Sustainable Success As A Consultant With Ashlee Berghoff
Operations strategist Ashlee Berghoff, founder of Smooth Operator, joins Gwen Bortner to talk about the evolution from independent consultant to agency owner—and what it took to make her business sustainable as her life and family grew. Ashlee shares how she...
Sustainable Success As A Maker With Abigail McMurray
Is the relentless pressure to scale up suffocating your entrepreneurial spirit? Gwen Bortner and Tonya Kubo challenge the "bigger is better" narrative, diving deep into why strategically staying small might be your greatest competitive advantage. In this episode,...
Sustainable Success At Scale With Nicole Serena
Consultant-turned-agency-owner Nicole Serena joins Gwen Bortner to talk about her journey from a one-woman consulting practice to leading a thriving healthcare operations agency. Nicole pulls back the curtain on the early days—juggling every client, deadline, and...
Sustainable Success As Podcasters With Tonya Kubo
Is the relentless pressure to scale up suffocating your entrepreneurial spirit? Gwen Bortner and Tonya Kubo challenge the "bigger is better" narrative, diving deep into why strategically staying small might be your greatest competitive advantage. In this episode,...
Small Business Decisions With Big Impact
Every small business decision has the potential to create ripple effects that either accelerate growth or drain energy and resources. Gwen Bortner and Tonya Kubo dive into how business owners can recognize high-leverage choices, avoid decision fatigue, and focus on...
Why Accountability Fails (And What To Do About It)
Are you tired of launching new team processes only to see them completely fall apart? As leaders, we often mistake true accountability for simple reliability (did they do the thing?). Tonya Kubo and Gwen Bortner dive deep into this common pitfall, explaining that...
Whose Finish Line Are You Running Toward?
Chasing the wrong finish line can look like success on the outside and feel like emptiness on the inside. In this conversation, Tonya Kubo and Gwen Bortner unpack why so many leaders, especially women entrepreneurs, find themselves pursuing goals that were never...
The Danger Of Half-Decisions: Why Hesitation Costs More Than Mistakes
Half-decisions might seem harmless, but they’re some of the biggest drains on a business. Gwen Bortner and Tonya Kubo unpack how lingering in “maybe” costs more in time, energy, and opportunity than making the wrong choice ever could. Through personal stories and...
Why Success Without Satisfaction Feels Like Failure
Achieving success should feel fulfilling and bring you tremendous joy. But there can be certain times when succeeding does not feel like winning. Sometimes, it makes you feel empty. Gwen Bortner and Tonya Kubo discuss how to address the feeling of non-satisfaction...
Business Myths: Why Common Business Advice Might Be Sabotaging Your Success
Have you followed a piece of business advice so religiously, believing it would bring you big success, but brought you bigger problems instead? There are some business myths people still adhere to these days that could be sabotaging your strategies. Gwen Bortner...
I'm Gwen Bortner, and I've spent 40 years turning chaotic businesses into well-oiled machines across 47 industries. Now, my team and I work with women entrepreneurs to build sustainable, fulfilling businesses aligned with their values.