly energetic Word Witch Siobhan Strode. We cover all sorts on this episode all centred around the importance of sharing and living our own stories, especially as females.
Too busy and not enough time is the number one challenge that I support mums with. And yet often the resistance to do something about it is for exactly that - that there is not enough time to make a change.
This week is another fantastic guest interview to share, with Cat Googe, The Happiness Activation Coach. Cat’s energy shines through in everything she does and this conversation is no different. Turns out Cat and I have so many shared passions that we really had to force ourselves to stop chatting!
This week I have a super exciting invitation to share with you for a brand new 3 day coaching series, Reclaim Your Spark. It takes place from 19th - 21st Oct and is for you if you are ready to take ownership of your desire for more.
This week I have another amazing guest interview, this time with Ana Iveson, Freelance Copywriter and mum of three. Ana has a really varied and interesting story, having tested out lots of different combinations of work integrated with home-life to find the blend that best suits her and her family.
This episode is all about this negative thought patterns that we get into when we feel like we've messed up in some way - when we make a mistake, or things don't go to plan.
This week I am talking to the amazing Dr Gulara Vincent. Gulara is an international bestselling author, a coach and a mum of two. Her latest book, Hammer, Sickle and Broom is available on Amazon.
I am starting to see that my own relationship with busyness is almost like an addiction! Making big long To-Do lists that I know I'm never going to finish acts to invalidate all of the things that I have been spending my time on, and also fuels the 'catch up' mode that isn't very kind to myself either.
Josh shares a very relatable story for many other high achieving parents. He spent a long time getting established in two parallel careers, settling down with his partner, buying a house and creating a lifestyle that looked successful on paper. But yet, he constantly felt short of time and guilty.
What an amazing conversation this is! I absolutely loved talking with Galina about all the ways we are conditioned for Motherhood before we even become a Mother. Our default mode of operation is one that is passed on to us from all of the generations of females that have gone before us. And this is what we will revert to, unless we choose to interrupt that pattern.
What I notice is that when we are busy it's much easier to ignore what is going on in our body. We get into auto pilot mode, where we're just thinking about logistics and the next thing needing done. It's a good way to distract ourselves from those deep down feelings.
One of the important components of balance is being able to accept where we are right now AND also accept that we want to work towards a bigger goal.
When I first start working with clients we begin by figuring out what her goals are. And what I often find is that mums feel stuck where they are, and either don't know at all what they want, or can only access the short term goals - the ones that are a modification of where they already are.
As a working mum I see space, both physical and mental, as an essential need. I notice that when I don't get it I feel grumpy and snappy and irritable and I go into martyr mode.
This week I am sharing all that I have learnt over the last 6 months of running my own business. I left a corporate job as a geophysicist after 12 years. The job had so many great benefits and ultimately gave me the foundation to do what I am doing now, but I was always looking for a deeper meaning.
I am recording this episode fresh off a one week campervan trip with my family. We had a fabulous week away where we experienced a brilliant selection of all of the highlights of the Scottish outdoors.
In this week's episode I am delighted to be chatting to Sam Bowley about how our fertility journey can really impact balance. Particularly if we face fertility challenges, trying to conceive can infiltrate every aspect of of life from work to relationships.
A super fun conversation with Helen McNutt of Mother of Copy. After a high flying career as a freelance copywriter for many exclusive brands including GQ, Guardian, and Cosmo Helen has embraced motherhood as a superpower and integrated it into her passion for copywriting. She now teaches other mums with small businesses how to write their own copy.
There is so much emphasis put on being productive. And as a working mum it can often feel like a necessity in order to get everything done. Then when we're not in the flow of productivity, we can feel like we're failing.
I absolutely loved this conversation! Keri and I talk incredibly passionately about things that we both care deeply about: audacity, feminism and motherhood.
This episode is aimed at any fellow people pleasers who find it difficult to say no, or to express your true opinion.
This week I'm talking about the feeling of only knowing what you don't want, without being able to articulate what you do want, or even the way you feel just now.
In this episode I share my experience of being held back in business by juggling it all. Whilst on mat leave with my first son I worked on building up my growing artisan granola company. It started off being really fun with lots of creativity.
We all know that comparison is often very unhelpful and not something to seek out. Buthow often do you find yourself online lost in the instinctive spiral of all the reasons that you're not good enough? Not fun enough, clever enough, pretty enough?
How do feel about changing your mind? Is it something that instinctively feels uncomfortable? If so, you are not alone!
This week I am fresh from a week of holiday and I'm talking about how you know whether you actually need a break or whether you are procrastinating. I'm sure we've all been in the place where there's one or many things hanging around undone on our to do list.
When I first came across the concept of money mindset I didn’t really pay much attention. It didn’t seem relevant to me because I didn’t think that I was motivated by money and I earned a comfortable, stable income.
This week we're following up from the 5day mini series on How to create more balance as a working mum.
How often do you find yourself feeling frustrated? Is it a constant low level thing or does it come and take over every so often?
This week I am sharing one of the most valuable lessons that I have learned yet. That if I want other people to value my time and energy then first I have to value them too
This is a longer episode than usual because we couldn't stop talking! I'd love for you to join us for a passionate and enthusiastic discussion. We cover perfectionism, living in tune with our cycles, celebrating our feminine energy, how to start bringing more comfort and ease into your every day life and finding moments of calm in the chaos.
With many of my clients I see the same challenges cropping up again and again. Much of it centres around always being busy and never having enough time to get everything done, never having the time to make the changes you want and never having enough time for yourself.
In this episode I'm speaking with Elizabeth Willetts of Investing in Women. Liz has recently founded the UK's most female friendly job board that is focused on providing flexible and part time working for parents in financial services.
Do you recognise that nagging feeling of wanting more? You feel grateful for all you have but yet there's always this little nagging voice somewhere inside?
Do you feel like you take on more than your fair share of the mental load? Are you the only one who seems to remember all the stuff that needs done, by when and by who? Is it making you fed up and frustrated?
This was a super fun episode to record. I am talking to Marta Buist, a yoga teacher who has very much integrated the philosophies of yoga into every aspect of her life. It has shaped her approach to work, to family life and herself. What she learned from her yoga practice has guided many of the big and important decisions in her life as well as her every day intentions.
This week I am talking about when and why we resist doing he things we need the most. Maybe you crave some headspace and tell yourself that you'll do a bit of meditation, but then never get round to it. Maybe you want more connection with your partner but end up feeling irritated and further apart. Maybe you want to socialise more and sign up to an online class but then dip out at the last minute.
This week I speak with Siobhan Fisher, founder of These Little Fish. Upon returning to the corporate marketing world after having her daughter Siobhan found that something had shifted.
Episode 10 marks what should have been the end of the first season. But I am enjoying this all too much and so have made the decision to carry on! And it feels really good. I feel so excited to share more content and wonderful guests with you over the coming weeks.
In this week's episode we are talking women's pelvic health. This is a topic that I find is not widely discussed and often not comfortable to talk about. Fiona is a specialist in pelvic health during pregnancy, post-natal and beyond. She shares a wealth of information ranging from:
This week is my first ever in person interview with my husband, Dave Riley. We talk about our two different approaches to parental leave following the birth of each of our sons, three years apart.
Our energy levels are likely fluctuating more than usual just now as life on the Corona coaster continues. We are not designed to be at full throttle all of the time. Especially as females our energy levels are governed by hormone fluctuations during our menstrual cycle. Even if you do not have a regular menstrual cycle you can make use of a seasonal way of working.
In this episode I talk about the importance of taking time out for yourself in amongst all of the busyness. In December I experimented with doing more of the things that I loved and was reminded of these three things:
This episode is recorded on New Year's Eve 2020. We talk about the ritual of reviewing the year and deciding what we want to take forward. 2020 has been moments for all of us, whether it has involved progress on a large scale or getting through the day to day.
In this episode I'm delving into what it means to 'have it all'. I talk about why having it all looks different for each one of us as it is a unique blend of all the things that light you up. Finding your have it all is what will lead to the feeling of balance in your life. Similarly when your life is very much out of alignment with what you actually want you will feel very far from balance.
In this episode I’m joined by Susan Wallace, founder of Settled Petals. Susan is a certified sleep consultant and also offers classes in baby massage and baby yoga. Together her services are designed to promote relaxation and contentment in babies and infants. She also offers potty training workshops for parents of toddlers.
In this episode I tell you the story of how I got into coaching and what it's all about. Maybe you've heard it talked about in movies, or even by your friends, but never really been sure about what exactly a coach does?
Woohoo! I'm so excited to have you join me for the first ever episode of The Balancing Act podcast. In this episode I'll introduce what it's all about.