Codie A. Sanchez

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC fund, Founder

On a mission to create financially free and free-thinking humans.I founded a advisory and investment company called Contrarian Thinking that helps owners buy and scale businesses.Our newsletter has over 1M+ weekly readers, here → contrarianthinking.biz/liOur community has taught 9,000+ members biz buying, biz growing, and doing deals. We value experience over degrees.Betting on yourself over building someone else's dream.Main Street over Wall Street.My mission is less suits, more boots. Meaning: we the people holding the power… and the purse strings.🔗Join 1M+ others who get our free newsletter: contrarianthinking.biz/li🔗YouTube: @CodieSanchezCT🔗Instagram: @codiesanchez🔗Twitter: @Codie_Sanchez🔗Weekly business-buying newsletter Main Street Minute: contrarianthinking.biz/minute-li

Founder

We help free minds and build bank accounts.

The best advice that no one follows:

- Wake up at 5:45am.
- Marriage done well is a huge superpower.
- Trust God.
- Be careful what you read, it becomes the way you think.
- No going out on a school night.
- If you have to drink to hang out with someone, you probably shouldn't be buds.

Feel free to share if you agree ♻️

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC, Founder | NYT best-selling author

I have no energy for hate. Love you, wish you well, or hope you heal. That's it.

You will make 10x more money if you present ideas like this to your clients or leaders.

Underrated superpower:

Just dumb enough to believe in yourself, just smart enough to execute.

You don’t have anxiety because you think you CAN’T do it.

You have anxiety because deep down you know you CAN be doing bigger things.

People overestimate business plans and “genius.” They underestimate irrational inability to quit.

Dumber people than you have done it.

Let's get after it 💥

Follow for more & repost if you need this to be your new mantra.

You don’t get lucky.

You make your luck.

There are 3 ways to increase your odds of luck:

1. Do, repeatedly. Try, then iterate.
2. Be consistent. Resist the urge to give up.
3. Gain knowledge. Invest in yourself.

Knowledge without action is worthless. So is acting without knowing what you’re doing.

Say you want to buy a business.

You could get the best advice in the world from the smartest people in acquisitions… But if you don’t act, you’ll never buy one.

OR

Your could have all the drive in the world, the right mindset… But ruin yourself financially because you didn’t learn the right tactics.

13 other unreasonably simple habits to change your life:

1. Waking up at 5:45am solves 99.9% of daily issues.

2. Grab your to-do list. Do the thing you want to do least, first.

3. Stop all 60 min meetings, make them 45 minutes. Tighter meetings, more time.

4. No social media, email, or text when you wake up. Write something, read something, or create something before you get sucked in.

5. Do the $1,000/hr Test. Group work in 3 buckets based on return: $10, $100, $1,000. Offload one low ROI task per day.

6. Change one meeting a week to a walking call. Watch how excited the other meeting member becomes.

7. Add a How vs Won't check-in. When you say, "that WON'T work." Instead ask, "How could that work?"

8. Be the dumbest one in your friend group, then move on when you’re not. As they say, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

9. Take a picture of your net worth. What gets measured gets managed. Check finances daily.

10. Always the stairs, never the elevator. Pick the hard option. See how much stronger you are than you think.

11. Never write to-dos in stone. You're 10x more productive if you reprioritize daily.

12. Meditate. 10 minutes a day. For a twofer - do it in the sauna. Sometimes hacking culture gets it right.

13. Get intimidated. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Do something every day that scares you a little bit.

Life is the small things repeated daily.

Change one daily habit, and beautiful things start to happen...

So pick one.

↓↓↓

Also...build the habit of getting ownership, not income. 

Come to MSM Live to learn how: https://lnkd.in/gf6hPHdF

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Harsh truth:

Running a company is simply a game of prioritizing problems.

Here’s how to become the Chief Problem Solver in your business:

Want to know Elon Musk's "secret" to running Tesla, SpaceX, and 3+ other billion-dollar companies?

According to Marc Andreessen, it's simple:

"He shows up every week, identifies the biggest problem, fixes it, and does that 52 weeks in a row."

Most companies hide from problems:

• They reframe them as "challenges"
• They create layers of abstraction
• They delegate them into oblivion

But problems aren't biohazards—they're your biggest opportunities.

Bigger the problem? Bigger the potential.

There’s a reason SpaceX is able to send a 400-foot skyscraper into the sky knowing it might explode.

Because they want to know exactly what breaks, when, and why.

Every failure incapacitates dozens of future problems.

This approach works because running a company is simply prioritizing problems.

Your earnings directly reflect what you solve...

Big problems pay better.

Another great example of this is Brad Jacobs.

He built 7 billion-dollar companies in logistics, waste, and warehousing - industries most people find boring until they see his bank account.

Here’s how he evaluates risk vs reward on different deal sizes:

• Small, low-risk deals: exist but limited reward
• Small, high-risk deals: limited reward with high risk (avoid)
• Big, low-risk deals: unicorns (don't exist)
• Big, high-risk deals with solvable problems: "the bingo quadrant"

One of my favorite lines from his book is:

"If you want to win, you have to rearrange your brain to lean into those big, hairy problems and figure out how to cut off the hair and de-risk."

This is exactly what your job is as a CEO.

It’s simple: hire the smartest people in the world... and solve the problems they can't figure out.

That's it. That's the whole job.

Not avoiding problems, but identifying and selecting the right ones to solve.

Becoming a Chief Problem Solver requires you to create your own weekly problem-solving loop:

1. Identify your single biggest constraint
2. Focus all resources on solving it
3. Measure the result
4. Repeat next week

1 problem. 1 solution. 52 weeks in a row.

The best entrepreneurs don't just "think differently" about problems. They actively build muscles for problem identification and execution.

Then they do it again and again.
Fair warning though, this isn't glamorous work. It means:

• Living inside friction
• Facing uncomfortable truths
• Fixing things no one else wants to touch

But it's where all the leverage is.

If your business is stuck, your unlock is often solving ONE big problem.

Maybe you know exactly what it is, but don't know how to solve it. Or maybe you're not sure what the problem is yet...

P.S. If you want to see how we think about solving these problems for our own businesses, you might want to check this out: https://lnkd.in/enaBvipE

A reminder to myself and you this Saturday...

It’s really just you against the mirror. You vs you. No one else can win at a game of one. I know it’s hard not to get distracted, race horses wear blinders for a reason. Your lane you’re game. LFG.

Underrated quality of awful leaders:

They try to please everyone & lead by committee.

The hardest parts about leadership:

• Telling truths people don’t want to hear
• Watching decisions people will regret
• But you can’t force mentorship
• No one cares about your business as much as you do
• Micromanaging means YOU hired wrong

Doesn't mean you have to be a jerk.

But often trying to please everyone is the worst thing you can do for your people.

What do you think?

Wall Street has one rule:

Never start what you can buy.

Here’s everything you need to know about buying a biz in 2025: 

While 90% of startups fail, 80% of acquisitions survive the first year.

88% of people worth $30M+ have done at lease one acquisition.

That means the best way to get rich isn’t to start a business like they love to tell us.

The best way to wealth with the highest degree of certainty is through acquisitions.

Right now, the average small business owner in the US is 67 years old. When you’ve run a business for 10+ years, you're bound to be exhausted.

These owners are motivated to sell by what I call the 7 D's:

• Departure
• Divorce
• Disease
• Disagreement
• Distress
• Death
• Dullness

They’re desperate to exit the game but don't know how. 

Most people think they need millions in capital to buy a businesses.

But they don't realize 60% of all business sales involve seller financing.

Instead of going to a bank for a loan, the seller becomes your bank.

You put some money down, and they get paid over time from the business profits.

There are 3 reasons why a seller would agree to this:

1. Cash

Let’s say the bank offered the seller $750,000 for their biz but you offered the seller $1.15 million paid over time.

They’ll make an extra $400,000 by being the bank.

2. Taxes

Lump sum payments hit the seller with massive tax bills.

Installment payments spread over 10 years means lower tax brackets and potentially hundreds of thousands saved.

3. Speed

Bank loans take 3-9 months to close. Seller financing can close in 2-3 weeks.

Now which businesses to target? 

Ones under $10 million in revenue with at least 15% profit margins.

Blue-collar service businesses fit this bill - HVAC, landscaping, cleaning services.

They're cash-flowing, recession-resistant, and boring enough that private equity ignores them. 

BUT, before searching anywhere, create what I call a deal box. Define exactly:

• How much cash flow you need annually
• Maximum purchase price
• Geographic preferences
• Industry focus
• Must-haves and can't-stands

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never find it.

Next up, how to find businesses to buy? 

1. Venmo Challenge

Pull your payment history and filter out friends and big companies. What's left are small businesses you already pay - cleaning services, handymen, landscapers.

2. Personal P&L Review.

Open your credit card statements and look at small businesses you spend with. These are owners you can reach out to.

3. The 9-5 Strategy:

One of our community members bought her coworker's $1.5M business with full seller financing after he decided to retire to go skiing with his wife.

↓ ↓ ↓

As a thank you for sticking around to the end, I want you give my "Deal Clarity Workbook."

It helps you figure out what business is right for you.

Grab it here: https://lnkd.in/enPdVi_D

What I wish I was told before I had success.

The “Hate Us ‘Cuz They Ain’t Us” Curve:

When you first start out, they tell you...

You’re lame.
You’re crazy.
That’ll never work.
Oh, she’s a one-hit wonder.
She probably has a rich dad.
Or slept her way there.

THEN, we hit the top of the curve. Your success is obvious. And things start to change... They say…

Oh yeah, I know her.
Hey, long time no talk!
Love to meet up and pick your brain.
How did you do that?

And the grand finale...
They ask you for a job.

If success is your goal, expect people to talk a lot of crap for a long time. Let them. Because one day, you’ll just get to point at the scoreboard.

↓↓↓

FYI 

If you're ready to step out of your comfort zone this year and buy a business, come to my live event this week. 

I'll teach you how (over 3 days): https://lnkd.in/eEye_qd6

The richest people in the world don't just build companies...they buy them.

Here’s how you can too (without their millions): 

Three reasons why buying beats building a business from scratch:

- 45% of new businesses fail within 5 years
- Most entrepreneurs make only $67k/year
- First 3-4 years are unprofitable

Compare that to when you buy...

You inherit customers, systems, and profits from day one.

"But Codie, I genuinely can’t afford one."

That’s what I thought too when I started. 

There are 3 ways to buy any business (without needing millions):

1. Experience
2. Sweat equity
3. Money

You only need ONE of these three to pull off a deal.

1. Experience

This is perfect for people who know the industry inside and out.

Maybe you've been a plumber for 20 years and want to buy a plumbing company.

Sellers value genuine knowledge over $$ because they know you won't destroy what they built.

2. Sweat Equity

If you’re thinking about working in the business and growing it, this is for you.

Many retiring owners care more about their legacy than maximizing the sale price.

They want someone who'll take care of their employees and customers, not just squeeze the biz for cash.

3. Money

This doesn't have to mean YOUR money.

I've bought plenty of businesses with 0-15% down using other people's money. You can:

- Use SBA loans (government-backed with low rates)
- Get investors to fund the deal
- Or structure seller financing

Seller financing often works as a win-win too. 

Banks tend to lowball business valuations and charge high interest rates.

But when sellers finance you directly, they get a premium price AND earn interest on the loan.

They make MORE money by cutting out the bank.

Just make sure you show what’s in it for them:

- Higher purchase price (ex. 15%+ premium)
- Tax advantages (spread over time vs lump sum)
- Faster close (30 days vs 120 days)

A win-win.

So what businesses should you target?

A few strategies I use: 

1. SOWS method:

- Stale: Revenue hasn't grown in 3+ years
- Old: Been around 5+ years
- Weak: Competitors are terrible
- Simple: You can explain it to an 8-year-old

2. The Venmo Method

Look at your personal P&L:

- Who do you pay every month?
- Who are your competitors?
- What vendors do you use?

These are the businesses you should buy.

Instead of paying to get your problem solved, why don’t you get paid to solve it for other people? 

Right now, boomers own $5-10 trillion worth of businesses.

And when these owners retire…

It’s either we buy these businesses, or BlackRock does.

I’d rather see more of us own our local than have PE swallow everything up.

If you want to learn how to buy a biz, you should come to my masterclass today. 

It's completely free & solely focused on teaching you how to buy a biz for a little as $0. 

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e86jsivr

How to be unrecognizable in 90 days:

1. Be obsessed

Every outsized outcome I’ve seen came from people who genuinely enjoy the pressure. Not motivated people. Obsessed people. It’s almost impossible to compete with someone who treats the thing you dread as fun.

2. Clean out your closet

Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit the person you’re becoming. Cluttered space creates cluttered thinking, and cluttered thinkers don’t make money. Changing how you show up physically is one of the fastest ways to change how you behave.

3. Clarify your ONE thing

Not five ideas. One. Put a number on it and give yourself 90 days to get there. You have to prove to yourself that you keep your word.

4. Tell a better story about yourself

Not a vision board. Write down the words. If your life were a book, what’s supposed to happen next? What goes wrong and how do you react to it? When challenges show up, it’s much easier to keep going if you already decided they were part of the plot.

5. Start a not-to-do list

Becoming elite means cutting distractions aggressively and doing fewer things better.

6. Eliminate distractions

Most distraction is optional so make it harder to waste time and easier to focus. Small changes here create outsized results.

7. Outwork people

If you wake up earlier, protect the first part of your day, and eliminate distractions, you will get ahead faster than you think. Because most people just aren’t willing to work hard.

8. Move in silence

When you’re actually changing your life, you don’t need an audience. Do cool shit. Then talk after the result.

Do this for 90 days and your life will look different.

Because you WILL be different.

Is talking about vanity superficial? Maybe.

Is it effective? Absolutely.

Being well-dressed and well-groomed is a massive edge in any negotiation. It’s hard to push back on someone who looks like they’ve already won. Own your 2026 look.

I asked my mom & dad for advice recently from raising me and my brother...

This is what they told me, maybe you’ll find it useful too:

1. Your kids are not your friends. They’re yours to safeguard and support, but set rules. Biggest problem with most kids in our generation, their parents wanted to be liked not respected.

2. Psy ops are underrated. My mom had this line for whenever I got into trouble. She’d say, “When I ask you a question like this, I already know the answer. I am giving you a chance to come clean...” At which point I’d sing like a canary because I’m a scaredy cat. I found out today she rarely knew the answers. Brilliant and maniacal.

3. Always on the same page. My mom and dad rarely fought in front of my brother and I. They would never go back on the word of the other. United front to deal with us mini terrorists.

4. Make time. My dad had this silly line that is actually not silly: “You can make money, you can make a cake, but you can’t make time.” So they made allllll the time for us.

5. Four chairs. We have these four chairs in our living room, no tv. Growing up, we’d sit and debate and talk for hours. Politics. Opinions. Our days. Only thing not allowed was an opinion you couldn’t defend unemotionally. We still do this today.

6. Mi Sangre mi siempre. They’d always say, blood comes first. They meant it. I hired my brother, my dad, my mom, my cousin at times. We stick together and we may fight like hell but never in front of others.

7. Once you decide, you don’t quit. We could play any sport or instrument BUT if we committed we had to play the full year all out. No 3 lessons and quit. Taught us to choose thoughtfully and keep going even when it hurt.

8. Always call. They still pick up the phone nearly every time it’s family. My dad in a meeting will pause to answer my mom. My husband taught me this too, and I try to do the same. If they’re your first priority this is an easy way to prove it.

9. You’re not a princess, you’re a president. My dad always used to say that line. He told me this week that I lived up to it. Gutted me. He taught us we didn’t need to be saved, instead we could save ourselves and help others.

10. Hug often and seriously. If you’ve ever hugged my parents, they mean it when they do it. Such a simple, free gesture. My mom always gives you a hug and says vaya con dios… go with God. How can you not do big things with parents that hold you like that?

Just some Lessons from the Road from parents I happen to think are some of the best in the world.

Moms and dads everywhere, I’m in awe of you.

Hardest job I’ve ever seen.

*This is one of my favorite pics of me and my dad. Doesn’t get old.

Harsh truth on scaling businesses: 

Your goal as CEO is to build a team that runs your entire company better than you.

5 other lessons I’ve learned the hard way from 15+ years of being an owner:

1. Operating Systems Win

The difference between McDonald's and your local burger joint isn't the food.

It's that any 16-year-old can run McDonald's because of their systems.

If your business needs you to be the hero every day, you own a job, not a business.

No systems = Everything breaks when you aren’t there

The most effective systems I’ve seen all had the same four features.

I call it the PEIC framework:

1. Proven (battle tested)
2. Explicit Processes
3. Implementation
4. Continuous Improvement

Apply them across your core functions and your business will pretty much run on autopilot:

2. Your Revenue Is A Reflection Of Your Vision Distributed

Every time you say your employees don’t care about your business, you're admitting you failed at distributing your vision.

When your team can't see where you're going, they can't help you get there.

Your business needs two guiding metrics. 

At Contrarian Thinking, we call them “Oars.”

One needs to be quantitative and one qualitative. These act as our north stars to drive prioritization and resource allocation. 

Our left oar? Revenue. Our right? Followers. 

Everything flows downstream from those two numbers. 

3. Successful People Make Quick Decisions

Not only that but they move fast, in the right direction.

It always sounds simple but it comes down to knowing exactly what you want and having systems to execute on it.

That’s where planning in layers comes in:

Annual → Quarterly → Monthly → Weekly

Once you're clear on direction, decisions become obvious.

All that’s left is to track:

- What team
- What goal
- Who
- Percentage Done
- Status

 Keep an eye on all five and you’ll always have a pulse on what’s going on in your biz.

4. Successful People Hang Out With Other Successful People

Your success as an owner is determined by who you surround yourself with.

If you're the smartest person in your business, you're doing something wrong.

Your goal should be to build a team that runs your company better than you do.

5. Find 1-1 Mentors To Hold Your Hands

I used to turn my nose at masterminds.

But then I realized my only other option was to figure sh*t out with years of expensive mistakes.

That’s why I have coaches for everything now.

Most wealthy people got rich by paying for shortcuts whenever they saw one.

There’s no shame in stealing someone else’s 10,000 hours.

Time is the only thing you can't buy more of.

Get in rooms with people who've already solved what you're facing.

↓↓↓

I'm running a masterclass this week on how to grow any business faster. 

Sign up here to reserve your seat: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

Only 6% of Americans own a business.

And of that, less than 1% ever hit $1,000,000 in revenue.

After investing in businesses for 15 years, here are three reasons why 99% of businesses never scale past 7-figures: 

1. Organizational Challenges

There are a ton of sub-catagories here but today we’re going to unpack “Executive Vision.”

Most owners think their problems stem from poor strategy, when it’s typically poor execution.

You can have the best plan in the world, but if your team can’t understand it... you're not going anywhere. 

You need to have a clear vision that every person in your business believes in and wants to fight for.

The best CEOs think in years, then translate this vision in plain english to their team.

Make it stupid simple: everybody needs to know where the biz is going, what their contribution is, and why they are important.

When done right, it creates a flywheel:

• Executive vision gets translated into specific quarterly goals
• Goals become daily/weekly metrics on dashboards
• Dashboards drive structured team communication
• Communication reinforces the culture you're building 
(…which makes scaling almost inevitable).

When you nail this sequence, your team starts executing your vision without you having to micromanage every decision. 

2. Finances & Future Casting

The worst thing you can do is manage your business like a personal checking account.

Sadly, that’s what 99% of owners do.

They look at what's in the bank today and make decisions based on that number.

There’s a reason why that never ends well… 

Because revenue is vanity and cash flow is sanity. That’s not just to make a cute rhyme.

If your business lost all revenue tomorrow, how long would you survive?

You need to know this number.

That’s why we tell all our owners to have a rolling 90-day view of expected cash inflows & outflows.

With this data, you know:

• When to hire
• When to invest
• When to hold back on a big purchase

Scaling a business is hard enough, keep a little sanity in your life by keeping a pulse on collections, obligations, and cash reserves. 

3. Avatar Defintion

When owners say people can’t afford their product…

99% of the time, it's not a pricing problem. It's an avatar problem.

Most businesses chase anyone with a pulse and a credit card.

As a result, they end up selling snow to Eskimos instead of hot chocolate to skiers. 

Compare that with owners who get obsessed with ONE specific customer type.

And I’m not just talking about demographics…I mean knowing their pain points, what podcast they listen to, where they go on vacation…

I have yet to find a business that can’t scale to $10M focusing on one person.

↓ ↓ ↓

Come to my masterclass to learn how to scale your business farther than you may think you can push it.

More info here: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

Everyone should be obsessed with chasing their first $500k.

Capitalism has pulled more people out of poverty than any system ever created.

Stop pretending it’s evil.

↓↓↓

And one of the most important skills to learn to hit your first $500k? 

Sales. 

Read this to learn why now is the perfect time to get great at sales: https://lnkd.in/eqESyABe

The #1 killer of businesses is bad cashflow.

15 other harsh business truths for you:

1. The greatest muscle you can build is urgency. Bureaucracy is business poison.

2. Decrease the time between having an idea and getting it done. Everything changes.

3. Never sacrifice reputation in the name of business. You can always start another company. You can never create a new reputation.

4. Long-term games and long-term people compound. Resist shiny objects.

5. Hire smart people, pay them well, set them up for success... Then leave them the hell alone.

6. “There’s nothing worse than being sick, fat, tired and trying to run your business.” - Dana White

7. The highest ROI investment founders & owners can make is in themselves. Health shapes mindset. Mindset shapes action.

8. You're better off learning negotiation than financial modeling. Business is less spreadsheets than words.

9. The best business of all time has only you, a computer, and the send button.

10. Every additional employee increases complexity. Hiring is a last resort.

11. The best advice comes from those just a couple steps ahead of you. These people still vividly remember the problems you're facing today.

12. Sell painkillers, not vitamins. There's more money in needs than wants.

13. No discounts. Compete on value, not price. Any biz with $$$ can enter your market and bleed you out. Differentiate beyond commodity.

14. A happy customer is the most powerful marketing. Prioritize reviews. Humans are social animals.

15. If no one thinks you’re crazy, you’re too late. If everyone thinks your idea is good? Even worse. Outsized returns lie in non-conformism.

↓ ↓ ↓

Come to my masterclass tomorrow to learn how to grow your revenue & profit. 

It's 90 minutes + fully remote. 

Details here: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

Hannah Power

founder @amplify | empowering solopreneurs to create online success, through alignment not hustle | join my next free masterclass to learn how 💫

I’ve spent the last decade obsessed with one question:

Why do some people seem to succeed with ease, while others burn themselves out through extreme effort, and the majority never reach the life they’re working so hard for?

After studying high performers across industries (and living these patterns myself), I realised the answer wasn’t strategy, talent, or discipline.

It was behaviour.

More specifically, who someone is ‘being’ while they pursue what they want.

Most ambitious people operate in one of two modes.

1 | Achiever Mode: driven by control, pressure, and anxiety. You get results but they come at a cost, and progress doesn’t feel rewarding.

2 | Dreamer Mode: ideas without execution. Constant planning, pivoting, and searching for clarity. Thinking feels productive, but nothing actually moves you in the right direction.

Both modes look productive, and both keep people stuck.

And then there’s a third way… Performer Mode.

This is where success comes from alignment, not force. You trust yourself and the process. And because you believe things work out for you, your brain starts to make that belief real.

This isn’t manifestation. It’s science. 

And it can be learnt.

It’s the competitive advantage the 0.1% of elite performers have always understood.

My path to get here wasn’t linear.

I started my career at Accenture, working in digital strategy, building frameworks and scaling operations. I was effective, but constantly cycling between dreamer and achiever mode.

Aged 25 I left, moved to Bali and built my own business as a Personal Brand Coach, helping hundreds of ambitious people move from inconsistency and overwhelm into clarity and flow. And yet, I was still cycling between force and exhaustion myself.

It was through this work that I finally learned how to operate in Performer Mode myself.

I now teach this to individuals and embed it into company culture on a wider scale.

Here’s what I know to be true…

Your thoughts shape your beliefs. Your beliefs shape your identity. Your identity drives your behaviour. And your behaviour creates your outcomes.

Change the operating mode, and everything changes.

What I teach is simple, but impactful:
→ the psychology and practice of Performer Mode
→ how to achieve more through alignment (instead of anxiety)
→ the framework: focus. let go. optimise. win.
→ the core belief: everything is always working out for me

I write about this on LinkedIn, Instagram and in my newsletter.

I’m also writing a book about it: The Flow Era (launching 2027).

If any of this resonates, let's connect 🤍

Podcast Host

Flow, the podcast that unlocks the secrets to finding balance in the chaos so you can live your best life, in every area of your life.

Hi, I’m Hannah, personal growth junkie, ideator and lover of anything related to high performance working, living and loving.

Over the last 10 years I’ve been on a (very up and down) journey of self discovery with a goal of becoming the happiest, freest, most successful version of myself.

5 years ago I came across the concept of flow and it transformed my life. I now use the philosophy and teachings of flow to transform my clients lives and through this podcast, I hope flow can transform your life too.

The podcast will help you understand and free yourself from everything and anything which is holding you back from living the life you're meant to.

Lets get into flow, together.

The reason you procrastinate isn't because you have time management, discipline, or motivation issues.

It's because you’re operating from survival mode (you’re nervous system is living in a state of fear).

You're so busy forcing yourself to work, pushing through exhaustion, and proving you're not lazy, that you don't have any energy left to actually rest or regulate.

And now you're so stressed and burnt out, all you want to do is avoid everything and numb yourself. Then you sit there and wonder why you can't stay consistent.

And I know this… because that used to be me.

What I’ve realised through my own life experiences and through working with 1:1 clients and businesses around the world, is that when you’re dysregulated… it always feels like the problem is your to do list. 

But it’s not.

When your not resting and regulating, your body can become stuck in survival mode. Functioning when your brain thinks you’re in danger 24/7 becomes really difficult (if not impossible).

Over the years, I’ve learned that your nervous system doesn’t give a damn about your goals. It only cares about keeping you safe. No planner, masterclass, or productivity hack can fix that.

These are 5 signs your nervous system might be running the show (not in a good way):

1 | you're constantly overthinking small decisions
2 | you're jumping between tasks without finishing anything
3 | you're either all in or totally burnt out
4 | you find it hard to rest without feeling guilty
5 | you feel like you have to keep going, even when your body says stop

So if you’ve been worried that you’re lazy, broken, or behind everyone else and recognise these signs in yourself… maybe you’re dysregulated.

To get back into alignment and regulation (which at this stage is your highest priority) try:

1 | Putting your phone away. 

Not forever (just a few hours). This is the perfect way to reset, by letting your nervous system stop scanning for the next notification, next thing to do/respond to, or the next person ‘demanding’ your attention.

2 | Spend time walking in nature

If you can, with no podcast or music (just you and your thoughts). Our brains are constantly seeking quick, cheap dopamine. By letting your body move outside, you’re reminded what it feels like to simply exist. Without a goal attached to it.

After doing this for only a few days, you'll start to notice a difference. 

Your decisions will feel easier to make. Your body will feel less tense. The urgency will start to lift. And you’ll start to reconnect with yourself.

This is where true performance lives, what I call ‘performer mode’.

Sure… nervous system work isn't sexy. But it's foundational and changes everything.

Do you feel like your nervous system is running the show these days (but not in a good way)? 

If you want tips to regulate your nervous system, find flow, and operate from performer mode, my newsletter gives you 1 simple activity each week to shift the behaviours keeping you stuck (link in comments).

teaching you how to shift the behaviours blocking your success | performance coach | creator @performer mode

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...everything starts with a dream.

But dreaming without ‘doing’ doesn't build anything. 

And the bigger the vision, the easier it is to get overwhelmed by the gap between where you are and where you want to be. 

So you avoid starting altogether.

You collect ideas like other people collect receipts. You get excited about new projects, but rarely finish the ones you've already started. You wait for the "perfect moment" to take action, convincing yourself you're just not ready yet.

And underneath it all, there's this subconscious belief that if you don't try… you can't fail.

I know this pattern intimately… because I lived it for years.

I call it Dreamer Mode.

For a long time, I was the person who had a notes app full of brilliant ideas, what felt like ten thousand screenshots, and a track record of starting things I never finished. 

I'd get swept up in possibility, build entire visions in my head, then hit the first bit of friction and convince myself it wasn't the right time.

But why? Because I was avoiding the discomfort of actually building something. 

…dreaming feels safe. Doing feels risky.

(and honestly I still slip into this mode sometimes)

I'm dreamer-leaning by nature. I get bored easily, love new ideas, and I'd genuinely rather sit on the sofa watching Love Island than do the hard work of execution most days.

But here's what I've learned through all of this (and through working with my clients and businesses from around the world… 

Dreaming isn’t the actual problem. Staying stuck in dreaming is.

And the best way to shift out of staying stuck, is by intentionally moving into what I call Performer Mode.

This is where you still have your big vision, but also take consistent aligned action without needing everything to be perfect first.

Performer Mode doesn't kill the dream, it teaches you how to build it. It's about taking the idea and breaking it into the smallest possible next step. Then doing that step. Then the next. 

Not because you're suddenly motivated, but because you've made the action feel safe enough to start.

When you're in Dreamer Mode, your nervous system is protecting you from perceived failure by keeping you in the planning phase forever (it can also feel really exhilarating to keep coming up with new ideas, without the pressure of having to action on them).

But when you shift into Performer Mode, you regulate your fear response and give yourself permission to build imperfectly.

So here's my question… 

Do you have a dream you've been sitting on for weeks or months (maybe even years) because it doesn't feel like the ‘right time’ yet? (share in the comments)

And if you want to learn how to move from dreaming to doing (without the overwhelm), join my newsletter where I share 1 simple activity each week to help you shift out of avoidance and into action to become the person everything works out for… (link in comments).

I was always a big dreamer.

Growing up with entrepreneurial parents, I was surrounded by ideas, ambition, and possibility. 

From a young age I knew I didn’t want a predictable life. I wanted a big meaningful one.

I got bored easily, but had a sharp mind, strong memory, and natural curiosity. If I saw something was possible for someone, I knew it was possible for me too (deep down I believed things would always work out).

So the problem was never my vision. It’s how I went after it.

I lived in two extremes, what I now call Dreamer and Achiever Mode.

Dreamer Mode is excited, creative, full of ideas (but impulsive, unfocused, inconsistent). While Achiever Mode is the opposite… driven, disciplined, intense effort (but overworked and burnt out).

I would swing between them fast… creating progress, but never peace.

I’d have moments where everything clicked, opportunities appeared, and I felt in sync with life. But I could never sustain it.

After 5 years of ups and downs, I quit everything and moved to Bali (yes, a cliché).

At the time it felt like running away. But looking back, life was redirecting me. 

That move marked the beginning of something important…

I became obsessed with one question: Why do some people succeed with ease while others burn out through extreme effort and never reach their dream life?

So I began studying success. Not as society defines it, but what it meant to me (freedom and financial independence). I started living a life I loved (not one I escaped from on weekends) and launched my coaching business.

And slowly… things started to work. Opportunities appeared, things moved faster, life was working for (not against) me.

But old habits and unhealed pain lingered. I still oscillated between extremes, just at a higher level. Business wins and losses, breakups, addiction, making money then falling into debt.

From the outside, it looked like success (but it was exhausting). And in 2023 I hit rock bottom again. 

But this time was different. Instead of starting over externally, I rebuilt internally.

By integrating psychology, neuroscience, nervous system work, personal development, and spirituality, something clicked.

I stopped trying to force life and found Performer Mode.

I realised my belief of things working out had a caveat: everything really does work out (when you’re internally aligned to hold it).

Since then life has responded in ways that feel effortless.

And now I’m obsessed with the magic of living in flow. 

My mission is to share the Performer Mode Operating System, teaching individuals and companies how to create the internal stability to hold success that feels calm, aligned, and sustainable. 

This isn’t theory. It’s how I live. And how I teach my clients to live.

Because it’s not just me… it actually works.

And it’s why I know that when you build from alignment, everything really does work out for you.

93% of founders are experiencing mental health strain.

That's not a typo. 93%.

And their anxiety rates? 5x the UK average.

I've noticed something too with the people I work with…

They tell me they used to handle pressure well. But lately, a full inbox feels overwhelming, a tough conversation with their team completely drains them, and a simple change of plans throws off their entire week.

They think they're getting less resilient. But what's actually happening is their ‘window of tolerance’ has shrunk.

I came across this concept recently and am obsessed how it explains the growing pressure new technology and AI can put on our daily lives. 

… it’s also a perfect measure of whether or not you’re in Performer Mode (which of course I love).

If you've not heard of it, your window of tolerance is the zone where you can process stress, think clearly, and respond (not react) to what's happening around you.

When you're inside this window, challenges feel manageable. You can problem solve, regulate your emotions, and stay present.

But when you're pushed outside your window, everything feels harder than it should. And you can easily slip into what I call Dreamer or Achiever Mode (if you’ve read my posts you’re familiar with these - but if you want a refresher, DM and I’ll explain!).

The important bit about your window of tolerance: it shrinks when you don’t rest.

Every late night. Every skipped meal. Every week without a break. Every hour spent scrolling instead of actually resting.

Your capacity gets smaller, and your tolerance gets lower. Suddenly things that used to be easy (full inbox, tough conversation, change of plans) feel overwhelming.

I see this constantly with my clients. They operate like this for months (sometimes years) without realising what's happening. They just think they're not disciplined, resilient, or capable enough.

But the good news is, your window of tolerance can widen again. Here's how:

1 | Rest strategically and don't wait until you’ve burnt out. Build recovery into your week before you need it.

2 | Notice early warning signs like irritability, brain fog, feeling rushed when you're not actually behind. These are signals you're nearing the edge of your window.

3 | Regulate before you act. When you feel yourself moving into reaction mode (snapping, shutting down, spiralling), pause. Take 3 deep breaths, then take a walk or do anything that brings you back into your window before making decisions.

Your window of tolerance is your operating capacity and it’s what keeps you in Performer Mode. When you protect it, everything gets easier (decisions, conversations, work, relationships).

Have you noticed your window getting narrower these days? What signals tell you when you're operating outside of it?

Would love to hear different perspectives on this in the comments.

And if you want practical tools to widen your window and operate from your highest capacity, join Performer Mode (link in comments).

Hey LinkedIn, I need your help.

I'm looking for an experienced PR / Media Relations expert who can help me secure features in major publications.

I'm building towards a published book deal, and know that media exposure in well-known publications is what will help get me there. 

…but I'm not a PR expert (I don't have the journalist relationships or media experience to make this happen on my own).

What I do have is strong frameworks, clarity on my positioning, and a body of work that's ready to be shaped into compelling stories. 

Now I need someone who knows how to take those frameworks and get them in front of the right people.

I'm looking for someone who has a proven track record of securing features in major publications, understands how to position personal brands and thought leaders, has journalist relationships, and uses a clear effective outreach process that actually works. 

…someone who takes a thoughtful, strategic approach (not spray-and-pray).

This person will help identify strong media angles and story hooks, pitch to relevant journalists and publications, secure features and thought leadership pieces, and advise on positioning and timing.

A bit about me (in case we haven’t already met)… 

I'm a behaviour change strategist working at the intersection of human performance, leadership, and modern work. I care deeply about this space, and want to work with someone who enjoys amplifying meaningful ideas through the right media channels.

This will be a great fit if you can share examples of past placements, are confident working with founders and personal brands, and you care about real results (not just vanity metrics).

I'm open to retainer or project-based support, and the start date is now.

If you are (or know anyone who might be) a perfect for this, please send me a quick private message! I'd love to explore some potential introductions.

LinkedIn, do your thing 🤍

Nervous system regulation is going mainstream.

And honestly? It's about time.

For years, I've been talking about how your nervous system sets the pace of your growth. How regulation isn't a luxury, it's the foundation of sustainable high performance. And how you can't build true success if your body thinks it's constantly under threat.

Now, major wellness and business outlets are finally catching up.

Forbes, Elle, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, and Dazed (just to name a few) are all covering the same shift: 2026 is the year nervous system regulation moves from being niche into everyday life.

And science-backed practices to regulate the nervous system are being recognised to improve cognitive performance, decision-making clarity, and sustainable productivity.

The message is clear: true success and overall wellbeing begin with regulation.

But here's what some of these articles are missing…

Nervous system regulation isn't just a wellness trend… it's the core difference between two fundamentally different operating systems (what I now call Achiever and Performer Mode).

Most high-achievers operate from Achiever Mode: defined by urgency, pressure, and constant pushing. Your nervous system reads this as threat, which narrows thinking, shuts down creativity, and burns through energy you can't sustain.

But when you shift into the ideal operating system of Performer Mode (where regulation comes first) you operate from clarity, trust, and calm. You still have ambitious goals and work hard, but you're not overexerting, controlling or pushing.

When your nervous system is dysregulated, everyday challenges feel really stressful. But when you're regulated you access better problem-solving, clearer decision-making, and sharper focus.

I've watched this shift happen in real-time with my 1:1 clients and through my work with companies around the world…

The ones who prioritise regulation get better results (and faster) because they're not fighting while trying to build something meaningful. Progress and success become sustainable.

So yes, I'm glad nervous system health is finally getting mainstream attention.

But to be clear, this isn't just about adding another wellness practice to your routine. 

It's about understanding that your nervous system IS your operating system. And if you want to perform at a high level without burning out, regulation is foundational.

Thoughts? Have you started prioritising nervous system regulation in your own life and work? Share in the comments.

PS if you want to learn how to shift into Performer Mode, join my newsletter where I share one simple activity each week to help you regulate and operate from clarity instead of chaos (link in comments).

In the UK, some people are now spending 7-8 hours a day on their phones (the same as a full working day).

…and we wonder why we're exhausted.

Every time you’re on your phone, you know what’s actually happening? Your brain is making thousands of micro-decisions. 

Scroll or stop? Read or skip? Reply or ignore? 

And each micro-decision fires glutamate, the neurotransmitter responsible for mental fatigue. 

So that hour of ‘downtime’ scrolling before bed? I hate to break this to you… but your brain actually experienced it as another hour of work (not rest).

We're living in what I'd call the era of manufactured exhaustion. 

We're busier, more connected, and more depleted than ever. And yet the solution most people reach for (their phone) is the exact thing making it worse.

I see this pattern constantly in the 1:1 clients and companies I work with (no matter where they are in the world).

Some people run purely on adrenaline, burning through energy they can't replenish. They mistake stimulation for rest, and wondering why they never feel recovered. I call this ‘achiever mode’. 

When people find themselves in this mode, their relationship with rest is particularly telling: they see it as weakness. Rest is something you earn (not deserve). So they push through exhaustion, wear burnout like a badge of honour, and keep scrolling instead of actually switching off.

Until the body forces them to stop.

Think about your brain (and performance) like exercise… 

Your muscles don’t grow in the gym, they grow when you rest. Your brain (and performance) work exactly the same way.

Without proper rest, your nervous system stays in survival mode. You make short-term decisions, lose the ability to zoom out and see the big picture, and work harder for diminishing returns.

Real rest (the kind that actually resets your nervous system) requires stepping away from the noise.

So here’s what I would encourage you to try this week…

Choose one thing that actually resets and recharges you. It could be a walk, workout, hobby you genuinely enjoy, time with the people who energise you, whatever you like.

Commit to doing it just once this week (not every day because that might feel overwhelming in the beginning).

And the catch: do it without your phone. Just once… phone free. Notice what happens.

You’ll feel your decisions getting clearer, your energy stabilising, and the ideas you’ve been forcing will start to flow. 

Rest isn't time away from your goals. It's an investment in your capacity to achieve them.

I'd love to hear which activity you’ve chosen to commit to this week in the comments (studies show that telling at least one person will help you commit to your plan).

And if you want one simple activity each week to help you regulate and shift into the most successful version of you, join Performer Mode (it’s free). 

Link in comments.

You start strong monday with a new routine. A "this time it's gonna be different" energy.

But by thursday the routine's fallen apart.

Sound familiar?

You have big dreams, incredible ideas, and potential. But what if I were to ask about the habits you stick to daily?

You know what you ‘should’ be doing… but you're stuck in "I'll start on monday" mode.

And honestly, no judgement from me. I spent years cycling between what I’ve now named Dreamer and Achiever Mode. Today we’ll focus on Dreamer…

I used to get SO excited about a new routine, go all in for a few days, then completely fall off.

The problem is that when you’re operating from Dreamer Mode, you’re driven by excitement and the perfect moment. You treat every new habit like a fresh start and go all in with intense energy, but then burn out. 

This is what happens when you run on excitement without structure. It keeps you stuck in a cycle of starting and stopping.

To end it, you need to move into what I call Performer Mode - where you still have big dreams and work hard, but learn to regulate your nervous system and build sustainable habits. 

Here, success flows instead of being forced. You become 1% better each day by building with consistency instead of intensity.

After working with hundreds of people (and navigating this myself for years), I've found there are 6 habits of the high performer operating in flow.

And the key is to shift from Dreamer into Performer Mode. 

Tell me in the comments which of these 6 habits is your strongest, and which is your weakest? 

1 | Move 
Dreamers go all in Monday with a new intense exercise routine, then give up midweek. 

Shift into Performer Mode by making small changes you can keep consistent, starting once per week then building up.

2 | Nourish
Dreamers get excited about clean eating and consuming motivational content for a few days, then fall back into doomscrolling and snacking. 

Shift into Performer Mode by gradually reducing processed food and time spent on your phone.

3 | Rest
Dreamers either avoid rest entirely (too busy planning) or over-rest (scrolling in bed, avoiding action). 

Shift into Performer Mode by learning to reset your system with quality recovery, not rotting.

4 | Create
Dreamers get excited by new projects and ideas, rarely finishing them

Shift into Performer Mode by focusing on following one idea to completion.

5 | Design
Dreamers tend to live in a state of chaos.

Shift into Performer Mode by building simple (not rigid) routines you can actually maintain.

6 | Give
Dreamers often over-promise and under-deliver. 

Shift into Performer Mode by following through on one thing you said you’d do.

I know… this is a lot of information. So follow the Performer Mode approach…

Pick ONE habit. Make it 1% better. Sustain it. Then add another.

And join Performer mode (it’s free) for one simple activity each week to build sustainable habits towards living your best, most successful life.

Link in comments.

We've been told that anything worth having is worth suffering for.

Alysa Liu just proved that's bull$#it.

When she retired from figure skating at 16 because it stopped being fun, everyone thought her career was over.

But 2 years later she came back with a completely different mindset. Her only rule: if it’s not fun, I’m not doing it.

She danced to her own music, wore what she wanted, and prioritised joy over pressure.

She just won Olympic gold.

Compare this with Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps. He achieved his highly-decorated Olympian status through discipline, intensity, and pushing through fear. But he’s also opened up publicly about falling into severe depression after each Olympics.

The difference? 

Michael operated from what I call Achiever Mode. Whilst Alysa is operating from Performer Mode.

Achiever Mode is when you work with force, control, fear, and relentless discipline. It actually does get you results. That is… until your body and mind shut down. 

You have wins in achiever mode, but you're burnt out, anxious, and depressed.

Performer Mode (on the other hand) is when you still have big goals and work hard, but you've learned to regulate your nervous system and build habits that don't destroy you. 

Success flows instead of being forced. You achieve your dreams AND get to be a joyful person.

Here's what Alysa said in a recent interview: "I don't think anything is going to be hard. What is there to lose? Every second you're there you're gaining something, there's nothing to be lost."

That's what operating from Performer Mode in flow sounds like. 

And that's what happens when you believe everything is working out for you.

She didn't just win gold. She broke an upper limit for all of us… proving you don't have to suffer to achieve greatness.

You can do it your way. And it can be fun.

The question is: Which mode are you operating from today? Achiever or Performer Mode? (tell me in the comments).

If you want practical weekly tips to shift from Achiever into Performer Mode to start building success that actually feels good, join my newsletter (link in comments).

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