Explore every episode of the podcast Built in Public

you don't need a million followers to get paid by brands. you don't need an agent. you don't even need to be famous.
this is your no-bs guide to your first brand deal: how i went from $5,000 my first year to $250,000-$300,000 this year, every platform and agency i use, and how my husband, with only 3,000 followers, has landed a $50,000 brand deal i've never gotten with almost a million followers. 
so yeah - let's get into this.
grab my brand outreach templates below ⤵️ 
docs.google.com/document/d/11FhKsM8bTHbLvnjs-GSTdUqZ78ET-rRz/edit?rtpof=true&sd=true&tab=t.0

📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
02:43 You don't need a million followers (here's what you need)
03:16 Cheat code #1: brand partnership marketplaces
11:58 Do this today: apply to 20 marketplaces
12:26 Cheat code #2: work with an agency
15:53 How to find an agency
17:09 What brands really pay (and the $50K deal I've never gotten)
19:14 Is affiliate marketing worth it?
19:55 The LinkedIn trick brands can't ignore
22:00 Why I always turn one post into a series
23:36 How to cold outreach brands (without an agency)
25:49 My final brand deal rule
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

hi friends. did i tell you how I turned $8,500 I didn't have into a program that's made me $300,000 in the last year?
that's basically what this whole solo episode is: me opening up my bank account and walking you through it.
I'm covering my 100 free calls strategy, the exact questions I ask people to build a real offer out of thin air, and then I rank almost every single way I've ever tried to monetize my content, close to 29 of them, from the ones that pay my rent to the ones that were honestly a waste of my time.
some of these numbers are going to surprise you, some of them are small, and I'm not gatekeeping any of it.
let me know in the comments if you want the actual templates I used to turn my free call transcripts into content and offers!! ⤵️
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
01:08 How I make money from my content 
02:12 My 100 free calls strategy 
14:29 The advice two multi-millionaires both gave me 
19:03 Ranking every way I've made money 
21:51 Patreon and the "1,000 true fans" math 
34:07 The challenge that made me $60,000 in a week 
30:05 Why I charge $1,500 an hour for pick my brain calls 
37:14 The free script that fixed my worst webinar 
39:36 How Maven made me half a million dollars 
40:58 My six-figure book deal, and paying it back 
44:17 My brand deals: $10,000 to $250,000 a year 
49:43 My rule for picking affiliate partnerships
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

I've been wanting to bring this guest on for a while, because she's one of the main reasons I have a book at all.
I'm sitting down with the incredible Thea Diklich-Newell, the editor who acquired and shaped Career Cheat Codes, to talk about how my dream happened and how it can happen for you too.
a little snippet of what we got into and how it all started: a coworker of hers sent her my TikTok series one day, she saw something in it, and she emailed me asking if I'd ever thought about turning it into a book. that's it. that's the whole "how do I get discovered" story everyone assumes is more complicated than it is.
so I brought her on to break down what editors are looking for when they're scrolling your content, what "authority" means to a publisher if you don't have a fancy degree behind your name, the real red flags that make her pass on a pitch, and the one boring, unsexy habit that made her whole team want to work with me before we'd even signed anything.
this episode is the roadmap for anyone who has this constant thought "I should write a book about this"
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
06:36 Inside the Big Five: what an imprint is and why it matters 
08:27 What "authority" means to an editor if you don't have the credentials 
12:41 The free "hot tip" hiding in the back of every book you own 
15:47 The one habit editors wish more authors had (it's not talent) 
21:15 Why "my book is for everyone" is the fastest way to sell zero copies 
28:36 Why you have to be okay hearing no 100 times before the one yes
30:48 The actual cheat code for landing a book deal, and it costs nothing 
34:46 Why self-publishing doesn't close the door to a book deal anymore
36:47 The books Thea can't stop talking about this year 
39:25 What she's telling authors to write about next, in the age of AI 
42:03 Her two-question test for finding your own book idea
About Thea Diklich-Newell 
Thea Diklich-Newell is an editor at Ten Speed Press, part of the Crown Publishing Group within Penguin Random House, where she focuses on prescriptive nonfiction: self-help, career, parenting, and relationship books built on real authority and lived experience rather than just a big following. She joined Ten Speed in 2024 after editorial roles at Little, Brown and the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, where she got her start vetting manuscripts from the agent's side of the business. She's also the editor behind Career Cheat Codes.
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

okay so I recorded this one about to burst, and my baby is already here. wild!!!!!
so this whole episode is a Q&A, straight from what you all sent me. the spiciest, most unhinged personal brand questions in my inbox, answered. 
in this one: why "I'm multi-passionate" isn't a real problem, why you'd never let a friend treat you the way your boss does, and the exact system that kept me posting daily even at nine months pregnant.
heads up, "fuck your niche" gets said more than once. I stand by it.
let's get into the questions.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
👉 Want your question featured on a future episode? Subscribe to my newsletter, that's where I send these out and where I answer some of them directly, for free → artisanal-originator-6888.kit.com/0e038bf26a
📱 Joel Monteleone, for help getting events and community sponsorships → @joel_monteleone 🛠️
01:14 Why "how do I make an extra $5,000 this month" is the wrong question to ask 
05:23 fuck your niche
07:42 my daily co-working system that ended my procrastination for good 
11:06 The corporate LinkedIn fear question i keep getting
21:44 The client who proved "I'm multi-passionate" was never really the problem
29:57 Stop posting "AISLOP" if you want LinkedIn to actually show your posts
36:20 How to build your "video muscle" without spending hours editing
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Today I'm sitting down with Cru Mahoney, a mindset and personal brand coach who posted every single day for two years to almost nobody, then had one video hit 53 million views and go from 7K to 300K followers in a month, and this episode made me rethink my entire relationship with consistency.
I've spent years listening my audience they needed a strategy before they post anything. meanwhile, this guy posted twice a day for two years with 2,000 views a piece, no strategy, no niche, no plan, just a promise he made to himself, and then one post did more numbers than most people's entire careers.
he came on to share exactly how he built the brand, the three-level framework, the philosophy on niches, the whole thing he believes about manipulation and leadership that most people are too scared to say out loud. 
grab a coffee, this one's a lot!! ☕️
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.

Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/

06:12 Two years of posting daily to almost nobody, then one video hits 53 million views 
14:49 The brainwashing video he has coming out, and the client story behind it
22:45 Why he turns down the easy $140K-a-month niche business
25:59 Rage is a legitimate reason to start posting 
34:46 What happens once ambitious people finally "make it" 
46:17 Why he calls follower counts "trash," even with 400K of his own 
50:24 His most controversial post yet: turn off the news

About Cru Mahoney
Cru Mahoney didn't set out to build a personal brand. What started as a private promise to himself, running every single morning since June 13, 2018 to work through years of anxiety, turned into two years of posting the process online to almost no one. Then one video, about the things he doesn't do (drink, smoke, party), hit 53 million views and took him from 7,000 followers to 300,000 in a single month.
Connect with guest
📹 YouTube: @crumahoney
👍 Instagram: @crumahoneyWebsite: crumahoney.com/
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

hi friends!! today I'm sitting down with Rachel Hague, co-host at School of Hard Knocks (yes, THE 23 million-follower media company) and this episode made me want to fire my own excuses.
I've spent actual years being too intimidated to walk up to people I found impressive. meanwhile, this woman casually walks up to actual billionaires on the street with a camera and just... asks. no plan, no permission, no invite. gets a yes anyway.
oh, and she also beat out 950 other women for her job. so my "I'm not qualified enough" is officially retired.
she came on to share exactly how she builds credibility out of thin air, the framework, the mindset, all of it. no "just be yourself" fluff, no vague advice. the real framework.
grab a coffee, this one's a lot ☕️
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
02:53 Inside the street interviews: 100% unstaged, and here's how she handles getting rejected on camera
09:41 The neuroscientist quote that ruined "walking into a room" for me forever
20:12 "Authority hacking": steal credibility from anyone, legally
23:50 Credibility k*lls all bad attitudes
30:18 Why she'd rather own "a piece of the watermelon than the entire grape"
31:07 The job every company needs right now and doesn't know it yet
33:55 950 women applied for her role. here's how she got picked
44:11 The confidence quote that stuck with me long after we stopped recording
About Rachel
Rachell got her start filming funny videos with her little sister, who has disabilities, to encourage her through her health journey. That was the accidental beginning of her personal brand. From there, she built a following connecting female entrepreneurs, hosting 100+ in-person and virtual events across Austin and the U.S.
She's now a host at School of Hard Knocks, a 23-million-follower media company, where she runs a channel taking viewers behind the scenes of business owners' real day-to-day. Launched about 6 months ago with zero cross-promotion from the main channel, it's already crossed 100,000 followers. In her words: "I'm truly just being a student."
Connect with Rachel
💼 LinkedIn: Rachel Hague
👍 Instagram: @rachellhague
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

hey friends!! welcome back to another solo episode. it's been way too long and I have so much to say before my mat leave!!🤰🤍
okay so. I once paid a woman $100 to clean my house, then spent the entire hour standing outside texting her and watching through the window like a complete stalker.
five years later, I run a team of 20+, including a COO, a social media team, sales team, a video editor, and a roster of virtual assistants, and I barely manage any of them directly.
and guess what? I’m sharing the exact delegation system I used to get there. the real timeline, the real numbers, and every limiting belief that almost stopped me along the way, including the ones I was still fighting at 9.5 months pregnant when I recorded this.
this is 45 minutes of EVERYTHING I know about building a team, delegating without losing your mind, and getting out of your own way. and I made a free doc to go with it so you can implement it.
👉 FREE Delegation Guide: grab the exact SOP templates, agency links, and books I mention → docs.google.com/document/d/1VAZ8UI-L3Tx-2qkXIM4VxZk7bCQ_S9V6yd51h0klL5Q/edit?tab=t.0
👉 Ready to hire your first VA?? I personally use and trust NexusPoint. Book a free discovery call with their team here → go.nexuspt.io/courtneyjohnson
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
03:53 The $100 house cleaner mistake that taught me how to actually let go
06:17 My first virtual assistant, and why I stopped paying $800 a month for one
16:16 The Beyoncé myth about time that nobody wants to admit is a lie
22:07 The $500 cheat code my friend used to poach the best VA candidates out of a course
28:28 Why "I'll delegate once I'm big" has it completely backwards
31:47 The "waste tax": what it actually costs to grow
45:57 What you're really paying for at $10, $20, $30, and $50 an hour
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

April Whitney was eating under 1,200 calories a day, training like an elite athlete, and still couldn't figure out why her body wasn't changing. Then she started working as a copywriter in pharmaceuticals, and the answer was right in front of her the whole time.
April is a former competitive fencer, pharmaceutical copywriter, and the founder of Petite PWR, a fitness and nutrition platform built exclusively for women 5'4" and under. 
In this episode we get into how she went from posting her body transformation on a secret Instagram account to building a business with 4,000 coaching clients, a team of 20, and a 150,000-person email list with a 48% open rate !!!!! 
Here’s something you probably didn’t know but it’s freaking important and probably relevant to you: April posted every single day for five years STRAIGHT without missing one day, including Christmas. 
She talks about why continuity and consistency are what build a brand, why getting views and building a brand are two completely different games, and the secret sauuuuce behind her best-performing YouTube videos. 
👉 PRESS PLAY. Your niche is about to feel a lot less scary.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
04:09 The secret Instagram account she started because she was too embarrassed to post
08:06 Why your customer knows what they want but not what they need
10:08 What AI did to the coaching industry
13:29 The funnel: from free content to 4,000 coaching clients
21:00 Why she gives 99% of her content away for free
35:41 Why continuity and consistency are the only content strategy that works
43:35 Five years of posting every single day without missing once
About April
April Victoria Whitney is a former competitive fencer who spent 18 years in the sport with dreams of making the Olympics. After retiring, she worked as a science copywriter in pharmaceuticals, where she worked on early GLP-1 research, before founding Petite PWR, a fitness and nutrition platform dedicated to women 5'4" and shorter. What started as a $65 ebook has grown into a coaching business with 4,000 clients, a team of 20, and a 150,000-person email list. April is not just building a brand, she is building a movement.
Connect with April
🎙️ Youtube: April Whitney
👍 Instagram: @aprilvwhitney
🎶 TikTok: @aprilvwhitney
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Adama posted her first YouTube video to about five views, most of them people she already knew, while working full-time as a site reliability engineer. She never quit that job. She built a 180,000+ subscriber channel and she still hasn't left engineering.
And in this episode she gives away the exact system to build, and maintain, 2 full careers exactly like hers.
We get into how she built a personal brand as a full-time engineer without ever going all-in, why she started on the platform with the highest barrier to entry instead of the easiest one, and how she turned "I have 20 different passions" from a branding problem into an actual formula.
She shares the formula she uses with people who feel too scattered to niche down (skills times passion times energy, to the power of values), why she turned down a fitness video that was already pulling 100,000 to 200,000 views because it wasn't the brand she wanted to build, and the real reason her first in-person event sold out almost entirely from YouTube. 
Depth beats reach in ways most creators underestimate. 200,000 people on YouTube gets you a sold-out room. 200,000 on TikTok gets you nothing when you need people to show up in real life. Adama explains exactly why watch time built her opportunities in a way follower count never could.
Oh, and she names the one book that reframes every "disadvantage" you think you have as your actual unique positioning. It's a two-word title, and it might change how you describe yourself on your resume.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
3:59 The opportunities that came from building trust, not just an audience
7:56 Why FOMO, anger, or wanting to prove yourself are legitimate reasons to start
9:04 The "Renaissance" framing that gives you permission to take a season off
12:00 Why she wouldn't take brand deals that spent down her audience's trust
12:35 Why she stopped calling herself a "creator" and started calling herself a founder
16:26 "Crack Mode": the season she disappeared from her social life to write her book
23:00 The Formula: Skills x Passion x Energy, to the power of Values
25:40 Why she turned down 200,000 views on a video that was already working
About Adama
Adama is a site reliability engineer and content creator with 180,000+ YouTube subscribers, known for building a personal brand around self-improvement and multiple passions while working full-time as an engineer. 
Connect with Adama
🎙️ Youtube: Adama Lorna
👍 Instagram: @adamalorna
💼 LinkedIn: Adama Lorna
🎶 TikTok: @adamalorna
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Tobias Allen was knocking on doors at 16 with no job, no connections, and no plan, and by 25 he was Director of Marketing at Acquisition.com working directly with Alex and Leila Hormozi.
And in this episode he gives away everything.
We get into how he went from door-to-door sales as a teenager to working with two of the fastest-growing personal brands on the planet, Hormozi and Simon Squibb. 
He shares the backdoor job application hack that gets you in front of decision makers, why being the best student in the room is the most underrated career cheat code, and the pizza box stunt that landed someone a job at a major company. Yes, really.
We also get into money. Brands are quietly paying creators between $15K and $50K a month for consistent content. 
HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS are moving out of traditional media and into the creator economy right now. And the creators who understand how to position themselves for that are going to win big. Tobias explains exactly how.
Oh, and I asked him what both Hormozi and Simon Squibb do that almost nobody else does. His answer is 2 words. And it's probably the thing you've been putting off.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
04:01 The MAN formula: how to find clients who already have a budget
07:22 The backdoor job application hack that gets you in front of decision makers
09:39 The pizza box stunt that landed a sales job
12:01 How much he invested in himself, and why it was worth it
16:39 What putting your life on hold actually looks like
19:11 The three-act storytelling framework behind Simon Squibb's brand
25:14 How to find your content format by looking internally
26:06 The outlier method, double down on what's already working
About Tobias
Tobias Allen is a growth strategist and content expert who served as Director of Marketing at Acquisition.com under Alex and Layla Hormozi and now works with Simon Squibb, one of the fastest-growing personal brands in the world. Starting with door-to-door sales at 16 and investing over $100K in his own education, Tobias built his expertise from the ground up and has since helped scale some of the biggest creator brands on the planet.
Connect with Tobias
💼 LinkedIn: Tobias Allen
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Simon Alexander Ong was let go from Lehman Brothers the day it collapsed in 2008. He had no plan. No backup. Just a decision to finally figure out what he really wanted in life.
That decision led to a Penguin book deal, a YouTube video with 4.1 million views, and a global personal brand built entirely from scratch. And in this episode, he gives away EVERYTHING.
The 90-rejections-in-90-days challenge that made failure feel like a game, the second Instagram and YouTube account hack that trains the algorithm to hand you viral content on a silver platter, the hotel lobby move he pulled at the One Billion Followers Summit in Dubai that put him in the same room as Mr. Beast, Will Smith, and Simon Squibb... on purpose ‼️
Oh, and if you've ever said "I don't have time to post"... Simon has something to say about that. Pull up your screen time first.
This one is packed. You're going to want to take notes.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
01:24 From Lehman Brothers to building a global personal brand
04:14 Why you have to grieve your old self before stepping into the new one
08:19 Not all risk takers win, but all winners take risks
12:25 Seeking failure, the Sarah Blakely story that changed everything
17:38 "I don't have time" is code for "this isn't a priority"
18:09 The 90 rejections in 90 days challenge
21:33 How to reverse engineer the mechanics behind viral content
23:48 The text post format that's outperforming every reel on his page
27:07 The second account algorithm hack nobody is talking about
33:20 The life you want is built in the margins of the life you have
35:29 How to manufacture your own luck
About Simon
Simon Alexander Ong is a performance coach, keynote speaker, and the author of Energize, published by Penguin. Malaysian-Chinese by background, Simon left a career in financial services after the 2008 crash and built a personal brand from the ground up, coaching high performers in leadership and entrepreneurship, speaking on stages around the world, and growing a YouTube channel with over 4 million views on a single video. His mission is to help people live a better story.
Connect with Simon
👍 Instagram: @simonalexandero
💼 LinkedIn: Simon Alexander Ong
🎙️ YouTube: @simonalexandero
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Anthony Smith was about to quit editing forever the night he saw the Diary of a CEO job posting. He'd just told his girlfriend he was done. She said give it one more chance. 
He stayed up all night building a portfolio site on Wix, tracked down the co-founder's email, and turned a 20-minute job interview into a two-hour conversation.
Now he's the Director of Trailers behind the content that took Stephen Bartlett's YouTube from 300K to 15 million subscribers. And in this episode he's giving away everything: the storytelling frameworks, the cliffhanger technique, why your hook is actually killing your retention, and the real reason DOAC grew so fast that has nothing to do with production budget or Stephen's fame.
Oh, and he uses I Am Legend to explain why failing publicly is the smartest content strategy you can have. That part alone is worth the 48 minutes 🤯
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
04:33 How he turned a Wix site into the most coveted content job in podcasting
06:34 The one step above method, why your application is getting ignored
19:38 Why information without storytelling will never convert
21:03 Your hook is working against you
24:09 The cliffhanger technique DOAC uses to turn reels into podcast listeners
26:05 Why going viral is the wrong goal
38:54 What I Am Legend taught him about experimentation
18:49 Effort and care beats talent. Every single time.
20:29 The real reason DOAC hit 15 million subscribers
About Anthony
Anthony Smith is the Director of Trailers at Diary of a CEO. Entirely self-taught, with a background in film, TV, and advertising, he joined DOAC when the channel had 300K subscribers and has been central to its growth to over 15 million. He shares storytelling and content creation tips on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Connect with Anthony
👍 Instagram: @anthonyr.smith
💼 LinkedIn: Anthony Smith
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Alexandra Steinacker-Clark got her foot in the door at Sotheby's through a cold coffee request, built 27K followers on LinkedIn without a strategy, and landed a book deal with a Hachette subsidiary through a LinkedIn DM that sat unread for five months.
Alexandra is the host of the 'All About Art' podcast and the author of 'Working in Art: How to Build a Career in the Art World', the book that finally tells you how to break into one of the most closed-off industries in the world 🫳🎤
In this episode, we get into how she broke into the art industry with no connections, no insider access, and no roadmap. She shares the EXACT cold outreach move that got her in the door at Sotheby's, why taking a "lowly" job at a big name is one of the smartest career moves you can make, and how she built her entire personal brand by shining the spotlight on other people instead of herself.
Also, Alexandra grew 27K followers in LinkedIn without a content strategy, without posting every day, and without ever optimizing a single thing. 
We also get into the book deal. Twenty cold submissions, five months of silence, and one LinkedIn DM that changed everything. 
If you've been telling yourself your industry is too traditional, too conservative, or too closed off for a personal brand, this episode is your reality check. YOU DESERVE MORE. 
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
📗 Working in Art - Alexandra Steinacker-Clark
Alexandra's book is the ultimate guide to building a career in the arts. Fourteen chapters, fourteen different art careers, and the real stories of the people actually doing the work.
Order yours →www.amazon.com/Working-Art-Find-Living-World/dp/184091954X
05:34 Why a "lowly" job at a big name is a career cheat code
09:20 How she built her brand by shining the spotlight on other people
14:30 How the podcast became the foundation of everything
18:00 How she put together a book proposal from scratch using YouTube
21:00 The LinkedIn DM that landed her a Hachette book deal
24:00 Twenty cold submissions and what she learned from every no
25:14 Why LinkedIn works even when you're not trying
28:06 Done is better than perfect - always
30:00 What sustainable personal branding actually looks like
About Alexandra
Alexandra Steinacker-Clark is a London-based American-Austrian art historian, podcaster, and author of Working In Art: How to Build a Career in the Art World.
 
She obtained her BA in History of Art at University College London and continued her education at Goldsmiths University with an MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy. Her specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.
 
Steinacker is the founder and host of the 'All About Art' Podcast, which covers the variety of professional paths that exist in the arts and cultural sector, streamed in over 115 countries worldwide.
Connect with Alexandra
👍 Instagram: @alexandrasteinacker
💼 LinkedIn: Alexandra Steinacker-Clark
🌐 Website:  alexandrasteinacker.com/
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Chandler Bolt was painting houses door to door at 18, getting cussed out and threatened, and then dropped out of college to co-author his first book at 23. Now his company publishes two to five books every single day.
Chandler Bolt is the founder of Self-Publishing School, one of the leading platforms for writing, publishing, and launching a book. He's helped over 7,000 authors bring their books to life. In this episode, we get into why he waited until eight figures to start his personal brand and why he now calls that a mistake, how a book creates instant authority that no amount of followers can buy, and the exact reason your unwritten book is already worth money.
We get into the self-publishing vs traditional publishing debate, the real pros, the real cons, and what nobody tells you about signing with a big publisher. Chandler breaks down how he uses free books to drive millions in revenue every year, why the book is the bait and the business is the prize, and the mindset shift that gets people out of book purgatory and actually hitting publish.
We also get into the writing process. He shares the MORE writing method, how to write a book using your existing content, why giving yourself permission to write badly is the only way to start, and the strategy he'd use to write a book from scratch today, even with no audience and no idea where to begin.
If you've had a book outline sitting in your Google Drive for months, this episode is the push you've been waiting for.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
05:48 Why posting every day is rejection therapy
08:53 Why he waited until eight figures to start his personal brand
10:43 Opportunities don't go to the most qualified, they go to the most visible
14:36 The most expensive mistake most people make
18:13 The root word of authority is author
20:37 Why traditional publishing is an inferior model
25:00 How giving books away free drives millions in revenue
29:00 The book is the bait. The business is the prize.
29:51 The MORE writing method explained
34:03 How he wrote his first rough draft in a week
42:33 Why being too qualified works against you
45:08 How to use AI to write a better book without the slop
About Chandler
Chandler Bolt is the founder and CEO of Self-Publishing School, one of the leading platforms for writing, publishing, and launching a book. A college dropout who started his first six-figure business painting houses, Chandler co-authored his first book at 23 and has since helped over 7,000 authors bring their books to life. His company publishes two to five books every single day across every genre. Chandler is also the author of Published, his guide to self-publishing success.
Connect with Chandler
👍 Instagram: @chandler.bolt
💼 LinkedIn: Chandler Bolt
🌐 Website:  selfpublishing.com/courtney
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

The people closest to Keren Eldad thought her content was so embarrassing they offered her a loan, a place to live, and her old job back.

Keren Eldad, better known online as Coach Keren, is a coach, author, and speaker who built a business around mindset, identity, and behavior change. 

In this episode, we get into why Keren started calling herself “Coach Keren” before the business even existed, why claiming an identity before you feel ready matters, and the exact reason most people stay trapped in the cringe phase of building a personal brand. She explains why consistency is the only metric that matters in the beginning, why self-doubt is built on a false narrative, and how to stop waiting until you’re “qualified enough” to start sharing what you know.

We also get into what she calls “Purgatory” the place where people have 400 post drafts, multiple coaches, endless strategies, and still haven’t hit publish. Keren shares the mindset shift that’s helped thousands of clients finally take action, her “assume everybody likes you” rule, and why most fears around personal branding are just scarcity stories wearing different outfits.

Oh, we get into speaking. She breaks down how she landed two TEDx talks, why most aspiring speakers should stop waiting for invitations and start creating their own opportunities, and the outreach strategy she’d use if she wanted another TEDx talk tomorrow. 

Plus: books, comparison, criticism, trolls, and the one thing she believes every ambitious person owes themselves.
If you’ve been waiting until you feel ready to put yourself out there, this conversation is your wake-up call.

📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/

03:53 Why she started calling herself “Coach Keren” before she had clients
04:45 The imposter syndrome that came with claiming the identity first
09:13 Her boss asked if she needed her old job back
11:27 Cringe is just self-doubt wearing a costume
22:09 The danger of having 400 drafts and posting none of them
24:15 Taylor Swift’s approach to trolls.
34:23 The books she considers non-negotiable reading
36:19 How speaking became her career
42:47 The TEDx application strategy she’d use today
57:05 The real reason she wrote GILDED and GILT FREE

About Keren Eldad
A thought leader in the coaching world, Keren Eldad ("Coach Keren") specializes in taking high achievers out of the futility of constant pursuit and into the greatest levels of success and fulfillment. Her coaching clients include Olympic athletes, politicians, Hollywood stars, supermodels, Special Forces operatives and serial entrepreneurs, as well as renowned global organizations such as Estée Lauder, J.P. Morgan, and Nike.Recognized as a Top Ten Executive Coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Real Leaders Magazine, & Goop, Keren maintains gold-standard coaching credentials on top of her advanced academic degrees from The London School of Economics and the University of Jerusalem. She is also a former C-suite executive, who has lived and worked in 17 countries and on four continents, and now coaches leaders all around the globe in four languages: English, Spanish, Hebrew and French. With half a million views on her TEDx talks, and speaking engagements all over the world, Keren's message seems to transcend borders. She hopes it resonates with you. 

Connect with Keren
👍 Instagram: @coachkeren
💼 LinkedIn: Keren Eldad
🌐 Website: kereneldad.com

Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

VCs laughed Ruffin Mitchener out of interview rooms for posting on TikTok. Four years later, she's the angel investor writing the checks.
Now she’s built a six-figure creator business, landed recurring deals with brands like TurboTax and LinkedIn, and built one of the fastest-growing investing communities for women in startups and VC.
Ruffin started in accounting at Deloitte, moved into fintech startups, got her MBA at UCLA during COVID, and realized early that founder content was going to become mandatory. She was one of the FIRST WOMEN in venture capital and startup investing actually building publicly online while everyone else thought it was cringe!!
In this episode, we get into why personal branding matters before you need it, why founders should start creating content years before fundraising, and how Ruffin used TikTok and LinkedIn to build real leverage in venture capital. She also breaks down the exact cold outreach strategy she used to land brand deals, how she pitched hundreds of companies herself before hiring management, and why niche B2B creators are making more money than creators with 10x the audience size😲.
Oh, she even tells us how she is using Claude as a social media strategist and why cohort-based live courses are replacing recorded programs.
Plus: pregnancy as an entrepreneur, creator management contracts, and the one thing every creator is keeping secret right now... good short-form editors 😭
If you’re waiting until you feel qualified enough to start posting, this episode is your sign to stop waiting.
📘 Career Cheat Codes — IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
00:00 Pregnancy as an entrepreneur is a wild ride
03:54 The moment Ruffin realized content was the future of business
07:03 Your digital footprint is the new resume
08:53 The UCLA MBA post that changed everything for her content
10:13 People are done buying recorded courses
11:20 Ruffin’s full creator tech stack: CapCut, Descript, Claude
11:45 The relationship-building strategy founders ignore before fundraising
16:24 The biggest mistake Ruffin made building her brand
18:57 How she landed brand deals before having management
20:24 Why niche B2B creators make more money than giant influencer
About Ruffin Mitchener
Ruffin Mitchener is the creator and founder of Brydge Club, a media and investing community empowering 200K+ women to understand and navigate the world of angel investing and entrepreneurship. Less than 2% of VC funding goes to all-female founded teams - and less than 15% of venture capital decision-makers are women.
Ruffin has personally angel invested and led syndicate opportunities for Brydge Club angels into companies like POCA, Alinea Invest, Offe Market, GOB, Bumo, and Hey Jane. Investing alongside firms like Offline, True Ventures, and Baukunst. Prior to Brydge Club, Ruffin worked as an operator at an Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) consumer fintech startup, which brings hands-on operational experience to everything she backs today.
Connect with Ruffin
👍 Instagram: @ruffinmitchener
💼 LinkedIn: Ruffin Mitchener
🎶 TikTok: @ruffinmitchener
🌐 Website: brydgeclub.com
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

40 million LinkedIn views a month. Two to three videos a day. And she built it after returning venture capital money because she realized she hated the company she was building 😲
In this week's episode, I sat down with Avni Barman, founder of Gen She, creator, speaker, and one of the smartest people I know when it comes to audience building and career leverage. She started with a two-minute cold outreach habit in college and turned it into a network, a business, a media brand, and a global community for women in tech and entrepreneurship.
We get into the exact outreach system that helped her land opportunities before she had experience, why most people overcomplicate networking, and how she grew LinkedIn into a platform driving 40 million monthly views. She explains why virality is overrated if it’s not converting into real community, why she stopped chasing a million followers, and how she thinks about building content that actually gets people to care. 
If you’ve been waiting to feel qualified before you start posting, networking, pitching, or building something, this is your wake-up call!
📘 Career Cheat Codes — IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
03:01 The survival strategy that turned into her networking system
04:22 The two-minute cold outreach routine that changed her career
09:24 Speaking at Harvard Business School changed her perspective on entrepreneurship
10:17 She ran a 16,000-person paid virtual conference during the pandemic
17:28 She flew to India without sponsors or an event plan, and Microsoft joined the day before
28:14 How she hit 40 million LinkedIn views a month with video
29:17 “I’d literally rather die than get a job”
About Avni Barman
Founder & CEO of Gen She, a media platform and fund shaping the next generation of female founders. With 1M+ community, 400M+ views, and a 150K+ subscriber base, she has built one of the fastest-growing platforms for the next generation and is a leading voice on personal branding, virality, and building in the modern digital economy.
Connect with Avni
👍 Instagram: @avnibarman_
💼 LinkedIn: Avni Barman
🎙️YouTube: @avnibarman
🌐 Website: generationshe.co
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

I've just hit $200K on Stan. And John Hu built the platform that made it happen.
John is the founder of Stan, the platform that has now made over $500 million for creators, and he started it because he needed it for himself 😲
In this episode, John gives us his full take on why your first digital product is probably already sitting in your Google Drive, why the creators making the most money on Stan aren't the most talented ones, and why asking your audience what they want to buy is always the right first move.
We also get into why employee-generated content is one of the most slept-on growth strategies for founders right now, what being in rooms with Gary Vee and Steven Bartlett has actually taught him about obsession and hiring, and why watching your team members leave to build their own thing is a flex, not a failure.
Oh, and he walks us through Stanley: Stan's new AI head of content, and what it's already doing for engagement in the first three days of using it.
If you've been stuck in your head about your niche, your first offer, or your content strategy, this episode is going to shake all of that loose.
📌 Try Stan free for 3 days → stan.store
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT'S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
03:10 The employee-generated content strategy every founder is sleeping on 
06:28 What to tell the leader who's afraid their team will get too big and leave 
08:17 The Taylor Swift strategy: niche first, expand later 
10:07 Why "I help everyone" is why no one follows you 
11:00 What Steven Bartlett taught him about obsession and hiring 
13:57 The one thing every billionaire, athlete, and top comedian has in common 
32:10 How to figure out what your audience wants to buy 
33:07 Why your DMs and comments already have the answer 
40:00 What to do when your first product isn't selling 
43:00 Introducing Stanley: Stan's AI head of content 
47:00 What Stanley is already doing for engagement in the first three days
About John Hu
John Hu is the founder of Stan, the all-in-one creator store platform that has generated over $500 million for creators worldwide. He built Stan originally for his own account and grew it into one of the most trusted platforms in the creator economy. He's also the creator of Stanley, Stan's AI head of content built to help creators scale their content without needing a full team.
Connect with John
👍 Instagram: @jayhoovy

🎶 TikTok: @jayhoovy
💼 LinkedIn: John Hu 

🎙️YouTube: @jayhoovy
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode, I’m answering your questions and digging into something that comes up over and over again in my work: why social media feels so uncomfortable for so many people, and why that discomfort is often the very thing that leads to growth, opportunity, and money.

At its core, this episode is about visibility. But not in the “post more” or “just be confident” way it’s usually framed. We talk about visibility as a lived experience, the fear of being misunderstood, the pressure of being seen, the cringe that shows up right before momentum, and the internal resistance that makes people want to stop posting right when things are about to work.

One of my favorite parts of this episode is talking about how action creates clarity, not the other way around, and why most people stay stuck waiting for certainty instead of moving while things still feel messy. We also touch on creativity, procrastination, and the role your environment and community play in how safe it feels to show up.

02:45 Why visibility feels uncomfortable before it feels rewarding
06:18 Being misunderstood as a sign of growth
09:33 Why attention leads to opportunity (and money)
14:37 Speed, momentum, and moving before you feel ready
18:55 Fear, cringe, and staying in the game
23:40 Why most people stop right before things work
29:10 Consistency, identity, and long-term expansion
Stay connected with me

📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

She became a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and a Penguin Random House author, and neither of those things came from a talent agent, a manager, or a plan. They came from a LinkedIn post and a cold DM.
Gigi Robinson has been building her personal brand since she was 12 years old with a Squarespace portfolio and a competitive swimming injury. Now she's a speaker, a creator, a published author, and the founder of Hosts of Influence, and she's done all of it without a manager, without niching down, and without “waiting until she was ready” 😑!!
In this episode, Gigi explains why niching down is destroying your brand, why you ARE the niche, why a talent manager might be costing you more than they're making you, and the exact way she pitches journalists to get featured in Forbes, DigiDay, and AdWeek. 
She also gets into why LinkedIn is the most untapped platform right now (if you are here is because you already heard this!!!), how she hit 100 million impressions in 2025 just by responding to trending news, and the LinkedIn banner strategy that makes people decide whether to trust you in under 3 SECONDS.
Oh, and she also just casually tells us how she ended up shooting with the photographer who shoots Vogue covers, the same photographer she used as inspiration when she was a kid.
📌 Get Gigi's children's book A Kid's Book About Chronic Illness on Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books → gigirobinson.com
📌 Want to learn more about Hosts of Influence, Gigi's platform for creators and professionals building real careers? → gigirobinson.com
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT'S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
11:32 Why having a talent manager is probably not the business move you think it is 
14:55 Why niching down is a trap, and what to do instead 
17:44 You don't have a niche. You ARE the niche. 
22:09 How she became a Penguin Random House author overnight, without a traditional book deal 
27:33 She literally became a Sports Illustrated model from a LinkedIn post
28:20 Why she posted herself in a bikini on LinkedIn and didn't think twice about it 
13:11 Less than 2% of LinkedIn's 1.1 billion users post weekly. That's your opening. 
16:49 How to get press: the exact stalking strategy she uses to get into Forbes and AdWeek 
23:46 The LinkedIn news hack that got her 100 million impressions in 2025
About Gigi Robinson
Gigi Robinson is a speaker, creator, author, and founder of Hosts of Influence, a platform helping creators and professionals build personal brands that actually turn into careers. She's partnered with 100+ global brands, including Adobe, Spotify, Unilever, and LinkedIn, spoken on 100+ stages, and wrote A Kid's Book About Chronic Illness, a bestselling children's book published by Penguin Random House. She's been featured in Forbes, DigiDay, AdWeek, Business Insider, and the New York Post, and hit 100 million impressions on LinkedIn alone in 2025.
Connect with Gigi
👍 Instagram: @itsgigirobinson
🎶 TikTok: @itsgigirobinson
💼 LinkedIn: Gigi Robinson
🌐 Website: gigirobinson.com
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Nobody quits a $252K job when they're the #8 sales rep out of 5,079. Brian Luebben did, driving through rural Georgia with a backseat full of Carhartt pants, realizing that a quarter million dollars a year still wasn't enough to make him stay.
Four years later, he runs Action Academy, a mastermind community that went from $0 to $5 million with zero ads, built entirely on a $279 podcast mic and a $600 iPhone. This year, he's going for $12 million.
In this episode, Brian gives us the EXACT playbook (not theory or how to do this sh*t but the actual steps) 
He saved $60K in cash before quitting, bought rental properties while still employed, and built a side hustle podcast interviewing millionaires at Atlanta real estate meetups before he ever left his job. Then he moved to Brazil, did 100 free 15-minute coaching calls on the beach, found out what people needed, and sent a Venmo link for a course that didn't exist yet, and made $100K in 48 hours.
He also gets into the Minivan Theory and why your closest friends will be the last ones to support you, why a $200K employee can return $2 million while a $40K employee returns $40K, and why the only reason entrepreneurship beats employment is leverage.
If you've been waiting for the right time to leave your job, this episode is the sign you've been looking for.
📌 Want to join Action Academy? Head to actionacademy.com
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT'S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
00:00 Brian opens reading Career Cheat Codes - no, really 
03:25 Entrepreneurs aren't born, they're unlocked 
05:03 The "selling pants" moment driving to Cedartown, Georgia 
06:16 The 3 pillars Brian had before quitting: cash, assets, and a validated side hustle 
13:08 Stop trying to be the most interesting. Be the most interested. 
20:44 Why your friends and family aren't trying to derail you, they're scared for you 
21:24 The Minivan Theory: front row, middle row, and back row friends
27:17 The step-by-step from $0 to your first $100K 
31:44 $100K in 48 hours with a Cash App link and a course that didn't exist yet 
41:01 Why leverage is the only reason entrepreneurship beats a job
About Brian Luebben
Brian Luebben is the founder of Action Academy, a mastermind community that helps people leave corporate America to buy businesses and real estate. He left a $252K corporate sales job in March 2022, traveled the world for a year documenting the journey, and built a $5M/year business from scratch with zero ads. He hosts The Action Academy Podcast, one of the top entrepreneurship shows in the country with over 1 million downloads.
Connect with Brian
👍 Instagram: @brianluebben
🎙️ Podcast: @actionacademypodcast 
💼 LinkedIn: Brian Luebben
🌐 Website: brianluebben.com
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

You're overthinking your content. Meanwhile, a 16-year-old was editing videos under his desk in math class and accidentally stumbled into building one of the biggest personal brands in business.
Sam Gaudet started working with Dan Martell's videographer at 16, joined Dan's team full-time at 18, and has spent the last eight years as the brain behind a content machine that now generates over 3 billion views and 200 million views per month across platforms. He watched Dan go from 500 views per video to the fastest-growing business influencer in the space. And he built the frameworks that made it happen.
Now Sam is stepping out from behind the camera to build his own brand, using nothing but his iPhone, a 90-day challenge, and the same system he used to scale Dan's. 
In this episode, he breaks down the HEIT framework (Hook, Explain, Illustrate, Teach) that drives every piece of content they create, why picking the right topic matters more than your camera or your lighting, and why the biggest creators in the world talk about the fewest things.
If you've been stalling because your setup isn't right, your hook isn't perfect, or you don't feel ready, Sam built a 3 billion view brand while getting caught editing videos in class. Your excuses don't stand a chance!!!
Mentioned in this episode:
🤖 Sam's Custom GPT for Content Ideas
Want Sam's custom GPT that spits out 25 validated content topics using the HEIT framework? DM him the word "TOPIC Courtney" on Instagram and he'll send you the link for FREE! → Instagram: @sam.gaudet
📘 Career Cheat Codes (IT'S OUT!!!)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
02:06 Getting caught editing videos in math class (multiple times)
05:04 The mindset shift that changed everything: if you can picture it, it's possible
07:00 Why Sam started building his own brand now
09:08 The HEIT framework: the system behind 3 billion views
17:55 Why the biggest creators in the world talk about the fewest things
24:38 CCN fit: how to make every video appeal to your core, casual, and new audience
35:57 Trust is more important than views right now.
40:37 People aren't paying for information. They're paying for time acceleration.
45:49 F*ck the norm. Go try something. 
About Sam Gaudet 
Sam Gaudet is a content strategist, media company builder, and the creative force behind Dan Martell's personal brand. He joined Dan's world at 16 as a videographer, went full-time at 18, and has spent the last eight years developing the content systems that have generated over 3 billion views and 200 million views per month. His frameworks, including the HEIT method and CCN fit, are used across Dan's entire content operation and a team of 15. He's now building his own personal brand from scratch using only his iPhone, documenting the journey from zero to 100K followers.
Connect with Sam
👍 Instagram: @sam.gaudet
💼 LinkedIn: Sam Gaudet
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Her first client paid her $700. Her second paid her $30,000. She didn't even have a website.

Hala Taha, aka 'The Podcast Princess', started her career as Angie Martinez's assistant at Hot 97, spent years trying to make it online before anyone used the word "influencer," and finally found her breakthrough on LinkedIn when everyone told her it wasn't the place for that kind of content. She launched Young and Profiting as a free podcast with a volunteer team of 10 in a Slack channel. Today she runs a 60-person company, the #1 self-improvement podcast network, and makes $1.5M a year in podcast sponsorships alone.

In this episode, Hala breaks down exactly how she built it all. We get into why she turns podcast guests into paying clients, how she hired her first video editor by poaching them from the company that fired her, why trades and engagement pods were her secret growth weapons when she had zero budget, and why the last thing you should ever outsource is your original thinking.

If you've been waiting until you have a website, a logo, a team, or a plan before you start… Hala had none of that. And she's making MILLIONS.

📘 Career Cheat Codes (IT'S OUT!!!)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/

02:32 Hala's origin story: Hot 97, Angie Martinez, and trying to make it online since 18
05:28 Why she never tried to do it alone and how she recruited her first volunteer team
07:07 The spicy case for free internships and why her earliest interns are now business partners
09:48 How trades and audience swaps grew her brand with zero budget
11:50 Posting on LinkedIn when everyone said not to, and why that was her biggest break
16:28 The first hire every creator should make and the last thing you should ever outsource
20:51 You cannot scale to elite level without a team. Period.
32:43 Your brand enables you to charge more: the power of social proof
35:39 The best decision she ever made and why she's thankful she showed up every day brick by brick
43:59 Why AI is coming for entry-level jobs and how personal brand is the way to future-proof yourself

About Hala Taha
Hala Taha, known as “The Podcast Princess,” is the host of Young and Profiting (YAP) Podcast, a #1 Entrepreneurship podcast with over 30 million downloads. A Top 100 podcast globally, YAP features star-studded guests like Matthew McConaughey, Gary Vee, Alex Hormozi, Deepak Chopra, Daymond John, Mel Robbins, and countless others. The show was recognized as a 2022 Webby Honoree, and Hala graced the cover of Podcast Magazine in January 2021.

Hala is also the Founder and CEO of YAP Media, an award-winning, premier white-glove social media and podcast production agency for CEOs, celebrities, and top podcasters. With nearly 60 employees and a dozen high-profile clients, YAP Media was named the #1 LinkedIn Marketing Agency and voted Best Podcast Agency of 2022.

In 2022, Hala launched the YAP Media Network, a podcast network that helps top podcasts land sponsorship deals with major brands like LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Shopify. YAP Media is pacing to hit 8-figures in 2025, and represents some of the most popular business podcasters in the world including Jenna Kutcher, Amy Porterfield, Tori Dunlap and John Lee Dumas. 

Connect with Hala
👍 Instagram: @yapwithhala
💼 LinkedIn: Hala Taha
🎙️ Podcast: Young And Profiting
🌐 youngandprofiting.com/

Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

The personal brand space has sold you this idea that you need a website, a logo, a niche, and a strategy before you start. You don't. And Jasmine Star is proof.
Jasmine Star dropped out of law school with no camera, no portfolio, no business cards, and no plan. Instead of waiting until she was ready, she started documenting. She rented gear she couldn't afford, shot 11-hour weddings for only $1,000, and built her brand through storytelling before anyone was calling it that.
She went from a $197 digital course to over a million dollars in a year, to building a SaaS company, to launching a holding company with multiple 7-figure revenue streams, all under her own NAME, because she understood something most people still don't: nobody can out-be you.
In this episode, Jasmine shares exactly how she thinks about personal brand, trust, and what it takes to build something that lasts. We get into why your brand is not your logo or your gear, it's the feeling people have about you when you leave the room. Why we're in a trust recession right now and what that means for anyone building online in 2026. And why the creators who will win are the ones who stop chasing trends and start owning their lane.
If you've been waiting until you have it all together before you start, this is the episode that ends that excuse!
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (IT'S OUT!!!)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
05:20 Why Jasmine dropped out of law school and picked up a camera with no experience
08:15 The free blog that accidentally became her personal brand engine
12:30 How to figure out what your personal brand should actually be about (3 questions)
17:10 Personal brand vs. company brand, and why Jasmine always chose her name
22:45 The $197 course that made over $1M in one year
27:00 Why we're in a trust recession and what to do about it in 2026
29:30 The Instagram poll strategy that builds your offer before you launch it
35:00 How to know when it's time to pivot, and the difference between a pivot and a quit
39:15 Jasmine's 3 steps if she had to start from scratch today
44:00 The cringe mountain, and why you have to climb it anyway
About Jasmine Star
Jasmine Star is a world-class speaker, thought leader, podcast host, CEO, and entrepreneur dedicated to helping business owners grow with unrivaled marketing, powerful lead generation, and strategic sales.
After dropping out of UCLA Law School on a full-ride scholarship, she set out to become a photographer without owning a camera. She rented gear, used a free blog to market her business, and built an internationally recognized, award-winning photography career from scratch. That blog attracted tens of thousands of readers daily and became her first path to a 7-figure revenue stream.
In 2015, she created her first online course, earning $1M+ in under 10 months. She went on to launch a membership that welcomed 2,444 entrepreneurs in its first five days and has since served 40,000+ business owners. In 2021, she entered the tech world as a SaaS CEO, and by 2023, she and her husband launched a holding company where she now serves as advisor and investor.
She believes impossibilities are simply opportunities in disguise.
Connect with Jasmine
👍 Instagram: @jasminestar
💼 LinkedIn: Jasmine Star
🎙️ Podcast: The Jasmine Star Show
🌐 jasminestar.com
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Hollywood told them they were "respectfully, nobodies." So they sat down at a kitchen table and built one of the fastest-growing podcasts in the world.
Cherie and Jean Luo come from the most traditional path you can imagine: Ivy League degrees, Goldman Sachs, Snapchat, Stanford MBA. Instead of keeping that knowledge locked inside boardrooms, they chose to share it publicly. Tiger Sisters launched as a fully bootstrapped, two-person operation with no outside investment, no team, and no playbook. Within two years, they hit #1 on the podcast charts.
In this episode, we get into how they treat their podcast like a tech startup; running experiments, killing their ego, and letting their audience co-produce the show!! We talk about why the fear of looking cringe is the single biggest thing holding people back, why they intentionally delayed monetization for a full year, and why the information you think is obvious is exactly what someone else desperately needs to hear.
If you've been sitting on an idea waiting for the perfect time, the perfect credentials, or the perfect setup... this conversation is going to wreck every excuse you have.
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (Pre-Order)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available for pre-order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Pre-order → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
03:21 Coming from corporate and getting over the fear of looking cringe
06:20 Jean's journey from extremely private to co-hosting a #1 podcast
09:34 Cherie's first post and the TikTok video that changed everything
13:41 How they treat Tiger Sisters like a tech startup
15:22 Dropping the ego: why they A/B test everything and take nothing personally
21:10 How they ran everything as a two-person team before hiring anyone
24:05 The rejected reality TV show that became a #1 podcast
27:02 Why more people from elite career paths are building personal brands
37:42 Jean wasn't the most qualified on paper and it didn't matter
39:10 Why they waited a full year before monetizing
45:52 Information is power: the story that proves it
48:26 The future of personal brand and the creator-corporation convergence
About Tiger Sisters 
Cherie and Jean Luo are the co-hosts of Tiger Sisters, a top business podcast built in under two years with zero outside funding. Cherie brings six years of content creation experience and a background in tech and product management. Jean left a 15-year corporate career spanning Goldman Sachs, Snapchat, and other major companies to go all in. Together, they're on a mission to empower 1 billion women by un-gatekeeping career, money, and mindset information that's traditionally been locked behind elite institutions. 
They approach everything with a startup mentality: experimental, ego-free, and community-driven.
Connect with Tiger Sisters
🎙️ Podcast: Tiger Sisters on Spotify & YouTube
👍 Instagram: @tigersisterspodcast 
👍 Cherie's Instagram: @cherie.brooke
👍 Jean's Instagram: @jeanluo_
💼 Cherie's LinkedIn: Cherie Brooke Luo
💼 Jean's LinkedIn: Jean Luo
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

The internet has sold you this idea that going viral is the goal. It's not. And it never was.
JT Barnett left professional hockey with $0, no degree, and no plan. Instead of following the traditional path, he started posting, started failing in public, and started figuring out what makes people memorable online. 
He went from filming fitness content to growing a TikTok house from zero to a million followers in 60 days, to consulting for brands like Poppi, to building Core Access, a recruiting firm that places creators inside the brands they already love.
In this week’s episode, JT breaks down the 4-part framework he uses to evaluate every creator he works with: Capacity, Identity, Execution, and Conversion. We get into why most people stall before they ever hit "post," why you don't need to be an expert to build an audience, and why the creators who will win in 2026 are the ones who stop chasing algorithms and start building real connections with a narrow, intentional audience. 
If you've been waiting to feel ready before you start creating, this is the episode that's going to change that!!!
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (Pre-Order)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available for pre-order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Pre-order → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
05:20 How growing up in hockey and the internet shaped JT's view on personal brand
08:20 Why so many people can't articulate who they are publicly
10:09 The moment social media clicked as the ultimate leverage tool
14:24 You DON’T need to be an expert to start building an audience
15:14 The TikTok house that went from zero to a million followers in 60 days
24:54 The four stages of personal brand: entry-level, mid-tier, elite, and world-renowned
32:16 The 4-part framework: Capacity, Identity, Execution, and Conversion
38:19 Reputation beats Virality and where the creator economy is headed
41:50 The posts that perform vs. the ones that just get views
54:01 How to start hosting micro-community events today with zero budget 
About JT 
JT Barnett is a former professional hockey player, organic social strategist, and the founder of Core Access. After retiring from hockey with nothing lined up, he built his career entirely through social media, going from fitness content to organic social consulting for brands like Poppi to building a recruiting firm that places creators inside the brands they love. His 4-part framework, Capacity, Identity, Execution, and Conversion, is the foundation of how he coaches creators at every level. He's now building Core into a full performance center for creators who want to build reputation, not just reach.
Connect with JT
👍 Instagram: @jtbarnett
💼 LinkedIn: jtbarnett
🎶 TikTok: @jtbarnett
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Most people treat LinkedIn like a job board. Mischa Collins treats it like the most powerful business development tool on the planet, and she has the receipts to prove it. After being laid off in 2024, Mischa didn't scramble for her next role. She built in public (literally). Within 12 months, she grew her LinkedIn audience to over 50,000 followers, signed clients through inbound DMs alone, and turned a platform most people sleep on into a fully functioning business, one that's now taken her from the UK all the way to LA. 
In this episode, we get into the strategy behind that growth. Mischa breaks down why posting without a mission is just noise, how to build authority on LinkedIn even when self-promotion makes you want to crawl out of your skin, and why the content you think is repetitive is actually the content that makes you unforgettable. 
If you've been meaning to get serious about LinkedIn, this is the episode that's going to make you open the app before it's even done playing.
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (Pre-Order)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available for pre-order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Pre-order → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
👩‍💻 Holly Maglin — Early Career Recruiting Strategy
If you're a founder or startup team hiring Gen Z talent, check out Holly Madeline. She helps companies modernize how they recruit early-career candidates.
Connect on LinkedIn → Holly Maglin
03:28 Getting laid off and deciding to build instead of job hunt
08:18 The moment she went all in
12:11 The scheduling trick that kills the fear of posting
15:21 Why LinkedIn is genuinely having its moment in 2026
23:44 Profile optimization and why your network is already full of opportunity
27:42 Every opportunity Mischa has landed through inbound LinkedIn DMs
35:00 Engagement strategy: why commenting might matter more than posting
41:00 How to use AI without sounding like AI
51:00 The MAP framework: Mission, Authority, Pillars
54:00 Mischa's next chapter: expanding beyond LinkedIn
About Mischa 
Mischa Collins is a LinkedIn branding expert who helps entrepreneurs, coaches, and professionals establish authority, grow their audience, and monetize their expertise. With a proven track record of transforming LinkedIn profiles into powerful business assets, she shares actionable strategies to build influence and attract high-value opportunities.
Connect with Mischa
💼 LinkedIn: Mischa Collins
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

There's a reason some people walk into a room and everyone notices. It's not luck. It's not looks. And it's not something you either have or you don't.
Today I'm sitting down with Whitney Uland, founder of How to Be Famous, to talk about the one thing most people building a personal brand are missing: the it factor. And no, you're not born with it. You build it.
Whitney spent over a decade in the entertainment industry, acting, writing, navigating rejection, until someone told her she didn't have what it takes. Instead of accepting that, she became obsessed with understanding what magnetism is, where it comes from, and how anyone can develop it. Now she helps creatives, founders, and entrepreneurs step into what she calls their celebrity energy.
In this episode, we get into why your personal brand is 90% subconscious, what's blocking you from showing up online even if you've performed in front of thousands of people, and why following trends will always keep you chasing instead of leading.
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (Pre-Order)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available for pre-order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Pre-order → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
👩‍💻 Holly Maglin — Early Career Recruiting Strategy
If you're a founder or startup team hiring Gen Z talent, check out Holly Madeline. She helps companies modernize how they recruit early-career candidates.
Connect on LinkedIn → Holly Maglin
03:00 What the ‘It Factor’ is 
08:02 Why your personal brand is 90% subconscious 
09:04 Why "personal brand" feels icky
20:27 How to build magnetism from scratch 
24:04 Why visibility shuts people down (and how to fix it)
27:15 Why performers still struggle on camera
38:00 How to stop chasing trends and start creating them 
44:00 Fame, ego, and why hiding is the more egoic move 
51:00 How boundaries grow as your brand grows 
About Whitney 
Whitney Uland is the founder of How to Be Famous, a framework and community built around the idea that magnetism, visibility, and presence are learnable skills — not personality traits you're either born with or not. Before building her personal brand, Whitney spent over a decade in the entertainment industry as an actor and writer. She now works with founders, creatives, and entrepreneurs to help them own their spotlight on their own terms.
Connect with Whitney
📲 Instagram: @whitneyuland
🎶 TikTok: whitneyuland
🎙️ Podcast: How to Be Famous
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t really know what a personal brand is” or “how do I even start a personal brand???”, this episode is for you.
Today I’m joined by Danielle Canty, former co-founder of Bossbabe, to break down one of the biggest misconceptions about personal branding:
You don’t start a personal brand. 
You ALREADY have one.
Danielle shares how she went from working in the medical field to co-founding BossBabe, one of the most recognizable online business brands of the last decade, and how she now thinks about personal brands as leverage. Not the business itself, but the thing that opens doors, builds trust, and compounds opportunities over time.
We also talk about the mindset blocks that stop people from showing up online, why perfect content actually hurts engagement, and how building community matters far more than going viral.
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (Pre-Order)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available for pre-order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Pre-order → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
👩‍💻 Holly Maglin — Early Career Recruiting Strategy
If you're a founder or startup team hiring Gen Z talent, check out Holly Madeline. She helps companies modernize how they recruit early-career candidates.
Connect on LinkedIn → Holly Maglin
02:30 You already have a personal brand
09:34 The truth about reputation and online presence
13:31 Why personal brands create leverage
16:41 The cultural excuses people make about showing up online
17:17 “You are what you say you are”
19:41 How mindset shapes growth and motivation
36:05 Perfect content hurts engagement
37:45 The power of imperfection in building trust
About Danielle 
Danielle Canty is an entrepreneur and the former co-founder of BossBabe, the online education brand that grew into an eight-figure business supporting hundreds of thousands of women entrepreneurs worldwide.
Since exiting the company in 2023, Danielle focuses on helping founders turn ideas into scalable businesses through clear systems, predictable revenue, and strategic simplicity.
She has generated $35M+ in online revenue, built multiple seven-figure businesses, and her work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Elle, and Success Magazine.
Connect with Danielle
📲 Instagram: @daniellecanty
💼 LinkedIn: Danielle Canty
🔗 Website: danielle-canty.com/
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Welcome to the first official episode of Built In Public!

If you’ve ever felt stuck choosing a niche… frustrated with low engagement… or unsure how to turn content into actual conversations and clients, this one’s for you.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the philosophy behind building in public (the authentic and awkward version)

I break down the biggest engagement mistakes I see creators making, why faces and formatting matter more than most people realize, and how to use your audience’s exact words to sharpen your messaging so they reach out.

And we get into the thing nobody wants to hear, but everyone needs to: consistency will always matter more than trying to game the algorithm.

00:00 Why I rebranded to Built In Public
05:15 How to actually find your niche (without forcing it)
10:19 The messaging strategy that makes people reach out to you
21:04 Why your content isn’t getting engagement
23:12 Formatting mistakes that kill performance
29:30 Consistency algorithm hacks

If this episode helped you think differently about your personal brand, leave a review and let me know what hit.

We’re just getting started.

Stay connected with me! 
courtney@smoothmedia.co
IG @courtlynnjohnson 
LK @Courtney Johnson
TIKTOK @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode of Slay The Gatekeeper, I sit down with Andrew Kroeze for a conversation about the mindset that shapes everything we build on the outside: our work, our businesses, and our lives.
Andrew shares his story with a lot of honesty, starting with the years he spent feeling stuck and disconnected, and the moment he realized that no one was coming to save him. From there, we talk about how a single 90-day commitment changed his relationship with himself, his habits, and eventually the way he approached business.
We also get into the business side of things, why ads don’t fix misaligned offers, why organic growth comes first, and how personal brand becomes a form of leverage when it’s built on trust and clarity instead of performance. Andrew walks through how he moved from doing everything himself to building systems and teams that allowed his business to scale past seven figures and eventually become something he could step away from.
What stood out to me most in this conversation is how practical it is. There’s no pretending growth is linear or easy. Just a clear look at how internal decisions shape external outcomes, and why action usually comes before confidence, not the other way around.
If you’re building something and starting to sense that effort alone isn’t the issue, this episode will give you a different lens to look through.
05:50 Identity as the foundation of every result
08:40 The moment he reclaimed his sense of agency
10:05 Why environment matters more than motivation
12:15 How proximity normalizes higher standards
14:45 “Pay for your friends” and choosing better rooms
16:55 Why ads don’t fix broken offers
18:30 Ads as accelerants, not lifelines
20:40 Product-market fit before scale
25:15 Personal brand as leverage, not ego
27:45 Systems, teams, and building something you can step away from
About Andrew 
Andrew Kroeze has built five 7-figure+ online businesses in the coaching and agency space. He now helps other founders do the same by systemizing their operations using tools like Airtable and GoHighLevel, supported by lean teams of A-players.
Connect with Andrew
📲 Instagram: @kaptainkroeze
💼 LinkedIn: Andrew Kroeze
🎙️YouTube: Andrew Kroeze
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode, I’m answering your questions and digging into something that comes up over and over again in my work: why social media feels so uncomfortable for so many people, and why that discomfort is often the very thing that leads to growth, opportunity, and money.
At its core, this episode is about visibility. But not in the “post more” or “just be confident” way it’s usually framed. We talk about visibility as a lived experience, the fear of being misunderstood, the pressure of being seen, the cringe that shows up right before momentum, and the internal resistance that makes people want to stop posting right when things are about to work.
One of my favorite parts of this episode is talking about how action creates clarity, not the other way around, and why most people stay stuck waiting for certainty instead of moving while things still feel messy. We also touch on creativity, procrastination, and the role your environment and community play in how safe it feels to show up.
02:45 Why visibility feels uncomfortable before it feels rewarding
06:18 Being misunderstood as a sign of growth
09:33 Why attention leads to opportunity (and money)
14:37 Speed, momentum, and moving before you feel ready
18:55 Fear, cringe, and staying in the game
23:40 Why most people stop right before things work
29:10 Consistency, identity, and long-term expansion
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Lauren Douglas, founder, strategist, and creative leader, for a conversation that cuts straight through some of the most persistent myths women face in business.
At its core, this episode is about visibility. But not in the “be louder” or “be more confident” way we usually hear it framed, but as a real, practical skill women have to learn if we want to move forward in business, leadership, or creative work. We talk about why women are still promoted on proof, why staying quiet about your work has an expensive cost, and how the idea that “good work speaks for itself” keeps so many women stuck.
One of my favorite moments is when we talk about creativity coming back online through the body, not the brain, including one of my go-to cheat codes: putting on music from your middle school years and letting yourself move without overthinking. It’s simple, it’s human, and it works!
04:12 Why Women Are Promoted on Proof
08:35 The Real Cost of Staying Quiet About Your Work
12:01 Personal Brand Without Ego
17:48 Owning Mindshare and Mental Real Estate
18:55 Fear, Creativity, and Original Work
21:00 Play, Music, and Reconnecting With Creative Instincts
29:10 Purpose, Courage, and Career Seasons
About Lauren 
Lauren is a founder, marketing and PR strategist, and creative thinker focused on helping leaders communicate with clarity and intention. Her work sits at the intersection of visibility, leadership, creativity, and modern career strategy. Through her agency and advisory work, she helps individuals and organizations articulate their voice, build trust, and create long-term impact.
Connect with Lauren
📲 Instagram: @laurentheseeker
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week's episode, I sit down with Whitney Lasseter, Founder and Visionary of ATMA Church, for one of the most expansive, honest, and nuanced conversations we’ve had on the show.
Whitney is a Bufo facilitator, ceremonial leader, and spiritual guide who works at the intersection of sacred medicine, trauma healing, and integration. Together, we ungatekeep a modality that is often misunderstood, quietly used, and rarely spoken about publicly, despite its profound impact on people’s lives.
We talk openly about why certain psychedelic and entheogenic medicines remain gatekept, especially among influential and high-profile individuals, and what happens when people step into this work with intention, preparation, and integrity. Whitney shares her personal journey, from a near-death experience and years of heartbreak to a deep spiritual awakening, and how her relationship with God, leadership, and service was completely reshaped along the way.
We also explore some of the most sensitive and important questions around this work, sobriety, addiction, legality, public perception, and the future of psychedelic therapy, without sensationalism or shortcuts. This episode is about depth, discernment, and why some of the most powerful tools for healing are still kept quiet.
If you’re curious about plant and psychedelic medicine, spiritual awakening beyond religion, or what conscious leadership actually looks like when no one’s watching, this episode is for you.
02:32 Why Bufo Is Quietly Used by Influential People
03:45 Letting a Journalist Inside Sacred Ceremony
06:10 Choosing Integrity Over Safety
08:45 The Near-Death Experience That Started Everything
09:45 “The Most Profound Experience of My Life”
10:31 Redefining God Outside of Religion
13:06 Why the Experience Is Fast—but the Work Isn’t
16:24 Facilitating Bufo for Her Own Mother
17:20 “This Is of God”
29:07 How This Medicine Changes Addiction and Sobriety
About Whitney 
Whitney Lasseter is the Founder and Visionary of ĀTMA Church: All Tribes Medicine Assembly in Austin Texas, where she facilitates sacred medicine ceremonies and retreats focused on deep healing, spiritual awakening, and integration. With +7 years of experience guiding individuals through trauma, sobriety, and transformation, Whitney is known for her grounded leadership, integrity, and heart-led approach to this work. 
Connect with Whitney
📲 Instagram: @whitneyofatma
💼 LinkedIn: Whitney Lasseter
🌐 atma.church
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

There’s a moment most people reach where they’re no longer confused, uninformed, or unprepared; they’re just hesitant. This episode lives right in that moment.
In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Kassidy Warren, and we go deep into why so many people stay stuck under the idea of “I’m in the process of healing.” We unpack how healing language, self-work, and “doing the inner work” can quietly become a place to stall, especially when real action would require discomfort, risk, or a genuine shift in identity.
Kassidy breaks down why accountability tends to disappear in adulthood, why athletes and high performers understand stakes differently, and how your environment can either stretch you forward or keep you small. We explore the difference between playing it safe and turning pro, why proximity matters more than motivation, and how most people are already standing at the edge of the decision they keep postponing.
If you’ve been telling yourself you’re “working on it,” but nothing in your life has materially changed, this conversation may help you see what’s really going on.
02:30 Why athletes understand accountability differently
04:20 What happens when accountability disappears in adulthood
07:15 Why real change requires stakes
08:45 Investing before results show up
10:40 How your environment shapes your standards
14:45 Why growth often means outgrowing familiar spaces
15:30 The “bucket of crabs” effect and being dragged down
19:38 Spending money to accelerate growth
22:45 Turning pro vs playing it safe
23:40 “What am I pretending not to know?”
About Kassidy
Kassidy Warren is a real estate investor and coach who helps people buy properties that reduce their tax burden, build equity, and create long-term freedom. He previously worked in engineering and IT before leaving corporate life due to burnout. After living in a van with his wife and rebuilding their careers through consulting, they built a portfolio of short-term rentals. Kassidy now leads a mastermind called Escape Velocity, where he supports members through real estate education, community, and mindset work.
Connect with Kassidy
📲 Instagram: @kassidy.warren
💼 LinkedIn: Kassidy Warren
🌐 kassidywarren.com
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Hi friends! I’m back with a solo episode to close out the year, and I wanted to talk about something almost every creator faces the moment their visibility starts to grow: trolls, haters, and negative comments, and why they’re not something to fear, delete, or avoid (at all).
If you’ve ever opened your comments and felt your stomach drop, questioned whether you should post again, or wondered if being more visible is even worth it, this episode is for you. I walk through why trolls are often a signal that your content is actually working, how neutrality will keep you invisible forever, and why trying to be liked by everyone is the fastest way to stall your growth.
I also share how I personally deal with trolls, how I reframe negative comments so they don’t derail me emotionally, and why learning to embrace polarity has been one of the biggest drivers of my growth online.
If you’re building a personal brand, creating content more consistently, or feeling called to show up more boldly, this episode is a reminder that relevance requires courage, and that being disliked is often a sign you’re on the right path.
02:10 My first mindset shift around trolls
04:45 Why 50% love and 50% hate is the goal
07:30 How algorithms actually interpret engagement
10:40 Why controversy drives virality
13:15 How I bait trolls in my hooks
16:05 How I stop taking negative comments personally
18:40 The biggest mistakes creators make with trolls
21:30 Why people-pleasing makes you forgettable
24:10 Trolls as a rite of passage
26:50 Final thoughts on showing up boldly online
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This conversation means a lot to me, and it feels right to share it the day before Christmas 🎄🌟
I’m joined by my fiancé, Lucas Ferrer-Cardona, a vascular surgeon, academic, and co-host of the Life of Flow Podcast, for a conversation about leverage, ownership, and why building a personal brand matters no matter what field you’re in.
After nearly two decades of medical training, Lucas reached a realization many high performers quietly arrive at: he was trading time for money, with very little control over what he’d built. In this episode, we talk about how discovering Naval Ravikant’s ideas on leverage reshaped the way he thought about work, opportunity, and long-term security, and how that shift led him to build a strong, monetized personal brand without managing his own social media 👀
We get into why media creates optionality in a way jobs never will, how delegation and trust make scale possible, and why “keeping your head down and working hard” is no longer enough to protect you. Lucas shares what surprised him most once he started building visibility, how his podcast opened doors he never could have accessed otherwise, and why ownership matters more than titles.
If you’ve ever felt resistant to social media, overwhelmed by the idea of putting yourself out there, or uneasy relying solely on your job for stability, this conversation offers a different lens, one grounded in autonomy, leverage, and long-term thinking.
05:30 Discovering Naval Ravikant and rethinking work
09:15 Media, money, and people as leverage
13:40 Why being “the best” isn’t the goal
17:05 The Category of One idea
21:30 Building visibility without managing social media
26:10 Trusting a team and delegating creatively
31:45 What institutions really own
36:20 Personal brand as long-term optionality
41:50 Podcasting as access and relationship capital
46:30 Creating momentum and new opportunities
51:10 Risk, fear, and intuition
About Dr. Lucas Ferrer-Cardona
Lucas M. Ferrer Cardona, MD is a board-certified vascular surgeon in the Institute for Cardiovascular Health, a clinical partnership between Ascension Seton and UT Health Austin. He specializes in the vascular treatment of both arterial and venous disorders. Additionally, Dr. Ferrer Cardona is an assistant professor in the Dell Medical School Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care at The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Ferrer Cardona earned his medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He completed both an internship and residency in surgery at Temple University Hospital – Main Campus and a fellowship in vascular surgery at Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Ferrer Cardona’s clinical interests include preventing diabetic foot amputations and performing limb salvage, particularly using foot vein arterialization for patients who have few options, as well as minimally invasive treatments for carotid disease, dialysis access, and aortic aneurysms.
Connect with Lucas:

💼 LinkedIn: Lucas (Lucas Ferrer - Cardona) Ferrer🎙️Podcast: Life of Flow Podcast
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @slaythegatekeeper
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week, I’m joined by Dr. Ruby Patterson, NASA scientist turned founder, consulting powerhouse, and the mind behind some of the most creative “cheat codes” you’ve ever heard. Ruby blends brilliance and play in a way that makes success feel both strategic and deeply human, and in this episode, she breaks down the mindset and manifestation formula that changed the entire trajectory of her career.
We talk about how she used a simple bucket list to unlock rooms she “had no business being in,” why panels became her secret networking Trojan horse, and how scripting, clarity, and talking about your dreams out loud can completely shift your life. Ruby also shares the confidence hacks she used to survive NASA, meet astronauts, build a new business from scratch, and step into her most aligned identity!
If you’ve been craving more courage, more clarity, or a smarter way to meet the people who can change your life, this episode is the permission slip and blueprint you’ve been waiting for. Ruby’s story will make you laugh, make you think, and show you exactly how powerful you become when you stop hiding your desires and start gamifying them!!
02:10 The confidence gap between who you are and who you want to be
06:42 The panel strategy Ruby used to meet anyone she admired
11:00 How to get senior leaders to pay attention (without chasing)
14:55 Why your dreams need to be spoken out loud
18:20 Gamifying your goals: the NASA bucket list story
25:40 Networking without pressure, and why audience size doesn’t matter
31:15 Scripting in the car: the manifestation technique that works
38:22 How Ruby used creative projects as Trojan horses for high-level access
44:10 What scientists (and everyone) misunderstand about personal branding
51:30 Making your expertise approachable, the “smart eighth grader rule”
About Dr. Ruby Patterson
Dr. Ruby V. Patterson is a planetary geologist, former NASA Mars Geochemist, and the founder of Crisium Group, where she leads groundbreaking work in lunar helium-3 mining and space resource utilization. Named the 2024 Emerging Space Leader by the International Astronautical Federation, Ruby brings a rare mix of scientific rigor, creative thinking, and fearless career strategy to every room she walks into.
Ruby earned her Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Houston, after contributing to both lunar and Martian science operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She supported the Curiosity rover science team, designed astronaut tools for lunar surface missions, and helped develop lunar regolith simulants used in Artemis-era exploration. Her published research on Artemis III sample-return strategy has directly shaped NASA’s current geologic planning for the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
Beyond NASA, Ruby has advised multiple aerospace startups on lunar surface conditions, authored technical industry reports, and served as U.S. Lead of Research & Development for the Iceland Space Agency. She has championed NASA funding on Capitol Hill, led an all-female research expedition to Iceland’s volcanic zones, and now spearheads helium-3 prospecting efforts at The Extraterrestrial Mining Company, work with implications for clean energy and next-generation computing.
Ruby is also a founding board member of the International Lunar Resource Prospecting Consortium and the creator of an all-female mastermind supporting women in the space industry. Today, she blends her scientific expertise with consulting, creative strategy, and public speaking, helping leaders in tech and space think bigger, move smarter, and access the opportunities they’re truly meant for.
Connect with Ruby:

📱Instagram: @rubythespacegeologist
💼 LinkedIn: Dr. Ruby Patterson🎙️Podcast: Hotter Weirder Smarter Podcast
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week on Slay The Gatekeeper, I’m joined by Joel Monteleone, dating coach, speaker, and creator of Hot Takes, Hot Dates, the wildly fun, emotionally intelligent singles experience taking Austin by storm! Joel blends emotional intelligence coaching with edgy, practical, and often hilarious dating strategy. 
In this episode, he shares the patterns keeping people single, the lies we tell ourselves about “bad dating cities,” and why responsibility, not victimhood, is the real cheat code to love and being loved.
We talk about avoiding self-sabotage, building attraction through polarity, rewiring beliefs about rejection, and how vulnerability and alignment are the foundation of every healthy partnership. Joel also shares his most counterintuitive dating hot takes, why connection isn’t supposed to be so serious, and the mindset shifts that turn modern dating from chaos into opportunity.
If you’ve been attracting the same partners on repeat, feeling stuck on the apps, or wanting a more empowered approach to love, this episode will challenge your assumptions, make you laugh, and give you tools you can use tonight.
01:22 Wanting change vs. acting like it
06:10 Problematic dating cheat codes & why we unconsciously repeat patterns
11:00 The obsession trap
14:55 Don’t be a victim - ownership as the #1 dating cheat code
18:45 Where to actually meet high-quality partners (and why “the proper” isn’t it)
22:40 “Pay for your friends”
26:05 Be hot and make your bag
30:50 Why modern self-development culture killed fun (and how Joel brings it back)
34:55 Polarity 101: how masculine/feminine energy shapes attraction
48:10 tatistics don’t apply to you
About Joel Monteleone
Joel Monteleone is a dating coach, speaker, and the creator of Hot Takes, Hot Dates, a bold new offline experience helping singles ditch the awkwardness and rediscover connection through comedy, play, and emotional intelligence. With a background in EI coaching, Joel specializes in helping high-achieving men and women break out of victim stories, build authentic confidence, and create relationships rooted in clarity, intentionality, and fun.
Connect with Joel:

📱Instagram: @joel_monteleone
💼 LinkedIn: Joel Monteleone
📱Instagram: @hottakeshotdates
🎫 Get your ticket: posh.vip/e/hot-takes-hot-dates-austins-most-fun-singles-event
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week on Slay The Gatekeeper, I’m joined by Anne Mahlum, founder of Solidcore, builder of a 100+ studio empire, and the force behind one of the most iconic nine-figure exits in boutique fitness.
Before scaling Solidcore into a nationwide powerhouse, Anne founded Back on My Feet, a nonprofit that empowers individuals experiencing homelessness through running, structure, and community. Years later, she took a completely different idea: a Pilates-inspired concept she discovered by accident, and turned it into a category-defining brand she eventually sold for $98.4 million.
In this episode, Anne breaks down the cheat codes that shaped her life and career: why having a Plan B is really just planning to fail, how to build a culture people rise to meet, what separates high performers from excuse-makers, and how she built a company that eventually ran without her, giving her the leverage to negotiate the exit on her terms.
This conversation is direct, unfiltered, and loaded with founder wisdom. If you’re building something big, leading a team, or trying to level up your resilience, this episode will show you what going all in actually looks like.
02:30 Finding purpose in unexpected places
05:45 The Pilates class that sparked solidcore
08:10 Identifying your unfair advantage
11:25 The first-to-market window that changed everything
18:40 Building culture through standards, not slogans
22:05 Money literacy: why information isn’t the problem
27:20 Turning down $75K to stay all-in
32:15 Why EQ matters more than experience
36:50 Letting go: building a company that outlasts you
‼️🔗 Resources Mentioned
• Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
• How to Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie
• You Are a Badass at Making Money – Jen Sincero
• Tony Robbins (Date With Destiny, plus his free content)
• The Moneywise Podcast
• Content by Sam Parr
About Anne Mahlum
Anne Mahlum is an entrepreneur and female motivational speaker who's passionate about empowering people to live life on their own terms. The beginning of Anne’s entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of extraordinary. In 2007, she found herself running by a homeless shelter in Philadelphia, and had the foresight to realize that running and community could be the catalyst to truly change lives. She engaged the shelter to start a running club, which she quickly transformed into a national non-profit called Back on My Feet. The organization, now with an $8M annual budget, uses running as a vehicle to help those experiencing homelessness become empowered to change their lives. Under Anne’s leadership as CEO, she grew the organization to 14 cities. Since its inception, Back on My Feet has helped thousands of individuals achieve employment and more self-sufficient living. 
But Anne didn’t stop there. She created success again when she founded pilates-inspired [solidcore] in 2013. As its founder and CEO, she grew it into one of the country’s most successful fitness companies in less than a decade by raising more than $200M through private equity to scale it to more than 115 locations across the U.S.
The company currently has thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of clients across 30 states, including former First Lady Michelle Obama Anne successfully exited [solidcore] in April 2023 and shared millions with her employees after the sale.
Connect with Anne:

📱 Instagram: @annemahlum
💼 LinkedIn: Anne Mahlum
🌐 solidcore.co
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week on Slay The Gatekeeper, I sit down with Bill Perkins, investor, author of Die With Zero, and one of the most interesting thinkers on risk, courage, and intentional living.
Bill has spent decades around millionaires, billionaires, and people who take massive bets in life and business. In this conversation, he shares the success pattern he sees over and over again at the top: agency, speed, and the courage to move.
We talk about why ideas fail, how ego keeps people small, and why most adults fear looking foolish more than they fear wasting their entire life. Bill also shares the “minimize regret” framework he uses to make big decisions, the habit ultra-successful people rely on to stay in motion, and why he thinks you should spend money when the memory value is highest, not when your bank account looks the best.
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck, overthinking, or dipping your toe instead of going all in, this conversation is a wake-up call to bet on yourself while you still have time left on the clock.
02:10 The success pattern Bill sees in every millionaire: agency, speed, and action
04:40 Why ideas fail: the people who win are the ones who move
08:05 Toe-dippers vs. all-in people — the courage gap
10:45 Ego risk: the real reason people stay small
14:20 Bill’s “future self” test for making hard decisions
17:55 Starting from zero: what Bill would do at 25 with $500
24:30 Why people secretly love failure (and how it validates their own fear)
33:50 Thinking about death as a tool for intentional living
53:05 Memory dividends: spend money when the value is highest
59:20 The fear of wasting your life vs. the fear of running out of money
About Bill Perkins
Bill Perkins is an investor, entrepreneur, and author best known for his book Die With Zero and his unconventional approach to money, risk, and fulfillment. Nicknamed the “Natural Gas King” and “Cowboy of Wall Street,” Bill built his career trading energy markets and is the founder and managing partner of Skylar Capital.
He’s also backed and built companies across tech and media, including SkyFi and SynMax, and has produced several feature films. Beyond business, Bill is heavily involved in philanthropy and lives in Texas with his wife, Lara, and his daughters, Skye and Brisa.
Connect with Bill:

📱 Instagram: @billperkins
📘 Die With Zero: diewithzerobook.com
🌐 SkyFi: skyfi.com/
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week on Slay The Gatekeeper, I’m joined by Lara Acosta, creator, strategist, and one of the most trusted voices on LinkedIn. Lara has built a multi–six-figure business using one platform, one funnel, and a level of consistency most people only talk about.
In this conversation, Lara opens up about the posting habits, content styles, and small decisions that helped her grow an audience of hundreds of thousands, without trends, hacks, or cold outreach. She shares how she thinks about visibility, why simple posts outperform complicated ones, and how creators can stand out in a space where most people quit long before the results show up.
We go deep into discipline, niche clarity, momentum, and the email-first approach that drives most of her revenue. If you're serious about growing on LinkedIn, making money from your expertise, or building a brand that people remember, this episode will give you the spark and the direction.
03:10 The content style dominating LinkedIn right now (and why simple posts outperform polished ones)
11:20 How to use your own story when you don’t feel “expert enough”
15:50 The funnel that drives most of Lara’s revenue (LinkedIn → email → conversion)
23:40 Who benefits from building a personal brand, and who doesn’t
33:20 The posting rhythm that grows almost anyone within six months
38:05 Authority vs. relatability: why people buy from creators who feel “close,” not perfect
41:40 The trap of chasing big ideas and the one thing that actually moves a business forward
49:20 Why waiting to feel ready keeps creators stuck for years
58:40 Repetition, memory, and becoming known for something real
1:15:15 The origin story of Kleo: how a problem they had turned into a fast-scaling product
About Lara Acosta
Lara Acosta is a creator and entrepreneur known for her no-nonsense approach to personal branding and business growth. She has built multiple six-figure companies through organic content, a high-retention newsletter, and a simple conversion system that doesn’t rely on cold outreach or heavy sales tactics.
She is the co-founder of Kleo, an AI-supported content tool built by top LinkedIn creators to help entrepreneurs write better posts, store ideas, and stay consistent without overthinking.
Lara teaches creators, founders, and service providers how to grow with clarity, consistency, and a tone that feels like them, not a template.
Connect with Lara:

📱 Instagram: @laraacostar
💼 LinkedIn: Lara Acosta
🌐 kleo.so
🎙️YouTube: Lara Acosta
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week on Slay The Gatekeeper, I’m joined by Andrew Adams, speaker, coach, and self-mastery teacher, whose story of recovery and rebirth will stop you in your tracks.
After spending 12 years in addiction, Andrew rebuilt his entire life from the inside out. Today, he helps others do the same, guiding people to break patterns, let go of attachments, and find peace within themselves.
In this episode, Andrew shares the 5 cheat codes that helped him move from survival to self-mastery. We talk about how to spot the real source of your pain instead of just treating symptoms, how to shift your relationship with control, and why emotional intelligence is the difference between chaos and calm.
This conversation goes way deeper than surface-level healing or “feel good” advice. It’s honest, raw, and full of truth. If you’ve ever caught yourself in the same loop, feeling like change is out of reach, this episode will remind you how much power you actually hold.
01:04 The moment that sparked Andrew’s transformation
04:20 “The pattern is not the problem”: looking beneath the surface
09:10 How awareness shifts more than willpower ever can
13:45 Cravings as clues and what they reveal about your inner world
18:30 The illusion of control and learning to let go
23:05 Redefining emotional intelligence (and why monks might have it easy)
28:40 “Pain is sacred”: finding purpose in the hard seasons
34:15 Love as a healing frequency
39:20 Power × Purpose = Prosperity: the formula for a full life
About Andrew Adams
Andrew Adams is a high-impact speaker and self-mastery coach who helps people reconnect with their power through awareness, healing, and emotional intelligence. After overcoming more than a decade of addiction, he now teaches others how to turn pain into purpose and live from the frequency of love.
Connect with Andrew:

📱 Instagram: Andrew Adams
💼 LinkedIn: Andrew Adams 
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Chris Lee, world-renowned transformational coach, speaker, and author, to talk about the profound inner work behind success, abundance, and self-mastery.

Chris has spent over 25 years transforming the lives of thousands of people worldwide through his workshops, coaching, and media appearances, teaching people how to live an abundant, prosperous life. He’s known for his direct yet compassionate approach that gets to the root of limiting beliefs and rewires your mindset for radical change.

We talk about the difference between having all the information (thanks ChatGPT) and transformation, why motivation alone isn’t enough, and how to break free from the victim mindset that keeps you playing small. Chris shares the habits, hacks, and perspective shifts that have shaped top performers, from redefining self-worth to mastering your self-talk and holding yourself (and others) to the highest standard.

If you’ve ever felt like you know what to do but can’t seem to do it... this conversation will completely change how you see yourself and your potential 🤞

03:05 The fear of “no”, and why you should ask anyway
08:40 What makes transformational coaching different from motivation
18:50 Information ≠ Transformation, why knowing isn’t doing
25:40 Healing your neural pathways and reprogramming your beliefs
33:00 The $100K personal development budget that changed everything
40:10 Ditch the drainers for dreamers and build a growth-minded circle
47:25 Feedback as a superpower for unstoppable growth
54:30 From victim to creator, reclaiming your power
1:03:10 The language shift that changes everything: “I have to” → “I choose to”
1:14:40 Living your dream now, not later

About Chris Lee
Chris Lee is a transformational trainer, coach, and speaker with over 25 years of experience leading workshops and seminars around the world. He has trained thousands of people through his signature programs, helping them create extraordinary results in business, relationships, and life.
He is the author of the bestseller Dile Yes! Ala VIDA, and the creator of The Torch Workshop, a leadership seminar for teens offered globally. Chris has led corporate trainings for organizations such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Amgen, Procter & Gamble, and Miss America, and has been featured across Univision and Telemundo.
He is also a recurring guest on The School of Greatness podcast with Lewis Howes and continues to inspire audiences worldwide through his transformational work and speaking engagements.

Connect with Chris:

📱 Instagram: @chrisleemotivator

Stay connected with me

📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co 
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week's episode features Jacqueline Snyder, designer, business strategist, and CEO and founder of The Product Boss. This conversation pulls back the curtain on how entrepreneurs turn creative ideas into brands that scale.
Jacqueline has helped over 2,000 founders launch product-based businesses, from small-batch makers to celebrity lines worn by Kim Kardashian, Carrie Underwood, and Gwen Stefani. She shares the cheat codes behind building a profitable brand: the habits that create momentum, the “Known For” method to choose your hero product, and the power of testing ideas before investing a cent.
We also dive into how consistency compounds growth, why people want to be told what to buy, and how investing in yourself changes everything. 
If you’ve been sitting on an idea or second-guessing your next move, this conversation will light the fire to get started. Action takers are money makers! 💸
04:24 Consistency is what scales you
08:11 How to start a product-based business the smart way
09:22 The “Known For” method: how to pick your hero product
10:19 Inside celebrity brands: Jessica Alba, Gwen Stefani, and the power of authenticity
13:07 Why ideas fail, and how action takers turn creativity into cash
15:16 Test and Try: how to validate your product idea with $0
19:47 Bootcamps & challenges that actually convert
28:08 Tell people what to buy (and why it always works)
29:18 Investing in yourself and lifting your ceiling
About Jacqueline
Jacqueline Snyder, the visionary CEO and founder of The Product Boss, brings over two decades of expertise to the world of product-based businesses. As a first-generation American, she achieved global success with her own product business, Cuffs Couture, dressing celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Carrie Underwood and selling in 60+ stores worldwide, generating over $100k in its first year through using a multi-sales channel approach. 
Combining her personal accomplishments with her background in fashion design, Jacqueline has guided over 2,000 fashion brands to success through one-on-one consulting. Known as the product-based business expert, she has generated over $10 million in course sales and helped over 80,000 product business owners surpass their goals. The Product Boss was also recognized as the 466th fastest-growing company in America by Inc 5000 and her podcast, The Product Boss Podcast, is among the Top 10 Apple Marketing Podcasts.
Connect with Jacqueline:

📱 Instagram: @theproductboss
🎙️ Podcast: The Product Boss: Business Coaching for Product-Based Female Entrepreneurs
🌐 Website: theproductboss.com
Stay connected with me
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson 
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Whitney Uland, writer, coach, and creator of How to Be Famous, to talk about building a life, brand, and income that match who you are.
We get into fame, creative flow, and why your “main character era” has more to do with energy than aesthetics. Whitney shares her cheat codes for success, from the millionaire morning habit that changed everything to why the world rewards people who decide they’re worthy before anyone else believes it. We also dive into the balance between structure and intuition in content creation, how to stop hiding behind strategy, and the kind of art that draws money, opportunities, and the audience meant for you.
If you’ve been manifesting but nothing’s landing, this conversation will help you step into the person you’ve been visualising! 🪞
03:30 How repurposing can reignite your creativity
05:10 The “make your bed” mindset and habits that build momentum
08:45 Turning burnout into flow and finding your creative rhythm
12:50 The viral post that hit 4M views, and what it revealed about vulnerability
16:00 Feminine vs. masculine energy in business and content
19:30 The sober-curious edge: how clarity fuels focus and success
24:00 Why discipline is the real love language of growth
32:10 Creating content as a tool for manifestation
36:00 Celebrity energy, magnetism, and becoming the person you’re posting about
39:30 The artist’s responsibility: creating with purpose and integrity
40:30 Fame, self-belief, and giving yourself the green light
About Whitney
Whitney Uland is a writer, actor, and coach helping creators embody confidence, self-belief, and purpose through storytelling and energetic alignment. Through her podcast How to Be Famous and her signature coaching, she teaches artists and entrepreneurs to merge vision with action and build influence rooted in authenticity.
Connect with Whitney:

📱 Instagram: @whitneyuland
🎙️ Podcast: How to Be Famous
Stay connected with me
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Nick Gray, entrepreneur, author, and community-builder, to talk about what it takes (and what to do) to get noticed, connect with the right people, and create opportunities out of thin air. Nick shares some of the most practical and refreshing networking advice you’ll ever hear, from why he offers free airport rides to founders, to how hosting meetups led to business deals, friendships, and even new companies. We talk about how to start before you’re ready, what to post when you’re stuck, how to turn fear into consistency, and why being generous with your ideas, time, and presence can open more doors than any marketing strategy!
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t know where to start or how to “get in the room,” this episode is your playbook 🤝
🔗 Mentioned in the episode
Courtney’s Fully Focused Retreat (October 19–22!)
4 days of co-working, wellness, and clarity in community.
Nick’s Resources:
* The Airport Rides Strategy — How generosity builds your network faster than ads
* How to Host a Great Meetup — Nick’s step-by-step guide to bringing people together
05:12 The mindset shift that helped Nick reach billion-dollar founders
07:50 How the *Airport Ride Strategy* created genuine friendships and opportunities
11:40 Hosting meetups that *don’t suck*, the “green day” rule and core group method
17:30 How to turn a small event into a profitable business asset
23:40 The behind-the-scenes blog Nick wrote about structuring half-day events
26:00 The “Friends Newsletter”, and why it’s still the most underrated networking tool
31:20 How sharing personal stories online builds a *category of one* brand
38:20 Consistency vs. optimization, and how to finally stop overthinking content
45:10 What “Minor League Famous” really means, and why you should aim for it
About Nick
Nick Gray is an entrepreneur, author, and community-builder based in Austin, Texas. He’s best known for founding and selling Museum Hack, a company that reimagined museum tours through storytelling and fun. He’s also the author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, praised by Atomic Habits author James Clear as “a must-read for anyone who wants to host a great event.” He’s been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine for his creative approach to networking and connection.
Nick has built and sold multiple businesses, including a family aviation company, and now lives in Austin, Texas, where he writes, hosts events, and shares ideas through his popular Friends Newsletter, read by over 10,000 entrepreneurs and creatives. Today, he helps creators, founders, and business owners build stronger communities through simple, intentional gatherings.
Connect with Nick:

🌐 Website: nickgray.net
👍 Instagram: @nickgraynews
💼 LinkedIn: Nick Gray
Stay connected with me
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

In this episode of Slay the Gatekeeper, host Courtney Johnson answers listener questions from the comfort of her bed in a candid Q&A session. She covers everything from booking speaking gigs and building a personal brand to overcoming fear, imposter syndrome, and the struggle to price your work with confidence. Along the way, Courtney shares her own stories, lessons learned, and the strategies she uses to create content consistently while balancing work and play.

You’ll walk away with practical advice, relatable insights, and a dose of inspiration to help you grow as a creator and entrepreneur—without losing your sense of self in the process.

Never say “i don’t know what to post” again— Start your mornings with strategy and accountability in Sunrise Content Club.  live zoom meeting weekdays at 8am CT with daily prompts, proven frameworks, and real-time coaching. Can’t make it every day? You’ll still have the prompts, replays, and community accountability to keep you consistent. Join here → ⁠https://stan.store/courtlynnjohnson/p/join-the-sunrise-content-club⁠

Courtney Johnson Socials:

Insta: ⁠@courtlynnjohnson⁠

Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylynnjohnson/⁠

Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7oaV8L7rOBd878nlwydJrj⁠

Tiktok: ⁠@courtney..johnson⁠

Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/courtneylynnjohnson⁠

Newsletter: ⁠https://artisanal-originator-6888.kit.com/0e038bf26a⁠

Work with Courtney:

Level Up on Linkedin: ⁠https://maven.com/courtneyjohnson/personalbrand⁠

Short Form Video Accelerator: ⁠https://stan.store/courtlynnjohnson/p/get-started-with-this-amazing-course-2o7ml9sc⁠

In this episode of Slay the Gatekeeper, host Courtney Johnson welcomes Alannah Connealy, founder of Raena Health, for a candid conversation on women’s health and entrepreneurship.

They dive into surprising wellness insights—like aspirin for period pain, the power of progesterone, myths about cancer, the dangers of seed oils, and the nutritional role of gelatin—while weaving in Alannah’s personal journey, entrepreneurial lessons, and her upcoming book on rethinking cancer.

You’ll walk away with fresh health tips, business inspiration, and a deeper understanding of what it takes to build purpose-driven solutions that truly help women thrive.

About Alannah Connealy CEO & Founder of Raena Health — clean, effective hormone solutions for women.

Instagram: @alannahconnealy LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alannahconnealy Company: @raenahealth

Sign up at skedsocial.com/trial for your 14-day free trial.

Never say “i don’t know what to post” again— Start your mornings with strategy and accountability in Sunrise Content Club.  live zoom meeting weekdays at 8am CT with daily prompts, proven frameworks, and real-time coaching. Can’t make it every day? You’ll still have the prompts, replays, and community accountability to keep you consistent. Join here → ⁠https://stan.store/courtlynnjohnson/p/join-the-sunrise-content-club⁠

Courtney Johnson Socials:

Insta: ⁠@courtlynnjohnson⁠

Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylynnjohnson/⁠

Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7oaV8L7rOBd878nlwydJrj⁠

Tiktok: ⁠@courtney..johnson⁠

Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/courtneylynnjohnson⁠

Newsletter: ⁠https://artisanal-originator-6888.kit.com/0e038bf26a⁠

Work with Courtney:

Level Up on Linkedin: ⁠https://maven.com/courtneyjohnson/personalbrand⁠

Short Form Video Accelerator: ⁠https://stan.store/courtlynnjohnson/p/get-started-with-this-amazing-course-2o7ml9sc⁠

In this episode of Slay the Gatekeeper, host Courtney Johnson takes listeners on a powerful deep dive into money, mindset, and the energetics of abundance through an unfiltered Q&A. She unpacks the hidden beliefs that shape how we view wealth, why intuition and fear both play a role in financial decision-making, and how generational conditioning keeps so many of us stuck in scarcity. Courtney shares practical tools and exercises to reprogram your money story, navigate risk without self-sabotage, and take inspired action without burning out.

Together, these questions open the door to a bigger conversation about purpose, divine timing, and the balance between waiting for clarity and hiding behind procrastination. Courtney also explores the idea of dreams as destiny—and how aligning with your vision can turn possibility into reality.

You’ll walk away with a fresh perspective on abundance, tangible strategies to shift your relationship with money, and the clarity to move toward the life you’re meant to create.

Never say “i don’t know what to post” again— Start your mornings with strategy and accountability in Sunrise Content Club.  live zoom meeting weekdays at 8am CT with daily prompts, proven frameworks, and real-time coaching. Can’t make it every day? You’ll still have the prompts, replays, and community accountability to keep you consistent. Join here → ⁠https://stan.store/courtlynnjohnson/p/join-the-sunrise-content-club⁠

Courtney Johnson Socials:

Insta: ⁠@courtlynnjohnson⁠

Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylynnjohnson/⁠

Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7oaV8L7rOBd878nlwydJrj⁠

Tiktok: ⁠@courtney..johnson⁠

Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/courtneylynnjohnson⁠

Newsletter: ⁠https://artisanal-originator-6888.kit.com/0e038bf26a⁠

Work with Courtney:

Level Up on Linkedin: ⁠https://maven.com/courtneyjohnson/personalbrand⁠

Short Form Video Accelerator: ⁠https://stan.store/courtlynnjohnson/p/get-started-with-this-amazing-course-2o7ml9sc⁠