Not Nice. Clever. | Personal Branding, Marketing & Business Growth For Introverted Entrepreneurs
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Not Nice. Clever. is the podcast where introverted entrepreneurs learn how to leverage personal branding and marketing to grow your brand and business.
Hosted by business growth experts, Kat Torre and Candice Carcioppolo, this weekly show breaks down personal branding, social media marketing, and business growth strategies—without the fluff.
Each episode features real talk with top business coaches, experts and leaders who share brand growth strategies, proven frameworks, and mindset shifts introverts can implement without draining their battery.
Whether you want to build confidence online, create content that attracts clients, or grow your business with clarity, you’ll find the roadmap here.
If you’ve ever thought your introverted nature was holding you back, this personal branding and marketing podcast flips the script.
Not Nice. Clever. | Personal Branding, Marketing & Business Growth For Introverted Entrepreneurs
5 Conversations Every Introverted Entrepreneur Needs To Hear For 2026
Want Some "Not Nice Advice" Send Us A Text!
As we close out the year and look ahead to 2026, we’re doing what the Clever Crew does best: reflecting, reframing, and pulling the lessons that actually matter.
In this special year-end roundup, we’re sharing five of our favorite podcast episodes of 2025 and the standout advice we’re carrying with us into 2026.
These conversations hit on everything from leadership to visibility, personal branding and marketing, to creating connection and opportunites without burning yourself out.
If any of these ideas spark something for you, we’ve linked each full episode below so you can dive deeper. Start here, take what you need, and carry it with you into 2026.
- Mitch Matthews: The difference between being burnt out vs. bored out | Audio | YouTube|
- Neel Dhingra: Why the most powerful personal brands are built by building in public, even when it’s uncomfortable. | Audio | YouTube|
- Brian Miller: Why opportunities don’t look like opportunities — they look like people | Audio | YouTube|
- Whitney Uland: How attention, visibility, and “fame” are neutral tools you can use ethically and intentionally | Audio | YouTube|
- Shadé Zahrai: Why you’re not stuck — and how identity shifts (including alter egos) can unlock momentum fast. | Audio | YouTube|
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Find out more www.notniceclever.com
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I'm so excited to talk about some of our favorite episodes for 2026 and share some nuggets that I think is really gonna help the clever crew to get planned for 2026 and what's to come and what they want to actually happen. So we have a roundup here of, what is it? Five? Yep. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We have five of our favorite episodes, and we are going to talk about some of the topics so that if.
They perk up your ears and you wanna learn more, you can just go directly to that episode. We'll link them at the bottom for you and listen to the whole thing. So first, Mitch Matthews, Kat, I am so bummed that you weren't able to be there live with us because I know Mitch killed it. His episode was incredible.
He's such. A wealth of knowledge and he's very charismatic. So this episode is, is really a great episode. One of my favorites actually. Yeah. Um, one of the concepts he talked about was how there's a difference between being burnt out versus being bored out. I'd never heard it put like that before. And you know, we've talked about burnout a lot.
I'm not nice, clever. And how that has impacted how we show up in our work and whether we want to work all those types of things. Mm-hmm. Um, but he said people often confuse burnout with just being bored. Maybe you're just doing the same mundane, mundane tasks day in and day out, and you're just at the point where you're like.
Why am I even doing this? What is this all about? What's the bigger picture here? And he asks some really great questions that help you to determine which one it is. Are you burnt out or are you bored out? And he provides some solutions on how to manage that if you're feeling like you're bored out. On my podcast, I got to interview a neuroscientist, uh, Ann Laura Lako.
She's got an amazing story in that she was an executive at Google. And, uh, she thought she was burnt out and burnt out to the point where she quit, and that's where she got into neuroscience. She went back to school, uh, you know, and, and really has had an incredible career since. But what's interesting is that as she started to understand the brain more and more, she realized that what she was experiencing was not burnout.
What she was experiencing was burnout's little cousin that nobody seems to talk about and that is being bored out and being bored out feels a lot like burnout and it often is people that are very busy, but they get bored out because they're doing the same tasks over and over. Oftentimes, those tasks, which there, there are usually many right?
Those tasks, they figured out exactly what it takes to be successful and do the, they do those tasks over and over again. But the reason why they start to experience bored out, which does feel a lot tired, you know, manifests itself as fatigue, frustration, uh, lack of engagement, all of those things. The reason why people start to experience being bored out is the lack of new things.
The, the lack of, as scientists put it, the lack of novelty. And so what I love about that is, that's why I say give yourself permission to try something new intentionally, from time to time, it's like, I'm not saying this week do a cooking class and next week sign up for a class in diesel mechanics and then next week, you know, take a yoga class that you've never taken before.
Yeah. Like, it's not, it's not new all the time and. Just completely different things, but give yourself seasons of introducing intentional novelty and it is amazing what that will do, especially if there's any chance what you're feeling and what you're thinking is burnout might in fact be bored out. That novelty, just that intentional burst of novelty from time to time can be a game changer.
Yeah, I love that. From a brand strategist perspective. Yeah. If you're trying something new, you should be sharing the journey. Yes. With your audience. Right. So I want to see people on their Instagram story saying, I'm going to my first yoga class today, and I'm feeling a little intimidated. Right. That's exactly right.
There's people in the audience who are saying, oh my gosh, I've been wanting to do that, but I'm so intimidated. I don't know. I don't know what to wear or what to bring, or like how to set up or. What those words are that they're gonna say, they're gonna use a new language in there and I'm not gonna know what to do.
And you have all of that nervous energy and you're not starting. But seeing someone else do it might encourage them or might give them the confidence. So clutch because as an introvert, managing your energy is your currency. It's your fuel, and if you are a solopreneur and haven't made that jump to being, you know, a small business owner, it's.
It's all on you a lot of the times, or it feels like it is, and I dunno about you Candace, but a lot of the successful entrepreneurs that I see and also that I see in you and me, is that we are obsessed with what we do. Yep. We're obsessed. Like you can't, you can't talk us out of it. Right? No. And we wouldn't want you to.
I think a healthy obsession, I think it's a healthy obsession. It's not, it's not an addiction. Right. It's, it's an obsession. I just, I love, I love what I do so much so that when, you know, will works late, he'll call me on his way home and he'll be like, what are you doing? I'm like, well, obviously I'm, I'm still working because you're not here to chaperone me away from because why not?
Because I love to do it. Yeah. So I love that distinction that Mitch called out. The other thing that he talked about Kat was how, um, as a leader, it's okay to say, I don't know. I don't know about you, but when I was new in leadership, I thought the way that I brought the most value was to have all the answers.
Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. And I think a lot of leaders are tempted that way, and a lot of leaders get promoted to a position because they aren't knowledgeable, because they have been successful in a certain role. But once you start leading a team as an example. You wanna attract people who are wildly talented, who are also successful.
You know, sometimes they do want the quick answer. Sometimes they do want the solution from you and, and sometimes I always say, Hey, there are gonna be times where the building is on fire and you need a quick answer. Like, absolutely. But there are absolutely, sometimes even when we have a solution to say to the person, Hey, you know, what do I think I should do here?
What do you think I should do? And to say, well, you know, I have some ideas, but. What do you think, right? To allow them to own that next step. You know, that that could very well be, that they might have some ideas, but they also have some fear around not going the way they'd hoped or may maybe looking like, you know, they're, they're making a mistake, those kinds of things.
But to offer ownership, to invite them into the process to hold them as capable as leaders is one of the greatest gifts that we can give. But I also think. You know the importance of trust when it comes to leadership, right? It's so funny. I know when I was a new leader. If I didn't have the answer, I was so tempted to fake it.
Right? Oh yeah. Like just to grasp at stuff and just say, well, I, you know, like try to be the most confident, wrong person in the room and say, well, this is it. This must be it. But I realized when you do that, you actually cut at your credibility. The only person that believes you're being credible is you.
Everybody else in the room knows you're faking it. So funny because. You do feel sometimes put on the spot, especially if maybe you're at a speaking gig and you feel like you are the expert and now someone's asking you a question and you have to say an answer. You think you have to say an answer, but I don't know is also an answer.
I love this too because it reminds me of like stories that Will has told me, and I've seen this in other areas too, but I love using like examples from, you know, other industries. So where he'll tell me, you know, if a piece of equipment breaks in the kitchen, um, they have a whole maintenance staff. They, you know, he works for a large restaurant group.
They have phone numbers, they can call, they have vendors they can call. But the cooks, the Sues, they all always turn to Will. They're like, where's Chef? Will, he can fix it. Like go get Chef Will and Will. And Will's always telling me, he's like, this is not my job. I'm like, yeah, but when shit hits the fan, who do they all turn to?
And even if you don't know how to solve the problem, they trust in you enough to figure it out either on your own or with the team together and to hold down the fort. So it's like being a leader doesn't mean you have all the answers. It just means you have the trust of the people around you. To know that you'll guide them and work with them to figure out the answer.
Like you have that courage and that, again, obsession with being dedicated. You know, that makes me think about owning Manhattan. If you're watching season two of owning Manhattan right now, which you should be, Kat and I just went to the premier a couple weeks ago. Mm-hmm. And I have it like playing in the background as I'm doing things all like on and off all day.
That's support. And I, but I also need to like sit down and really take in everything. But one of the themes that seems to be going throughout season two is how Ryan Serhant is growing as a leader. And kind of pulling back the curtain of realizing that when he first started, like he was working with people who he'd say like, these are my friends, right?
And that. Changes when you have, you know, brokerages all across the country and there's more and more people and your relationships change as your business grows. And so kind of having to differentiate between his friendships and his employees and also admitting that, of course he doesn't know it all because every day that he.
Grows his business is the first day that he's ever owned a business that big, which is what do always talks about, right? Like of course I'm always learning 'cause like as my business grows the first day I've ever done this right. And he's really being vulnerable and open about that. And it's being received in different ways on the show by different people.
It's, but you can based on, you can watch it on maybe when they came into his life, right. Right. Well, that was something that I had thought about when I was watching it because Canice, you and I have worked with him for four and a half years now. We joined the team around the same time, um, and his, his, uh, sales training arm sell it, and it was a very small team at that point in time.
Less than 10 people. Now there's not that many more, but there's been much change and the brokerage has just exploded. And so I think a part of growth too is letting go of what you thought you knew and admitting how much you don't really know. In this kind of new era, and I'm, I'm even approaching this new year of like rethinking how I work with the team and how I view things because.
'cause it's been one way, doesn't mean it's always gonna be that way. And in fact, it definitely isn't gonna be that way with all the growth that's happening. So if you want a little lesson on leadership and giving yourself permission to say, I don't know, even when you are a leader, especially when you are a leader, then definitely watch Mitch Matthews episode.
This next one, oh, shout out to our dear friend Neil Dinga, founder and host of the forward event. You must go every summer in July in Vegas. There's air conditioning, don't worry. But his episode was amazing and the one phrase that I consistently quote when I'm doing trainings or workshops is. Building in public and creativity wise, you have to do it.
You have to build in public. Yeah. And people don't want to be embarrassed. They don't wanna look stupid, but. Nobody cares. Like along the way. Yes. You make improvements. Um, I look, and by the way, I look back at some of the things I did creativity wise for 3, 4, 5, 6 years ago, and you, I cringe. You know, it's like full body pain, you know?
You're like, man, I can't even believe I suck that bad. But that's what should happen. If you're looking back at the same thing you did two years ago and you're like, oh, I'm about the same, you're not doing it. Right. Yeah. It should be improving. You know what I mean? I love that you said that you have to do it in public.
Yes. Why is that so important? So there's this concept called Build in public. Okay? People don't get it. But the reason why you need to do this is because you enroll people in what you're doing and they follow you for the journey. People think I'll show it when it's perfect. By that point, nobody's bought in.
You need to build your thing in public. I'm, Hey guys, I'm working on this. I'm excited about it. Here's what I'm doing. It's early stages. Okay, I'm getting this success, I'm building this. People come along for that and they'll support you. They'll refer you, they'll bring people along and, and those are the causes that we can really get behind.
The only way reason you get behind is 'cause they show the journey. And I think people just do it wrong. They think like, I'll show it when it's done. And what you'll find is anybody who's super successful, wish they would've shown more of the journey. Because they wish they had more footage or stories about coming up, and everybody wants to see this.
By the way, if you ask your audience when you do reach any level of success, they're like, what was it like in the beginning? So somebody wants to learn how to do a successful podcast, and you've been doing this podcast for a while now, and you would consider it successful. Well, in the beginning, it wasn't successful, just like everybody else's.
So there's people who are inspired by this. Like, Hey, what was it like on your first few episodes? You're like, I don't wanna show that shit. Like that sucked. But that's what they wanna see. They wanna see how it was 'cause they can relate to it now, build in public. Just the sheer courage it takes to do that, especially as an introvert, especially with the trolls going off in the comment section, especially with those Reddit threads like creating their own little universes.
We, we started this in our own like personal brand building journey years ago now, but it hasn't gotten any easier. In fact, I feel like now we even have more to lose because of what we've already built. I don't know. Candace, do you feel the same way? Building in public is such a sticky phrase for me. I say it all the time.
Just like you Kat it. Mm-hmm. Really helped me to even explain things to my clients who are afraid of being cringe still. Right. Yep. How do you build in public? This is when you are starting out and people are saying things like, who does she think she is? Who does she think she is because she is maybe nothing yet.
Um. But she's showing up like, you know, she's an influencer all of a sudden. Mm-hmm. All of that comes with building in public. But the al, the thing that also comes with building in public is the opportunity for people to really root for you. Yeah. Because they've seen where you've started and they now know where you're going and they now see where you are.
And so that really creates strong relationships with your community because those people who've watched from the beginning, they. Are so on your side, they're invested. Yeah. They're absolutely invested and they're excited to share your story and say, well, if Neil did it, I saw him when he was like, so nerdy looking, and I saw him when he, um, and Neil won't be mad at me for saying that.
Like, he shows videos of this. Okay. He went to his first forward event. Yeah, exactly. San Diego. Exactly. Um, and you know, he, you know, had 10 people come to his first event or whatever the number is. He has, but he made it seem like a hundred every year he created. Yeah, exactly. And so watching that makes me, you know, excited for him, invested in what's to come, makes me, you know, want to share his story with people.
And that's the beauty of building in public. So if you are still on the fence about creating content or you feel like you don't know enough or. Who are you to do this? Definitely listen to Neil's episode, um, because there's so much there on just getting started. Yeah, and I think the other piece of advice that I really like and, uh, lean into, especially now when things are so.
Emotionally charged. And so noisy is to reignite your creativity, your inspiration by finding joy in, in something you used to do as a kid. I used to play in a band when I was in high school, like a metal band, uh, and nobody knows this shit. I haven't even told anybody on a podcast. But anyways, that got me into creativity.
And then when I got older, after college, got into the industry and I feel like it. Like corporate culture and industry and job and life kind of beats the creativity out of you. And so, you know, I just have these markers and all this creativity and then I just, you end up just doing what you're supposed to do and if you make money and it's great.
But then what actually got me back into bigger success was leaning back into like those, getting your markers back, you know, getting some creativity. Yeah. Doing some more stuff. And I think that's, uh, something, everybody's got these things where used to do when you were a kid and you just gave up. That's actually the gold that would help you unlock things in business.
If you can combine creativity with, uh, entrepreneurship and business, it's like the golden combination. I love that so much because my coach asked me a similar question to kind of think back to where my desire for all of these things that I want now started and I thought about having slumber parties.
Which were like, my favorite thing to do is like having the girls over for a slumber party. And then I thought about what did we do at those slumber parties? We talked about our dreams, what we wanted. We talked, we built community. Um. We just were there for one another. And that's what drives me now. Like I have these conversations on this podcast because I wanna have those like slumber party conversations.
Yeah. Where you uncover more than what happens day to day at school. Right? Yep. And it's also, think about this from a business standpoint. You help people move forward in their business. Like I know you do a lot of branding work. You've helped people in our community love working with you, by the way.
Thanks. And so this has been really cool. Like. That's actually an opportunity to serve people as well. Think about this, there's probably an opportunity to put together some sort of mastermind slumber party. Kids are so incredible in the way that they look at the world, their optimism, their curiosity, their relentlessness, and just doing things for the sake of pure joy and not for ROI.
And, and, and often when you follow your joy, you do have ROI like in different ways and it, and it can compound and so. Like when, when Will was asking me like what I wanted for Christmas this year, I was just like spouting off some ideas, but one of them was, I was like, actually I used to do charcoal drawings and I used to watercolor.
He was like, what? I'm like, yeah. I took art classes growing up and I took art like as an elective at community college and it just really quieted my mind and like focus me in my body similar to like practicing ballet. And I was like, yeah. I was like, maybe sign me up for a class or two here in Philly.
Right. And it just like came outta nowhere, but I'm like, no, I, I wanted, that's fun. Go back to doing that because it was, I got a lot of joy out of it. But definitely go check out Neil's episode. Lots of just great life advice on top of business advice, somebody you should know. Absolutely. The next one we have is Whitney, you, Linda.
And if you guys don't listen to her podcast, you absolutely need to listen to her podcast. Um, she talks about how fame. Is just the resource of having people's attention. And her whole thing is she teaches people how to be famous. And if that made you cringe, and you're like, oh, like I don't wanna be famous, like you actually probably do wanna be famous because you want people's attention.
You're reacting to something. Yeah. Yes, exactly. She talks about how anyone, no matter what it is that you do, can leverage fame to. Elevate themselves, their business, their brand, and really kind of also discover who you are. Fame is just the resource of having people's attention, and it's a neutral resource.
It's like, it's a tool. Um, it's just like, you know, let's say a kitchen knife, you can use it to, to chop onions or to hurt someone. Right. Um, it's the same with fame. It's, it's like going to be, um, used mm-hmm. In the. In the hands of whoever wields it. And that's really where, you know, my mission is to help good hearted artists, creatives, influencers, entrepreneurs, create the resource of fame because it is just a, a resource of power ultimately.
And I would argue that a second to money, it's the world's most powerful resource. And it's also, um, it's leverage. It's, it's, you know, once you have this tool, you can leverage it into money, you can leverage it into opportunities, you can leverage it into access. Um, and it really all starts with. Um, your willingness to be seen.
So I say like fame is the resource of having people's attention and you create it by, um, by being willing to be seen basically. With that being said, you believe anyone could be famous? I do. Yeah. And I believe everyone can create the level of fame that they're meant for. I'm a very spiritual person and I really.
I, someone told me once that being famous is like having a soul contract with millions of people, and I really do believe that there are so many of us who were. Put on this earth to make a massive impact. And to, you know, I'm, I don't know if this was y'all's experience, but I, in my work, I see so many people that are like, yeah, I always knew I was supposed to like, be doing interviews or be doing whatever.
And again, this was before podcasting, this was before that really was available. And I, I really believe that our desires are our dharma and they lead us to what we're, what we're supposed to do in this world. Um, that said. Fame is different. There's a different number that everyone has in mind when they think of famous, right?
And mm-hmm. For me, I'm like, I love that like, traditional Hollywood fame, like famous, famous. Um, and there are other people that I work with who are like, I, I want the level of fame where I can make an impact in my community. Um, and for them that looks like, you know, maybe it's 10,000 followers, maybe it's a solid podcast that is consistently bringing them in Clients.
Um. Whatever that looks like for them. Everyone kind of has their own, just like how everyone has a different number when you ask like, what is rich? Right? Or like what is wealthy? Yep. We all kind of have different numbers of fame as well, and I really do believe whatever number or whatever level of fame you see for yourself and you want for yourself, that is something you are capable of creating and it really just comes down to getting out of your own way and doing, doing the work to feel safe, being seen to create that.
She's so cool. I really love her. She is. I feel like if we all lived in the same city, we would be friends. Um, we're vir, we're virtual podcast besties. The one phrase that she had said, which you definitely need to go listen to, the episode, is new levels, new devils of, in order to be more successful and have more rotating, you need to be more visible, but then you're more vulnerable.
How do you navigate that in client conversation? Yes. So, and this is, it's such a human thing, and I always say with fame it's new levels, new devils where, oh, and it really comes down to like, there's always going to be an, if you're for your next level, your next edge, there's going to be an increased vulnerability and there's going to be an in.
And so then your brain is going to resist it. So. But the process is all the same. So no matter where you're at, it's about making peace and like getting somatically comfortable with that vulnerability. Um, and so there like, but I I, I think for the first, for the first piece of that is, um, noticing what your brain is afraid of, right?
With this and, and ultimately like cognitively kind of deciding, because the truth is, it is really uncomfortable to be seen in a vulnerable way. It's also uncomfortable to not have the, your dreams. When she said that, I was like, oh, that is so true. Like Ryan talks about, or Dom talks about like every day is a new day, a new first because you're constantly like living on the edge of your comfort zone and not, you know, staying in the familiar and.
It's funny because this is like a paradox of, of being a human. We wanna be seen and heard and understood, especially us ladies, like in relationships. And yet to be fully seen is actually terrifying because it's a form of vulnerability. Mm-hmm. So it's like we want that, we're wired to want that, but then when we get it, what do we do with it?
What does it show about us? And I just, I love how, um. Systematic she is and like talking about it and just kind of like de-stigmatizing all of it. Be like, no, it's a process. Right? Yeah, definitely. Check out her episode. You're gonna love it. Um, next we have Brian Miller. Brian. So good. Oh my gosh. Such an amazing speaker.
Kat and I saw him on the stage at Forward last summer and he had everyone at the edge of their seats. He was so engaging. Yes. He's just, just such a, like a great, great speaker, great performer. So he's a former street magician, not former. Remember he corrected me in the episode. He said once a magician, always a magician.
Sorry. Yes, correct. That is still a part of his identity. Um, his, his medium is just different now, but yes, yes, he is. He is a magician. Speaker and just so cool. And one of the few extroverts that I've been around that doesn't actually exhaust my energy. So like, that was really special. So Canice what, like, what part of his episode stood out for you?
Except for beside all of it? Yeah, he, one thing that he said was, opportunities don't look like opportunities. Opportunities look like people. We all want great opportunities. I don't know anybody at any age that doesn't hope for a great opportunity to fall into their lap. They'd like something better for their life.
And we spend our lives staring up into the sky hoping that great opportunity will fall into our lap. And what happens while we're looking up is that we miss all the opportunities that are right in front of us. And the reason we don't notice them is because opportunities don't look like opportunities.
Opportunities look like people. Mm-hmm. You have to talk to people. Right. That's one reframe, but the other one is you can assign yourself a job title in life, and this is my favorite thing you can do, give yourself the job title, collector of stories. If your job title is collector of stories, it's a lot easier to talk to a stranger because you're not trying to.
Connect with them, which feels hard and heavy. You're not trying to make small talk, which an introvert might find scary. You're not trying to make deep talk, which an extrovert might find scary. Uh, right. Like we have different problems. If your job is collector of stories, the only thing you have to do is collect their story.
That's your job. Mm-hmm. And that is such a great reframe for me and hopefully for the clever, clever crew, is that you don't have to be chasing. Opportunity. But if you realize that you invest in relationships, you invest in how well you communicate in your relationships, how deeply you communicate in your relationships, that opportunities will come.
Mm-hmm. And so he teaches people how to clarify their message so that people can easily repeat what it is that you do. Mm-hmm. And. You can connect more meaningfully with everyone you meet. Yeah. The framework he shares in the episode he shared on stage in Vegas, you must at least grab that framework from the episode.
Yeah, I mean, it, it's really step by step. It's really plug in place, so go there and use it. The other thing too, and I'm like noticing patterns now that we're talking our favorites of, of 2025, is that he always talked about the two ways to become an expert because he does work with people to develop their TED Talks and get them noticed and mentioned and and more famous, right?
There are two ways to become an expert. One is to go to school, get credentials, get a PhD, do the research, all that. That is a legitimate way to become an expert and I actually. Sidebar think that is a very important thing that we have somehow dismissed and we need to bring back respect and reverence for people who've done that because there's a reason that there's gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are important. But the other way to become an expert is to simply obsess over a tiny, tiny niche topic more than anyone could reasonably expect. And I did that not out of. Some integrity for like the, you know, academia or anything. It was really just to avoid looking like a damn fool in front of lots of people and people who had paid me lots of money.
And what happened is, accidentally over the course of a couple of years, I became the expert on human connection. 'cause I was the only one that had done talking about it. That level. Researching, yeah. Of, of, of understanding. And I started writing a blog. I, I committed to a weekly blog at one point, so I had published over 400 weeks in a row.
At one point, I, I published a weekly blog. It came out every Wednesday at 8:00 AM It's the original Human Connection blog. You can go to Human Connection blog. It still exists. I don't write it anymore, but like. So I had just, I became the guy that just obsessed over this home. And again, it's like that theme of obsession and just really committing and having the courage to go all in on one thing versus thinking that you're missing out or maybe you need to pivot or maybe this isn't trendy or maybe people won't pay me for it.
Like all those. That self talk that gets in the way. Um, and I, I, I tried to go the school route, didn't work, dropped out, and then I became obsessed over branding and, and copywriting. So I don't know. And Candace, you kind of did both like you've. You've done both. She's Candace. Is that cool? Does both, yeah, they both work, right?
They both work. Our last but not least favorite guest of 2025 is somebody who Candace stalked online maybe until we convinced her even with the time difference of her being based in Indonesia to come on the podcast earlier this year. And then we got to meet her in real life at Neil Dingers forward event.
Her name is Shaday Zahi and you must know her. You must follow her. She is. Such a grounded wealth of knowledge for people learning to improve themselves, build their confidence, deal with their ego, break the mold of maybe what their family thought they wanted for them and they want something different.
I just so many things. She also has a new book coming out, um, and you must go pick it up. Are you Googling it? Candace? Yes. I'm just looking up the title. It's called Big Trust. Big Trust. It's coming out. Yep. And she has actually definitely check her out. Stock her on Instagram, YouTube, all of it. Because with the launch of her book, big Trust, she's also doing these like webinars for free for people.
And I know they're gonna be value packed webinars that are super actionable. If you listen to her episode, you're gonna definitely wanna jump on live with her. And she's doing that right now. Love that. And I mean, there were so many things that she shared in our episode with her, but I think one of the things that.
Is really relevant to share now, especially being that it's the end of the year and you're thinking about planning for the new year, and maybe you're reflecting and thinking you're not where you wanted to be and how could you do differently in the new year? She reframes the idea of feeling stuck or like in a rut as it's not a place in your life or a place in your business.
It's just a state of mind. There's always something we can do. That's the, you know, if there's one thing that I want people to take away from our conversation, from anything that I do, is that you're never stuck. Stuck is a state of mind. There's always something you can do, whether that is to change a thought, change a behavior, go for a walk, call a friend, listen to this, you know, this podcast series, whatever it is, there's something you can do to get you out of that rut.
Like if you're telling yourself you're stuck, of course you are. And if you stop telling yourself, you're stuck, you will find evidence and ways. To move through that and move past it. She also talked about the power of the alter ego. Mm. Which I think is huge and people underestimate that. Yeah. But you've heard of celebrities who have alter egos to help them get on stage and push through.
Mm-hmm. Um, I can name so many, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. Softer, fierce. You can choose at any point in time to start showing up as a person you wanna be, because something magical happens. When you make that choice to embody the, it's almost like embodying a new kind of self-image. So you're not faking it till you make it.
You're being it until you become it. I don't know who said that. Someone said it and has stuck with me. I never resonated with fake it till you make it because it sounds disingenuous, insincere, and as women, that doesn't resonate with many of us. Mm-hmm. But when you're being it till you become it, that taps into what's happening around.
Embodiment, like when we talk about embodying bias or, um, embodying who you wanna be, and then you start to internalize those ways of thinking and those behaviors. There's this fascinating line of research around how they did studies with children. And they said, okay, kids, I think three to five year olds, they said either they need to imagine that they're Batman or imagine that they're Dore the Explorer or someone they look up to.
And they said, when things get hard, imagine that you're this person. What would that person or that character do? Mm. And they found that the kids who embodied this other brave version of. You know, uh, this other persona ended up persisting more. They stuck with the task longer. It is absolutely okay for you to have an alter ego.
That does not mean that you are being fake or inauthentic. That's just like a part of you that maybe you don't let be seen. Um, but I think that there's definitely power in that idea. Mm-hmm. And it's for everyone. So check out her episode to learn more about that. So I know that those were only five of the episodes that we covered this year, but there are really so many more.
Truly start with these five. Take what you need, keep moving forward, and just always remember to not be nice to yourself, but be kind. Especially during this time. You know, you can definitely be your own worst enemy, but we want everyone in the Clever Crew to be their own best advocate this year and moving into the new year.
Thanks for joining us on, not Nice, clever. Remember to follow, not nice, clever, wherever you listen to audio. And if you haven't already, drop that five star review. Share your takeaways, tell us your story. We love to hear it. Signing off, you're not so nice. But also clever besties that mean business. See you soon.