Standout Creatives: Business, marketing, and creativity tips for solopreneurs launching their ideas

Heidi Weiland is a holistic business coach and strategist who went from burned-out freelance web designer to someone helping entrepreneurs blend smart strategy with real self-care.

Her work sits at the intersection of nervous system support, authentic marketing, and human-centered business.

In this episode, she shares the turning points, hard lessons, and gentle reminders that helped her rebuild her business from the inside out.

From Burnout to Real Balance

Heidi’s story starts where so many creative businesses hit a wall: doing everything, being everything, and pretending it’s fine until it isn’t. Burnout pushed her into yoga, deep self-care, and eventually a whole new way of supporting clients.

“I got to a point where I was just so burned out. I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

Try this: Check in with your body before you check in with your to-do list.

Bonus: List three tasks draining your energy right now. What can be paused, delegated, or simplified?

Human-Centered Business Isn’t Optional

For Heidi, business work is human work. Your energy, your nervous system, your values are all the foundations.

“Business should be human-centered. We are the foundation of everything we do.”

Try this: Before taking on a new project, ask: Does this support the version of me I’m becoming?

Bonus: Rewrite one boundary that needs strengthening in your business.

Authenticity as the Strategy

One of my favorite things about Heidi is how simple she makes authenticity feel. It's not a branding exercise or a persona. It's just… you.

“I’m me and that’s enough. That’s great, actually.”

Try this: Notice a moment today where you filtered yourself. How would it feel to soften that filter?

Bonus: Share something real with your audience this week: a story, a lesson, a moment.

Blending Smart Strategy with Nervous System Support

Heidi’s approach is part intuitive, part tactical. She’ll talk funnels, then ask what your body is telling you. She’ll map your plan, then help you regulate so you can actually follow through.

“Blend strategy with nervous system support.”

Try this: Before planning your week, take three deep breaths and let your shoulders drop.

Bonus: Choose one strategic task and break it into the smallest next step. Your body will thank you.

Energy + Task Alignment

This is where so many creatives get stuck. You can do the work. But should you?

“What is sucking your energy? Are there tasks outside your zone of genius that we can shift?”

Try this: Highlight everything in your business: green for energizing, yellow for neutral, red for draining.

Bonus: Delegate or delete just one red task this week.

Relationships, Referrals, and Being a Real Human

Heidi builds her business the same way she lives her life—through genuine connection.

“Referrals are just what I call being in the world.”

Try this: Reach out to one person you appreciate in your creative circle.

Bonus: Share your work in one community space where you already feel comfortable.

Key Takeaways

• Burnout is often the doorway to a more honest business.
• Human-centered business leads to sustainable growth.
• Authenticity is your greatest marketing strategy.
• Your nervous system matters as much as your strategy.
• Alignment comes from knowing what energizes you.
• Relationships build stronger businesses than algorithms ever will.

Ready to Grow Your Business Without Burning Out?

Heidi’s journey is such a good reminder that you don’t have to choose between success and self-care. You can build something meaningful, aligned, and fully yours without sacrificing your wellbeing.

If you’re ready to grow your creative business with more clarity and ease, book a free strategy session at TheStandoutCreatives.com. Let’s make your business feel more like you.

Britta Buchanan is the founder of Aligned and Undefined, where she helps spiritually conscious creatives reconnect with their authentic voice and creative flow.

After leaving her career as an elementary school teacher, Britta began guiding others through Human Design and the Akashic Records, helping them align with their soul’s blueprint and create from a place of authenticity and ease.

In this episode, Britta shares her journey of transition, transformation, and learning to trust her intuition—plus what it means to see creativity not just as something you do, but as a way of being.

The Power of Transition and Transformation

Britta talks about leaving behind a career that no longer fit and stepping into entrepreneurship with an open heart. For her, it wasn’t a sudden leap—it was a series of small, honest realizations.

“I always knew it wasn’t going to be a lifelong thing for me.”

Try this: Reflect on an area of your life or business that feels like it’s shifting. What truth are you ready to admit to yourself?

Bonus idea: Write down one small step that would bring you closer to what feels more aligned.

Creativity as a Way of Being

Britta believes creativity isn’t limited to art—it’s how we think, connect, and move through life.

“Creativity is a way of being, it’s a way of thinking.”

Try this: Approach your next decision or conversation like an act of creation. What’s possible if you treat it as a canvas?

Bonus idea: Start a short daily ritual—five minutes to sketch, write, or simply imagine freely.

Aligning with Your Soul’s Blueprint

Using Human Design and the Akashic Records, Britta helps people understand who they are at their core.

“Human Design is really great for that, but so are the records.”

Try this: Look up your Human Design type or journal about what alignment feels like in your body.

Bonus idea: When something feels off, pause and ask, “What would feel lighter right now?”

Living with Authenticity

At the heart of Britta’s work is the belief that when you show up as yourself, you naturally attract what—and who—is meant for you.

“When you show up as you, you attract the people that are for you.”

Try this: Notice moments where you filter yourself out of fear. What would it look like to speak or create from full authenticity instead?

Bonus idea: Reach out to someone who sees the real you and thank them for holding that space.

Quick Recap

• Change starts with honesty and self-trust.
• Creativity isn’t something you do—it’s something you are.
• Alignment begins when you listen to your own energy.
• Authenticity attracts the right people and opportunities.

Ready to Explore Your Own Alignment?

Britta shows that your creative path doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. You just need to come home to yourself and create from there.

If you’re ready to take your own creative business to the next level—without losing yourself along the way—book a free strategy session with me.

Let’s make your next chapter feel aligned, grounded, and uniquely yours.

As the co-founder of Reny, a certified B Corp agency, Ben Rennie has built his career around using design as a force for impact. The agency now works with global brands like Patagonia, Google, and Nike. But that wasn’t the starting line.

Ben started as a self-taught designer, shaping his craft over time while developing a worldview anchored in responsibility, sustainability, and community.

From Grassroots to Global Reach

What began as a personal practice turned into a studio and eventually, a full-scale agency operating on a global level. Reny didn’t grow because it chased trends. It grew because it stayed grounded in purpose, credibility, and long-term thinking.

Ben learned early on that visibility matters but alignment matters more. The work had to stand for something.

“Design should make you feel something or change something.”

Actionable Insight: Start with a clear vision, but be willing to evolve. Consistency over time is what creates traction in creative businesses.

Bonus: Spend 10 minutes today identifying one small creative habit you can repeat weekly. Pick something so simple you can’t avoid doing it.

Creative Control as a Business Strategy

A big part of Reny’s staying power comes from creative autonomy. Instead of relying on outside permission or gatekeepers, Ben built the platform around ownership: of ideas, of impact, and of the process itself.

That choice wasn’t just aesthetic. It was strategic.

“Design isn’t just about things that look good. It’s about the impact they make.”

When you control the work, you control the integrity.

Actionable Insight: Identify one area of your creative process where you can step into full ownership even if it makes you uncomfortable.

Bonus: Look up one independent designer or creative studio you admire and note how they control their platform.

Building a Brand People Notice

Work this intentional doesn’t spread by accident. Rennie put in the reps through strategic marketing, community-building, positioning, storytelling, and showing up where the right audience gathers.

Actionable Insight: Commit to being visible. Start small: post, publish, share, and see what resonates.

Bonus: Engage with at least 5 people in your audience this week. Not “posting at them” but actually interacting with them.

Balancing Work While Building the Vision

None of this happened overnight. There were years where the agency grew in the margins — nights, early mornings, pockets of time between responsibilities. Creative entrepreneurship is a long game, and Ben understood that early.

“It’s a long-ass marathon, not a sprint.”

That mindset of patience + forward motion became their competitive advantage.

Actionable Insight: Block out a small, consistent window of creation each week.

Bonus: Use a single 20–30 minute session to plan your one creative priority for the week.

What Ben’s Journey Teaches Us

• Passion might start the work, but persistence finishes it.
• Design is both a craft and a lever for change.
• Creative control requires boundaries and leadership.
• Brand recognition is earned through consistency and clarity.
• Growth comes from being visible, not waiting to be discovered.

Bringing It All Together

Ben didn’t wait for permission. He built his own lane — project by project, conversation by conversation, collaboration by collaboration. His story is proof that you don’t have to jump early to land big. You just have to stay committed long enough for your work to matter.

Want help growing your own creative business?

If you’ve been sitting on an idea: a creative project, a business, a new direction, but don't know where to start, I'm offering a free strategy session to help get you on track.

Just sign up at TheStandoutCreative.com

Felicia Iyamu’s creative journey has taken her from architecture and economics to Google, burnout, and back into the arms of poetry. Along the way, she’s been reflecting, writing, and reimagining what it means to live and work with purpose.

Her latest work, Poetry in Eden, explores identity, healing, and the unseen forces shaping our lives. In this episode, we talk about creativity, burnout, self-publishing, marketing, and what it really takes to share your work with the world in a way that feels true to you.

From Burnout to Breakthrough

Felicia didn’t set out to be a poet. She started in architecture. Fell in love with economics. Landed at Google. Then hit a wall.

Her doctor in Germany told her to stop working immediately. Burnout, officially recognized as a medical issue, forced her to pause.

That moment cracked something open. And was followed by a deep return to creativity guided by questions of identity, culture, and healing.

Try this: Revisit a creative idea you set aside. What if it’s ready now?

Bonus idea: Share that idea with a friend or write down a tiny first step you could take today.

Making Art Personal and Professional

Poetry isn’t just a passion project for Felicia. It’s her career.

She walks us through the steps, and surprises, of self-publishing, why she’s eyeing traditional publishing next, and how she thinks about the business side of creativity.

She’s not just writing for herself. She’s building work that connects personal insight with universal ideas. Felicia also talks about marketing with intention, community, and without waiting to be discovered.

Try this: What’s one thing you could do this week to share your creative work more boldly?

Bonus idea: Make a list of 3 people you could reach out to about your creative project—collaboration, feedback, or just a cheerleader.

The Power of Saying Yes

At the end of our chat, Felicia shares a challenge: say yes to invitations for two weeks. Not just social invites but creative ones too.

Because the unexpected paths often bring you back to yourself.

Try this: Say yes to something today you’d usually overthink.

Bonus idea: Keep a little ‘yes journal’ and track what you said yes to and what happened because of it.

Quick Recap

• Burnout can be the beginning of something new.
• Your creative work can hold personal meaning and professional ambition.
• Marketing = connection, not cringe.
• Saying yes opens doors you didn’t see before.
• You don’t need to wait for a perfect moment to begin.

Want to Bring Your Creative Work Into the Spotlight?

Felicia’s reminds us that your voice matters and there’s room for all of it.

If you’re building a creative business and ready to stand out (without selling out), let’s chat.

Book a free strategy session at TheStandoutCreatives.com

Spots are limited, so grab yours while they’re open.

Let’s make your creativity impossible to ignore.

That’s how this Substack Live with Heather Vickery started.

Heather’s a Joy Warrior: coach, retreat host, and professional permission-giver for anyone tired of living by other people’s rules. We talked about what it means to lead with joy, why curating your circle matters, and how trusting your gut can lead you places your brain never would’ve approved of.

It was a great conversation even with the tech hiccup in the middle.

Finding Clarity in Creative Spaces

We dove into the power of community and collaboration. Heather calls it the “collective mind” — drawing on the energy and ideas of others can spark some of your most innovative work.

But we did agreed that having too many ideas without a filter can be overwhelming. Boundaries aren’t just nice to have. They’re essential for clarity and focus.

Heather: “I take intentional pauses to reflect on what truly serves me.”

Me: And I realized that I do the same thing, but in a different way — sifting through inspiration, holding onto the ideas that really line up with my goals, and letting the rest fall away.

Try this: Notice one idea or opportunity you’ve been juggling. Which one actually lights you up? Which feels like busywork?

Bonus idea: Give yourself permission to drop the rest, even temporarily. Creativity isn’t a sprint.

Vulnerability, Leadership, and Showing Up

One thread that kept coming up was vulnerability and how stepping away from the need to always “lead” opens space for listening, growth, and deeper connection.

Heather and I talked about the energy shift that happens when you let go of perfection, or the pressure to have all the answers:

“Joy isn’t a reward at the end of the journey,” Heather reminded me. “It’s the fuel that gets you there.”

I shared my own experiences with creative retreats and live conversations — feeling energized, humbled, and reminded that showing up authentically often leads to the richest insights.

Try this: Reflect on one area where you feel pressured to perform or lead. How could leaning into vulnerability actually make the experience richer?

Bonus idea: Take a small action this week that’s just for the joy of it, without any expectation.

Embracing Uncertainty and Rule-Breaking

We also explored the “messy middle” — the uncertainty that comes with growth, creativity, and breaking rules that no longer serve you.

Whether it’s stepping into a new project, a retreat, or just saying yes to curiosity, Heather reminded me that growth often lives in that uncomfortable space.

“Just because you can do it all doesn’t mean you should do it all.”

Try this: Look at one area where you’re following a rule just because “that’s how it’s done.” What would happen if you rewrote it for yourself?

Bonus idea: Journal about what your ideal day, project, or connection would look like if you removed the pressure to perform.

Listen In

This Substack Live was full of gentle nudges:

• Joy is your compass.
• Connection is a creative practice.
• Boundaries and reflection are part of the process.
• Trusting your gut and embracing uncertainty can spark your best ideas.

So whether you’re navigating your own creative projects, curating your circle, or just figuring out how to live with more ease, Heather and I unpacked ideas that remind us to start with joy, trust the process, and lean into what energizes us.

Closing Reflection

What would shift if you let joy lead the way instead of waiting for it?

If that resonates, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Drop a comment, share a reflection, or just sit with the question for a moment.

If you want to explore how leading with joy and authenticity could shape your life or work, I’ve got a few spots open.

Book a free session and we can unpack what’s waiting on the other side of the “rules”.