Creatives Rule the World

What if more revenue was never the thing standing between you and financial peace? In this episode I sit down with my friend Megan Hale, a former psychotherapist turned financial leader and the creator of Dream Money, a financial operating methodology and software platform built for solo CEOs. Megan and I get honest about the moment she opened a spreadsheet for the very first time, during one of the hardest seasons of her life, and how answering a few simple questions about what she actually needed and wanted changed everything.
We dig into why you, the business owner, have to be the one who knows your numbers, and why a bookkeeper or accountant alone is not financial leadership. Megan walks us through her seasonal framework for growth, the three financial seasons every business moves through, and why most of us stay stuck in scale, scale, scale and underpay ourselves for years. She also breaks down the seven financial needs every business has to fund, including the two most people never track, and the one that adds meaning to every dollar that comes in. I'm also really open in this one about my own pivot, learning a new business model as I build Desire AI and the Wealthy Creative.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
[01:34] The hardest year that became the birthplace of Dream Money, and the one offer that funded a full year of stability
[04:17] Why having a bookkeeper does not mean you have financial leadership
[06:28] The first number every founder needs to know before anything else
[08:53] The three financial seasons of a business, and how to tell which one you are in
[10:57] The fortifying season most of us never give ourselves, and why it is where you finally get paid
[14:49] Why “just enough” is a trap, plus the seven financial needs you have to fund (two of which almost nobody tracks)

Here are the resources mentioned in the show:
Follow @meganhaleco on Instagram
Follow @dreammoneyco on Instagram
Learn more about Dream Money
Join Desire AI
Join the Wealthy Creative Society
The Creative Frequency by Tracy Matthews

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xo, Tracy Matthews

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Have you ever pushed harder, bought the course, built the funnel, and still hit the exact same income ceiling you have been bumping up against for years? In this episode I sit down with my friend Dr. Farya Barlas, a chartered psychologist who has spent more than two decades helping entrepreneurs, founders and leaders work with the invisible barriers that mindset hacks and business strategy simply cannot reach. She calls it trauma-led success, and the way she defines trauma might surprise you. It is not one big event. It is every small moment you had to abandon or betray yourself to be accepted, and how those moments quietly shape the way you lead, sell and price today.
We get honest about what survival mode actually looks like in a business (think undercharging, procrastinating, or that mysterious cap on your revenue), why you cannot affirm your way out of a nervous system that does not feel safe, and how women in particular carry intergenerational patterns around being seen and earning money. I also open up about realizing I built Flourish & Thrive out of a trauma response after my 2009 bankruptcy, and what it took to change my relationship with my own business. If you are a seasoned creative entrepreneur who senses there is another level available to you, this conversation is your map.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
1:38  --  What trauma-led success really means, and why working with your trauma responses can unlock so much more
6:22  --  The definition of trauma most high achievers get wrong, and why you cannot affirm your way out of it
9:59  --  Why this hits women differently, and why so much success advice does not fit your nervous system
11:01  --  Survival success vs reparative success, and how your nervous system caps your income
14:15  --  The first real step from survival into thriving
24:11  --  Tracy on building a business from a trauma response after bankruptcy

Here are the resources mentioned in the show:
Follow @faryabarlas.psychologist on Instagram
Dr. Farya’s podcast: From Trauma to CEO
Dr. Farya’s Website
The Method by Farya Barlas (her signature framework)
The Creative Frequency by Tracy Matthews

Are you enjoying the podcast? We’d be so grateful if you gave us a rating and review! Your 5 star ratings help us reach more businesses like yours and allows us to continue to deliver valuable content every single week. 
Click here to review the show on Apple podcast or your favorite platform
Select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”
Share your favorite insights and inspirations

If you haven’t done so yet, make sure that you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts and on Apple Podcast for special bonus content you won’t get elsewhere.
xo, Tracy Matthews

Follow on Social:
Follow @Flourish_Thrive on Instagram
Follow @iamtracymatthews  Instagram
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What if one focused hour a day was all it took to double your revenue? That's the premise behind The Miracle Hour, the framework from eight-figure entrepreneur Kelly Roach, and in this episode, she breaks it all down. Kelly built a seven-figure business from her car on her lunch break, with zero paid ads, using nothing but intentional relationship-building. In this conversation, she walks us through the exact framework: setting your goals, picking your five to seven daily activities, and building what she calls the Dream 1000, a relationship rolodex that compounds over time.
What hit me hardest in this conversation is how much revenue creative entrepreneurs are leaving on the table by chasing new customers while ignoring the gold in their current and past client lists. Kelly breaks down the four buying inflection points in the first 30 days after a sale, and explains why most business owners miss every single one of them. Whether you're a jewelry designer, a creative entrepreneur, or a founder of any kind, this episode will permanently change how you think about sales and what you do with that one hour you already have.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
[00:00] Introduction: What is the Miracle Hour?
[06:00] Why people buy from people: creatives and faceless branding
[08:22] The four buying inflection points in the first 30 days
[14:55] Start in the center: why your current customers are your fastest revenue
[20:20] The five steps of the Miracle Hour framework
[28:08] How to track your activities and build your Dream 1000

Here are the resources mentioned in the show:
Follow @kellyroachofficial on Instagram!
The Miracle Hour Book by Kelly Roach
The Miracle Hour Free Toolkit
The Creative Frequency by Tracy Matthews

Are you enjoying the podcast? We’d be so grateful if you gave us a rating and review! Your 5 star ratings help us reach more businesses like yours and allows us to continue to deliver valuable content every single week. 
Click here to review the show on Apple podcast or your favorite platform
Select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”
Share your favorite insights and inspirations

If you haven’t done so yet, make sure that you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts and on Apple Podcast for special bonus content you won’t get elsewhere.
xo, Tracy Matthews

Follow on Social:
Follow @Flourish_Thrive on Instagram
Follow @iamtracymatthews  Instagram
Follow Flourish & Thrive Facebook

What if the reason your affirmations are not working has nothing to do with how hard you are trying, and everything to do with how your brain is wired? In this birthday special solo episode, I am pulling a teaching straight from inside the Creative Frequency to introduce you to one of the most powerful mindset tools I have ever used: askfirmations. These are not affirmations. They are curiosity-driven questions that hijack your Reticular Activating System and send your brain on a search for evidence, opportunities, and possibilities it was literally filtering out before.
I am breaking down the real neuroscience behind why curiosity works better than forced belief, including how it activates dopamine, lowers nervous system resistance, and bypasses the identity blocks that keep you stuck. I also walk you through the full askfirmation practice so you can start using it today. This one is a gift, literally. It is my birthday, I am turning 55, and I am giving you access to the kind of teaching I usually only share inside my paid programs. Do not skip the show notes. There is a birthday gift waiting for you there too.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
00:27 -- Austin, Birthday week, and what is coming this summer
01:06 -- Why so many people are in a hard season right now and what curiosity has to do with it
02:19 -- What the Creative Frequency is and why I pulled this teaching for the show
04:59 -- What askfirmations are and why they work where affirmations fall short
07:25 -- The neuroscience: RAS, identity, nervous system, and how curiosity rewires all of it
13:39 -- How curiosity activates dopamine and shifts you from desperation to energized pursuit
16:49 -- How to practice curiosity daily and the stillness ritual that makes it land
19:19 -- Your askfirmation exercise: how to write, record, and use your list every single day
20:48 -- Birthday gift announcement: free visibility activations from The Breakthrough

Here are the resources mentioned in the show:
Birthday Gift - Free Visibility Activations
The Creative Frequency
The Wealthy Creative Society

Are you enjoying the podcast? We’d be so grateful if you gave us a rating and review! Your 5 star ratings help us reach more businesses like yours and allows us to continue to deliver valuable content every single week. 
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Select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”
Share your favorite insights and inspirations

If you haven’t done so yet, make sure that you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts and on Apple Podcast for special bonus content you won’t get elsewhere.
xo, Tracy Matthews

Follow on Social:
Follow @Flourish_Thrive on Instagram
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I have been on a healing journey with plant medicines and ceremony for years, and when I get to sit down with someone like Chelsea Renee, someone who facilitates transformation for others for a living, I am fully in my element.
Chelsea is a serial entrepreneur, community architect, ceremony facilitator, and the creator of Fempire, a biannual business summit for wild female entrepreneurs with a dress code of business to Burning Man. She also channeled her own breathwork technique, Activate Breathwork, to help people connect with their ancestors and spirit guides, and leads a nonprofit supporting women-owned businesses.
We talk breathwork, the power of getting in rooms, the shadow side of evolving, and how Chelsea built a movement so much bigger than herself that she sold it to her own nonprofit for a dollar. This one is deep, joyful, and genuinely life-giving.
In this episode, you will learn:
[02:10] Chelsea's multi-passionate entrepreneurial path and the through line connecting all her companies
[07:10] What Activate Breathwork is and how it connects you with your ancestors and spirit guides
[11:00] Why breathwork is one of the fastest ways to step into your next-level identity
[16:50] The deep power of in-person events and what you can never replicate online
[22:30] The shadow side of evolving: what happens when your identity wants to stay comfortable
[31:10] What makes Fempire different and why the masterminding format is a game changer

Here are the resources mentioned in the show:
Follow Chelsea on Instagram
Activate Breathwork
Fempire Events: May 16-17 and November 7-8
Join the 10K in May Challenge
Desire AI
The Wealthy Creative Society

Are you enjoying the podcast? We’d be so grateful if you gave us a rating and review! Your 5 star ratings help us reach more businesses like yours and allows us to continue to deliver valuable content every single week. 
Click here to review the show on Apple podcast or your favorite platform
Select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”
Share your favorite insights and inspirations

If you haven’t done so yet, make sure that you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts and on Apple Podcast for special bonus content you won’t get elsewhere.
xo, Tracy Matthews

Follow on Social:
Follow @Flourish_Thrive on Instagram
Follow @iamtracymatthews  Instagram
Follow Flourish & Thrive Facebook