On this special episode of Business Over Cocktails, the tables are turned. Podcast strategist Liz Chapman, who helped launch this show, interviews host Lauren Najar with questions she didn’t see ahead of time.

After eight years in business, Lauren shares what she’s learned about building real business relationships without ulterior motives. She explains why she releases the outcome in sales conversations and has even told clients not to renew with her. Liz and Lauren also talk about what goes into curating in-person retreats and dinners where strangers become genuine connections, and why her 2021 mastermind felt like...

Struggling to figure out what to post, where to post it, and what actually works? You don’t have a posting problem — you need a content marketing strategy. In this Business Chaser, Mariah McInnes of Content Queen breaks down her 7-step CONTENT framework to help small business owners and entrepreneurs stop guessing and start posting with purpose.

Mariah clears up the biggest myth first — why “posting from the heart” isn’t a strategy, it’s a posting plan — then walks through her full framework: connecting with your audience and vision, optimizing the right channels for your funnel, nai...

What happens to your business — and your sense of self — when life completely changes course? In this episode, host Lauren Najar sits down with Mariah McInnes, founder of Content Queen, who built her business while surviving cancer and now runs it full-time from a bus traveling Australia. It’s an honest conversation about resilience, reinvention, and designing a business and life on your own terms.

Mariah shares her journey from a corporate PR job and a party-girl lifestyle in Melbourne to freelancing her way to location freedom — and how a cancer diagnosis in her twenties reshaped...

Think you need more leads? You probably don't — you need to find the leak. In this action-packed Business Chaser, host Lauren Najar breaks down why "I just need more leads" is almost never the real lead generation problem, using real hangups submitted by people inside her current Lead Generation Challenge.

Lauren walks through three real scenarios — the newer business owner who needs clarity, not leads; the service provider having great conversations that never convert; and the one worried her repeat clients want something new every year — and diagnoses what's actually broken in each. She covers why li...

What if a business conference had zero speakers, a moon bounce, and sent you home with work already done? In this episode, host Lauren Najar welcomes back Lucy of My Write Hand Woman — her first-ever repeat guest — to talk about reinventing the business conference and the event marketing behind her no-speaker "business carnival," the Proximity Marketplace, coming to Austin.

Lucy breaks down why she ditched the traditional speaker-and-salad conference format, how her expert tables give attendees one-on-one strategy instead of generic advice from a stage, and the "implementation lounge" that helps you leave with something actu...

Going to networking events and hosting your own — but not turning those connections into paying clients? In this live coaching episode, host Lauren Najar sits down with Angela Grabczak, certified business coach and founder of The Collaborative Edge Coaching, to work through one of the most common struggles for service providers: how to convert networking and event relationships into real revenue without feeling salesy.

Angela opens up about wearing too many hats as a new coach, and Lauren coaches her through where to focus first, why hosting great events isn't enough if you never position yo...

After 8 years in business, here's what actually builds a business that lasts — and why slow, sustainable growth beats the flashy launches you see online. In this solo episode, host Lauren Najar celebrates eight years as a business coach with an honest reflection on comparison, FOMO, burnout, and the "smoke and mirrors" of online success.

Lauren shares the real story behind her journey — from chasing the "location independent" dream that never fit her, to crashing and burning under a coach who handed her a checklist, to finally finding staying power by owning her specialty in lead gene...

Why do so many pet influencers go broke — and what separates them from the ones building six-figure businesses? In this Business Chaser, Ashley of Petfluencer Secrets breaks down how pet influencers and content creators actually make money, and the framework she teaches hundreds of creators to scale from hobby to real income.

Ashley walks through why most influencers quit at the "90-day hump," how to treat your content like a business from day one, and the real numbers behind brand deals at every follower stage — from your first paid video to five-figure partnerships. She explains why...

Ever wondered how people actually make money as pet influencers? In this episode, host Lauren Najar sits down with Ashley, founder of Petfluencer Secrets and the owner of the world's most famous Manx cat, to break down how she turned cute cat videos into a six-figure content creator business. Ashley shares the full journey — from posting pet photos for fun, to earning her first brand deals, to coaching hundreds of pet influencers on how to grow and monetize their channels.

They get into how the pet niche is different from typical influencer advice, the many wa...

If you're navigating perimenopause or menopause and feel like your symptoms are being missed, this episode is for you. In this Business Chaser, Dr. Laura Glaser — board-certified family nurse practitioner and founder of a whole-person women's health and med spa practice in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina — shares what every woman should know about perimenopause, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Dr. Laura breaks down why so many women are seen but not heard in healthcare, how perimenopause symptoms are too often misdiagnosed as depression, and why you shouldn't cherry-pick quick fixes for what is really a co...

What do you do when life completely interrupts your plans? In this powerful episode, host Lauren Najar sits down with Dr. Laura Glazer to talk about resilience, rebuilding after tragedy, and building a business rooted in whole-person women's health. Dr. Laura is a doctorally prepared, board-certified family nurse practitioner and the founder of Aurae Modern Medical and Spa, where she combines concierge medicine with medical aesthetics through a deeply holistic, mind-body-soul approach.

Laura opens up about breaking her back in three places, the long road to recovery, and the mortality check that pushed her to...

Going to networking events but not turning those leads into clients? This live coaching session breaks down exactly how to follow up after events and convert leads with email marketing. 

In this Business Chaser mini-coaching episode, host Lauren Najar sits down with Krista Nguyen— nurse practitioner and owner of Cardinal Functional Health Center — for a real, unscripted lead generation coaching call for small business owners.

They dig into why smaller events often convert better than big ones, how to capture and segment email leads with a simple QR code and opt-in, and why your...

Being married to an entrepreneur isn't easy but you don't have to be a business owner yourself to support one. 

In Part 2 of this candid conversation, host Lauren Najar sits down again with her husband Darrin to talk about marriage and entrepreneurship: what it really takes to support an entrepreneur spouse, why so many successful business owners' marriages fall apart, and how the two of them have stayed grounded through nearly eight years of building a business together.

They get honest about the ebbs and flows of entrepreneurship, leaving a 9-to-5 to start a...

Does hitting record for your business make you want to crawl under a blanket? If you struggle with showing up online, creating content, or being visible on social media, the problem might not be your confidence—it might be your nervous system.

In this episode of Business Over Cocktails, Prassede Kemp of Numinous Creative breaks down why being seen online can trigger perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and a fear of being perceived—and what you can actually do about it.

Instead of waiting until you feel confident enough to post, Prassede shares practical tools for nervous syst...

What does it actually take to build a business and brand that feels like you?

In this episode of Business Over Cocktails, Lauren Najar sits down with Prassede Kemp, founder of Numinous, to talk about authentic branding, entrepreneurship, and the messy reality of building a business.

Prassede shares the story of getting fired from her corporate job, finding her way into entrepreneurship, and building Numinous through some of the hardest seasons of her life. They talk about why successful business owners need to be willing to fail fast, how perfectionism can keep...

What if one sentence could make your business instantly more memorable—and make you the obvious choice?

In this episode, Lucy Bedewi breaks down how to write a business one-liner that actually gets people to pay attention. Your one-liner isn't just a mission statement or a sentence about what you do. It's one of the most important pieces of your brand messaging—and it should create enough intrigue for someone to want to know what comes next.

Lucy walks through the three key elements behind a standout business one-liner:

• Your Dismantle: What a...

What happens when you stop trying to sound like everyone else and start building a business around who you actually are?

In this episode of Business Over Cocktails, Lauren Najar sits down with messaging strategist and copywriter Lucy Bedewi founder of My Write Hand Woman, for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, personal branding, storytelling, and finding the confidence to own your voice.

Lucy shares the story of getting fired from her first job, writing a seven-page manifesto to her former CEO, and turning that experience into the catalyst for her entrepreneurial journey. She also opens...

What does it really take to start and grow a podcast as a business owner?

After one year of Business Over Cocktails, Lauren Najar is sharing the real behind-the-scenes of building a business podcast—from deciding what the show should actually be about to figuring out podcast growth, guest pitches, downloads, monetization, and what it takes to keep showing up.

In this episode, Lauren reflects on her first year of podcasting and the biggest lessons she learned along the way. She talks about why she waited so long to start a podcast, how she finally fo...

What happens when you start a podcast without a five-year plan, a huge audience, or a goal to become the next big show?

In this special one-year episode of Business Over Cocktails, Lauren Najar reflects on her first year of podcasting and what she’s learned about starting a podcast, growing an audience, finding the right guests, creating meaningful conversations, and building a podcast that actually feels aligned with your business.

Lauren shares the real behind-the-scenes of launching Business Over Cocktails—from taking months to figure out what she wanted the podcast to be, to batc...

The way you build your business matters just as much as the business you build. 

After surviving a life changing accident that broke her neck, Stefanie Dingbaum promised herself she would never ignore the warning signs of burnout again. But after changing careers and finding herself right back where she started, she realized the answer wasn't another job. It was building a business that aligned with who she truly was. 

In this episode, Stefanie shares how surviving a near-death experience reshaped the way she views work, why self-worth is the foundation of every successful business, an...

The life you're meant to build often begins when you finally believe you're worthy of it.

Before Stefanie Dingbaum became a hypnotherapist, entrepreneur, and intuitive therapist, she was a burned out social worker quietly questioning whether the life she'd built was the one she was meant to live. Through her own healing journey, she discovered hypnotherapy, found the courage to leave the security of her school social worker career and eventually build a business of her own, and learned that true transformation begins by owning your worth instead of waiting for permission to change.

In...

Every woman deserves a place where she feels heard, supported, and connected.

After more than a decade of serving women through Espa Aesthetics and Wellness, Verginiya Burgess realized she wanted to create something that went beyond traditional services. She envisioned a space where women in Northwest Indiana could come together, ask questions, find encouragement, and build meaningful relationships with others on similar journeys.

In this episode, Verginiya shares the inspiration behind the Wellness Collective, a growing community focused on holistic wellness, education, and authentic connection. She explains the vision for free and affordable workshops, menopause...

Sometimes the life you're meant to build looks nothing like the one you planned.

When Verginiya Burgess left Bulgaria shortly after high school, she wasn't chasing entrepreneurship. She came to America after her grandparents sold their home to fund her education, carrying the weight of their sacrifice and the determination to make their investment worthwhile. What followed was a journey through science, medicine, unexpected disappointment, and ultimately discovering a completely different calling.

In this episode, Verginiya shares how growing up in communist Eastern Europe shaped her work ethic, why a successful career in medical technology...

Real visibility isn't built on social media alone.

Many entrepreneurs spend hours trying to perfect their content, believing that posting consistently is the key to getting noticed, attracting clients, and growing their business.  While social media can be an important part of your marketing strategy, it shouldn't be the only way people discover you. In this episode, I share why expanding your visibility beyond social media can create meaningful opportunities and long-term business growth.

Discover how collaborations, podcast guesting, networking, email marketing, and strategic partnerships can help you reach new audiences without relying solely on t...

Sometimes the person who changes your life is the one who believes in you before you believe in yourself.

Long before I built a successful business, there was uncertainty, career frustration, and a series of business ideas that never quite felt right. In this special episode, recorded in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary, I sit down with my husband, Darrin, to reflect on the journey that started long before entrepreneurship. Together, we revisit the jobs we shared, the challenges I faced after cancer, and the winding path that helped me discover what I was truly meant...

Most entrepreneurs make time for their clients. Very few make time for their business.

It's easy to get caught up serving clients, answering emails, and checking off daily tasks without ever stopping to ask whether your business is actually moving in the direction you want. When every week feels the same, it's hard to find the time and space to think strategically, improve your systems, or make intentional decisions about what's next.

In this episode of the Business Chaser, Tracy Medeiros shares how her monthly CEO Day evolved into a full CEO Week and why...

Have you ever left one job only to realize you brought all of your old habits with you?

When Tracy Medeiros lost her father, she and her husband made the life changing decision to move to Hawaii. She planned to continue working for her corporate employer after the move, but when that opportunity fell through, she accepted a new job in Hawaii. A year later, that company planned to lay her off, and instead of starting over, Tracy turned them into her very first client. What began as an unexpected career change eventually became a business dedicated...

What if the reason people aren't buying has nothing to do with your offer?

Many business owners spend their time trying to generate more leads, create more content, or improve their sales process. But according to Hunter Myers, the problem may be much simpler. You're treating customers like transactions instead of relationships. In this episode, she shares her Matchmaker Method and explains why businesses should start thinking about customer relationships the same way they think about dating.

Hunter walks through her four-part client connection framework and explains why buyers may need as many as 50 to 100...

What if the biggest thing holding your business back is trying to be someone you're not?

For years, Hunter Myers believed she needed to fit a certain mold to be successful. She built a brand around what she thought clients wanted, leaned into trends that did not feel natural, and found herself performing instead of showing up authentically. It wasn't until she embraced who she really was that her business began to feel aligned, sustainable, and genuinely successful.

In this episode, Hunter shares her unconventional journey from aspiring artist and writer to founder of Verdure...

What if the breakthrough you're waiting for doesn't require a bigger strategy, but a smaller daily commitment?

Big business goals are exciting, but they often leave entrepreneurs chasing results instead of building the habits that actually create them. In this solo episode, I share why I committed to running 39 miles during my birthday month and how that personal challenge became a great reminder of what consistency can accomplish.

I'm sharing why I believe 30 day sprints are one of the best ways to build confidence, how focusing on daily actions creates momentum, and why simple habits...

What happens when you reach the age that changed your parent's life forever?

As I reflect on my 39th birthday, I found myself thinking about a number that carries deep meaning. Thirty-nine was the age my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer, and reaching that same milestone brought up unexpected emotions about grief, family, identity, and the passage of time.

In this deeply personal episode, I'm sharing memories of my mother's cancer journey, the challenges of losing both parents at a young age, and the realization that I never got the chance to know my...

Ever wonder why some brands instantly feel trustworthy, luxurious, and worth paying more for?

Most business owners think luxury branding comes from expensive logos, fancy design elements, or following the latest trends. In reality, it's about something much deeper. It's about how your brand makes people feel. In this Business Chaser episode, Erika Maram breaks down the psychology behind luxury branding and why how people feel about your brand matters more than the price tag. 

She shares the three principles luxury brands consistently use to create trust, authority, and recognition: space, tone, and restraint. You'll l...

What if the business you worked so hard to build became the very thing stealing your freedom? 

In this episode, Lauren sits down with brand and web designer Erika Maram to explore the journey behind her business, from learning to code as a kid and bartending for seven years to building a thriving design studio that eventually grew into a full-service marketing agency. What started as a dream of creating freedom quickly turned into long nights, constant client demands, and a business that was running her instead of the other way around.

Erika shares the d...

You've tried the diets, workouts, supplements, and wellness trends, so why don't you feel any better? 

In this episode, Jasmine Jafferali shares what she learned after more than 30 years in the health, fitness, and wellness industry. She opens up about chasing external solutions for healing while ignoring the wisdom of her own body. Jasmine shares why women are constantly searching outside themselves for healing instead of reconnecting with their bodies, and how that disconnect may be keeping them stuck in the same cycle. 

She dives into the powerful connection between breath, nervous system regulation, movement, mu...

Most women are doing everything right on paper, and still not feeling well.

Jasmine Jafferali has been in the health and wellness space her entire career, starting as a fitness instructor at 20 and eventually building her work around functional nutrition, corporate wellness, and perinatal health. With a master's degree in public health focused on maternal infant health education, she brings both the research background and the real-world coaching experience to her work. But the most powerful thing she brings to her clients has nothing to do with supplements or workout plans. It is the understanding that what...

If selling feels forced, uncomfortable, or just plain yucky, the problem probably is not your pitch.

In this episode, Lauren breaks down why so many entrepreneurs feel gross when they try to sell and what to do instead. She shares why the pressure to convert every conversation into a sale is not only unrealistic but actually working against you, and how shifting your focus to genuine relationship building changes everything about how sales happen.

Lauren also walks through how she reads cues and clues to know when someone is actually ready for a sales conversation...

You're probably working way harder at relationship building than you need to.

In this episode, Lauren breaks down why so many entrepreneurs are getting relationships completely wrong online. From immediately viewing every new follower as a potential client, to sending cold DMs with the pressure to close before any real connection has been made, Lauren explains how tying a specific outcome to every person you meet is the very thing keeping you stuck. She walks through how relationships in real life actually form, and why the same principles apply to your online business.

Lauren also...

You’re doing everything you’ve been told to do to manifest, so why isn’t it working?

In this episode, Jen breaks down the part of manifestation most people completely miss. She shares her experience of doing all the “right” things for years with little to show for it, until one shift changed everything. Instead of focusing on more tools or routines, this conversation gets into what’s actually driving your results.

This is the part of manifestation most people skip. You can follow every tactic out there and still feel stuck if you don’t believ...

You can build a life that looks perfect on paper and still feel completely miserable.

In this episode, Jen Gutfriend shares the moment everything changed for her, from working 50 to 60 hour weeks and pushing through burnout to a wake up call that forced her to walk away after her body completely shut down. What came next was realizing how much of her life had been driven by beliefs she didn’t even know she had, and how discovering hypnotherapy helped her start changing them.

This conversation goes way deeper than burnout. We get into why yo...

You can build a business that looks good online and still feel completely disconnected from the life you’re actually living behind it.

In this episode, Jacquelynn Pilcher shares what it has looked like to rebuild her life and identity in real time. From growing up in survival mode to navigating divorce, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and major life changes all at once, she opens up about the version of herself she spent years performing and why she finally stopped trying to maintain what only looked good on paper.

She talks about why so many people struggle to...