What happens when you build a brand from scratch, reach the top 5% of Etsy shops worldwide, and realize the success you’ve built is actually exhausting you?

In this powerful episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst sits down with Allison Sherwin, the founder of Threads and Honey, to redefine the 'F' word—failure.

Allison shares her transition from a 15-year corporate sales career to building an international embroidery brand featured in Food Network, House Beautiful, and The Observer.

Despite hitting profitability within three years and scaling to a team of six in her in the basement of her home, Allison found herself stuck in the "messy middle" of growth. She reveals the internal battle she faced with imposter syndrome, the "ego trap" of viewing her business as her "baby," and the overwhelming mom guilt that surfaced as the business outpaced her gifts and desires.

In this episode, we explore:

• The Scaling Trap: Why Allison chose "peace and joy" over scaling to an eight-figure manufacturing organization.
• The Permission Slip: The life-changing advice Allison received from her father during his final illness: "It’s okay to walk away and change your mind".
• Redefining Failure: How to dismantle the story that stopping a profitable venture negates your past achievements.
• The "What Next" Phase: Allison’s journey into her new chapter as an author and partner in her husband's business.

Whether you are a perfectionist struggling with burnout, an entrepreneur contemplating an exit strategy, or a professional navigating a new season of life, Allison’s story is a "permission slip" to prioritize your mental health and purpose over your pedigree.

“You are never stuck. Take the next right step that is right for you.” — Allison Sherwin-------------------------Connect with Our Guest: Allison Sherwin

Episode Resources:

• Companion Journal Guide: Download our premium guide featuring prompts to redefine your relationship with failure and unlock your permission to act.
• Recommended Reading: What Color Is Your Parachute?.

Don't forget to subscribe to The Story I’m Telling Myself and leave a five-star review if this episode helped you rewrite your own narrative!

Is your "perfect" life built on a hollow foundation?

From the outside, Holly McNeill had it all: the handsome husband, the beautiful home, a thriving career, and children. It was the "idyllic," picture-perfect life we are told to want. But inside, a destructive narrative of low self-worth and the belief that she was "unlovable and unworthy" was quietly rotting the structure from within.

Eventually, the house of cards collapsed in what Holly calls "The Inevitable Crash"—a terrifying health crisis during the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that left her paralyzed by shame and fear for two weeks while awaiting medical results.

In this raw and vulnerable conversation, host Rita Ernst (Transformational Coach and founder of Ignite Your Extraordinary) sits down with Holly to deconstruct how Rose From the Ashes of Shame & Unworthiness.

Grab the complimentary companion self-reflection guideConnect with Holly

Watch Holly' Podcast

What if the thing you’ve been muting your entire life is the very thing meant to heal you? Grab the companion journal

In this deeply moving episode, Rachel shares how being literally hit by a truck became the catalyst for reclaiming a dream she had silenced for decades. While out for a run with her husband, Rachel was struck by a truck, leaving her with a compression fracture and alone in a trauma room for nine hours, without her phone, family, or certainty about her future.

In the middle of shock and pain, something unexpected happened: she began to sing.

That moment revealed what years of perfectionism, fear of judgment, and self-doubt had buried: her identity as a singer and her ability to regulate her nervous system through creativity. What started as a small act of survival became a powerful lesson in emotional regulation, resilience, and rewriting self-limiting narratives.

This episode is especially for highly sensitive people (HSPs), perfectionists, and overwhelmed entrepreneurs navigating imposter syndrome, burnout, and the relentless pressure to succeed. Rachel walks us through the small, imperfect steps that rebuilt her confidence, from hiring a virtual voice coach during recovery to performing on the very stage she once avoided, and eventually seeing herself on a Times Square billboard.

We explore:

• How self-limiting beliefs and perfectionism mute our most meaningful dreams

• Why confidence is built through action, not waiting until you feel “ready.”

• Overcoming imposter syndrome at work and in entrepreneurship

• Emotional regulation skills during trauma, burnout, and high stress

• The power of “borrowed belief” when your inner critic is loud

• Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset in business and personal reinvention

• Why so many entrepreneurs regret not being bolder, and how to stop repeating that pattern

Rachel’s story is a masterclass in cognitive reframing, resilience, and choosing expression over fear. It’s a reminder that healing doesn’t always come from pushing harder, but from finally letting yourself be seen.

If you’re an entrepreneur struggling with self-doubt, burnout recovery, work-life balance, or the fear of failure, this episode will challenge you to ask:
What dream are you still muting, and what might happen if you let it speak?

🎧 Listen now for inspiration, mindset shifts, and permission to stop dying with your music still locked inside.

Connect with Rachel:www.racheldruckenmiller.comRachel's TEDxLightbulbs Music VideoRachel's Podcast Playlist