Our Romantic Getaway With My Husband Sleeping In The Hallway

Jo Rawald • November 9, 2025

Have you ever planned a romantic getaway, posted your cute airport selfie, and ended up feeding your husband pizza on a hospital gurney in a hallway with twenty strangers? Yeah. That was our weekend.

Everything really started about six weeks ago when I got a text from my friend’s sister-in-law, Sue:

“Hey Jo, it’s Sue, Cindy’s sister-in-law.
Cindy turns 60 next month, and we’re throwing her a surprise birthday party on Saturday, Nov 8th in Bourne, MA!
We’d love for you to come, but don’t tell Cindy!”

Of course I was going. Cindy and I had been friends for almost twenty years. She is one of my favorite humans on this planet. Cindy was there for me, literally holding my hair back while I was puking in her toilet because the stress was so massive when my life hit absolute rock bottom in 2017. And she was there, again, for me when she stood next to me as one of my bridesmaids when Brett and I got married in 2022. There was no freaking way I was missing Cindy’s surprise party.

So Brett took time off from work, and we turned our November 7^th-9^th weekend into a romantic Boston getaway. I posted our “weekend escape” photo at Miami International but didn’t tag our location because, you know… surprise party and all that.

We landed in Boston early Friday afternoon, November 7th, grabbed our rental car (which turned out to be a luxury upgrade), and checked into my favorite hotel, the Marriott Long Wharf. The heavens of travel were clearly shining down on us. The Marriott upgraded us to a harbor-view suite on the top floor, gave us free breakfast every morning, and even added a $25 daily food credit.

I just smiled and said, “Okay, God, I see You Winking at us!”

We strolled over to Faneuil Hall, walked through Quincy Market, stopped at The Black Rose (an Irish bar Brett had been dying to go to), split a corned beef sandwich and fries, and wrapped up the night with dessert back at the hotel bar. It was honestly the perfect start to our romantic weekend.

We went to bed early on that Friday night, you know… like the responsible adults we pretend to be. Then, around 2:30 a.m., Brett bolted upright with stabbing stomach pains, fever, and chills. He was up and down the rest of the night, showering twice to bring down his fever. I paced the floor, diagnosing him like some third-world country “certified” doctor, and by 7 a.m. I was walking to CVS Pharmacy in Little Italy, ten minutes from the hotel, grabbing antacids, a COVID test, a flu test, and DayQuil.

Both tests came back negative. Brett said, “Maybe food poisoning?”
Impossible. We had shared everything. And it wasn’t like we had raw oysters or something sketchy.

So, naturally, I asked my digital-assistant-slash-therapist-slash-medical-consultant: Kongbot (that’s what I’ve named ChatGPT). I typed in Brett’s symptoms and Kongbot said, “Brett should see a physician immediately.”
Awesome. Our Saturday morning tourist-excursion had just turned into an ER escapade, charted by ChatGPT.

We headed to Massachusetts General Hospital, eight minutes away from our hotel, and they scheduled him for a CAT-scan. The doctor said, “His symptoms are suggesting it might be his appendix.”

So while they prepped him, Brett looked at me and said, “Please go to Cindy’s party. I’ll be fine.”

“Oh sure, I’ll just go party while you’re dying. Perfect plan, Brett!”

But he insisted. So, reluctantly, I left him in the hands of some very nice intelligent strangers (the hospital is sandwiched in between MIT and Harvard), and I drove ninety minutes to Bourne for Cindy’s big surprise.

And let me tell you - it was BEAUTIFUL.

The decorations, the cake, the energy - everything. Cindy walked in at 3:30pm, everyone yelled “SURPRISE!” and she was completely floored. She hugged everyone on her way in, then she saw me, and her eyes welled up. I started crying too. It was one of those full-circle friendship moments. Totally worth it.

I stayed about an hour, gave her the biggest hug, explained to her and everyone that I abandoned my husband in a hospital, and I headed back to Boston to be a doting wife. On my way, Brett called, “It’s not my appendix. It’s something called intussusception.”

I paused. “Is that English?”

The doctors explained it’s usually seen in kids, but when it happens in adults, it can get serious fast, so they wanted to keep him overnight for observation.

I headed back to the hotel, packed his pajamas, toothbrush, slippers, the whole care package, and drove back to Mass General. That’s when I discovered they didn’t have a private room for him. Not even semi-private. They had… a hallway.

Like, an actual hallway wrapped around the nurses station with twenty other people lined up on gurneys.
And he was one of them.

Excuse me, what?
My husband, a U.S. veteran who dedicated half his life to serving our country and flying combat missions in defense of our freedom, was sleeping in a hallway?
Oh, hell no.

I called one of my networking brothers, Sean, a super smaht (as they would say in Boston) personal injury attorney in Plantation, Florida to ask if it was even legal for the hospital to bill insurance for an overnight “stay” in a hallway.

Bless that man. Sean stayed on the phone with me forever, talking me off the ledge and walking me through my options. I definitely owe him a good bottle of something strong for that phone call.

Sean gave me great advice and basically said, “Jo, be extra nice. Smile, thank them, act appreciative, and then ask if you can just pay for a private room yourself.”

So I did exactly that. I looked one of the doctors dead in the eye and said, “Hello, intelligent, handsome doctor... who do I speak with about paying out of pocket for a private room?”

That might have been a little TOO forward since the man looked at me like I had three heads and a tail.

At this point, Sweet Jo was trembling in the corner while Medusa-Jo’s serpents were starting to come alive, ready to stone someone to death. Because if I had my way that night, every doctor and department head at Mass General would’ve known exactly who I was and how serious I was about getting my husband out of that hallway. And listen, I’m not usually one of those people, but when it comes to my family & friends, that switch flips fast.

Thankfully, Brett is generally the calm to my hurricane. He could see the vein in my forehead starting to pulse and he gently said, “Baby, I’m staying here tonight. I know it’s not glamorous, and I probably won’t get much sleep tonight, but the doctors and nurses have been great. They’re just doing their jobs.”

If you could’ve seen my face in that moment, it was pure begrudging rage and compliance.

Deep breath.
“Okay, sweetheart,” I said, biting my tongue, “At least let me get you something decent to eat. What do you want? I’ll find a nice restaurant nearby.”

He thought for a second and said, “A Margherita pizza with a glass of milk, please.”

Because… of course.

I batted my eyes at him. “Dude, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be on the BRAT diet - bananas, rice, apples, toast - not BRATwurst and pizza. But fine, you’re the one stuck here. And, I did say I’d get you whatever you wanted.”

So off I went, on the Great Pizza Hunt of Boston. I found this little spot called Sabino’s on Cambridge Street and ordered a medium Margherita pizza with buttery garlic knots for Brett. Only the best stuff for my husband battling intestinal issues, right? And because, I too, love to punish my stomach, I grabbed an everything slice to eat while I waited. The staff was super nice, the pizza smelled amazing, and my everything slice was so good I knew Brett’s pizza was going to hit the spot for him.

While I was waiting for the yummy hot, fresh Margheriita pizza to come out of the oven, Brett called me. He says, “Hey, I checked our flights. The 8 a.m. Boston to Miami got cancelled, and now every other flight tomorrow’s overbooked.”
Because… of course it is.

I was starting to think that maybe God wasn’t winking at us earlier; maybe He just had something in His eye.

We fly for free since Brett’s a pilot, but we fly standby so, overbooked flights on a Sunday meant that we were stuck in Boston. Brett thinks fast on his feet, so he quickly proposed a great plan, “I’m just gonna use awards-miles and buy us seats for Monday.”

I said, “Perfect. I’ll call the hotel and rental car place to extend, text Robin and Suzanne to watch Adelaide and the cats another day, and move my Monday meetings.”

When Brett and I are in sync, we’re unstoppable. It’s like a military operation but with better snacks.

I got back to Mass General’s Hallway of Hell with the pizza, the extra-buttery garlic-knots, and my inner germaphobe screaming. My husband’s first meal of the day at 10:00pm, was garlic-bread and street pizza on a hospital gurney. Five stars, ladies and gentlemen. Five. Stars.

“Please don’t lick your fingers,” I told him. “I’ll grab napkins and wet wipes.”
He laughed, totally unbothered, like he was dining at the Ritz.
Meanwhile, I’m cringing because my husband is eating with his hands in a hospital hallway.

He took a few slices, then shared the rest with the nurses. The man’s a veteran and a gentleman, and apparently also the mayor of the ER.

Then Brett pats the gurney and says, “Come sit and watch a show with me, Baby.”
<GULP> I just stood there staring at him like, Oh no you didn’t.

“Yuck,” I said. “You want me to sit on that thing?”
He smiled. “Come on, just sit with me.”

So I did. Because love makes you do crazy stuff sometimes.
I perched myself next to him, careful not to touch anything, plugged in an earbud, and said, “Fine. Let’s watch something.”

Brett looked over at me and said, “Honey, at least take your shoes off if you're going to put your feet up.”

I said, “Nope. That’s where I draw the line. There is no world where I take my shoes off in this hallway. I love you, but …NO.”

So there I was, with my dreamy, husband, sitting on a hospital gurney in the hallway at midnight, shoes on, watching a romantic comedy called, “Nobody Wants This.”

And honestly, you couldn’t have picked a better title for our night.

I left the hospital just past midnight to go back to the hotel to shower and sleep. That walk to our rental car in the hospital parking garage was brutal.

I felt so guilty leaving Brett in the Hallway of Hell while I headed toward our beautiful suite overlooking the harbor. The city lights were twinkling, the bathroom was spotless, and there were clean white towels and a fluffy comforter waiting for me, and I honestly couldn’t enjoy any of it.

I didn’t sleep much on that dreary Saturday night, thinking about my poor Brett laying there uncomfortably in that loud, smelly, gloomy hospital hallway. I tossed, turned, stared at the ceiling, and finally gave up around 4:15 a.m. I got dressed, grabbed my jacket, and headed out to Dunkin’ Donuts. I figured I’d get Brett an iced coffee, a donut for him, and a dozen donuts for the nurses who’d been taking care of him. Then I’d get to the hospital early, maybe around 6:45am, and see if I could push for an early discharge. I was proud of this plan; it made me feel so proactive and take-charge!

While I was at Dunkin’ Donuts, literally 400 feet from the hospital, I texted Brett at 6:40 a.m. “Hey! You awake?”

He FaceTimed me immediately. “Hi! I’ve been discharged. I have an Uber coming in a minute. I was gonna surprise you at the hotel. I figured you’d still be sleeping.”

Sleeping? AS IF! “Sleeping?!? Brett, I wake up every morning at 4:02 a.m. In what world would I be sleeping while my husband’s lying on a gurney in the Hallway of Hell? Cancel your Uber. I’m coming to get you!!” I was MAD.

So I pulled up to the hospital entrance where he was waiting. He hadn’t slept much (big shock there), so he was cranky and ready to get out of there. Brett gets in the car and says, “What took you so long? I’ve been waiting five minutes! You said you were 400 feet away! I shouldn’t have cancelled the Uber!”

I took a deep breath. “I was getting you donuts and an iced coffee for you, my Love. And I got a dozen donuts for your nurses.”

Without missing a beat, he said, “I’m not drinking coffee. I’m trying to go to sleep until noon. And I don’t want donuts – that’s way too much sugar for me!”

Oh, okay then. ‘Well screw you too, sweetheart…’ I thought to myself.

I pulled over, called the hotel, and asked them to send housekeeping to freshen-up the room, make the bed, and add fresh towels, because I wanted Brett to walk into a clean space and relax. AND... what does my cranky, sleep-deprived husband say to me? “Hang up! I just want to shower and sleep until noon! I don’t want housekeeping in our room!! Now, let’s go!”

So now I’m snapping. “Look! I’m trying to do something nice for you!”
And there we were - both exhausted, both cranky, and both being ridiculous.

Brett had earned the right to be grumpy. The man slept in a hallway, for crying out loud. Me? I had no excuse. Sometimes, I can just be a Grade-A bitch. There, I said it.

We started arguing again when I tried to reconnect the Bluetooth in the rental car. He jumped in and connected his phone instead. Apparently, eight back-and-forth hospital trips wasn’t enough to qualify me as lead navigator.

I told Brett I’d drop him at the front of the hotel and then go park the car. He said, “Good. I’m gonna check if they have a laundry room. I don’t have enough clean clothes for another day.”

In which I replied, “Hey - If they don’t, I’ll find a laundromat somewhere nearby, and do laundry while you’re sleeping.”

He shot back at me with, “NO! You have better things to do than sit in a laundromat. I’m sure the hotel has a laundry room!!”

I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got stuck. “Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for you to get out of this car!”

We were both at the end of our rope, but I realized later that we were doing what we always do. Trying to take care of each other, just in totally different ways. He didn’t want to wake me up, so he called an Uber. I grabbed donuts and coffee for him. He was looking for a laundry room. I offered to go find one myself. Both of us meant well. Both of us were exhausted. And both of us were trying to show love the best way we could.

By the time I parked in the hotel's garage, I just started laughing. Marriage is wild. Two people can both be trying to do something thoughtful and still end up arguing about directions, caffeine, and laundry.

It’s Sunday now, late morning. Brett has been asleep now, in our room, for a few hours. I got the laundry done on the third floor of our hotel and I was able to take a long wanderlust walk around the Wharf with hot coffee in hand, watching the harbor wake up.

Cindy called later and said she's coming into the city tonight to jin uss for dinner. Brett and I will fly home tomorrow and pretend this was just another “memorable getaway.”

And honestly, it was. Brett was okay, we got through it together, and I learned (again) that love, like business, works best when you’re flexible, forgiving, well-rested, and a little bit funny.

XO... Jo Rawald

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The Week I Did Nothing And My Business Kept Growing

By Jo Rawald • October 26, 2025

Today is Sunday. My voice still sounds like I swallowed a foghorn, my energy level is somewhere between “tired toddler” and “houseplant,” and I’ve been out of the office sick for nearly two weeks. Two. Full. Weeks. If this were 2019, that would have been a corporate catastrophe. Back then, I was clocking 60+ hours a week, living in airports, and running client projects across multiple time zones like I was competing in the Olympics of burnout. There was a time I thought success meant constant motion, until my body staged a full-scale mutiny. In 2019, I had a massive stroke while working with a client in Washington. One week in a Seattle hospital, three follow-up specialists, and a nurse named Marge who kept calling me “sweetheart” while adjusting my IV. I flew back to Florida determined to slow down. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. In 2021, I was in Dearborn, Michigan, working another client engagement when my heart said, “Yeah, we’re done here.” Heart failure. Hospital. Another week, another “how are you even alive” look from doctors. And somewhere between the beeping machines and my phone lighting up with emails, I realized something had to change. Fast forward to December 2023. I finally walked away from the corporate consulting grind and built my own business, on my own terms. Now before you cue the triumphant background music, let me be clear. Entrepreneurship isn’t all candlelit journaling and sipping lattes while your PayPal pings. Building a business is like juggling chainsaws while learning tax law in a thunderstorm. But here’s the beautiful part. I learned to build systems that work harder than I ever did. Automation became my new assistant. My CRM became my bodyguard. My team became my backbone. Today, when I’m out sick, my business doesn’t panic. My emails are handled, my clients are supported, and my systems are quietly running behind the scenes like the world’s most loyal employees who never take PTO. That’s freedom. Freedom isn’t about doing nothing. It’s about knowing everything keeps moving even when you’re not. I built it that way, intentionally, strategically, and with a healthy dose of stubbornness. Because let’s be honest, I’m not built to sit still. My brain runs on caffeine, creativity, and big vision. But I had to learn to let my systems do the heavy lifting so I could stop trading hours for exhaustion and start building something that outlasts a flu season. During these past two weeks, while I’ve been over here mainlining chicken soup and rewatching old Grey’s Anatomy episodes, my business has kept growing. Clients booked calls. Payments came through. Content posted on schedule. That’s what happens when your business is built for sustainability instead of survival. It took me years, and two near-death wake-up calls, to understand that your business should serve your life, not the other way around. And when you get it right, everything shifts. You start showing up differently. You lead with clarity. You delegate with confidence. You breathe again. The irony is that I teach women how to create this same level of freedom every single day. It’s the core of everything I do. I help women entrepreneurs build systems that create structure, automate consistency, and deliver results. Because systems don’t get tired, take sick days, or lose focus halfway through a Zoom meeting. They just work. When you have automation and structure backing your brilliance, you can take a week off, recover, and come back stronger without losing momentum. You can scale without stress, hire without headaches, and grow without guilt. And that’s the kind of business I want for every woman reading this. A business that pays you even when you’re out of office. A business that thrives even when you’re human. A business that gives you freedom instead of fatigue. The systems I’ve built for myself and my clients are rooted in clarity, accountability, and automation. No guesswork. Just proven, repeatable, income-producing processes that keep things moving whether you’re in the office or horizontal on the couch with a heating pad and herbal tea. When I was in corporate, I measured success by the number of flights I took and the size of my client portfolios. Today, I measure it by how much peace I have when my phone’s on Do Not Disturb. My business survived a two-week shutdown without me lifting a finger. That’s not luck. That’s strategy. So if you’re a woman entrepreneur who’s ready for a business that gives you freedom, not more work, I’m inviting you to take the next step. Book your free 30-minute Strategy Session with me. We’ll talk about your goals, your bottlenecks, and how to build the kind of systems that keep your business running even when life throws you a curveball, or a sinus infection. You’ve already built something amazing. Now it’s time to make it sustainable. Because the real win isn’t doing everything yourself. It’s designing a business that grows with you, supports you, and gives you the freedom to take a breath without losing your momentum. You’ve earned that level of peace, Queen. Let’s make it happen. Book your 30-Minute Strategy Session ➝ https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/strategy-sprint-30-minute-zoom

Fire Alarms, Flight Decks & Female Founders. How to Stop Living in Emergency Mode and Start Scaling with Sanity

By Jo Rawald • October 25, 2025

You ever have one of those nights where life feels like it’s testing your endurance for comedy? Like God looked down, saw you thriving, and thought, “You know what would make this woman stronger? A 1AM fire alarm.” Yeah. That was me. So last night, I picked up Brett from Miami International Airport. For those of you who don’t know, Brett is my husband and an Airbus Captain for American Airlines. Translation: the man lives in the sky, and my living room frequently doubles as a flight operations hub. This week, he’d been on a three-day trip that could best be described as “a weather-themed obstacle course.” Day One : Aruba. Now, Aruba is special to us because it’s where we got engaged, back when I thought “turbulence” referred only to relationships, not flight paths. Brett was doing a turn-and-burn, barely three hours on the ground before heading back to Miami. But of course, Mother Nature had other plans. Tropical Storm Melissa decided to join the party, parked herself right under their flight path, and forced them to navigate the skies like it was the aviation version of Mario Kart. Day Two : Denver. Because apparently, weather across the entire Western Hemisphere had a group chat. The storms followed him like an unpaid intern. They diverted two hundred miles around a system, arriving over two hours late. Meanwhile, the government shutdown had air traffic controllers dropping like flies. Day Three: Texas to Miami. By this point, Brett was one flight delay away from moving to the mountains and becoming a hermit. Midflight, someone decided to vape in the airplane bathroom, setting off the cabin fire alarm. Because nothing says “I make great life choices” like triggering a full-blown cockpit alarm at 35,000 feet. He finally walked through the door at 10:30 PM, smelling like jet fuel and stress. He showered, collapsed in bed, and within five minutes was sleeping like a man who had survived battle. Then, at 1 AM, our house fire alarm went off. And when I say “went off,” I mean it screamed like it had caught the Holy Ghost. Brett leapt out of bed in full Captain mode, ready to investigate. False alarm. An hour later, it happened again. Same shriek. Same scramble. Same false alarm. At this point, even the dog was looking at us like, “Y’all need to move.” Brett trudged back to bed, half-asleep, muttering something about faulty sensors and divine comedy. And that’s when it hit me - this man had spent three days putting out literal and figurative fires, only to come home and keep fighting them. And I thought, Wow. This is exactly what most entrepreneurs are doing. They’re Brett last night. Running on fumes, reacting to every alert, jumping out of bed at 1 AM to fix something that isn’t even on fire. The alarm isn’t the issue. The system is. When your business isn’t built on proactive structure, when your calendar, team, cash flow, or automation is running like an old smoke detector, it’s only a matter of time before you start living in emergency mode. I see it every day with women entrepreneurs. They’ve got brilliance pouring out of their brains, but their systems are on strike. They’re trying to scale with spreadsheets from 2017. Their team’s running on caffeine and chaos. Their QuickBooks looks like a Jackson Pollock painting. And yet, they keep moving, because women like us always do. The problem isn’t our drive. It’s the constant firefighting that steals the energy we should be using to scale. That’s why I’m obsessed with systems that give you peace of mind and profit. Because when you automate the fires out of your business, you reclaim your energy for the things that matter - the strategy, the growth, the sanity. You stop being the firefighter and start being the architect. And yes, I said architect on purpose. Because empires don’t grow from alarms. They grow from blueprints. Faith plays a part in that too. Because building a business that runs without chaos isn’t just about spreadsheets, it’s about trust. Trusting that when you let go of the small stuff, God’s already handling the big stuff. Trusting that your purpose isn’t found in the panic but in the planning. You were never meant to live on high alert. You were meant to lead with high intention. And when you do that, the fires stop. The revenue stabilizes. The peace returns. And your business starts scaling like it’s been waiting for you to finally stop hitting snooze on your potential. So yeah, last night was ridiculous. But it was also the perfect reminder that you can’t grow an empire while running toward every alarm. Sometimes, you’ve got to pause, breathe, and ask yourself if this fire needs your attention, or just a new battery. Because when you start trusting your systems, your purpose, and your process, you stop surviving your business and start scaling it with strategy and sanity. And if you’re ready to build a business that doesn’t wake you up at 1 AM screaming “emergency,” then grab a coffee with me. Let’s talk about the blueprint that keeps your empire thriving, your faith grounded, and your alarms silent. Let’s Grab Coffee Together!

Grace, Grit, and Gross Revenue ➝ How to Build Wealth Like a Queen Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Soul

By Jo Rawald • October 24, 2025

Some women collect handbags. I collect revenue streams. Now before you roll your eyes and assume I’m about to go all “rise and grind” on you…relax. This isn’t that kind of business sermon. I’m talking about the kind of wealth that doesn’t just pad your pockets but protects your peace. The kind that lets you sleep at night knowing your business is growing while your boundaries stay intact. Because here’s what I’ve learned after 25 years of business consulting, two decades of caffeine dependency, and one unforgettable meltdown involving QuickBooks, a printer jam, and a very judgmental cat named Mr. Pickles - grace and grit matter just as much as gross revenue. And yes, there’s a story behind that. The Day I Tried to Outwork God It was a Tuesday. It’s always a Tuesday when chaos decides to make a guest appearance. My laptop had more tabs open than a bartender on New Year’s Eve, my phone was blowing up with messages from clients, and I’d just realized I’d double-booked myself for two Zoom calls - one coaching session and one BNI meeting. I tried to do both. At the same time. I had one AirPod in each ear, nodding and muttering “mm-hmm” like I was auditioning for a bad sitcom. At one point, I accidentally told a client to pass more referrals and then told a BNI member to raise their prices by 30 percent. It was chaos. Holy, caffeine-fueled chaos. That was the day I realized something sacred: hustle without harmony is just noise. You can’t outwork divine order. You can’t pray for growth and then schedule yourself into an early grave. And you can’t expect abundance when you treat your calendar like a clearance rack at Ross, crammed, disorganized, and somehow missing one shoe. Grace • The Power to Pause Grace is what saves you from losing your mind on a Tuesday. It’s what keeps you grounded when everything feels like a circus, and you’re the one juggling flaming spreadsheets. It’s not weakness. It’s wisdom. Grace reminds you that you’re allowed to slow down without giving up. You’re allowed to rest without guilt. You’re allowed to say, “I’ll get to that after my coffee.” I’ve had clients cry in my coaching calls because they thought if they weren’t working 80 hours a week, they were failing. One woman whispered, “I feel guilty for taking a day off.” My response? “Girl, Jesus took naps. You can too.” Grace doesn’t mean you stop chasing success. It means you stop chasing it like it’s running away from you. Grit • The Discipline Behind the Dream Every empire is built with grit. Not the glamorous kind you post about on Instagram, the messy, relentless kind that looks like showing up when you’d rather hide under your desk with a glass of Pinot and a bag of Doritos. Grit is doing the work that makes your business unshakable. It’s sending invoices on time. It’s tracking metrics. It’s fixing that automation that keeps sending the same email 17 times (true story, and yes, I had to apologize to 43 very confused people). Grit is also saying no, to clients who drain you, projects that don’t fit, and opportunities that distract you from your purpose. Every woman who’s built sustainable wealth knows the secret ➝ grace gets you centered, grit gets you paid. Gross Revenue • The Money with Meaning Let’s talk about the number that gets everyone all hot and bothered: gross revenue. Because yes, I love money. Not in a weird, hoard-it-like-a-dragon way, but in a stewardship way. Money amplifies who you are. It’s a megaphone for your mission. You want to build schools? Fund nonprofits? Hire women who need a chance? Guess what fuels that. Profit. When women make money, communities thrive. Families breathe. Legacies start. But too many brilliant women still feel guilty about making more. Somewhere between “be humble” and “be a boss,” we forgot that earning abundantly and leading graciously can coexist. The world needs more women who aren’t afraid to pray big and invoice bigger. Faith • The Anchor for the Wild Ride I’ve seen what happens when entrepreneurs run their businesses without a foundation of faith. They burn out faster than a candle in a hurricane. Faith keeps me steady when growth feels slow. It reminds me that divine timing isn’t Amazon Prime. It doesn’t always arrive in two days, but it always arrives right on time. I’ve built million-dollar roadmaps, but faith taught me something numbers never could ➝ trust is a strategy. Every decision I make in business, every hire, every partnership, every pivot, comes back to one question: does this align with the purpose God gave me, or is it just a shiny distraction? When you lead with that kind of clarity, the profit follows. Boundaries • The Queen’s Armor You can’t lead an empire if your energy’s leaking all over the place. I once had a client text me at midnight asking if she could “hop on a call real quick.” I was in bed, face masked, hair up, eating cookie dough like it was a food group. I didn’t answer. I love my clients, but I love my sanity more. Boundaries aren’t walls, they’re gates. And queens have guards at the gate. Setting boundaries doesn’t make you difficult. It makes you dependable. People trust a leader who respects her own time, because it means she’ll respect theirs too. Mindset • The Currency of Queens Every decision you make comes down to belief. Do you believe you’re worthy of wealth? Do you believe your time is valuable? Do you believe your voice carries weight in your market? If not, you’ll keep undercharging, overworking, and wondering why everyone else seems to be scaling faster. Your business can only grow to the level of your mindset. If your thoughts are small, your revenue will be too. You can’t build a kingdom with a bargain-bin mindset. You’ve got to think like the woman who already made it, and then act accordingly. Running a Business Like a Queen Running your business like a queen doesn’t mean working yourself into the ground. It means ruling your empire with grace, grit, and a damn good profit margin. It means trusting God with the timing and yourself with the discipline. It means being kind but not compliant, generous but not gullible, and strategic every single step of the way. And it means never apologizing for wanting both peace and profit. Because if you’re building wealth the right way, faith first, systems strong, and boundaries fierce, you’ll never have to choose between your purpose and your prosperity. The Coffee Invitation So, grab your favorite mug and let’s talk about it. Ask yourself this ➝ Are you building a business that honors your purpose, your boundaries, and your bank account? If the answer feels like a hesitant maybe, then we need to have coffee. Because clarity changes everything, and sometimes one conversation can realign your entire trajectory. Grab a coffee with me and let’s talk about your next-level strategy ➝

The Bottleneck Boss ➝ How You Might Be the Reason Your Business Is Crawling Instead of Scaling

By Jo Rawald • October 23, 2025

If your business feels slower than a DMV line on a Monday morning, it’s time for a mirror check. The culprit might not be your team, your systems, or Mercury’s emotional state. It might be you, standing in your own way, one “I’ll handle it myself” at a time. I was once late to my own meeting because I got stuck behind myself. Literally. I had three screens open, five tabs screaming for attention, and caffeine levels that could power a small village. My husband walked by, looked at the chaos, and said, “You know, for someone who teaches systems, you look like a traffic jam.” He wasn’t wrong. I was the bottleneck. What’s a Bottleneck Anyway? In Lean Six Sigma terms, a “bottleneck” is the point in a process that slows everything down. Think of a factory line humming along beautifully until one overworked machine can’t keep up. Everything piles up behind it, waiting for that one point to move. Now replace that machine with yourself. You’re reviewing every email, approving every decision, double-checking every deliverable, and insisting on doing it “your way.” The whole business is waiting for you to move so it can breathe again. That’s what being the bottleneck looks like. And it’s more common than you’d think. The Secret Life of a Bottleneck Boss Bottlenecks appear when leaders care deeply about their businesses. You want excellence. You crave quality. You take pride in every client touchpoint and every comma in your proposals. But when you hold everything in your hands, nothing else can move forward. You might be running the entire show, but that control creates a logjam. You’re answering every question, approving every invoice, and micromanaging tasks that should’ve been delegated six months ago. Your team hesitates because they’ve learned that the answer always circles back to you. That doesn’t make you a bad leader, it makes you a busy one. But busy doesn’t build empires. Leadership does. The Day I Discovered My Inner Bottleneck I once decided to delegate. Big moment. I built a spreadsheet - color-coded, labeled, and glorious enough to make Bill Gates weep. I handed it to my assistant and said, “I’m ready to release control.” She smiled and asked, “Can I order office supplies without approval?” I paused. Then said, “Well, let’s review the options first.” Three hours later, we were still discussing paper clips. She looked at me with the same face my dog gives the Roomba. That’s when I realized my spreadsheet wasn’t delegation, it was decoration. Why Bottlenecks Block Growth When you become the bottleneck, momentum dies. Projects crawl because every task waits for your sign-off. Your team’s motivation dips because they’re never trusted to own their work. And while you’re buried under admin, your growth quietly hits the brakes. Revenue doesn’t expand when the CEO is doing the job of ten people. You can’t scale what depends on your daily involvement. Your business needs systems that run even when you don’t. Breaking the Bottleneck Cycle Step One ➝ Own It. Say it out loud. “I’m the bottleneck.” Awareness is the beginning of freedom. Step Two ➝ Find the Clogs. Ask your team where projects pile up. Spoiler: the answer will often lead back to your inbox. Step Three ➝ Simplify. Shrink your approval chains. Empower decision-makers. Let your people move without waiting for permission. Step Four ➝ Automate and Delegate. Technology exists for a reason. If a human doesn’t need to touch it, automate it. If it’s not your strength, assign it to someone whose zone of genius it is. Step Five ➝ Lead Like a CEO. Great CEOs build systems that work even when they’re at the beach. Let your business breathe without your constant supervision. The Bottleneck Detox Every business benefits from a Bottleneck Detox. Start by asking: • What tasks only I can do, and what am I clinging to that someone else could master? • What’s sitting in limbo because it’s waiting for me? • What’s draining time without driving profit? • What am I avoiding releasing control of, and why? Growth happens when you stop clutching everything. Empowering others doesn’t dilute your authority, it multiplies your impact. The Ultimate Test Take a week off. No laptop. No email. No “just checking in.” If your business struggles to function, that’s a map of your bottlenecks. That’s where you need to build strength, systems, and trust. Why It Matters Scaling demands structure. Freedom requires systems. When you release the chokehold on every process, your team gains speed, your profit climbs, and your sanity finally comes back from vacation. You’ll lead with calm confidence instead of chaos. Your energy shifts from firefighting to forward planning. And your business starts to feel less like a hamster wheel and more like a runway. From the Former Bottleneck Queen I’ve worn the crown of the bottleneck before, and let me tell you, it’s heavy. When I finally handed off control, empowered my team, and stopped triple-checking everything, I gained time, focus, and revenue. Leadership isn’t about doing more. It’s about building a business that thrives because of the systems you put in place. So, if your business feels slow, the solution isn’t another spreadsheet or a longer to-do list. The solution is a decision, to step into the role of CEO with clarity and conviction. Grab a coffee with me, because we can find those bottlenecks together and unclog the path to your next level of growth. Ask for a conversation because you’re ready to scale with systems that give you back your time, energy, and peace of mind. Here’s my link ➝ https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/lets-grab-virtual-coffee

Profit Over Popularity ➝ Why Playing It Safe Won’t Pay Your Team (or Your Taxes)

By Jo Rawald • October 22, 2025

Too many women entrepreneurs are chasing likes when they should be chasing invoices. You can’t deposit applause, and your business doesn’t run on validation points. It runs on cash flow, strategy, and the occasional ugly cry over your QuickBooks dashboard. You know that moment when your accountant looks at you like you’ve been secretly funding a circus instead of running a company? I’ve had that moment. One fine Tuesday morning, coffee in hand, confidence sky-high, I opened QuickBooks like a warrior stepping into battle. Three minutes later, I was bargaining with the heavens, whispering promises, and wondering if my spreadsheets were plotting against me. The math wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I’d spent months making popular moves instead of profitable ones. Somewhere between the endless Instagram reels and the “just manifest more clients” crowd, women entrepreneurs got sold a story that visibility equals success. Post enough, smile big enough, and somehow the money will follow. Spoiler alert: it won’t. Visibility doesn’t mean sustainability. And safety doesn’t fund payroll. Popularity Isn’t a Business Model Popularity gets you compliments, followers, and comments about your lip color. Profit gets you payroll, peace, and power. Profit takes courage. It demands strategy, systems, and choices that won’t get you applause—but they’ll get you results. Raising your prices. Turning down projects that drain you. Building backend systems that quietly run your empire while you sleep. Profit means growth. It means you’re building something that outlasts the algorithm. You’re leading from power, not pressure. Because your empire deserves structure, not stress. The Cult of “Nice” Somewhere along the way, women were trained to believe that being liked leads to success. So we bend, flex, accommodate, and discount, until we’re too tired to even enjoy the work we built for ourselves. We become over-delivering superheroes who save everyone except ourselves. Being liked is sweet. Being paid is sacred. If your prices are based on what feels comfortable instead of what creates capacity, you’re cutting your own wings. You run a company, not a donation center. CEOs don’t discount their expertise, they lead with it. And leadership is service, not sacrifice. The Safe Trap Perfection looks professional, but it’s expensive. Waiting for the perfect logo, website, or launch plan costs more than any ad campaign ever will. I once spent weeks obsessing over a sales page that no one saw because I forgot to hit “publish.” Weeks of wordsmithing, coffee chugging, and second-guessing, all for a masterpiece that lived in draft mode. That moment taught me a simple truth: motion makes money. Women who scale don’t wait for perfect, they move with purpose. They test, tweak, and execute. They learn faster than they fear. They launch, laugh, and invoice. Progress happens when you stop polishing and start producing. Money Loves Momentum Every decision you delay delays a deposit. Every hesitation holds your growth hostage. Momentum builds trust, authority, and consistency, the trio that turns revenue into wealth. Profit responds to movement. When you take decisive action, you tell your business you’re serious. You stop auditioning for approval and start operating with intention. Building for profit means knowing your numbers better than your nail color. It means structuring systems that support you, tracking metrics that matter, and letting data, not emotion, drive your decisions. Success moves when you do. My Wake-Up Call There was a season where I was known as the nicest business coach on the planet. The woman who always added “extra time” to every session. The coach who wrote 2 a.m. follow-up notes and triple-checked client spreadsheets like a caffeinated guardian angel. It was noble. It was exhausting. One night over dinner, my husband said, “Jo, your clients adore you, but your calendar looks like it’s holding you hostage.” He was right. So I made changes. I raised my prices. I created boundaries. I delivered excellence inside those boundaries, and my clients loved it. My profit tripled, my stress dropped, and my business finally started to feel sustainable. Profit didn’t just give me money, it gave me freedom. Freedom to hire help, give back, rest, and lead with impact instead of exhaustion. That’s the kind of power I want for every woman building her empire. How to Shift From Popular to Profitable

Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist. How I Learned to Scale Without Losing My Mind

By Jo Rawald • October 21, 2025

If you’ve ever spent two hours adjusting the margins on a slide only your cat appreciated, welcome to the club. Perfectionism wears lipstick, loves a checklist, and quietly squeezes profit until it taps out. I once spent an afternoon naming Google Drive folders like they were royal babies. The color-coding looked gorgeous, the branding gleamed, the contracts read like a NASA launch sequence. Meanwhile, profit took a nap. Perfectionism speaks in phrases like “attention to detail” and “brand integrity,” and then it lures you into busywork with a scented candle and a label maker. Sales create oxygen. Invoices create grown-woman freedom. Progress loves speed, and speed loves decisions. The Zoom Freeze That Made Me Money I built a pitch deck that belonged on a keynote stage, complete with animations smoother than a jazz sax solo. The big day arrived, I shared my screen, and the universe decided I needed a lesson. My face froze mid-sneeze, eyes at half-mast, mouth shaped like a confused guppy. Chat filled with supportive comments while I stared at my own frozen portrait, thinking, “This is how legends are made, apparently.” I killed the deck, came back on, and talked like a human over coffee. We laughed, we mapped a plan, we aligned on outcomes. Contract signed the same day. Connection closes. Fancy slides entertain. Perfectionism Wears Designer Heels And Carries A Stopwatch Perfectionism loves expensive stationery and hates launch dates. It craves control, worships polish, and turns every task into a mini-meticulous museum exhibit. Great for galleries, terrible for growth. Progress follows momentum, and momentum follows movement.

The Overwhelm Trap. How to Stop Drowning in To-Do Lists and Start Swimming in Profit

By Jo Rawald • October 20, 2025

You ever have one of those days where you’re so busy that you forget if you’ve eaten, showered, or responded to that one email from two Tuesdays ago? You’ve got 47 tabs open, a half-drunk cup of coffee somewhere under the invoices, and your phone keeps dinging like you’re Beyoncé, but instead of fan mail, it’s reminders from apps you don’t even remember downloading. Welcome to The Overwhelm Trap. Population: Every entrepreneur who’s ever thought multitasking was a strategy. Let me tell you about the Tuesday that broke me. Now, you must know, Taco Tuesdays are my very favorite day of the week but, this particular Tuesday had Catastrophe written all over t! It started with my laptop deciding it needed “an update.” You know, the kind that takes longer than a human gestation period. So, like any ambitious entrepreneur, I used the time “productively.” Which means I started sorting receipts, checking emails, answering DMs, updating a Canva graphic, and scheduling social posts…all at once…while on hold with QuickBooks support. Somewhere around hour two, I realized I’d been holding for so long that I could recite their entire hold music playlist by heart. That’s when it hit me: I wasn’t running my business. My business was running me straight into the ground. And if you’ve ever found yourself working 12-hour days yet feeling like you accomplished approximately nothing, you know exactly what I mean. The problem? We mistake being busy for being effective. We wear overwhelm like a badge of honor, as if being exhausted somehow makes us more legitimate. It’s like saying, “I haven’t slept in three days, but I color-coded my calendar!” Congratulations! You’re organized and unconscious. I used to think multitasking was my superpower. Turns out, it’s more like kryptonite in cute shoes. Because here’s the thing, when you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing that moves the needle. You’re just spinning in circles, sipping lukewarm coffee, and wondering why your revenue looks like it’s on a diet. Entrepreneurial overwhelm sneaks up quietly. It doesn’t start with chaos; it starts with good intentions. You say yes to one collaboration, then another. You take one course, join two masterminds, volunteer for a panel, start a podcast, and decide, ‘ Sure, why not? Now’s the perfect time to redesign your website!’ Before you know it, your to-do list has become a scroll that could double as a red carpet. And here’s the kicker, you think all of it’s necessary. You convince yourself you’re building momentum, when you’re really just building fatigue. I once had a client, let’s call her “Captain Chaos.” She was brilliant, driven, and always “so busy.” But her revenue had flatlined. When I audited her business, I found she had twelve different offers, five lead magnets, three unmonetized social platforms, and seventeen active software subscriptions (twelve of which she couldn’t even remember signing up for). She didn’t need more strategy. She needed subtraction. Because overwhelm is a math problem, it’s addition without intention. Here’s what I told her: If it doesn’t make you money, save you time, or increase your visibility, it’s a hobby. And unless your hobby is paying the mortgage, it doesn’t belong on your calendar. You want to get out of The Overwhelm Trap? Start by asking this one savage question every morning: “What’s the one thing I can do today that moves my business forward?” Not ten things. Not fifty. One. Then do it. And do it like your profit depends on it, because it does. See, success doesn’t come from juggling more. It comes from mastering what matters. The biggest shifts I’ve seen in women entrepreneurs happen when they stop performing productivity and start practicing profit. That’s when systems become sexy. That’s when automation turns into freedom. That’s when they stop working in their business and start working on it. You don’t need a longer to-do list. You need a shorter list of things that actually move the needle. Because busy doesn’t equal booked. And chaos doesn’t equal cash flow. When I finally learned to say “no” more than I said “sure,” everything changed. Revenue doubled. My sanity returned. I even started drinking hot coffee again. You want to know the best part? Profit showed up the moment I stopped trying to earn it through exhaustion. Now, my clients hear this from me all the time ➝ You can’t scale what you can’t simplify. If your business model requires you to work 80 hours a week just to survive, it’s not a business - it’s a hostage situation with office supplies. So here’s your challenge: Audit your week. Look at everything you do and ask: • Is this driving revenue? • Is this delegatable? • Is this repeatable or automatable? • Is this aligned with where I want to go? If it’s a no, it’s a no. Period. Because you can’t build a scalable empire while buried under busywork. And friend, you were never meant to be buried. You were meant to rise, reign, and run your empire like the Queen you are. So, grab your coffee (the one you’ll actually finish this time) and let’s talk. I’ll help you simplify your systems, streamline your strategy, and start scaling with sanity and profit on purpose. Book a coffee chat with me because you deserve a business that feels as good as it profits.

Red Alert It’s Business Audit Time

By Jo Rawald • October 19, 2025

Every woman entrepreneur has that one closet she refuses to open. You know the one, it’s filled with “I’ll handle that later” invoices, rogue automations, half-finished systems, and a business plan written back when TikTok was still a dance app. Congratulations, you’ve entered the zone of avoidance known as… The Business Audit. If you’ve ever uttered the words, “I’m too busy to audit my business,” I’ve got news for you. You’re not too busy. You’re in too deep. And before you grab your emotional support latte, let me clarify something. A Business Audit isn’t punishment for entrepreneurs who can’t keep up with spreadsheets. It’s the grown-up, CEO-level version of cleaning your room before the guests arrive. Except this time, your “guests” are clients, cash flow, and credibility, and they all want receipts. The Day My Systems Gave Me the Middle Finger Years ago, I walked into my office ready to conquer the day. I had a to-do list that could’ve doubled as a scroll from ancient Rome, a coffee so strong it could power a Tesla, and a sense of optimism so bold it was borderline delusional. Then I opened QuickBooks. Suddenly, the confidence drained faster than my checking account after tax season. There were mystery transactions labeled “Ask CPA,” invoices that hadn’t been sent, and something horrifying called “Uncategorized Expense,” which I’m convinced was just QuickBooks’ way of mocking me. And don’t even get me started on my automations. At some point, my CRM decided that every lead was named “Test Contact,” and my email system was sending 14-day nurture sequences… from 2021. By noon, I wasn’t running a business. I was performing emergency triage on a digital dumpster fire. That day, I learned something important. You can’t scale chaos. You can only disguise it, until it hits your bank account, your sanity, or your reputation. Why Every CEO Needs a Business Audit (Even If You Think You Don’t) A Business Audit is your empire’s annual checkup. It’s what separates the entrepreneurs who build legacies from the ones who just build stress. Think of it as your Profit MRI. You’re scanning for leaks, inefficiencies, and lazy systems before they start siphoning cash and opportunities. Here’s where most women entrepreneurs go wrong: they rely on vibes instead of verified data. They say things like, “Oh, I think sales are up this quarter,” or “We should probably review our expenses soon.” That’s like guessing whether your house is on fire based on how warm the living room feels. So, if you haven’t conducted a Business Audit in the last year, consider this your wake-up call. The Four Business Audit Zones That Reveal Everything

The ROI of Sanity. How I Stopped Hustling Like a Maniac and Started Scaling Like a Strategist

By Jo Rawald • October 18, 2025

If your to-do list looks like it was created by a caffeinated raccoon with a Wi-Fi password and a dream, you’re my kind of woman. There was a time when my business looked like a fireworks show, loud, colorful, and slightly dangerous. My energy was endless, my calendar was unhinged, and my brain was basically running on espresso fumes and spreadsheets. My revenue looked fine on paper, but my sanity had packed a suitcase, left a sticky note that said “You got this,” and gone on a beach retreat without me. Then, during one particularly chaotic Tuesday involving my barking dog, three overlapping Zoom calls, and a mislabeled file named “Final-Final-FINAL-v3,” I realized something. I didn’t need more hustle. I needed a strategy. The Tuesday That Changed Everything It started the way most breakthroughs do, with a meltdown. My inbox had multiplied overnight, my schedule looked like a losing game of Tetris, and Adelaide, my dog, had eaten my protein bar again. By 2 PM, I was staring at my screen trying to remember if I’d eaten lunch or just inhaled my own panic. Then, in a rare moment of divine clarity, I shut the laptop, poured coffee, and sat down for what I now call my Board Meeting With Jesus. That’s when I realized my business wasn’t overwhelming me. My systems were. I was running my empire on adrenaline instead of automation, and it was time for a revolution. Hustle Isn’t a Strategy, It’s a Symptom Somewhere along the way, entrepreneurs were told that working ourselves into the ground was noble. That long hours meant success, and chaos meant we were “in demand.” Spoiler: chaos doesn’t equal cash flow. I wasn’t leading my business. I was chasing it. Every fire, every email, every random “brilliant idea” had me sprinting like an Olympic athlete with a caffeine addiction. I thought I was being productive, but I was just busy. Then one morning, mid-color-coding my seventeenth calendar, I realized something wild. My systems were built for survival, not scale. The Question That Built My Empire So I asked myself a question that changed everything: “What’s the simplest, smartest, most strategic way to do this once and make it work forever?” That one question became the heartbeat of my business. I started replacing emotional decisions with logical systems. I streamlined my tech stack, trained my team to operate independently, and built dashboards that told me the truth about my business, without the drama. Within months, my time, team, and sanity were all working in harmony. My profits climbed, my stress tanked, and I rediscovered what it felt like to enjoy the business I built. Why Systems Are the Secret to Sanity Systems aren’t boring. They’re the ultimate freedom tool. They give you more creativity, more energy, and more space to lead instead of react. When everything runs smoothly, your business becomes lighter, faster, and infinitely more profitable. You wake up with clarity instead of chaos. Your team knows what to do without needing a daily pep talk. Your clients feel the difference because you’re leading from intention instead of exhaustion. Every system you build is a gift to your future self, and the ROI of peace is priceless. The Coffee That Made Me $10,000 One morning, I was having coffee with a fellow business owner who looked me dead in the eye and said, “Jo, your business is brilliant, but you look like you haven’t slept since 2019. Is your company serving you, or are you serving it?” I laughed, but the question landed. That week, I did a complete business audit. Revenue looked great. Expenses were fine. Sleep - none. So I made one decision that changed everything: Every action must create both profit and peace. If it doesn’t align with that, it doesn’t make the plan. Period. That single rule became the foundation of how I help women scale today. The Sanity ROI Formula Scaling smart means building structure before burnout. My five sanity-saving strategies are simple: 1. Automate the obvious. Anything you repeat more than three times deserves a system. 2. Delegate with precision. When your team knows what to do, you stop micromanaging and start leading. 3. Audit your time weekly. Every hour should pay in profit or peace. 4. Trust data, not drama. Numbers give clarity. Chaos gives confusion. 5. Schedule thinking time. Strategy is your greatest multiplier. Protect it like your favorite coffee mug. Once I implemented these, my revenue climbed while my work hours dropped. That’s when I coined it - the Sanity ROI. The Morning That Proved It Worked A few weeks after I redesigned my business systems, I woke up to a quiet phone. No emergencies, no fires, no stress. For the first time in years, I felt rested. My husband asked if I was okay, and I said, “I think I’m just… calm.” That calm was worth more than any client contract. Because peace doesn’t slow growth, it powers it. Every Woman Entrepreneur Deserves Sanity and Scale If you’re reading this, you’re already closer to peace than you think. You don’t need to chase balance, you need to build it into your systems. You’re not made to survive business. You’re made to thrive in it. Sanity and success belong together. Your Invitation to Sanity and Scale Grab coffee with me. Ask me how to build systems that protect your peace and multiply your profit because your business should work as beautifully as it looks on paper. We’ll design the structure that lets you scale with ease, clarity, and conviction.

Faith, Family & Funnels

By Jo Rawald • October 17, 2025

If running your business ever feels like a circus act featuring coffee, prayer, and smoke alarms, welcome to the show. You’re doing something extraordinary: leading with purpose, profit, and the occasional kitchen mishap that keeps you humble. Faith, family, and funnels don’t compete. They collaborate. Each plays a role in the empire you’re building. Faith fuels your conviction, family fuels your why, and funnels fuel your freedom. I’ve built a business grounded in strategy, systemized with precision, and sustained by grace. God’s fingerprints are all over it, especially when Adelaide, my Doberman-Rottweiler mix, decides that my Zoom calls are her cue for spontaneous performance art. Every time that happens, I’m reminded that divine timing is real and laughter is a leadership skill. Faith keeps me focused. Family keeps me steady. Funnels keep me scaling. Together, they form the most powerful ecosystem a woman entrepreneur can design. The Casserole Chronicles On a Tuesday that started with good intentions and ended with a smoking oven, I was teaching a live workshop on “Profit-Driven Funnels.” Ring light glowing, slides polished, Beyoncé queued for the intro. Everything was dialed in. Then came the smell. Not metaphorical smoke, the literal, call-your-insurance-agent kind. My husband yelled, “Honey, do you need the fire extinguisher or the tongs?” Meanwhile, I’m explaining conversion rates with one hand and wafting fumes with the other. The women on that call laughed until they cried. One said, “Jo, this is the best funnel training I’ve ever attended.” That’s when it clicked. Business isn’t about picture-perfect moments - it’s about presence. The kind that smells like burnt cheese and still makes an impact. That’s what faith looks like in motion. You lead, you laugh, and you keep the camera rolling. Faith as a Business Strategy Faith is more than a belief - it’s a business plan. It’s the operating system behind every move I make. I’ve prayed over client contracts, new launches, and tax season. I’ve thanked God for clarity, contracts, and caffeine, sometimes in the same breath. Every prayer is a business decision. Every act of gratitude is a growth strategy. Faith isn’t a side note in my story; it’s the foundation that makes it sustainable. There’s power in knowing Who’s guiding your goals and why you’re building them in the first place. Faith strengthens your leadership and sharpens your decisions. It gives your hustle purpose. Family ➝ The Heartbeat of Ambition My husband’s a pilot, which means some nights dinner’s at 6 p.m., and some nights it’s a voice memo that says, “Don’t forget to eat.” Adelaide and the cats think they’re coworkers, and honestly, they’ve earned it. Family brings meaning to the madness. It’s the reminder that freedom is the goal, not frenzy. When I coach women, I remind them, your business should support your life, not steal it. Success means being able to pour a glass of wine, close your laptop, and breathe in peace without guilt. Family isn’t the pause in your progress. It’s the reason for it. Funnels ➝ God’s Favorite Growth Model You want to talk funnels? My favorite topic. Because I swear, God was the first strategist. Creation was the original lead magnet. Every miracle followed a process. Awareness. Interest. Desire. Action. Divine funnel flow. Funnels are ministry in motion. They’re how you serve more people, reach more hearts, and expand your impact without breaking your back. When I teach funnels, I’m teaching stewardship. Stewardship of your talent, time, and testimony. Every funnel I design has a mission, to multiply influence, impact, and income for women who are ready to serve with excellence. That’s holy work. Finding Peace in the Punchline Every “oops” moment in business carries a blessing. The burnt casseroles, the barking dogs, the frozen screens, they’re reminders that growth doesn’t need to be graceful to be powerful. Perfection never built an empire. Presence did. Faith directs your path. Family reminds you to rest. Funnels fuel your freedom. Together, they create harmony, the kind that turns chaos into comedy and effort into legacy. Grab Coffee with Me If your days look like a divine mix of spreadsheets, strategy, and smoke alarms, we should absolutely talk. I help women design businesses that pay well, serve deeply, and still leave room for laughter and grace. Grab coffee with me because you’re ready to lead with faith, build with structure, and scale with strategy that supports your life.