Visionary's Pursuit · 2026-07-08 · 13 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
23 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
This episode addresses a fundamental mindset shift that happens between private creation and public presentation. Carolina notices that when successful creators - from Billie Eilish to Taylor Swift to her own coach - launch projects, they maintain the same excitement they felt at inception, whereas most entrepreneurs and professionals shift into a defensive, approval-seeking energy when pitching to the world. She argues this isn't about arrogance or immodesty, but about owning your conviction fully. When you walk into a pitch worried about whether someone will approve of you, that energy gets transmitted regardless of the words you say. Carolina shares a story of a corporate director who asked how to make the CEO think she was smart, and her answer was simple: just be smart and capable, then own it. She emphasizes that you are your first customer - the work is internal, reconnecting to why you created something and believing in it before external validation arrives. For B2B operators pitching investment, hiring teams, or selling services, the core insight is that your enthusiasm isn't something to suppress for humility; it's leadership that transmits belief to others.
Carolina observes that people shift from initial conviction and joy into fear-based thinking - worrying about being too much, sounding arrogant, or facing rejection - which causes them to shrink and seek approval rather than share with genuine excitement.
Your underlying energy (whether approval-seeking or genuinely excited) comes through in your presence regardless of the exact words you say; listeners sense whether you truly believe in what you're presenting or are trying to convince them.
It means you must believe in and feel excited about your own product or service before asking others to invest in or buy it - the internal conviction comes before external validation.
No; owning your excitement and belief in your work is an act of leadership and honesty, not arrogance, and it's actually more persuasive than false modesty because it transmits genuine conviction to others.
Rejections can erode conviction if you allow them to shift your energy and belief, but if you maintain your own internal belief in the value of what you're offering, the next outcome is more likely to be different.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode centers on a single, relatively straightforward idea: maintain enthusiasm and conviction when presenting to others. While this is relatable, it lacks novel frameworks or counterintuitive insights. The advice - believe in your product, show genuine excitement, don't seek external approval - is familiar motivational content. The examples (Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, J.K. Rowling) are cited but not deeply analyzed for new learning.
Allow yourself to love what you create. Allow yourself to be so proud of it. To say, this is so good. This is so great.
We don't need more people who are secretly loving what they are creating or keeping them a secret.
The core thesis - that authentic conviction resonates better than performative seeking of approval - is well-established in self-help and sales literature. The framing around 'energy' and 'belief' echoes standard coaching platitudes. There is little first-principles thinking or contrarian argument here; this is recycled motivational wisdom without a fresh angle or surprising evidence.
But when we walk into a pitch, into a sales conversation with the energy of, can you please approve me versus the energy of, I'm excited to show this with you... that difference in that energy is felt.
You are your first customer. It is to yourself who you need to sell your offer first.
This is a solo monologue by a life and business coach with no guest interview. While the host cites other figures (Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Amy Poehler, J.K. Rowling), none are present or interviewed. The episode is purely the host's reflections and anecdotes about her coaching clients, with no operator of scale present to validate claims or share hands-on experience.
I'm a life and a business coach and your host for this podcast.
I remember multiple years ago, one of my clients came to me and she had an interview.
While the host references named figures (Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, J.K. Rowling) and mentions a client who was a director meeting a CEO, there are almost no specific metrics, timelines, dollar figures, or concrete outcomes. The examples are illustrative but lack detail - no numbers on conversion rates, deal sizes, or measurable results. One anecdote about a client gaining CEO interest is provided but without specifics.
Recently I saw that Taylor Swift posted a little clip when she was making the music for the new Toy Story movie.
She came to me and said, how do I make him think that I'm smart and I'm capable?
This is a monologue with no guest interaction, questions asked in real-time, or follow-up dialogue. The host poses rhetorical questions to the audience at the end ('Where are you dimming your enthusiasm?') but these are coaching prompts, not genuine conversational inquiry or pushback. There is no one to challenge assumptions, no disagreement, and no dynamic exchange.
What would you say to yourself about your work if you weren't afraid of sounding too excited or too much?
So I want you to reflect on if you allowed yourself to fully believe in your product, to come out with the excitement with which you originally created, what would change?
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Episode Summary In this episode the conversation is about the energy we hold when we finally put our work into the world. Under the surface, there may be a part of you that's losing belief in your idea, or so focused on how it's received you forget the why you brought this into the world in the first place. It's all too common we start a project with joy and conviction, and by the time we're ready to share it, your excitement has waned. We also ask why so many of us do the opposite. We build something we believe in, then dim our own enthusiasm the moment it's time to hand it to someone else, worried about sounding like too much, waiting for someone else's approval before we let ourselves believe it too. This episode is an invitation to stop waiting for the world's approval and start believing in your own work first, the same way Billie and Taylor already do. Key Takeaways The energy behind your work reaches people as much as the message itself. Your enthusiasm comes through in a pitch as clearly as your hesitation does, even when you say the exact right words. Conviction has to start with you before it can start with anyone else.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: Welcome to Visionary's Pursuit, a podcast where we explore what it takes to turn your bold and inspiring ideas into reality.
Speaker B: I'm Carolina Suleta.
Speaker A: I'm a life and a business coach and your host for this podcast. I'm thrilled to have you here. Hi.
Speaker B: Welcome back. This is episode 92 of the Visionary's Pursuit podcast. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the energy we bring when we present things to the world. And I'm not talking about the product or the service itself or the page we give to investors, but the energy with which we bring these things to the world. The energy how we, uh, are feeling when we're sharing our projects with other people. Because I keep noticing something when we're first creating it. We start with so much joy. We have conviction and enthusiasm. But then when we bring it out to the world, the energy shifts. But when I see people that I admire, I see that when they are presenting their projects to the world, they're as excited as when they first had the idea. My coach is one of them. Every time she's launching a new class or a new course or even a free type of event, she brings it to the world as if it was the best, best thing she had ever created. And her excitement for this product that she's sharing is so big that it's contagious every time. Oh, my God. What is a new thing she's bringing to the world? I can't wait to test it, to try it, to enroll in it. It sounds amazing. And I've been noticing big artists do the same. Recently I saw that Taylor Swift posted a little clip when she was making the music for the new Toy Story movie. And she was sharing about how she saw the movie at 11am and then she connected with all this energy and then she created the song and that it was seven o' clock and the song was ready. And she even said, this has been the most fun day in my entire life. Also, I was listening to the Amy Poehler podcast, which, by the way, I love it because it's always so fun and energizing. Just a good hang, as she calls it. Anyway, she was interviewing Billie Eilish and she was talking about this that I'm talking here. So much so that I went back and pulled out the exact quote because I want to share it with all of you. So here's what Billie said. She said, I love my music more than any other music. People hear that and think, what the heck? Like, oh, you're listening to your own music and it's like, well, yeah, that's why I make it. I make music to listen to it, enjoy it, and to sing it. It's my favorite thing in the world. As I listened to her, I thought I wow, that is so refreshing. I feel like we've all been taught to be humble, to not brag about the things we do, but to love what we do and to share our love for our own products and offers. I think it is contagious. And yet when I'm talking with my clients or potential clients, I see the opposite happening. They create, or we create something. We work so hard for it, and privately, when we start, we believe in it, and that's why we do it. But then when it's time to put it out in the world, we doubt ourselves. We go from the energy of, oh, this is so cool, what I'm creating. This is such a great idea to, ooh, uh. I hope I'm not sounding arrogant. I hope I'm not too much. I'm gonna tone it down. And then we turn our attention to others. I hope they'll approve it. I hope other people will like it. I hope people will feel a certain way. In fact, sometimes when I'm talking with people who are maybe in a corporate job or anyone who's talking to someone that is meaningful to them, and they come to me and ask, what can I do? So that person thinks I'm, um, smart, I'm capable, they want to hire me. Because what I see is so many of us doing the opposite. We go into our heads, we come up with an idea, we create something, then we work so hard to produce it, and in a way, we believe in it. Of course we believe in it, because that's why we're doing it. But then when it's time to put it out into the world, we shrink. We get cautious. We start worrying about being too much or too arrogant or what other people are going to say. We worry that we're going to be rejected, that people are not going to like it, that they're going to criticize it. We're hoping they're going to approve it, but we're scared they won't. So instead of showing up with the energy of, hey, world, I'm so excited to share this with you. I believe in it so much. I'm so excited. I like it so much. We show up with the energy of, can you please like it? Please approve of me? Please invest in my business. Or as recently, one person I met said, I need to force them to invest in this and when we're in that energy of, uh, please don't reject me or I'm going to force you to believe in this is because there's a part of us that it's not believing in it fully. And what I want to say, what I want to argue in this episode is that that energy changes everything. So, again, I see it often happening with entrepreneurs with founders, when they're going to pitch their idea to an investor or when they're going to get a new hire, right? Because at the beginning, it's so vulnerable to get those first few employees to join your company. They try to control what the other person is going to think. So they might come to me and ask me something like, how do I make them think I'm smart? Or how do I get them to like me? Or how do I make sure they do invest? You know, I see it also in corporate, really. I see it with anyone who. When they're going to have a conversation with someone they respect or admire, the natural thought is always, I, uh, want them to think this thing about me. I want them to think that I'm impressive or smart or capable or that they admire me and listen. That is so human. I get it. It happens to me, too. All of us want to be liked. All of us want to be respected and admired by the people that we respect and admire. We want to feel safe in important rooms. We want to feel like we belong. But when we walk into a pitch, into a sales conversation with the energy of, can you please approve me versus the energy of, I'm excited to show this with you. I'm presenting you with an opportunity that I believe is amazing, that difference in that energy is felt. And even when you say exactly the same words, even when you know your pitch by memory, your energy comes through. But in order for us to be like Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift or my coach or so many artists that unapologetically, um, stand up and say, we love our art, we love our music, we believe this song we're putting out today is the most incredible song we've created, or this new offer that I have for my audience is amazing and they're going to love it. We need to work on the belief that we cannot be too much, in the belief that we need to be humble and any other doubt we might have about the product or service we're bringing out into the world. One way to think about it is that we don't need to outsource our conviction. We don't need to wait for other people to tell us we're right, but we need to create the possibility or the practice within ourselves for us to believe in our product or service first, even before the world says anything, and even when the world might not like it at first. Because we've also seen those stories, right? Like J.K. rowling with Harry Potter. How many times did she get rejected? And she kept believing in her book and she kept looking for a publisher to publish it. And listen, I understand when we've been rejected over and over again, it's easier to lose that conviction. I have felt that as well. When I've been selling to people my coaching services and one after another says, no, they don't want to buy it, it starts making me not feel as comfortable. But if I allow those nos to change, to shift my energy, to shift my belief in what I have to offer, the most likely next outcome is a, uh, no. Again, as I tell my clients, you are your first customer. It is to yourself who you need to sell your offer first. Doing the work, the intentional focus on why you're excited about what you are, uh, bringing to the world, in connecting to that conviction, in connecting to that enthusiasm, is going to show up on the other side. I remember multiple years ago, one of my clients came to me and she had an interview. She's a, uh, director at a corporate job, and I think she was meeting with the CEO. She works for a very, very big company. And she came to me and said, how do I make him think that I'm smart and I'm capable? And my answer was like, well, just be smart and capable, and then he's going to think that. And I know that it's very simplistic, but she has told me over the years how much that conversation changed her perspective because the locus of control stopped being in the other person's brain, but in her own. Her acting or being as smart as she is, her owning her intelligence, her capability, and showing up to that meeting like that, it completely came across and the CEO was really interested in her and they started developing a relationship. So if you're listening to this and if you're noticing that you're holding back on calling that person and pitching your new event and asking for the money, or you're noticing that you're going to places to sell your products and services and you're just repeating things out of memory and not with great energy, I want you to think about me as your coach, and I'm sitting there in front of you asking questions like, where are you dimming your enthusiasm? Where are you showing up with? Get energy, get their money, get their attention, get their love versus with generosity and excitement to share with others what you have created. What would you say to yourself about your work if you weren't afraid of sounding too excited or too much? And as we've talked about in this podcast before, our thoughts end up showing in our results. So I want you to reflect on if you allowed yourself to fully believe in your product, to come out with the excitement with which you originally created, what would change? What would make a difference in the outcome you're trying to create? So make some time, reflect on those questions, journal and embrace this invitation. Allow yourself to love what you create. Allow yourself to be so proud of it. To say, this is so good. This is so great. I'm so excited to share this with the world. Allow yourself to be unapologetic about your own work, because your enthusiasm is not something to tone down, to seem humble or modest. Your enthusiasm is part of your leadership, is part of how everyone is going to experience your is how you're going to transmit your belief to others. And honestly, we don't need more people who are secretly loving what they are creating or keeping them a secret. What we need is more people who are willing and courageous to stand behind what they're creating with conviction, with joy. Not necessarily because everyone has to like it, but because we love it. All right, my friends, I'll, uh, see you next week. Bye.
Speaker A: If you're currently pursuing a big, bold idea and would love some support, let's talk. In my coaching program, I'll teach you how to manage yourself, your own thoughts and emotions, as well as your team and your money, so you can turn your beautiful idea into a reality. Go now to kadosuleta.com consult that is C A R O Z U L E T A.com consult and complete the form to book a complimentary call with me. See you there.
Speaker B: Sam.
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