The Sallie Ogden Show

This episode was originally recorded during a period of significant upheaval — when so many of us were being forced into changes we didn't ask for, on a timeline we didn't control. The specific moment has passed, but the experience of being thrown into rapid change without your consent is something every entrepreneur encounters more than once in her career. A market shifts. A relationship...

In this episode, I sit down with Mary Huddleston — the founder of two successful businesses, Mrs. Southern Social and Please Be Seated . Mary has built her businesses while raising young children and being present in her marriage, which means she has had to think harder than most about what's actually possible in a 24-hour day and what isn't. Her central reframe is one I haven't been a...

What should you actually focus on with your marketing — where should your time, your energy, and your money go to get the biggest return for your business? In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Jenkins of JJPR Agency to answer those exact questions. Jennifer has spent her career inside the world of public relations, watching what works for businesses of every size and stage. She has the kind o...

What is your gift? Not the answer you'd give in an interview — the actual one. The thing that comes so naturally to you that you've probably dismissed it your whole life because it didn't feel like work. How do you find your passion when the conventional career-advice version of that question hasn't gotten you anywhere? And once you do find it, how do you turn it into something rea...

Why are you living so small? What's actually holding you back from being seen the way you want to be seen? In this episode, I sit down with Kim Kuhteubl — a producer, writer, and visibility strategist whose background in television production gives her a genuinely unusual lens on how creative professionals and business owners can show up bigger in their work. Kim has spent years working with t...

Are you making the most of your twenty-four hours? Most entrepreneurs aren't — and the reason isn't time management, productivity systems, or discipline. It's something quieter, and once you see it, you can't unsee it. In this solo episode, I walk through one of the most underrated tools in business: clarity. Not the abstract, motivational kind. The specific, operational kind. The...

Ever found yourself standing at the edge of a goal, weighing the version of you who would have to do the hard thing against the version of you who would benefit from it — and quietly deciding the cost is too high? I've been there. Most of the women I work with have been there. And in this solo episode, I make the case that the answer is almost always yes, it's worth it — but not for the re...

This episode was originally recorded as the start of a new year and a new season of Hitting Rock Middle. The framing is timestamped, but the underlying question isn't: how do you actually work smarter instead of harder, and what does it look like to stop running yourself into the ground for results that aren't even what you said you wanted in the first place? If you've been wearing you...

In this episode, I sit down with Sam Bennett — author, speaker, and longtime coach to creative entrepreneurs and the folks who insist on building businesses around work they actually love. Sam has spent her career helping people whose talent is undeniable but whose pricing rarely reflects it, and she has the rare ability to make the hard conversations about money feel both practical and possible....

Have you ever set out to make a real change in your life — a real one, not a small one — and within a few days or weeks found yourself overwhelmed, exhausted, and quietly back where you started? You're not lazy. You're not undisciplined. You're not failing at change. Your brain is doing exactly what it was wired to do. In this solo episode, I dig into the biology of why change feels so...

This episode was originally recorded heading into the holiday season, but the truth is, every entrepreneur has her version of this stretch — the time of year (or the launch, or the project deadline) when the calendar suddenly feels tighter than the goals you set. The risk in those moments is the same: you either grind through and lose the joy, or you protect the joy and watch the goals slip. In th...

In this episode, I tackle a topic I am genuinely passionate about: women making more money — and specifically, charging what their work is actually worth without flinching. Here's what I see happen all the time. A woman quotes her price. The prospect doesn't move forward. And almost immediately, her brain goes to the same place: the price was too high. I should have charged less. So she lo...

Being an entrepreneur is a wild journey of highs and lows. When you're on top, it's exhilarating. When things get hard, it can feel isolating in a way nothing really prepares you for. This episode is for those harder days. Consider it an honest pep talk — not the performative, motivational-poster kind, but a real one. From one entrepreneur to another. About what's actually true when yo...

If you've been feeling burnt out — creatively, professionally, or just generally — this episode is for you. In this solo conversation, I make the case that self-care isn't selfish or indulgent. It's actually one of the most efficient business decisions you can make. The hours you spend pushing through exhaustion are almost always hours that produce worse work than the hour you would ha...

In this episode, I sit down with Amy Smilovic — the founder of Tibi, and one of the most respected designers working today. (I had to pinch myself a little when we recorded this one. Tibi has been a personal favorite of mine for years.) Amy gives a remarkably candid account of how she built Tibi from the ground up — the unglamorous early decisions, the moments she had to keep going when nothing wa...

This is Part 2 of the "Five Things" series. Last episode, I walked you through five things to stop doing in your business — the small, autopilot habits that quietly drag down your revenue and your energy. Today, I'm flipping it. Five specific things to start doing right now to make your business better, sharper, and more aligned with where you actually want it to go. These aren't strategies you'll...

Is it possible you're quietly hurting your business without even realizing it? In this solo episode, I get down to brass tacks and walk you through five specific things to stop doing — starting today — if you want your business to actually grow. These aren't dramatic mistakes. They're not the kind of things anyone would ever call you out for. They're the small, almost-invisible habits we develop o...

The customer is always right. If you've spent any time building a business, that phrase has probably been thrown at you more than once — usually by someone trying to convince you to do something you didn't want to do. In this episode, I push back on it. I make the case that genuinely serving your clients, and growing into the next version of yourself as a business owner, sometimes means telling a...

There's a saying that gets repeated so often it becomes wallpaper: laughter is the best medicine. Most people nod and move on. My guest today is living proof of why we shouldn't. I'm sitting down with Stephanie Krikorian — author of Zenbender and a woman whose story is a masterclass in what happens when you stop taking yourself so seriously. After losing her job as a television producer, Stephanie...

This episode is special to me. I'm sitting down with the woman who genuinely changed the trajectory of my life and my business — my own coach, Heather White. Heather has a way of helping people see what's actually possible for them, and the steps she walks you through to get there are not the ones you'll find in a typical business book. They're not productivity hacks or growth strategies. They're...

If you have trouble telling who's the guest in this episode, that's because I'm interviewing my identical twin sister, Stacy Smallwood. Our voices are so similar that even our parents have trouble telling us apart on the phone. Don't let that throw you — this is one of my favorite interviews I've ever recorded Stacy has been an entrepreneur for nearly 13 years, and her business...

Feeling like your schedule is running you instead of the other way around? In this solo episode, I pull back the curtain on what I actually do every week to keep my time, my energy, and my projects from running away from me. I walk you through the specific way I reorganize my schedule on a regular cadence — not a complicated productivity system, just a few practical moves that consistently put me...

What if we've had it all wrong? What if we've spent too much of our lives on delayed happiness — waiting for the title, the income, the milestone, the thing — when there's actually a slice of happiness available every single day, right now, before any of that arrives? In this episode, I push back on one of the most common assumptions women like us carry into our work: that happiness shows up as a...

Wondering how to grow your brand — both your revenue and your reach? In this episode, I sit down with Dorothy Shain, a contemporary artist who has built her company, Dorothy Shain Fine Art, into a well-respected brand in just five years. The thing that makes Dorothy's story worth studying isn't only the work itself. It's how she's used collaborations to expand her audience, including partnerships...

If you've ever thought about changing careers — or layering a side hustle on top of the life you already have — this conversation is for you. In this episode, I sit down with Kendall Carriere, an entrepreneur from New Orleans who has built a career out of staying open to the next thing. Kendall has moved from the corporate world into owning multiple Barre3 studios, and then into building a team wi...