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JOY Unfiltered: Joy is the strategy
Joy Unfiltered is the podcast where joy gets real, grounded, and useful.
Hosted by Rachel Bents, author of Joy Is the Strategy, this show explores joy not as a reward you earn, but as a practical strategy for living, leading, and feeling better in real life.
Each week, you’ll hear honest conversations, solo reflections, and guest episodes that unpack how joy impacts leadership, wellbeing, resilience, mindset, and connection without bypassing hard things or pretending life is perfect.
This podcast is also the heartbeat of two growing movements:
📘 Joy Is the Strategy (the book)
A deeper exploration of how joy works, why it matters, and how choosing it can change your life and leadership.
✨ The Joy Project
A global, joy-first community built on connection, conversation, and collective momentum.
If you’re tired of hustle culture, burned out on forced positivity, or curious what changes when joy becomes the way forward, you’re in the right place.
Joy isn’t the reward.
It’s the strategy.
JOY Unfiltered: Joy is the strategy
The Truth About Starting a Business (No Magic Pixie Dust Required)
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What happens when getting fired becomes the best thing that ever happened to you?
In this episode of Joy Unfiltered, Rachel sits down with business coach Tammy Johnston—self-proclaimed “hold your hand and kick your ass” coach—to unpack the real, unfiltered truth about starting and growing a business.
From navigating the chaos of early entrepreneurship to understanding the four core activities that actually drive results, Tammy shares battle-tested insights that every new (and struggling) business owner needs to hear.
If you’re in your first two years—or thinking about making the leap—this episode will save you time, money, and a whole lot of frustration.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Why getting fired can be the push you actually need
- The brutal truth about the first 2 years of business
- The difference between working hard and working on the right things
- The 4 “20% activities” that drive 80% of your results:
- Marketing
- Systematizing
- Knowing your numbers
- Building a strong advisory team
- How lack of structure quietly kills new businesses
- Why boundaries are essential (and how to actually enforce them)
- The danger of taking advice from the wrong people
- How to avoid “building a skyscraper with no foundation”
- Why most businesses fail—and how to stay in the game
💡 Memorable Quotes
- “You’re not a business owner—you’re a volunteer going broke if you’re not marketing.”
- “You eat what you kill in business.”
- “Most people are working hard… just on the wrong things.”
- “If you don’t survive the first two years, nothing else matters.”
- “You are devaluing yourself when you let your time be interrupted.”
🔗 Resources & Links
- Connect with Tammy Johnston:
👉 https://ksabusiness.ca 👉KSA Business.ca: Overview | LinkedIn 👉 Instagram
🚀 Call to Action
If this episode resonated with you:
- Subscribe to Joy Unfiltered
- Share this episode with an entrepreneur who needs to hear it
- Leave a review to help more people find the show
And remember—you don’t need perfection… you need foundation.
Connect with Rachel
