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Welcome to Make More Money Without Selling Your Soul. The podcast for bold entrepreneurs ready to simplify scale and reclaim their time. I’m Polly Lavarello, Evergreen scaling strategist and cushy business pioneer. Join me and my occasional guests as we explore the themes of wealth, selling and well-being, because building a business that works for you changes everything. Let’s dive in.

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Hello and welcome to the show. Today is going to be a bit of a personal episode. I wanted to record because it’s the end of the year, and I know a lot of you guys check in week to week and listen to this lovely podcast. And as you know, I like to do a blend of episodes, both ones that are really very much to be of value to you in a very obvious way, things like how to get five sales calls by the end of the week and how to double your revenue in 2026 all brilliant episodes, if I say so myself. But I also like to share a little bit of a kind of behind the scenes. If you follow me on social media, you’ll know that in some ways, I am quite a private person. I find a lot of stuff on social kind of cringey, which I think a lot of people will relate to. It always just feels performative, which I guess it is, and that just doesn’t always feel easy with me. So this podcast has always been a space where I can feel I can be my most unfiltered, because I am that person with a friend that pour me a cup of tea, get me chatting, and yeah, I probably could go on for 1520 minutes like I am now, without shutting up. I mean, I try not to, but let’s just say this comes me very naturally, very easily. And to be honest with you, I rarely take the time to think about the fact that anyone actually listens to this, and that makes it much easier. I always kind of clench my bum cheeks doubly tightly, because they’re already very clenched, just just in case that’s not clear, when someone actually says, Oh, I listened to your podcast last week. No, but it means a lot. It means a lot that people listen to this. And it means a lot to me when people say they got something valuable out of it. And I’m a nosy bugger. I, you know, I know, certainly for me, in the earliest stages of business and even now in, like, you know, five years in, I’m always, I mean, one of the things I love most about being in a mastermind and a mixer mind is I just love hearing how differently people do business.

That is one of the most refreshing things later on in business, when you start to realize all the BS, a lot of marketing tells you that there is only one way to be successful, that you have to be on Instagram, or you have to be on Tik Tok, or you have to have a podcast, or you have, you know, you know, the list is endless, right? People are always saying this is the only way to be successful. And the beauty about being in a mixed mind or a mastermind is I am constantly meeting people who are like making multi six figures, not touched an advert in their life, or met someone else who’s making seven figures not stood on a stage, published a book. Doesn’t do much on social but their ads are killing it. Like I’ve met people from all different walks, which is also why I share with you that you know, if ever you were to become a client of mine, I take that life experience, business experience, into the way that I support and mentor my clients in that I very much am not shoving you into a particular factory sausage and making you do things all the same way, because I know that when you lean into your unique opportunities, your zone of genius, that you will you will succeed. And so for me, one of the things that’s always been really enjoyable in business is this podcast, and I love to, yeah, just, you know, I love to know the behind the scenes of other people’s businesses, and so I thought I’d share a little bit about behind the scenes of mine in a really specific way. Because again, I’m recording this in late November 2025 and you know, I kind of felt like if ever there was a time to reflect on the past year about what has worked what hasn’t worked, you know, and kind of what’s been like the five core themes of 2025. For me. I mean, when’s about a time right now, surely right? So we’re going to do it. We’re going to do it. So I guess the first thing I wanted to talk about in terms of being five years in is that it’s like the maturation of being a business strategist. There is less of a prove, prove yourself energy. Recently, I, you know, did a sales page where I say, Yeah, I did the sales pitch for an accelerator. So in the past, I need a copywriter. I need someone to design a new page. I think I’ve learned to dispel a lot of the BS that can come around having an online business. Business and recognize that if you’ve had something done well once, you don’t necessarily need to have it done again. I’ve got a good sales page template, so by ek am I going to use it again? So I didn’t need to pay someone to do it again. And similarly, I’ve learned that I know my ideal client best, because I’m talking to them all the time. I’m listening to them all the time. And obviously, I’m a marketer. I teach people how to market. So why wouldn’t I write my own sales page? So here we are. I did both. And as I was doing that and collecting all the testimonials, by the time I’d finished the sales page, I was like, I want to buy this bloody excellent and actually, quite frankly, moved, really moved by the amazing stories I’ve been a part of you know the fact that I’ve helped people pay for their children to go on a surprise trip to Lapland at Christmas, for people to leave miserable marriages because they finally trust in their ability to earn money by themselves, people standing on stages or being reached out to by big publications that they could only dream of featuring in before people telling me that they’re going off to, like, just hang out with their horses at lunchtime because they’re no longer stuck at their desk. I mean, I wish I had horses to hang out with, but that’s By the bye. It’s just amazing, and it’s the kind of thing. And I guess I wanted to reference this, and I’m not saying this to brag, although, yeah, I’m bragging a bit. You know what? Give it to me. I fucking earned it. But and apologies if you have any children around. I just saw sorry. The reason why I say I earned it is that I’ve been in the shoes of someone earlier on in business, and I say it because I know earlier on I would have like flogged a kidney to be able to have the confidence and the just general sense of feeling kind of relaxed in one’s skin that people seem to have several years into having a business. And I guess I just want to remind you that you can’t buy that you can’t buy that I’m sorry. I wish you could. No subconscious transformation, course, no mindset, course, no, no. Business strategist is going to buy your way out of this. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it will support you on the journey 100% I’ve had mentors. I’ve invested myself the whole way through.

So I’m not saying those things aren’t worth doing, because my goodness, have I invested well and above what is probably appropriate in all of those things. And all of those things helped me develop resiliency, feel confidence, feel courage, not feel alone as I went through that journey. But my goodness, have there been wobbles? My goodness, have I questioned myself? How many times have I wanted to throw in the towel? How many times have I been like, oh, would it just be easier if I just got a job? So many times? I mean, never for very long, as in the should I get a job thing. But you know, like in those early stages, it felt hard. And I’m not saying it doesn’t ever feel hard now, but it feels hard now, but it feels hard in a different way, in the same way people talk about parenting, and they’re like, you’re in the trenches with a baby, and then it kind of gets not not hard when they’re older, but it’s a different type of hard. I’d kind of say it’s similar in business. And then, you know, even then, it’s not the sleepless nights and they’re kind of being vomited down all the time, like the early stages having a baby. And I’d say, honestly, business feels so similar. So if sometimes you’re looking at someone who’s just a few years deeper into the journey, know that it’s not you, it’s not them, it’s just experience. It’s just the resiliency you naturally develop. The more times you go through the Oh crap, I’m going to have to pay for a holiday on my credit card this summer because that person’s bounced their payment, and this hasn’t come in yet, and I’ve just invested in that big coach, Oh, crap, this better work out. And then coming out the other side of that and realizing your business didn’t collapse, you did manage to pay off that credit card. You did manage to pay that expensive coach. You did manage to have two really big months at the end of the year that compensated for that bad August, and everything works out in the end. And not only does it work out in the end, but the following August, a, you’re more prepared. And B, if you see even a slight sign that it’s not going to be as good again, you’re prepared because you know that you’ve got through it before. And there’s so many I mean, that’s one example. Ask me how I know of what that can look like and be like, but at the same time, you know there’s so many things like that, that that client that speaks to you, you know, that client that you’ve over delivered for, that you’ve really made a big effort with, who comes back to you and talks to you in a narky way, and you think, what did I do to deserve that? That client who messages you late on a Friday when you’re just settling down with the kids to watch TV and enjoy a movie with them, and it’s Harry Potter, and you’ve made hot chocolate and you’ve got popcorn Ready, and, you know, they’re offloading about what a tough week they’ve had, and you’re feeling like, Oh, God, do I abandon my kids and reply, you know? And it’s playing in your mind. I mean that honestly, these are all things that I was really navigating, even actually up to the beginning. Of this year, in fact. Let’s get into that in a sec. But I guess the first piece I just wanted to say is you can’t buy experience in business. You can buy the things that support you to keep on going, the strategy, the mindset, the somatic work they know, all of those pieces, all of which I’ve invested in over the years, the friendship, you know, and just conversations with peers, you know, if you can’t afford a mentor or a coach, just lean into community. We’re not designed to do anything alone in life, so don’t do it alone, you know. Do whatever you can to to lean into those who believe in you and believe in what you’re doing, and who see the best for you when you can’t see it yourself, and that will really help. But do understand that there ain’t nothing you can just pay for on the internet that’s gonna remove the discomfort. You learn to be with a discomfort. And I dedicated a whole episode to that a few episodes back, so I’m not going to go into it now, but, but simply look up the word discomfort on my podcast and you’ll find a whole episode dedicated to the art of being with discomfort. But yeah, first, first thing I guess I learned over this year is, my god, does it feel good to be five years in and to not feel like a slight breeze could blow over my entire business? It’s not to say there haven’t been better months and worse months. It’s not to say there haven’t been challenges or tricky clients or tricky moments, but they don’t keep me up at night the way they used to, or create full body anxiety the way they used to, because I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’ve come out the other side, and I guess at this stage as well, I have enough successful client case studies and enough happy clients that the smaller wobbles don’t wobble me as much because I really trust and believe in what I’m doing, speaking of which, that is another thing that came alongside being in business, as long as I have in that, I feel like there’s an element of mastery now that I bring to my VIP days. How I guide people through VIP days, how I support them to find clarity in what they’re doing, how I support them to design a business that truly is aligned to them, their strengths and their challenges and their where their capacity is and where their capacity isn’t. You know, obviously I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’m not going to lie, I think there was an autistic part of my brain at one point that just wanted to give people everything, and I feel like I’ve since learned that that was overwhelming for the majority of human beings. So some people who loved it, but most people would get very overwhelmed. And for me, I perceived that as giving loads of value. And thank goodness. I realized soon enough that, you know, that was creating more work for me, because I really had to hold people. So I’ve learned how to give people structure and direction and confidence so that they can progress and do really, really well with the information that they need and not overwhelming them with the stuff that they don’t need. And that feels really, really powerful and really exciting. And similarly, within the accelerator, I’ve gotten a lot more confident about being able to not people please, and where I see someone bullshitting themselves about something that isn’t serving them.

I’m not afraid to say, I see you. I love you. I can hear what you’re saying here. And have you considered the hard thing that I can hear you’re ignoring right now? And I’m really grateful that I have the kind of relationships with my clients where I can be direct with them and that they appreciate that. You know, that was a part of my personality that before I was almost embarrassed by that, I tried to dull down until I realized that’s actually why people trust me, because they know that I don’t do the fluffy. You know, I can be kind and I can be direct, and they can receive both, and that feels really good. So, yeah, I guess that’s all part of the growth of running a business, as long as I have kind of behind the scenes as to like, what’s gone on for me emotionally. I feel like a lot of the work that was done in 2024 that kind of trickled into early 2025 which I was supported beautifully by my previous coach, Ali maple Toft, was around, was around boundaries and leaking energy in my relationship with my clients. I used to be on a real emotional roller coaster with my clients. If they were having a great day, I was having a great day, too. If they were having a bad day, oh my goodness, I’d feel it in every single cell of my body, even when they weren’t talking to me. I would carry the angst like a weight, and I would easily go into a space of kind of catastrophizing, and I would never share it with them, but I would feel it myself. I mean, honestly, as I say that a lot, it’s kind of embarrassing, but I also think it’s important to be truthful, because none of us are perfect, and one of the really powerful things I learned through being with a good coach was really learning to decipher what is mine and what is theirs. What energy is that there for me to carry? What energy there isn’t there for me to carry and what my role is, and most importantly, not infantilizing my clients, recognizing that they are autonomous adults who have control and choices in what they do, and then I similarly do as well. Well, and there were a few simple exercises that my coach did with me to help me develop resiliency and stronger boundaries and still maintain what I’m sure you can hear in the things I share with you, a very high level of empathy and care, but at the same time to be able to switch off at five o’clock, give my full not even five o’clock, three or four o’clock, give my full attention to my children without without feeling like I was doing anybody a disservice, which, believe me, was a challenging thing for me to do before. So I know the interesting thing about the way I talk now is I was thinking about an episode or two back. I was talking about rituals that helped me finish the end of the day. And I talked about it like I’ve been doing it forever, and that’s how my brain works. Once I am something, I kind of forget the version of me that wasn’t that but I was that person. I was that person, and I again, I share that because I see it in my clients so regularly too. You know, nobody gets into being an online service provider, a wellness practitioner, a coach or a therapist because they’re an asshole, right? Who would do that? We do it because we love people.

We do it because we care but we can bring our own past traumas and our own added kind of attachments into that, if we don’t come into it with a very high level of self awareness and and alongside that support, because it’s one thing to be aware of it. It’s another thing to know how to actually manage it. And that’s why earlier this year, what felt appropriate was working with a kind of more conventional, pure coach, because I needed coaching around these areas to learn how to manage them better and manage myself better, and love myself better, and love my clients better, I guess in many ways, like I say, not infantilizing them is best for all involved, right, you know. And I do have one of those strong personalities that can almost bring that out in somebody. I am the oldest of two, oldest sister of two brothers. So I’ve got that older sister energy, you know, the one that looks after the parents, bosses them around, bosses their siblings around. And that energy could seep into my client relationships, which, on the one hand, can feel very reassuring for clients at times. But then there are other times where it feels like, Oh, my older sister said, to do this. Why is it not working straight away? Oh, I hate my older sister. And not helpful, right? Not helpful to anyone. So, yes, this is why I just believe it’s so important to get the right support at the right time, and Ali was the perfect coach for me at that time, because genuinely, I think back to how I used to think then, and I just don’t even recognize that person anymore. It’s really evolved and changed. So good coaching is worth its weight in gold. Honestly. The other thing that’s happened for me across the past year, very personal, is my relationship with my health. You guys probably already know, if you’re a long term listener, that I’ve had chronic health conditions across the years, and I’ve done various things to support it. You know, I used to do a lot of weights. I’ve been doing those a bit less recently, but I also don’t. I very rarely drink alcohol now.

So what I tend to do is either I’m on a total silly night out and I’m drinking, but that would be like once every six weeks maximum, and the rest of the time I don’t drink. There’s very little in between these days, and that’s really, really helped me. I’ve definitely been going through some perimenopausal symptoms, which have impacted a bit of brain fog, high levels of anxiety, and, you know, just some low moods, which, again, I like to be honest about, because I think sometimes in business, a lot of the time, we talk about the good days and the good stuff that’s happening. And I think it’s important to be transparent that, you know, there’s, there has been, what is depression in my family, and it’s definitely something that I live alongside. And, you know, I have to be very proactive, particularly in the winter, to manage things, to help me feel in a good space where I have the capacity to focus and support my clients, and, you know, all of those things, and support myself. So some of the things I’ve been doing, again, I’m only showing this from my own personal, lived experience. And please do not interpret this as advice. I have worked with various nutritional therapists across the years, so I have been more proactive with taking my supplements, getting my steps in, getting movement in. I don’t really drink coffee anymore. I may need to drink Matcha. If I do have a coffee, it’s now a decaf and yeah, just kind of getting my cruciferous vegetables in and my purple vegetables in, and just basically trying to support my hormones and my health as much as possible. And it has, yeah, it’s made a big difference. I feel more focused, more energized, much more positive and just more relaxed, which is really nice. I’ve got a world tree app that I use, which I love, because it tells me in black and white if I’m having a good day or a bad day, and tells me when to slow down. And recently, it shows that my stress levels are much lower.

So, yeah, I’m really, and I have to say, I’m obsessed with my world tree app I just paid for a lifetime commitment to it, because it’s really the gamification, almost, of seeing how my sleep is every night really motivates me to want to get to bed at a good time and try and you. Know, really improve my sleep hygiene and all of the things. So, yes, essentially not seeing my health and well being Bottom of the Pile, but prioritizing it and spending silly sums of money on supplements and eating well and getting movement in and, you know, prioritizing things like having a coffee with a friend, I’ll be like, Oh, I could be getting that sales page done, or I could see a friend for a coffee. I’m going to see the friend for a coffee because I know that I would probably do the sales page and half the time afterwards with so much more happiness, because I’ve actually taken time to hang out with a friend. So I am much better at, like, listening to my own internal compass. Yeah. And the other thing I’ve just done is just really tried to simplify things over the past few months, so I get actually, and I’m going to say a bit more than that earlier on, I referenced my coach Ali. And one things I did that felt a bit scary, I think it was in February, was I didn’t renew with her, so I’d already worked with her for, I think, over 18 months, and I hadn’t found another coach or mentor I wanted to work with. But one of the things I had honestly said to Ali at the time was, I feel like even if you recommended that I do something right now, I wouldn’t have the capacity to do it, you know, raising two additional needs kids. Sometimes I can feel it in my bones if I’m approaching anything that feels remotely like burnout. And at the beginning of the year, I think because it was, you know, mid winter, when I chose not to renew, I just really wasn’t in the headspace. And actually, again, one of those things that once you’re better, you forget how bad you were. But I guess all these health things I just shared with you did really make a huge impact, because come September, I then invested the most I ever have in a mentor, and he and I have worked together for three months.

I had my biggest financial month in October, and it was my season. I felt ready, and I’m really glad I invested in him. It was scary, but I also felt ready to take on that scary investment. In fact, one of the investments I made after not renewing with Ali. In fact, I’d made it before not renewing with her, but was in was getting actually more support. Because I was like, What do I need more of right now? Rather than a mentor, I was like, I need more support. I need hours taken off me. I just need to feel better. So I did that. I handed over my social media to Bella, and then was able to continue having Bella running my social Well, I just had some space to breathe and had some space to kind of, and things kept on happening. Like, you know, my business did not come to a standstill. My business continued doing well for, you know, the months that followed. But by September, I was like, I have reached a kind of revenue ceiling. I want to break past it, and I know that I need to get myself into a place of discomfort to do that, because that’s just how I work, and so that’s why I invested in my mentor. But I guess I wanted to reflect on that, because in February when I didn’t renew, that was the first time in like forever that I didn’t have a mentor or coach. I’d always had a mentor and a coach for like the four years that I’d already been running my business for, so to not have one was kind of wild, but I just needed space to breathe, space to hear my own voice, and space to think about what I really wanted next. And I’m really, really glad I did it. I actually focused a lot more on being in various different rooms, which I did across the summer. And then by September, I was like, actually, I’m bit tired of being in different rooms. I just want one person on my side who can just help me cut through all the BS and just focus on what you need to focus on. And so that’s what I did, and it worked beautifully. So yeah, honor the season that you’re in. You know, you’re only on your own clock. You’re not on any or anyone else’s so, you know, I guess I just wanted to remind you now, even several years in, I wasn’t in a place where I was like, Go grow, grow, build the team. Do big launches, take big, scary bets, like I needed some time to recalibrate halfway through this year because hormones, midlife parenting, you know, co parenting with a divorced ex husband. You know, they all take their toll on you mentally and emotionally. And I feel, I feel so much more robust now. I feel, I feel in a very, very different place. But I wasn’t there then. So, you know, I guess I just wanted to let you know, if you’re going through a season where things feel a bit hard, I want you to know that I was there only several months ago. The Business didn’t fall apart, and I did start to feel better, and I was in a better position to succeed, and the moment I was, like, October was three times more successful than every single month of the year combined.

No, not combined. That would be like, every single month individually combined would be wild. Maybe that’s coming next year. But, um, yeah. So it gets to suddenly change when you feel ready, and it also gets to kind of coast while you’re not so just just be kind to yourself. So the horizon ahead, what this year has clarified for me, let’s talk about that for a moment. My direction for next year is still recognizing that less is more, that I get to achieve so much more by doing less and doing it really, really well, I will be creative. More opportunities for people to engage with me with small monthly marketing pushes. Those have worked really, really well for me at the end of this year. And one of the things my new mentor advised, and I will be maintaining that because A, I just feel so much more connection to my business. B, I’m having so many more conversations and making so many more sales, but it just feels great. I don’t feel like, you know, my followers aren’t just numbers on Instagram or people joining my mailing list. They are real human beings that I’m having conversations with, which feels really rich and really gorgeous, and so I’m looking forward to doing a lot more of that, as I shared on a previous podcast episode, next year is my year of no now my nervous system is so deliciously regulated, I have no desire to put it in any place that’s any different. And so I’m being incredibly discerning about what I put on my plate and what I don’t and so that means saying no to anything that doesn’t feel like it’s going to help me get to where I want to. And in terms of, you know, like how the industry is shifting as a whole, and how my business will be responding to that, I feel like I’m going to say very similar to what I said last year, which is, my business has always been designed for the way things are headed. Positioning has always been important. Having a strong signature offer has always been important. Having a good funnel has always been important. And I think the only thing that perhaps has been missing from what I’ve emphasized is the ability to marry evergreen with live launching. I will be 100% balancing a live launch probably per quarter, or at least three times a year next year, alongside my everyday sales systems. Again, just because it’s a huge visibility push, it’s a nice little cash injection, and I enjoy it. I think the thing I’ve learned I used to be so anti launches, until I realized that when you’ve already run a launch, you already have the marketing assets, and if you kind of get off on engaging with people and supporting them, and, you know, hosting challenges or webinars like I do, that actually there’s a lot of joy to be found in launching, and probably even more Joy than before, because when you do have everyday sales systems, you’re not pinning all your sales hopes to one launch.

You’re aware of what it’s supporting in terms of the compound effect of marketing. So yeah, so I think there’ll be more of that in the future, but ultimately, just very much staying in my lane, really ensuring that my clients get the best experience that they keep on referring me and all the good stuff and doing more of what I’ve already been doing, because it works. One of my clients came in at the beginning of 2025 having, in fact, it was the end of 2024 because we finished just now at the end of 2025 her best year had been a 200k year by the time we’d finished together in October, between September and October, she’d made over $350,000 in two months. The work I do is profound, and with the right client, the results we can get is amazing. And so yeah, I feel immense gratitude for all of my clients. I need to do the maths as to how many people have been through the accelerator, but my assumption is it’s somewhere around 40. And in terms of all the one to one clients I’ve supported this year, I’d imagine it’s been around 10 to 15. I’m grateful for every single one of them. I’m grateful for my team, my assistant VA my podcast producers, my social media manager, and my husband, who makes me lunch every day, does nearly all the laundry. In fact, all the laundry. So yeah, I feel very supported, very grateful and excited for the new year. I hope you do too. There we go. That’s behind the scenes. I’m not going to do much more self indulgent battery like this, because it feels very weird, but I hope you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it. Please leave me a review, and please do share if there’s anyone who’s interested in what a multi six figure business looks like behind the scenes, and I will be back in your ears next week with more standard, traditional value and less of this indulgent navel gazing. But I hope there was something in there that you enjoyed.