Still In Progress | For Women Entrepreneurs Who’ve Outgrown the Business They Built

Hosted by Brittany Cates | Business Evolution Strategist

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102

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Oct 2026

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About the show

You built something that made sense for who you were then. But somewhere along the way, you outgrew it. "Still in Progress" is about the hidden cost of staying in a business, career or identity that no longer fits, and what it takes to evolve without burning everything down. Hosted by Brittany Cates, it’s for women navigating changing ambitions, visibility, identity shifts and the "messy middle" of figuring out what fits now. Expect honest conversations, fresh perspective and practical ways to make clearer decisions about what comes next.

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60 recent

October 20, 2026Episode 2832 min

Credentials vs. Connection: What Actually Gets Clients to Say Yes (with Alex Theordor)

Alex Theodore spent years as a psychotherapist before motherhood pushed her toward a different kind of work: copywriting for healthcare practitioners. She didn't leave her clinical training behind. She translated it. In this conversation, Alex breaks down why so many therapist and healthcare websites read like a resume instead of an answer to what a patient is actually afraid of. We talk about how she uncovers a practitioner's real point of difference (hint: it's rarely their degree), why "warm, open, non-judgmental" isn't a differentiator anymore, and how she knew (in her body, before her mind caught up) that it was time to leave clinical work altogether. If your website has ever felt like it's underselling what you actually do, start here. --- Connect with Alex Website: stresslessdigitalmarketingagency.com Book: stresslessdigitalmarketingagency.com/staybooked Instagram: @alextheocopywriting --- Work with Brittany Website: catescreativestudio.com Instagram: @catescreative.studio

October 13, 2026Episode 2711 min

How to Know You're Not Actually Lost, Just Still Becoming

You've rebranded. Renamed. Rewritten the bio for the third time this year. And somewhere in the middle of doing it again , a quiet, exhausting thought creeps in: what if I'm the problem? What if I just can't figure out what I'm actually building? You're not the problem. And you're not behind. In this episode, Brittany walks through her own version of this — 4 podcast names, 4 pivots, and the moment she finally understood what she'd been missing the whole time:branding was never the point. What she does is bigger than that, and there's a difference between chasing the right name for something and actually growing into who you're becoming. If you've ever wondered whether "still figuring it out" is something you should have outgrown by now — this is your permission slip to stop asking that question.

October 6, 2026Episode 2611 min

When You Treat Everything Like It Matters, Nothing Does

You treat every element like it's essential — the extra tagline, the fourth call to action, the decorative squiggle nobody will remember. And that instinct to keep it all is exactly why nothing lands. I've been sitting with why AI-generated graphics bother me so much, and it's not that they're ugly. It's that nothing was ever cut. Everything technically fits, so everything stays. And that's the same thing that happens when we build our own brands without deciding what actually matters: we keep adding because we're scared of what we'll lose if we choose. This episode is about subtraction — why it's the one move a machine can't make for you, and why the willingness to lose something is what makes a brand feel human again. The page isn't supposed to hold everything you know. It's supposed to hold the one thing you've actually decided matters.

September 29, 2026Episode 2533 min

Motivation vs. Discipline: Taking Responsibility for the Life You Actually Want (feat. Donna Kreisler)

You've had the moment. Maybe it wasn't on the steps of an apartment building with the electricity shut off, but you've had the version of it. The moment you realized the life you built isn't the one you actually want, and no one is coming to hand you the way out. Donna Kreisler had that moment at 30, broke, divorced, and convinced her whole life was other people's fault. What she learned over the next ten years is that motivation and discipline are not the same thing, and only one of them actually rebuilds a life. Motivation got her started. Discipline, system, and the decision to stop waiting for someone to save her are what got her through. In this conversation, Donna and Brittany talk about why motivation always runs out, what actually happens in the space between falling and getting back up, and why taking full responsibility for your own life, no blame, no shortcuts, no waiting for permission, is the least comfortable and most powerful decision available to any of us. Donna is the creator of The Prosperity Mindset. Find her linked below. Access all of Donna's links here: https://linktr.ee/donnakreisler Connect with Brittany Instagram: @catescreative.studio Website: www.catescreativestudio.com

September 22, 2026Episode 247 min

How to Follow Social Media Trends Without Losing Your Brand

You know the moment. You're scrolling and you see it again: the same carousel format, the same trending audio, the same color text everyone's suddenly using. And some small voice in you asks, should I be doing that too? In this episode, I'm talking about the real question underneath that pressure: how do you follow trends without losing the thing that makes your brand actually yours? I walk through the four things I come back to every time I feel that pull, from the "would you jump off a cliff" test to why templates can only ever be a starting point, never the whole post. We also talk about why your brain literally can't hold all the strategy advice you're being fed every time you open Instagram, and what happens when you stop bracing and start creating from ease instead of hustle. If you've ever caught yourself copying a trend you don't even like because you're scared of falling behind, this one's for you. If this episode resonates and you're ready for more ease and flow in how you show up online, send a DM on Instagram to @catescreative.studio. Let's talk.

September 15, 2026Episode 237 min

The Familiarity Trap: Why You Can't See What's Wrong With Your Own Brand

You've been showing up the same way for a while now, same website, same social presence, same elevator pitch, and it's worked. So you've never really questioned it. But "it's worked so far" and "it's still working" aren't the same thing. In this episode, I'm pulling from something I see constantly in my day job as a UX designer: the person closest to a product is usually the worst judge of whether it still makes sense to a stranger. I'll walk through why that happens, why it applies directly to your brand, and how to tell if you're in that blind spot right now, without scrapping everything you've built to find out. If something's been nagging at you about how you're showing up, this one's for you. DM me on Instagram @catescreative.studio if this lands.

September 8, 2026Episode 2232 min

Rebuilding Your Career, Your Finances and Yourself From Nothing (feat. Nancy Benet)

Nancy Benet chased the CPA path since she was a kid. Got the degree, did everything right, and still found corporate accounting wasn't actually the thing she wanted. That was just the first pivot. Five failed businesses with her husband. A divorce. Four kids. $650K in debt, in the middle of a recession, with no job. She bought a tax practice because she had to, not because she had it figured out. What followed wasn't a straight climb back to stability. It was small steps, one pivot after another, and a slow rebuild of both her business and her relationship with money. We talk about the moment she stopped blaming her circumstances and realized every choice she'd made had gotten her here, and every choice from here forward could get her somewhere else. We also get into: The New Zero method, a piece of advice from a friend that changed everything for her business. Why cash flow is the thing that actually keeps a business alive. And why she still doesn't plan ten years out, only the next step. If you've ever felt like you're rebuilding from nothing, this one's proof it's possible. --- Connect with Nancy Website: www.successyourway.com Instagram: @success.your.way Book: Tame Your Money Monster

September 1, 2026Episode 218 min

You're Not Stuck. You're Waiting for Permission.

You're not behind. You're not lazy. You're waiting. Waiting until you have more clarity. More certainty. More confidence that the direction you're heading is the right one before you fully commit to it. In this episode, I'm getting honest about what that waiting actually feels like from the inside — and why the figuring out doesn't happen before you move. It happens because you move. This is a conversation about permission. Whose voices you're actually letting drive your decisions, what it looks like to honor a commitment without punishing yourself, and what opens up when you stop making certainty a prerequisite for action.

August 25, 2026Episode 208 min

Why Outgrowing What You Built Isn't Starting Over

Most of us were taught to find our one thing and stay. Build it, commit to it, become it. And then we kept growing. In this episode, I'm unpacking the belief that there's supposed to be one right path, one version of yourself you arrive at and stay. Because if something you've built no longer fits the way it used to, that's not a sign you made the wrong choice. It's a sign you've outgrown it. And those are completely different things. This episode is about reframing what it means to keep evolving past the version of yourself who started. Connect with Brittany Instagram @catescreative.studio Website www.catescreativestudio.com

August 18, 2026Episode 197 min

How to Know You've Outgrown Your Brand

You know something's off, but you can't quite name it. Your work has grown. Your brand hasn't caught up. In this episode, I walk through four specific signs that your brand is still speaking for an earlier version of you, and what that gap is actually costing you, using a question I've been sitting with about my own life to get there. If you've been quietly embarrassed to send someone your website, or you keep attracting clients who want to talk you down, this one's for you. You're not behind. You're still in progress. Connect with Brittany on Instagram @catescreative.studio