Podcast
The Conscious Edge Podcast: Redefining Wealth as a Whole Human Experience
Hosted by Alecia St. Germain · EN
On the path to fulfillment host Alecia St. Germain, entrepreneur and Certified Immunity to Change Coach, found radical self-acceptance and what it truly means to see herself as worthy. Now she’s helping others do the same – visionary business-builders and people seeking wealth that combines a passion for doing good while walking through life as a compassionate leader.
This is for entrepreneurs seeking more. If you value personal growth and living on purpose, join us on this journey to redefine success. It’s time to shift from a traditional focus solely on wealth accumulation to one that integrates well-being and fulfillment.
Joining Alecia as her frequent co-host and resident wellness advocate is her good friend Jonathan Dugger. As a Doctor of Psychology, he brings his knowledge, experience and passion for all things wellness to the conversation.
Together with their guests, they share how self-awareness and compassion leads you to stop judging yourself and others, unleashing you to experience pure joy, business growth and maximum impact.
Redefine what it means to create wealth as part of your whole human experience, aligning mind, body and soul.
Join the other open-minded, growth-oriented listeners who are ready to lead consciously.
18episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Why Revenue Dips Don't Mean You're Doing Something Wrong EP 104
1w ago00:41:46Tap to summarizeIf your numbers are dipping and you're panicking that you must be doing something wrong, the dip might not be the problem you think it is. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep104 Instagram:@aleciastg If this episode landed and you're tired of running your business reactively every time your numbers shift, the next step is a Capacity Assessment Call. We'll look at where you actually are financially, where the panic is coming from, and what it would take to make a slow season feel like a season instead of an emergency. Book yours at consciousedge.com/capacity. You know the feeling. Revenue is down. What was working isn't working as well. And before you can even think about what to do, your brain has already decided you must be doing something wrong. You're not. Businesses cycle. The way real estate cycles. The way the stock market cycles. The dip is often the nature of running a business in a real economy. In this Monthly Money Talks, Alecia and her financial strategist Jenn Baas of Peak to Peak Solutions get into what's in your control when the market shifts, how much cash to actually keep on hand, the peace tax, and why adaptability matters more than stability if you want to still be in business ten years from now. If you've ever felt the panic of an unexpected slow season and wondered if you should be doing something different, this conversation will reset what a slow season actually means. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: In this episode you'll discover: -Why a revenue dip is often a cycle, not proof you've broken something -How the real estate market parallel explains what your business is actually doing -Why a financial capacity plan can turn a stressful, unexpected expense into a non-event -What's in your control when the market shifts and what isn't -Why adaptability matters more than stability if you want to be in business long-term -What the peace tax is and why minimizing every dollar of taxes can cost you sleep -How much cash Jenn actually recommends keeping on hand for the unpredictable -Why making cuts is sometimes the healthiest move for the business, not a sign you failed
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Perfectionism vs. Winging It: Why Both Get the Same Results EP 103
2w ago00:40:22Tap to summarizePerfectionists and the kids who didn't even prepare got the same test scores, and that should change how you think about your business. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep103 Instagram:@aleciastg If you saw yourself in this episode, the next step is a conversation. Book your Capacity Assessment Call at consciousedge.com/capacity. After volunteering at her daughter's Science Olympiad state competition, Alecia spent hours grading tests and noticed three distinct patterns. The perfectionists who only answered questions they were absolutely certain about, leaving entire sections blank. The kids who showed up unprepared and just guessed at everything. And the top performers who came prepared, knew their material, and still answered every single question even when they had to take a swing at it. The part that should wake you up: the perfectionists and the kids who didn't prepare at all scored about the same. Joined by her regular co-host Jonathan Dugger, Alecia unpacks what this dynamic looks like in business. Why perfectionism is actually a strategy for avoiding failure disguised as high standards. What it's costing the capable business owners who've been telling themselves their carefulness is a strength. And why it's never too late to start retraining the brain to take small, intentional risks without being so attached to the outcome. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: In this episode on mindfulness for business owners, you'll discover: -Why perfectionism isn't actually about being perfect, and what it really is -The three patterns Alecia noticed grading her daughter's Science Olympiad tests, and what they reveal about how people run their businesses -Why being decisive sometimes beats not answering at all -What perfectionism is costing you in fun, joy, and actual results -Why criticism keeps you stuck and curiosity keeps you moving -How to retrain your brain to take small, intentional risks without being attached to the outcome -Why it's never too late to unlearn the patterns you picked up in middle school
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Is Mindfulness Actually Useful For Business Owners Or Just A Trend? EP 102
3w ago00:40:02Tap to summarizeMindfulness has become a business buzzword, and a lot of what's being sold to leaders under that label isn't actually mindfulness at all. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep102 Instagram:@aleciastg If this conversation has you rethinking how you show up as a leader in the moments that matter most, the next step is a conversation. Book your Capacity Assessment Call at consciousedge.com/capacity. Mindfulness has become a top-searched wellness term and a growing line item in corporate training budgets. According to Jonathan Dugger, a lot of what's being sold to business owners and leaders under that label isn't actually mindfulness at all. In this Mindfulness Matters conversation, Alecia and Jonathan unpack what mindfulness really is, why the marketed version can erode trust with your team, and how to tell the difference as a business owner trying to lead well. The episode takes a turn when Jonathan gets heated about how mindfulness is being commodified, and then demonstrates in real time exactly what the practice looks like when it's working. You'll hear what he calls "McMindfulness," why mindfulness is not about being positive and not a cure for anything, and what it actually is: a daily practice of non-judgment, curiosity, and staying in alignment with who you are. If mindfulness has started to feel like a wellness buzzword you can't quite trust, this is the conversation that cuts through the noise. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: In this episode on mindfulness for business owners, you'll discover: -What mindfulness actually is as a leader, beyond the Instagram version of it -How to tell a real mindfulness practice from a marketed one, and why discernment matters when you're choosing what to bring into your business -What "McMindfulness" is and why it's quietly eroding trust inside corporate culture -Why companies with true mindfulness practices have lower attrition and stronger retention -Why mindfulness is not about being positive, and why that was the unlock moment of this episode -The difference between mindfulness and nervous system regulation, and how they work together in how you lead -Starter tools you can try today in three to five minutes, no candles required -Why no one is a master of mindfulness, and why that reframes how you build a sustainable business
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Are You Sacrificing Your Business to Take Care of Everyone Else? Here’s Why That Backfires EP 101
Apr 2100:41:39Tap to summarizeIf you’re the kind of leader who feels deeply responsible for the wellbeing of your clients, your team, and the people you love, this episode is going to call out something you’ve been living without even realizing it. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep101 Instagram → @aleciastg There is a version of responsibility that serves people beautifully. And there is a version that dismantles you, your business, and ultimately your ability to help anyone at all. In this episode, Alecia St. Germain unpacks the difference. She gets into why keeping the wrong employee too long, undercharging because you feel bad, holding back from visibility out of fear of causing harm, and carrying more than your share at home are not acts of generosity. They are patterns of over-responsibility that hold everyone around you smaller than they are, and drain resources your business can’t run without. If you have ever wondered whether taking care of yourself and your business first is selfish, this episode will answer that question clearly. Hint: it isn’t. It’s how you help more people. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: – Why feeling deeply responsible for your clients’ results, your team’s wellbeing, and the people you love can quietly paralyze your business growth – How over-responsibility shows up as undercharging, over-functioning, avoiding visibility, and keeping the wrong people too long – Why sacrificing yourself doesn’t protect the people around you. It holds them smaller than they actually are – The real math on why your business surviving is the most generous leadership decision you can make – What it looks like to hold people accountable for their own results while still leading with deep compassion – How to stop carrying what belongs to others without abandoning the people you care about – Why your business sustainability is not optional if you want to keep showing up and serving at a high level – What changes when you stop over-functioning, for your clients, your team, and the relationships that matter most If today’s episode named something you’ve been carrying, come find me on Instagram at @aleciastg and tell me what landed. And if you’re ready to figure out where you’re leaking capacity and what it would look like to build a business that actually fits your life, the next step is a Capacity Assessment Call. Book yours at consciousedge.com/capacity.
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Why Struggling Doesn't Mean You're Failing (And What It Actually Means) EP 100
Apr 1400:38:31Tap to summarizeStruggle isn't evidence that something is broken. It's evidence that something matters. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep100 It's time to stop spiraling and start building from a different place. The next step is a conversation. Book your Capacity Assessment Call at consciousedge.com/capacity. This is Episode 100 of The Conscious Edge, and for this milestone conversation, Alecia St. Germain and co-host Jonathan Dugger are unpacking one of the most damaging thought errors she's seeing in the women she works with right now: the belief that struggle means failure. That if something is harder than expected, if things aren't going smoothly, if uncomfortable feelings are showing up, then you must be doing something wrong. In a culture shaped by curated social media, pop positivity, and generations of wanting to shield ourselves and our children from discomfort, this belief has become almost invisible. And it's costing people dearly. This episode names it, traces where it comes from, and offers something more honest and more useful in its place. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: - Why the thought "if I'm struggling, I must be failing" is a thought error, not a truth, and how to start recognizing it in real time -Where this belief actually comes from: cultural, religious, social media, and even parenting patterns that have been building for generations -Why shielding yourself (or your kids) from discomfort doesn't create safety, it shrinks your capacity for joy too -What the hero's journey, Buddhist philosophy, and good psychology all agree on when it comes to struggle -How to break the cycle using curiosity instead of judgment, and why that one shift changes everything -Why self-compassion is uncomfortable on purpose, and why that doesn't mean you're doing it wrong -What to do if you're so stuck in the story that you can't even hear the people trying to help you I'd love to hear from you. Send me a message on Instagram at @aleciastg and tell me where struggle has been showing up in your business or your life.
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Is Debt Helping Your Business or Hiding Its Problems? EP 99
Apr 700:43:42Tap to summarizeDebt can be a strategy or it can be a hiding place. This Monthly Money Talk with Zen Jenn will help you tell the difference ❓Have a question for Monthly Money Talks? Send your question to me in a DM on Instagram → @aleciastg. Your question may be featured in an upcoming with Zen Jenn. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep099 If this episode raised a question you are not sure how to answer, the best next step is a conversation. Book a Capacity Assessment Call at consciousedge.com/capacity Alecia St. Germain and her fractional CFO and financial strategist Jenn Baas go straight to one of the most charged words in business: debt. Not to tell you it is bad. Not to say use it freely. To ask the question that actually matters, which is what is it doing for you, and what is it helping you avoid? From the client who used debt to sidestep difficult conversations, to the entrepreneur who keeps adding lines of credit instead of fixing what is fundamentally broken, Alecia and Jenn unpack the mindset underneath the money. They talk about when debt is a powerful strategic tool, how to know if you are using it from abundance or from scarcity, what Jenn calls the peace tax, and why the pain of where you are has to become greater than the pain of change before anything actually shifts. Real, practical, and surprisingly personal, this one will make you look at your own relationship with debt a little differently. 📝 What We Cover: -When debt is a legitimate business tool and the specific conditions that make it strategic -The dangerous comfort of debt, and how it can insulate you from the pain that would actually motivate change -Why staying stuck is not a discipline problem; it is a pain threshold problem -The big assumption one client uncovered that was driving her to use debt as a way to avoid discomfort and difficult conversations -Scarcity disguised as abundance thinking, and how to tell the difference -What Jenn calls the peace tax, and why how debt makes you feel is part of the financial equation -How Alecia used her own budget and plan to say no to a certification she genuinely wanted, without regret -What compassionate leadership has to do with holding clients and colleagues accountable for money owed
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The Soul Map Underneath a Purpose-Driven Business EP 98
Mar 1700:44:24Tap to summarizeAlmost a hundred episodes in, Alecia St. Germain finally says out loud the part of her work she has been carrying for a very long time. In one of her most personal episodes yet, Alecia St. Germain finally gives the soul pillar of her company, The Conscious Edge, a methodology and a name out loud. She shares what soul purpose is, where it comes from, and what happened when she stopped doing everything by the book and started paying attention to her soul instead. That's when the map encoded in her birth name finally made sense. She walks through her own chart. The codes that explained her early career rise, her lost voice, her debt, and her path back to alignment. And she makes the case for why the soul piece so many entrepreneurs hold privately is the piece that changes everything when it finally gets to belong in the work. Curious what a soul purpose chart actually looks like? It’s posted in the show notes at consciousedge.com/ep098 with a full breakdown of what it all means Let’s connect on Instagram → @aleciastg 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: 🔯What soul purpose is and why it has never had a public home until this episode 🔯The Sefer Yetzirah, the ancient text at the root of this methodology, and its connection to Moses 🔯How your birth name encodes your gifts, challenges, goals, and soul purpose 🔯What my own chart revealed about my coaching, my seasonal planning, and the worthiness wounds I had to work through 🔯Why soul purpose and Immunity to Change coaching work together so powerfully 🔯What it means to bring your faith into your business without making it a label in your marketing 🔯What is available inside the Exponential Entrepreneur right now, and what is coming
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Do I Really Need QuickBooks? Accounting Software, Bookkeeper Red Flags, and the Real Cost of DIY Finances EP 97
Mar 1000:34:08Tap to summarizeIf you're still doing your own books — or handing them off and never looking at them again — this Monthly Money Talk with Zen Jenn will change how you think about what your finances are really costing you. ❓Have a question for Monthly Money Talks? Send your question to me in a DM on Instagram → @aleciastg. Your question may be featured in an upcoming episode with Zen Jenn. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep097 Ready to get connected to your business finances? Book a Capacity Assessment Call at consciousedge.com/capacity Alecia sits down with fractional CFO and financial strategist Jenn Baas for March's Monthly Money Talk. This month, they're digging into something that comes up all the time with women entrepreneurs: accounting software. Not the fun part of running a business, but one of the most important. They talk through QuickBooks vs. spreadsheets, what to look for in a bookkeeper, and what it really means to be connected to your numbers. Because staying disconnected isn't just inconvenient, it's draining your energy and limiting your growth. 📝 What We Cover: Is bookkeeping software worth the cost? We break down what you're really paying for and what it's costing you to go without it QuickBooks vs. spreadsheets vs. other software: what to look for, what to avoid, and why owning your financial data matters The real cost of DIY bookkeeping: how doing it yourself drains your time and energy and limits your growth Bookkeeper red flags and how to protect yourself: why checks and balances aren't optional, even when you trust your provider Where to start when it all feels like too much: the "pick three" approach to better financial health without fixing everything at once
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The Mistakes Costing Business Owners Their Health And What to Do Instead EP 96
Mar 300:43:12Tap to summarizeYou can be profitable and still be burning down your health. You can hit your goals and ignore the exhaustion. You can tell yourself it’s just a busy season while your sleep declines, your focus slips, and your body starts sending signals you don’t want to look at. Most business owners don’t lose their health overnight. They trade it away in small, reasonable decisions that feel productive in the moment. Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep096 Instagram → @aleciastg In this episode, Alecia St. Germain shares her deeply personal experience and why she’s imploring you to reframe your health as your most important responsibility, not a luxury. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: The subtle sacrifices that feel disciplined but erode your health Why “in range” lab results are not the same as optimal functioning How sleep impacts your brain, decision-making, and long-term capacity How ambition can override your body’s warning signs The midlife shifts many women ignore or dismiss What stewardship of your body actually looks like in real life ▶️Press play and take a hard look at what you’ve been trading for progress. After you do, come connect with me on Instagram @aleciastg and tell me what you’re currently trying to figure out when it comes to prioritizing your health while building your business. I want to hear what you’re navigating.
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Beyond the Stock Market: How Real Estate Can Strengthen Your Retirement Strategy EP 95
Feb 2400:43:09Tap to summarizeYou’ve been told to work hard, max out your retirement accounts, and wait until 59½ to access the life you’re building toward. But what if that timeline doesn’t actually fit the life you want? Get full show notes at www.consciousedge.com/ep095 Instagram → @aleciastg In this episode, Alecia St. Germain sits down with fund manager and real estate investor Lisa Moore to explore what most people are not taught about investing, retirement access, and building time freedom earlier. You’ll hear how real estate can shift your relationship with income, risk, and retirement age. 📝 What We Cover in This Episode: Why many people do not realize they can invest outside traditional retirement accounts How “passive income” actually works in real estate The difference between perceived risk and managed risk What it means to build income you can access before retirement age How to think about mini-retirements instead of waiting decades This episode is especially relevant if you are building wealth but feel unsure whether the traditional path fits your goals. Connect with Lisa Moore: https://investwithlisamore.com Instagram → @moredoorswithlisa 👉🏻Press play and listen now.
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