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What if sales was never about selling — and always about knowing yourself first?

Anna Hockett went from a broadcast journalism degree to turning down an anchor job, to closing million-dollar software deals, to Director of Sales & Account Services at Nei-Turner Media Group — home of Brava, Persona, and Chicago Style Weddings. In this episode of Unwritten, she and Steph get into the part of sales nobody puts in the training manual: the fear underneath it.

Steph opens up about why she kept her photography rates low for years — the not-good-enough story, the fear that clients would be mad at her, the comparison trap — and how resentment and burnout finally forced the change. Anna shares the boardroom moment where she asked a furious CEO the question no one else would ask, why she used a fake name on cold calls to get over the hump, and what she learned about walking away from a client who isn't the right fit.

Together they land on something bigger than sales: your biggest blocks become your building blocks. The most troubled vines make the best wine. And the validation you've been waiting for was never coming from out there anyway.

Whether you're a business owner, a creative pricing your work, or someone who flinches at the word "sales" — this one's about confidence, connection, and finally knowing what you bring to the table.

Listen to Anna's Podcast Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-anna-angle/id1830016709

Link to Brava magazine: https://bravamagazine.com/

Topics: sales confidence, raising your prices, imposter syndrome, knowing your worth, women in business, entrepreneurship, self-worth, mindset, personal branding, storytelling, marketing.

Tags: sales confidence, how to raise your rates, knowing your worth, women in business, imposter syndrome, sales mindset, pricing your services, entrepreneur mindset, self-worth, personal branding, storytelling marketing, Brava Magazine, Persona Magazine, Madison Wisconsin business, Unwritten with Steph

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What if instead of bracing for everything to fall apart, you got obsessed with it all working out?

Recorded fresh off a camping trip in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior, this Soulful Sunday is about the fear loop so many of us live in by the time we hit our forties — and the choice to trade it for a love loop instead. Steph gets honest about being "addicted" to things not working out, to hard work that never feels like enough, and to doubting the good the moment it arrives.

This one goes into the programming that taught us to stay small: the childhood conditioning that trained creativity and imagination right out of us, why we call our negative thoughts "realistic" and dismiss the positive ones as dreaming, and what it means to remember you are not the things that happened to you — you are your reaction to them.

With reflections on sobriety, self-trust, manifesting the life you actually want, and the simple truth that when you give love and grace to yourself, it gets mirrored right back — this is an invitation to stop running someone else's program and start writing your own.

If you needed permission to believe it could work out? Here it is.

Topics: self-love, fear vs. love, breaking the cycle, law of attraction, manifesting your dream life, mindset shift, sobriety, spiritual awakening, healing your inner child, alignment, personal transformation.

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How I became a photographer — and the question that started it all: am I worth it?

In this episode of Unwritten, I share my honest origin story: buying my first camera while pregnant, building a photography business through divorce and single motherhood, learning marketing and SEO the hard way, and finally learning to charge what I'm worth. If you've ever wanted to start a creative business but feared you weren't "enough," this one's for you.

🎟️ Join my one-day business workshop, the 4 Pillars of Success — July 30, Baraboo, WI. Four women teaching what it really takes to grow a business. Link below.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1992439066884?aff=oddtdtcreator

#WomenInBusiness #PhotographyBusiness #Unwritten #Entrepreneur #WisconsinPhotographer

Support the show

https://www.stephshanks.com

https://www.instagram.com/unwrittenwithsteph

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