Good Shift – Details, episodes & analysis

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Ever thought about leaving your job and starting your own business, but felt overwhelmed by the idea of building something from scratch? What if there was a different approach to being an entrepreneur?

In this episode of Good Shift, I sit down with my friend Kristiana Laugen, a powerhouse entrepreneur who took an unconventional route to business ownership. Buying an existing business instead of starting one from the ground up.

Kristiana breaks down:

✅ How she transitioned from the corporate world to entrepreneurship

✅ What "boring businesses" are - and why they can be gold mines

✅ How to find and buy a profitable business (even without prior experience)

✅ The mindset shifts needed to take the leap - and stay committed

✅ The biggest challenges of running a business after acquisition

If you’ve ever wondered how to be your own boss without reinventing the wheel, this episode is packed with real, actionable insights on finding, financing, and running a business that works for you.

Recommendations from Kristiana:

1. https://www.searchers.com/
2. Codie Sanchez - https://codiesanchez.com/
3. Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life - Book by Bill Perkins
4. Buy Then Build - Book by Walker Deibel
5. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Book by Carol Dweck

👉 Connect with Kristiana https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiana-laugen-4b116047/

🚀 Follow Good Shift for Bite Sized Insights

Instagram: @goodshiftpod

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Welcome to Good Shift. The podcast for ambitious people ready to shake up their careers and build a working life that actually excites them.

I’m Freya Gordon, and in this first episode, I’m diving into why I started this podcast, my own career shifts (from law to marketing), and what you can expect from future episodes.

Whether you’re feeling stuck, curious about a change, or ready to make bold moves, this podcast will give you real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable tools to help you take the next step.

🎙 In this episode:
✔️ Why I left a "good" career to find a better one
✔️ The biggest reason people stay stuck and how to break free
✔️ What to expect from future episodes

If you’re ready to make a good shift, hit follow and let’s get started.

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Why do we stay stuck in work that doesn’t feel right — even when we know it’s time to move on?

In this episode of Good Shift, I sit down with Bianca Smeekes, mind-body coach and founder of Neurospark, to unpack the neuroscience behind feeling stuck.

In this episode, we explore:

• How subtle signs like fatigue, anxiety, and numbness may be clues your career no longer fits
• Why your nervous system can keep you stuck — even when you want to change
• The mindset shifts Bianca used to move to powerful change
• The science of taking small steps toward fulfillment
• Real, grounded advice for moving forward when the future feels unclear

About Bianca:
Bianca Smeekes is a mind-body practitioner, neuroscience coach, and the founder of Neurospark, where she helps people break free from limiting patterns and step into a life that actually feels good. Her approach combines science, nervous system regulation, and self-leadership to support deep, sustainable change.

Resources & Links:

• Learn more about Bianca: https://www.neurospark.co.nz/
• Connect on Instagram: @neurospark
• Bianca’s podcast: Unlearn with Bianca
• Freya's story on healing from concussion and chronic fatigue through the Lightning Process:
  Listen here on Apple Podcasts

If you're stuck, second-guessing yourself, or waiting for the “right” time to make a shift, this conversation is the nudge you've been waiting for.

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How do you balance a high-performing career with a creative passion—without burning out? 

I’m joined by my good friend Ned Gow, who’s done exactly that. Ned is an Associate Director at Colliers, building a successful career in commercial real estate, while also being the drummer in No Cigar, a band that has skyrocketed with sold-out tours and a global fanbase. 

His story isn’t about escaping a job he hated—it’s about intentionally designing a life where both career and passion thrive. 

In this episode, we break down: 

🔥 The mindset shifts behind Ned’s career moves
🔥 How to take smart career risks without regret
🔥 Balancing financial security and creative freedom
🔥 The power of surrounding yourself with the right people
🔥 How to avoid burnout while chasing multiple goals 

Ned shares his key lessons on career growth, discipline, and fulfillment—plus insights on choosing the right boss, working smarter (not harder), and the books that have shaped his mindset. If you’re someone who wants more out of your career and personal passions, this episode is a must-listen. 🎧 Tune in now!

Books Mentioned: 📖 The Art of Living – Epictetus, Sharon Lebell 📖 Atomic Habits – James Clear 📖 Never Split the Difference – Chris Voss 📖 Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins 

Where to Find Ned:
📌 Find No Cigar on Spotify
📌 Find Ned on LinkedIn  

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This episode covers how to support your partner when they want to make a career change, how to move through a shift yoruself, and a side dive into the basics of insurance you might never have thought about but most definitely need to know. 

This episode covers two major topics:

Part 1: The emotional reality of career change in relationships

• How to support a partner's risky decisions while managing your own fears
• Having difficult conversations about money and security with someone you love
• Recognizing when you're ready to make your own leap
• Working with your life partner without destroying your relationship

Part 2: Insurance basics every entrepreneur and young adult needs to know

• Why you should insure yourself before your phone
• What income protection actually covers (and why you need it young)
• How insurance brokers work and what they cost
• Essential coverage for small business owners
• The insurance questions you didn't know to ask

Perfect for anyone supporting a partner through career uncertainty, considering their own major change, or wondering what insurance coverage they actually need as they build their adult life.

Connect with Pam:

Linkden 

Coversure insurance brokerage 

Naomi Ballantine Podcast ep 

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What do you do when everyone thinks you can't stick to anything? Danii O'Malley spent years jumping between careers - failing university, personal training, construction sales - feeling like something was fundamentally wrong with her. Each time she moved on, it looked like she couldn't commit to anything.

But she kept listening to that inner voice saying "this isn't it" even when it would have been easier to just stay put. That persistence through multiple career shifts, a health crisis, and financial uncertainty eventually led her to naturopathy - work that finally felt right.

Now in her final year of study and running her own holistic health practice, Danii shares the practical lessons about:

• How to tell the difference between "I can't stick to things" vs "this genuinely isn't for me"
• The Monday morning test for knowing when it's time to move on
• Why you need to get your own health sorted before making big career decisions
• How to handle family expectations when you deviate from their plans
• Managing the financial reality of career changes while raising kids

If you've ever felt like the problem because nothing seems to stick, or you're wondering whether to persist through a rough patch or make a change, this conversation gives you both permission and practical frameworks to trust your instincts and keep searching for work that truly fits.

Connect with Danii: Instagram: @Flourish__Health 
Website: flourishhealth.co.nz

Danii's recco:
The college Danii studied at: "It’s called the South Pacific College of Medicine and they really have made these final years of this journey so special and I’d recommend them so highly."

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If you're feeling stuck in a career that no longer fits, but the idea of change feels scary or overwhelming, this episode is for you.

Today’s guest, Meredith Baker, has lived many lives. She’s a Harvard and Oxford graduate, a former international journalist, founder of an alcoholic beverage company and now a certified leadership coach and creator of the Powerful Stuff podcast. Meredith helps high-achievers tune out the noise, break up with perfectionism, and build a life that actually feels like their own.

This conversation is packed with permission slips, mindset shifts, and practical tools for navigating change - whether you’re stuck in a job that doesn’t light you up, hiding behind perfectionism, or wondering if you’re “too late” to pivot.

In this episode, we cover:

✨ The silent pressures that keep us stuck in the “shoulds”
 🧠 How to start listening to your intuition again
 📈 Confidence as compound interest — and how to build it
 🌱 A step-by-step roadmap for moving through your next transition with clarity and confidence

Stick around to the end for a grounding visualization you can do anytime you're feeling stuck or unsure about your next move.

More about Meredith:
Meredith is a Master Certified Life Coach, 500hr meditation, yoga, and breathwork teacher, and the founder of The Upgrade, a group coaching program designed to help women create more meaningful, aligned lives. 

👉 Learn more at themeredithbaker.com or follow @themeredithbaker on Instagram.

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Ever thought about walking away from a high-paying corporate career to pursue something wildly different - without knowing how it would all work out?

In this episode of Good Shift, I sit down with Adam Rowland, former Head of Planning at global brands like Ralph Lauren, ASICS, and Icebreaker, who swapped spreadsheets and a high-paying corporate role, for self-made, stop-motion animation.

He didn’t wait for burnout. He made the leap while things were going well and told us why he's always had that mindset. He now runs his own animation studio, Awkward Animations.

This episode is full of real, raw, and deeply helpful insight for anyone ready to shift gears but unsure how to do it, especially with a mortgage, kids, and self-doubt in the mix.

Adam breaks down:

✅ How to know when to leave the corporate world (even if it’s going good)
✅ Why upskilling on the side was the real secret to being able to pivot
✅ How to up your game at networking and build confidence around it
✅ Advice on planning ahead for a shift (incl financials)
✅ Why backing yourself doesn’t mean you can’t build a safety net
✅ Why it’s never too late to become a beginner again

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s “too late” to start again, or worried about what people will think, this episode will shift your mindset and give you practical ways to move forward.

🛠️ Recommendations:

🎥 Pak’nSave Stop-Motion Ad (Watch It Here)

🎥 Lee Jeans commercial by Awkward Animations

🎙️ Mel Robbins Podcast on Confidence

🧠 Sir Ken Robinson TED Talk – “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”

👉 Connect with Adam:
LinkedIn
Website
Instagram

🚀 Follow Good Shift for Bite-Sized Career Shifts:
Instagram: @goodshiftpod

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Great for anyone with a business idea brewing or stuck wondering if they should make the jump.

David Vioque and Arnold Fomété are two London based co-founders who went from finance careers to building and exiting a startup in under a year. They share what actually worked (and what almost killed their business).

After burning out at Goldman Sachs and Evercore, they took the leap into entrepreneurship and learned some hard lessons along the way. Now building their second venture, they're getting real about the stuff that matters.

What we cover:

• How to know if people actually want what you're building
• The money reality before you quit your day job
• Choosing a co-founder 
• What to look for (and avoid) in investors
• Setting up a board of advisors
• The validation mistakes that can sink you

Key quotes:

• "People need to be asking for whatever you're building more than you can actually build it"
• "It can't just be your friends at a pub saying they'd use it"
• "Getting an investor is like marriage - do your due diligence"
• "Be in the kitchen with the people who'll actually use your product"

If you're thinking about starting something, wondering how co-founder relationships actually work, or curious about what it takes to get initial traction - this conversation covers the practical stuff that's often glossed over.

Resources mentioned:

1. Ikigai concept - Japanese philosophy for finding purpose
2. "The Creative Act" by Rick Rubin - on applying creativity to business building

Connect with them: Instagram: @living.unbound Website: https://www.unbound.living/ 

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In this episode, Manoj Dias - Co-founder of Open, shares how he walked away from an epic corporate career to build one that actually felt right. It’s a conversation about rethinking success, taking risks and finding the courage to move against the status quo.

We cover:

• What burnout feels like and how to make a change
• Why we stay stuck in careers that no longer fit
• The emotional and financial risk of stepping away — and how to manage it
• How to rebuild your career from the inside out
• What success means after you’ve lost the version that once defined you

If you’re feeling disconnected, burnt out, or like you’ve outgrown your current path, this one will meet you right where you are.