107: The 30-Day Challenge: Joyce De Bakker on Writing, Fear, and Finally Hitting Publish

Joyce De Bakker has reinvented herself more times than she can count — international moves, relationship endings, a corporate career that looked successful but felt like someone else's life. In 2026, she stopped watching others succeed from the sidelines. She launched her coaching and mentoring business and gave herself a 30-day challenge: write and publish on Substack every single day — no topic list, no strategy, and no perfect plan. In this conversation, we talk about what actually happened during those 30 days — the article that took four hours (and how she kept going!), the deeply vulnerable piece that brought her the most DMs, and the moment she realized she had more to say than she ever thought possible. Joyce also opens up about growing up in a cult, learning to read as an act of rebellion, and how writing "like the Queen" — proper, performed, safe — kept her from hitting publish for years. She shares a couple of simple practices that changed everything: five minutes of breathing before writing, and the discipline of collapsing the time between finishing a piece and putting it out into the world before the inner critic could catch up. In this episode: Growing up in a cult, and what it meant to read outside its teachings Why her writing always came out sounding like "the Queen trying to write" — and what changed The friend, the deadline, and the fear of being left behind that sparked the 30-day challenge What almost made her quit the writing challenge Why she also challenged herself on Instagram video The five-minute breathing ritual before writing, and why it worked What daily writing surfaced about patterns she's still unlearning Finding — and losing, and refinding — her voice after starting a business Her advice for the woman who's mid-restart and doesn't trust herself to finish Meet Joyce De Bakker Joyce has likely reinvented herself more than Madonna. International relocations, relationship breakdowns, walking the path less travelled — change has been the red thread running through her life. She recently reached the end of the road in a successful corporate career, no longer recognising the woman looking back at her in the mirror. For years, fear held her back from starting a coaching business, even while she was unofficially doing the work anyway, working with many women transforming their lives through new careers, business start-ups, and gathering themselves after breakups and divorce. This year, she finally staked her claim and said no more. She started writing, launched her official coaching and mentoring business, and chose what matters most. Links: Read Joyce's writing on Substack Visit Joyce's website Read the article on the 5-minute landing practice before writing. Connect with Jacqueline Fisch: Work privately with Jacqueline The Studio Substack: Energy-First Writing LinkedIn Instagram