You Are The Creator w/ James Wightman

Most coaches who struggle to fill their practice aren't missing a technique — they're missing a relationship with themselves. Nathaniel Dunn has been coaching full time for six years, working with everyone from military veterans to CEOs, and the thing he keeps coming back to is simple: the work you do on yourself is the work that creates clients. In this conversation, Nathaniel and James explore w...

Most people think the words they use are just describing their reality. Igor Furdik would tell you they're creating it — and that one distinction changes everything about how you show up in your business, your relationships, and the conversations that matter most. Igor is a consultant, coach, and board member of a consultancy company in Slovakia who spent years absorbing the right information and...

Most coaches who struggle to fill their practice aren't missing a strategy — they're missing a relationship with themselves as a professional. Michael McDonald spent years finding that out the hard way, including going broke inside a $11,000 marketing program that taught him to talk about himself instead of actually helping people. Michael is a transformational coach with over a decade of experien...

What if the way you show up in a conversation — not what you say, but who you're being — is what creates clients? Olga Campora has built her entire practice on that conviction, and this conversation is a living example of it. Olga is a coach who describes her work as being a mind surgeon and soul orthodontist — someone who helps people rediscover their God-given greatness and grow into what they w...

The little voice that tells you to play small, to stay quiet, to wonder who would want to talk to you — Jamie Damsker wants you to know it never goes away. Not after 10 years. Not after the corner office. Not for the senior executives he coaches who are one step ahead of imposter syndrome and relationships that are quietly falling apart. The voice doesn't disappear. What changes is your relationsh...

Most coaches think client creation happens somewhere specific — at a networking event, on social media, through a particular strategy. Rose Latham has been creating clients at funerals, school gates, and local networking groups for over a decade. Not because she's looking for them, but because she's simply living her life with genuine curiosity about the people around her. Rose is a life and leade...

Most coaches spend years chasing the next strategy, the next funnel, the next program. Margo George found one approach that worked in her first year of coaching and has trusted it ever since — and 11 years later, it's still how almost every client finds her. Margo has been coaching for over a decade, training with some of the best in the world across multiple modalities. But more than any certific...

Most people walk into a conversation trying to be impressive. Julian Saad walks in genuinely curious — and that one difference has shaped everything about how he builds relationships and creates clients. Julian is a coach who grew up traveling the world with his father, a self-made entrepreneur who handed him the best internship he could have asked for: at 14, Julian was put in a suit, flown to Li...

You already know what to do. The conversations, the connections, the showing up. What gets in the way isn't a missing tactic — it's the noise that makes it feel harder than it is. Julie Brown has been a full-time coach since 2015 and has built her entire practice through something most people overthink: genuine connection with the people already around her. No funnels. No lead magnets. No cold out...

Kelly Gordon has been in the digital agency space for nearly 20 years. She's invested well over half a million dollars in tactics, education, and programs from the best in the industry. She already knew the strategy. And yet something kept getting in the way — until she stopped looking for a new tactic and started looking inward. In this coaching spotlight, Kelly shares what brought her to James:...

Brad Newman has spent five years coaching over 1,500 business owners on how to sell out their trainings, events, and masterminds. He knows the game. He's been in more programs than most. And yet when his business was growing fast, new partnership opportunities were opening up, and everything on the outside looked like momentum — his inner game hadn't caught up to sustain it. He didn't have anyone...

Nothing about Ella's arrival went the way Ellie and James had planned. The home birth became a hospital transfer. The hypnobirthing prep met a reality that had its own ideas. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, Ellie found a part of herself she hadn't accessed before — one that carried her through. In Part 2 of Ella's birth story, Ellie and James pick up from eight centimeters dilated at the...

Alejandro Valdez — known as Hondo — was running five businesses and working 80 hours a week. He was investing in properties, equipment, and employees, but the one thing he hadn't invested in was himself. That's where things started to change. In this coaching spotlight, Hondo shares what led him to say yes to coaching — the burnout, the stress, and the fear of putting that kind of money into himse...

Join us for a heartfelt and often humorous conversation, as Ellie and I share the journey through pregnancy, the emotional rollercoaster of expecting a child, and the challenges faced along the way. As well, we'll talk about the importance of support from partners, midwives, and doulas, and how these relationships shaped the whole experience. Listen in to get a fuller picture of what pregnancy and...

Most people think commitment is a one-time decision. Ellie Aaron and James Wightman would tell you it's actually a daily practice — one you have to keep choosing, especially when it gets hard. In this conversation, the two of them explore what commitment really looks like across love, leadership, and self-leadership. They talk about the difference between actually looking at your own patterns vers...

Mastering a craft isn't fast, and it isn't supposed to be. Dana Estelle, the owner and hat maker behind BKMC, has spent over eight years proving that patience — not talent alone — is what actually gets you there. Dana studied millinery after discovering it through fashion school, and now runs her own shop and studio in Rhinebeck, New York, after years of working out of shared studios in New York C...

Creativity isn't supposed to run at full capacity all the time — but most of us were trained to believe otherwise. Deb Soromenho has spent years learning to work with that truth instead of against it. Deb is a watercolor artist who builds soul connections with people through her work, and she's known for being unusually open about the ups and downs of her creative process. In this conversation, sh...

What if the thing standing between you and what you want isn't more effort, but appreciation for where you already are? Tamara Rasheed came back to unpack exactly that. Tamara is an author and publisher who helps people monetize their own intellectual property and market their books well. In this conversation, she and James revisit her journey through coaching together, including the moment she re...

Sometimes the thing standing between you and a breakthrough isn't a strategy — it's a phone call you've been avoiding. Dan Kirby found that out firsthand during a coaching session that didn't go the way he expected. Dan is a tattoo artist who's been in the craft for over a decade. In this conversation, he and James talk about what it actually felt like to be asked, mid-session, to pick up the phon...

What happens when the life you built no longer matches who you're becoming? Cordelia Gaffar didn't wait for the answer to arrive — she went looking for it, even when it meant unraveling a marriage, a career, and every label she'd ever worn. Cordelia works at the intersection of self-discovery, emotional empowerment, and personal growth, helping people move past inherited expectations and societal...

Mark Reynolds spent years doing all the right activities — reading the books, following the systems — and still wasn't getting anywhere. The problem wasn't effort. It was the belief that he had to reinvent the wheel instead of finding what already worked. Mark works across music coaching, creative coaching, and nutritional counseling. In this conversation, he and James talk about the shift from sc...

Everyone says you need six months of savings before you quit your job. Ashley Caira left hers with $300 in the bank. Ashley is a social media manager and content creator who built her business by meeting with James on her lunch breaks, in her car, while she was still working full time. In this conversation, she and James talk about what it actually took to make the leap — the fear of giving notice...

What if the question driving your business wasn't "how do I sell this" but "how do I add value to this person"? Evans Putnam says that one shift changes everything. Evans is the creator of the Servepreneur Blueprint and founder of the Servepreneur Movement, and in this conversation he and James explore what actually separates a transactional business from one built on service. Evans shares how lea...

Mark Spray built a seven-figure business out of a weighted blanket he sewed at his kitchen table to help his son. Then a competitor moved in, the cash dried up, and what started as a small fire turned into, in Mark's words, a wildfire that nearly took everything down with it. In this conversation, Mark and James walk through the entire unraveling — a year-long sale process that dragged on while ta...

There's no special train coming to pick you up one day. Tamara Rasheed knows that better than most — she built a life and a publishing business out of neglect, abuse, and homelessness, one deliberate choice at a time. Tamara is an author and publisher who now helps people process their own stories and turn them into books. In this conversation, she and James get into the real difference between a...