In this episode of Humane Marketing podcast, I’m joined by Polly Hearsey for a deep and refreshing conversation about radically reinventing business.

Together, we explore how heart-centered entrepreneurs can move beyond fear-based tactics, align with natural rhythms, simplify offerings, and build businesses rooted in service, integrity, and community. If you’re ready to treat your business as a living, evolving ecosystem—and break free from outdated rules—you’ll find inspiration and real-world guidance here.

This is business reimagined for a more humane world.

Here’s what we discussed in this episode:

Buyers are more skeptical and seek authenticity over hype.
Clients sense the true intent behind messaging; fear- or scarcity-based offers don’t resonate.
Aligning business with natural and seasonal rhythms creates a more sustainable presence.
Flexibility is key-evolve offerings in real time based on current needs.
Simplifying offerings-less but deeper-better meets people’s needs.
Treat business as a living, evolving ecosystem rather than a machine to optimize.
Root work in service and integrity instead of focusing solely on profit.
Shift away from endless growth; redefine success through depth and impact.
Build business around community, connection, and co-creation rather than competition.
Practice courageous listening to ourselves, clients, and the world-and act on what we hear.
And most importantly, break all the rules and question all the assumptions you have around business.

Watch this episode on YouTube

1 00:00:01.610 --> 00:00:04.559 Sarah Santacroce: Hi, Polly, it's good to speak to you again.

2 00:00:04.560 --> 00:00:12.699 Polly Hearsey: Thanks. You know, I always enjoy coming to talk to you because it's just it's fun to suggest. Go where we go. It's it's all.

3 00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:13.170 Sarah Santacroce: Yeah.

4 00:00:13.170 --> 00:00:13.820 Polly Hearsey: Light.

5 00:00:14.100 --> 00:00:14.600 Polly Hearsey: Thank you.

6 00:00:14.600 --> 00:00:23.210 Sarah Santacroce: Yeah, it's kind of like one of the things that I feel like. That's my zone of genius. And I know it's yours to.

7 00:00:23.330 --> 00:00:46.690 Sarah Santacroce: you know, reimagine, rethink differently. And so really, that's what I want to do today. And I was just telling you, I think we can do half of the episode or the beginning of the episode about today, right now and then look into the future. So so yeah, let's let's start there. You know, it's quite the time we live in. And there's

8 00:00:46.810 --> 00:00:54.670 Sarah Santacroce: there's probably I can sense the fear in entrepreneurship. And yeah, I'm just

9 00:00:55.170 --> 00:01:00.949 Sarah Santacroce: maybe start us off before we go into taking action, start us off with

10 00:01:01.150 --> 00:01:06.680 Sarah Santacroce: explaining what you sense energetically. What is going on.

11 00:01:08.320 --> 00:01:14.060 Polly Hearsey: I think that there's been a big shift in the buyer market

12 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:22.949 Polly Hearsey: in terms of what they want and what they're expecting, and the way in which they've been burnt in the past.

13 00:01:24.600 --> 00:01:30.500 Polly Hearsey: And there's definitely an ability to read through the hype

14 00:01:30.730 --> 00:01:36.349 Polly Hearsey: right? And the promises. So there's a lot of skepticism, I would say, building.

15 00:01:37.123 --> 00:01:47.610 Polly Hearsey: So. And you see that when people put ads out say on Facebook or something, and you read the comments and the threads, it'll just be. Get the just people be tearing into them because it's not.

16 00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:48.180 Sarah Santacroce: It.

17 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:48.870 Polly Hearsey: So I'm asking.

18 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:50.240 Sarah Santacroce: Feel so fake. It's fake.

19 00:01:50.240 --> 00:02:00.419 Polly Hearsey: Feels fake and and the promises feel overhyped. You know, state, and particularly in the space that we're in.

20 00:02:00.690 --> 00:02:05.689 Polly Hearsey: We've got a lot of economic turmoil, and we've got a but

21 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:11.710 Polly Hearsey: but even before the sort of like the very recent economic turmoil, what we had was

22 00:02:12.470 --> 00:02:18.240 Polly Hearsey: a lot of well established businesses, we're sliding.

23 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:19.250 Sarah Santacroce: Hmm.

24 00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:23.800 Polly Hearsey: And they were keeping it under wraps. And I also noticed a lot of people who'd.

25 00:02:24.410 --> 00:02:34.189 Polly Hearsey: Yeah, maybe 6 years ago had been very present, and then they'd slid off my radar. And then all of a sudden, they've started advertising. That tells me that their business is slipping.

26 00:02:34.420 --> 00:02:35.010 Sarah Santacroce: Right.

27 00:02:35.010 --> 00:02:44.320 Polly Hearsey: And that's because the way in which they were approaching it through this sort of psychological, persuasion-based approach.

28 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:52.540 Polly Hearsey: It's not working, because once you know that it's happening to you. It doesn't work anymore. So people becoming very wise.

29 00:02:52.710 --> 00:02:58.950 Polly Hearsey: And but I also think that people want something different now. They don't want the same old

30 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:12.899 Polly Hearsey: heavy investments long term, because they don't feel that they have a grasp on where things are going to be in 3 months. So why would I invest in an 8 month, 10 month, 12 month program

31 00:03:13.390 --> 00:03:17.909 Polly Hearsey: to support myself in whatever area I needed

32 00:03:18.130 --> 00:03:27.189 Polly Hearsey: when I don't know where I'm going to be. Am I going to be the same person? Am I going to want to do the same sort of things? Because I think people can feel so much bubbling up within them

33 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:32.310 Polly Hearsey: that they're not entirely sure how they're going to respond to it.

34 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:33.110 Sarah Santacroce: So.

35 00:03:33.110 --> 00:03:44.109 Polly Hearsey: Big investments don't make an awful lot of sense. And yet some of these very established businesses that's a lot of money to invest with them on something where they're not getting one to one support.

36 00:03:44.110 --> 00:03:46.150 Sarah Santacroce: Right? It's always group, giant group.

37 00:03:46.150 --> 00:04:01.209 Polly Hearsey: Giant groups. And it's like, Oh, the value is in the information. No, the value isn't in the information anymore. We have AI proliferating that can turn information into process, but without any nuanced understanding

38 00:04:01.690 --> 00:04:03.810 Polly Hearsey: of how to deliver it.

39 00:04:03.810 --> 00:04:04.420 Sarah Santacroce: Hmm.

40 00:04:04.420 --> 00:04:11.400 Polly Hearsey: So what people are now looking for is more human contact. And yet we've built business structures

41 00:04:11.600 --> 00:04:13.109 Polly Hearsey: that remove that.

42 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:13.920 Sarah Santacroce: Right.

43 00:04:13.920 --> 00:04:23.200 Polly Hearsey: And so all the expectations about how you automate everything and how you run one to many, and all of that is oh.

44 00:04:23.340 --> 00:04:30.899 Polly Hearsey: you know I mean, education hasn't lost its value. But information has, I think. And so so it's changing expectations. So I think

45 00:04:31.070 --> 00:04:45.089 Polly Hearsey: that puts us in a position where we need to be really agile to respond, and creative as well. So we're not just going. Oh, God, I've got to try a little bit harder to make something that's always worked work because it's not going to.

46 00:04:45.090 --> 00:04:49.070 Sarah Santacroce: Right. You can't just push harder and think it's gonna.

47 00:04:49.190 --> 00:04:54.919 Polly Hearsey: You see that with the classic old, give me your email address and I'll give you something of value.

48 00:04:55.090 --> 00:04:57.479 Polly Hearsey: How hard is that to push right now.

49 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:58.869 Sarah Santacroce: Right? It's yeah.

50 00:04:58.870 --> 00:05:17.000 Polly Hearsey: Do not want yet another, because I don't know about you. My inbox is unmanageable. I spent tail end of last year unsubscribing. I spent a whole day just going unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe. Stop sending me so much stuff. I don't read it. I do not have the capacity to read it.

51 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:17.390 Sarah Santacroce: Yeah.

52 00:05:17.390 --> 00:05:18.890 Polly Hearsey: But people don't want that.

53 00:05:18.890 --> 00:05:19.420 Sarah Santacroce: No.

54 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:28.300 Polly Hearsey: And there was an interesting thread on substack. I was reading yesterday where people were saying, what I want is the ability to buy a single article

55 00:05:28.520 --> 00:05:32.530 Polly Hearsey: stop making me subscribe, because there are so many writers here.

56 00:05:32.690 --> 00:05:36.970 Polly Hearsey: but I want to be able to subscribe to pay for one article, awesome and

57 00:05:36.970 --> 00:05:38.760 Polly Hearsey: interesting reflection of where we're at.

58 00:05:38.760 --> 00:05:58.989 ...