Rejected From TEDx: How I Turned a No Into a Yes

Rejected From TEDx: How I Turned a No Into a Yes

Everyone sees the finished TEDx talk — the red carpet, the polished nine minutes on stage. Almost nobody sees the first time the speaker applied and got a no. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins shares the real story behind becoming a TEDx speaker, including her first rejected application and what she did next. Julie breaks down why a rejection from one specific TEDx event isn't a verdict on your message or your worth — it's information about one specific fit, with one specific curator, at one specific moment. She talks about choosing to apply to a different event instead of giving up on the stage altogether, and why the talk that eventually got a yes was built on the exact same message she believed in the first time around. This episode is an honest look at resilience, reframing rejection, and what it actually takes to keep showing up for your own visibility. In this episode: * The story behind Julie's first TEDx application and rejection * Why one no is a data point, not a verdict * What changed between the failed application and the successful one * How to reframe rejection without losing your message * Why visibility requires finding the right room, not proving your worth * This week's Brave Move + free Thought Leadership Assessment If you loved this episode, text me and let me know what you though. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/support] Join the Community [https://www.skool.com/confident-you-rawconversations-4533/about] Brave Moves is a daily confidence and personal growth podcast for ambitious women, women entrepreneurs, and leaders who are ready to overcome self-doubt, build resilience, and take bold action in business and life. Each short, practical episode blends mindset science, decision-making psychology, and real-life stories to help you strengthen your confidence, rewire negative thought patterns, and create meaningful forward momentum. If you are navigating career pivots, burnout, reinvention, or leadership growth, Brave Moves gives you the tools to think differently, act bravely, and design a future aligned with your values and vision. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, one brave move at a time. Liked this episode? Share it with your midlife woman, entrepreneur friends! Love this show? Let us know how we helped you increase your confidence by leaving a review. For more about me and what I do, check out my website [https://goconfidentlycoaching.com/]. If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call [https://calendly.com/goconfidentlycoaching/coaching-call] to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs. Fo...

Tired? What Your Exhaustion Is Actually Trying to Tell You

Some days you wake up tired and go to bed tired, with nothing in between that explains it. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins explores mental exhaustion — one of three types of tiredness — and makes the case that fatigue is often the body's way of communicating something you haven't let yourself hear yet. Julie breaks down what mental exhaustion actually looks like: decision fatigue, a mind full of open "tabs," rumination on the past, and a growing to-do list you can't seem to focus on. She explores the real physiological cost of sustained thinking and asks a deeper question beneath it all — are you actually tired, or are you tolerating a life instead of living and loving it? This episode is an honest, permission-giving look at burnout, mental fatigue, and the courage it takes to walk toward what you actually desire. In this episode: * The three types of tiredness, and why mental exhaustion deserves its own conversation * What decision fatigue and mental "tabs" actually feel like * Why sustained thinking is physically, metabolically expensive * The difference between tolerating a life and living one * Giving yourself permission to change, even when it's scary * This week's Brave Move + free Thought Leadership Assessment [https://goconfidentlyservices.myflodesk.com/tlvagapaudit] If you loved this episode, text me and let me know what you though. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/support] Join the Community [https://www.skool.com/confident-you-rawconversations-4533/about] Brave Moves is a daily confidence and personal growth podcast for ambitious women, women entrepreneurs, and leaders who are ready to overcome self-doubt, build resilience, and take bold action in business and life. Each short, practical episode blends mindset science, decision-making psychology, and real-life stories to help you strengthen your confidence, rewire negative thought patterns, and create meaningful forward momentum. If you are navigating career pivots, burnout, reinvention, or leadership growth, Brave Moves gives you the tools to think differently, act bravely, and design a future aligned with your values and vision. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, one brave move at a time. Liked this episode? Share it with your midlife woman, entrepreneur friends! Love this show? Let us know how we helped you increase your confidence by leaving a review. For more about me and what I do, check out my website [https://goconfidentlycoaching.com/]. If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call [https://calendly.com/goconfidentlycoaching/coaching-call] to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs. Fo...

Caretaking vs. Caregiving, And Why the Difference Matters More Than You Think

Are you caregiving, or caretaking? In this deeply personal episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins explores the critical difference between the two, and why caretaking, not caregiving, is actually a hallmark of codependency rooted in insecurity and control. Julie breaks down how a caretaker often feels needed and quietly superior to the person they're helping, reassured that they won't be left because they're always needed, while caregiving is help freely given, an expression of love and kindness with no strings attached. She shares her own ongoing journey caring for her mother, and how she works to stay rooted in compassion rather than letting old insecurities and childhood wounds steer how she shows up. This episode also explores how caretaking can lead to burnout, resentment, and strained relationships, and why loving yourself first is the foundation for helping others from the right place. In this episode: The real difference between caretaking and caregiving * Why caretaking is rooted in codependency and control * How insecurity and old wounds can disguise themselves as devotion * Why compassion has to come first in caregiving * The caretaking trap: burnout, resentment, and bruised relationships * Why loving yourself first changes how you show up for others * This week's Brave Move + free Thought Leadership Assessment If you loved this episode, text me and let me know what you though. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/support] Join the Community [https://www.skool.com/confident-you-rawconversations-4533/about] Brave Moves is a daily confidence and personal growth podcast for ambitious women, women entrepreneurs, and leaders who are ready to overcome self-doubt, build resilience, and take bold action in business and life. Each short, practical episode blends mindset science, decision-making psychology, and real-life stories to help you strengthen your confidence, rewire negative thought patterns, and create meaningful forward momentum. If you are navigating career pivots, burnout, reinvention, or leadership growth, Brave Moves gives you the tools to think differently, act bravely, and design a future aligned with your values and vision. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, one brave move at a time. Liked this episode? Share it with your midlife woman, entrepreneur friends! Love this show? Let us know how we helped you increase your confidence by leaving a review. For more about me and what I do, check out my website [https://goconfidentlycoaching.com/]. If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call [https://calendly.com/goconfidentlycoaching/coaching-call] to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs. Fo...

Should You Listen to That Advice? A Filter for Business and Career Feedback

Grow a business or level up your career, and the unsolicited advice starts pouring in — from family, acquaintances, and that one person at every networking event with an opinion about your pricing. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins gives you a practical filter for deciding what advice actually deserves your attention, and what deserves a polite thank-you and nothing more. Julie breaks down a four-part filter for evaluating unsolicited advice — has this person actually done the thing, is it specific to your situation or generic, is it a pattern across multiple credible sources, and does it come from someone who genuinely wants you to succeed. She also covers when it's healthy to let advice go entirely, and how to build real discernment instead of either absorbing every opinion or dismissing all feedback. This episode is a practical guide for entrepreneurs and career-driven women who are tired of outside noise shaping decisions that should be theirs to make. In this episode: * Why unsolicited advice feels like criticism, even when it isn't * A 4-part filter for deciding what advice to actually consider * When and how to let unsolicited advice go * The difference between discernment and defensiveness * Building trust in your own business and career decisions * This week's Brave Move + free Thought Leadership Assessment If you loved this episode, text me and let me know what you though. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/support] Join the Community [https://www.skool.com/confident-you-rawconversations-4533/about] Brave Moves is a daily confidence and personal growth podcast for ambitious women, women entrepreneurs, and leaders who are ready to overcome self-doubt, build resilience, and take bold action in business and life. Each short, practical episode blends mindset science, decision-making psychology, and real-life stories to help you strengthen your confidence, rewire negative thought patterns, and create meaningful forward momentum. If you are navigating career pivots, burnout, reinvention, or leadership growth, Brave Moves gives you the tools to think differently, act bravely, and design a future aligned with your values and vision. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, one brave move at a time. Liked this episode? Share it with your midlife woman, entrepreneur friends! Love this show? Let us know how we helped you increase your confidence by leaving a review. For more about me and what I do, check out my website [https://goconfidentlycoaching.com/]. If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call [https://calendly.com/goconfidentlycoaching/coaching-call] to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs. Fo...

Disappointing Others, and Being Okay With It

Do you say yes when you want to say no, just to avoid disappointing someone? In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins tackles one of the hardest skills for high-achieving women to build: being okay with disappointing other people. Julie walks through Don Miguel Ruiz's bestselling book The Four Agreements, applying each agreement — be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, and always do your best — directly to the fear of letting people down. She unpacks why someone else's disappointment is information about them, not a verdict on your worth, and why most people-pleasing is fueled by assumptions about reactions that haven't even happened yet. This episode offers a practical, values-based reframing for anyone who has conflated people-pleasing with integrity and wants to build the confidence to disappoint others without losing themselves in the process. In this episode: * Why saying yes to avoid disappointment breaks your word to yourself * The Four Agreements, applied to people-pleasing and self-worth * Why someone else's disappointment isn't about your value * How assumptions fuel pre-emptive people-pleasing * Redefining "doing your best" as the only standard that matters * This week's Brave Move + free Thought Leadership Assessment Get the Book: The Four Agreements [https://a.co/d/04KRCx5l] If you loved this episode, text me and let me know what you though. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542996/support] Join the Community [https://www.skool.com/confident-you-rawconversations-4533/about] Brave Moves is a daily confidence and personal growth podcast for ambitious women, women entrepreneurs, and leaders who are ready to overcome self-doubt, build resilience, and take bold action in business and life. Each short, practical episode blends mindset science, decision-making psychology, and real-life stories to help you strengthen your confidence, rewire negative thought patterns, and create meaningful forward momentum. If you are navigating career pivots, burnout, reinvention, or leadership growth, Brave Moves gives you the tools to think differently, act bravely, and design a future aligned with your values and vision. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, one brave move at a time. Liked this episode? Share it with your midlife woman, entrepreneur friends! Love this show? Let us know how we helped you increase your confidence by leaving a review. For more about me and what I do, check out my website [https://goconfidentlycoaching.com/]. If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call [https://calendly.com/goconfidentlycoaching/coaching-call] to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs. Fo...