Finding Brave: How to Reclaim Your Power and Build Genuine Leadership with Kathy Caprino
Release Date: 05/19/2025
Breaking Money Cycles: When Breaking Money Cycles Means Breaking Relationships
It's Not About The Money
I lost one really deep friendship when I started changing my relationship with money - not because I became a different person or got arrogant, but because I stopped being who they needed me to be. What nobody talks about when breaking money cycles is that sometimes the people closest to you have the most invested in keeping you exactly where you are. This is the conversation I've been avoiding since we started this series because it's messy, it's painful, and it doesn't have a tidy solution. But if you've been setting boundaries and healing your relationship with money, you've probably...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Why You Can't Stop Putting Others First With Money
It's Not About The Money
What would happen if you stopped holding all the responsibility with money? If you weren't the rescuer or the provider, the generous one - would people still value you and would you still matter? That may sound like a rather odd question, but right now there are thousands of people searching terms like "Why do I always put others first with money?" and "How do I stop feeling guilty spending money on myself?" because so many of us are trapped in what I refer to as the caretaker money cycle, where your mind and your body have literally learnt that giving money away equals safety, love, and...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Debt, Shame and Forgiveness
It's Not About The Money
If money has been feeling rather heavy for you recently, or maybe you're waking up in the middle of the night worrying about money, I want you to first of all know that you are not alone and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you if you have debts. This episode is specifically about debt and shame, and I'm going to be sharing what happened for me when I was in £35,000 of debt - a story I've rarely told publicly because of the deep shame I carried around it for years. The truth is, debt isn't just about the numbers on a statement; it's about the weight of secrecy, the fear of judgement,...
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Breaking Money Cycles: The Real Reason You Can't Create Consistent Income (It's Not Your Marketing)
It's Not About The Money
What if next month's revenue felt as reliable as your morning coffee? As a financial expert who's helped thousands of business founders to steady their income, I can honestly tell you this: you've already done the hard part - people want what you sell. Let's make the good months stick. Feast and famine cycles aren't personal failures, and it's not even your marketing. It's a pattern that your body and your business have learnt to repeat. Today, I'm going to widen your capacity to receive money, to hold and to give, and pair it with some really simple, practical planning strategies so that...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Why You Make Your Worst Financial Decisions When You're Overwhelmed
It's Not About The Money
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by a money decision that you've Googled "best savings account," opened 17 tabs, read 18 articles, and ended up way more confused than when you started? Here's the trap we all fall into: when we're stressed about money, we think the answer is more information - one more podcast, one more YouTube video, one more expert opinion that will finally make it all make sense. But that information is actually making the overwhelm worse. Today, as a former financial adviser with 20 years of experience, I'm showing you what's actually happening in your brain when you try...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Why You Hide from Your Numbers (And How to Build Financial Courage)
It's Not About The Money
I've spent the last 10 years trying to find the perfect financial management system for my business and personal finances, and here's what I've discovered: it doesn't matter which system you implement if the one thing avoiding the numbers is you. As a qualified financial advisor and somatic money expert, I can tell you with absolute certainty that financial avoidance has nothing to do with lack of financial education - it's a protection response your body has learned. When you retrain that response, money stops feeling like a threat and starts feeling like simple, neutral information. Today,...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Why You Self-Sabotage When Things Go Well
It's Not About The Money
Have you ever achieved a major financial milestone - landed a big client, hit a revenue goal, or finally built up your savings - only to watch yourself systematically self-sabotage it within weeks? Maybe you suddenly took on underpriced work, made an impulsive expensive purchase, or created some drama that torpedoed your success. If this sounds familiar, I need you to understand something crucial: this isn't weakness, it's not a character flaw, and it's not lack of willpower. This is your nervous system literally treating financial success like a threat to your existence. Right now,...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Financial Trauma - The Hidden Cost of Being the Affordable Option
It's Not About The Money
If you've ever caught yourself saying "I don't want to price myself out of the market" or felt that familiar guilt creeping in when considering raising your prices, you're about to discover why being the affordable option is actually a financial trauma response. The hidden cost of undercharging isn't just the money you're leaving on the table - it's the cycle of resentment, exhaustion, and trauma responses that keep you trapped in patterns of unworthiness. In my book "It's Not About The Money," I explore how under-earning often starts as a trauma response where we overwork to prove ourselves,...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Why You Feel Broke Even When You Have Money (10-Minute Daily Fix)
It's Not About The Money
Have you ever looked at your bank account and thought "this should feel like enough," yet still felt that familiar knot of anxiety in your stomach whenever money came up? You're absolutely not alone in this experience. This week, I'm diving deep into why you can feel broke even when you have money - and it has nothing to do with the actual numbers in your account. The real culprit? Your nervous system and how it's been programmed to recognise what feels "safe" around money. If you grew up hearing "we can't afford that" or witnessed your parents stress about finances, your body has been...
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Breaking Money Cycles: Why Saving More Money Never Makes You Feel Safe
It's Not About The Money
In this deeply personal episode, I explore why having more money often doesn't make us feel safer, and why this isn't actually a money problem - it's a meaning problem. Drawing from my own experience of nearly losing my youngest son Thomas twice in his first five weeks of life, I reveal how our "not enough" programming around money often stems from our deepest fears about being unprepared when someone we love is at risk. Through my three-zone model of receiving, holding, and giving, I break down how these inherited money beliefs create an exhausting cycle where we work harder but can never...
info_outlineIn this episode, I welcome back international career and leadership expert Kathy Caprino to explore the concept of finding brave - why bravery is essential for breaking through personal and professional barriers, and how vulnerability can be a pathway to authentic power.
Episode Highlights:
Kathy's Journey to Finding Brave
- From an 18-year corporate career to becoming a therapist and coach
- The pivotal moment of being laid off after 9/11, when her therapist asked: "Who do you want to be in the world?"
- Training as a therapist and discovering that helping women bypass her own painful experiences became her calling
- The realisation in 2018 that clients across different backgrounds were bringing the same core problems
The Seven Power Gaps
Research with over 20,000 women revealed seven critical gaps that prevent people from thriving:
- Not recognising your special talents, abilities and gifts
- Communicating from fear, not strength
- Reluctance to ask for what you want and deserve
- Isolating from influential support
- Acquiescing instead of saying stop to unfair behaviour or mistreatment
- Losing sight of the thrilling dream you had for your life
- Allowing the past to continue to shape and define you
- 98% of women surveyed and 90% of men had at least one of these gaps
- 75% of people had three or more gaps, indicating they weren't truly thriving
Redefining Power and Agency
- Why many people resist the word "power" - associating it with control over others rather than personal agency
- True power means the ability to shape yourself and what's in front of you through thinking, mindset, beliefs, and energy
- The importance of understanding that we have agency - we always had it, but often weren't taught how to recognise or use it
- How fear can create self-fulfilling prophecies through the energy we project
The Role of Vulnerability in Finding Brave
- Kathy's definition of vulnerability: uncertainty, risk, and exposure (following Brené Brown's work)
- Personal story about confronting her dentist about not wearing her retainer - choosing courage over comfort
- How masks we wear are often shaped by early family dynamics and societal conditioning
- The liberating conversation with her Greek mother about challenging authority
Practical Tools for Building Personal Agency
- Career Path Self-Assessment: 13 pages of questions Kathy wishes someone had asked her at 22
- The importance of recognising talents beyond just learned skills
- Reaching out to 10 people for LinkedIn recommendations to see yourself through others' eyes
- Using personality assessments and alternative frameworks (numerology, astrology, human design) as mirrors for self-discovery
The Power of Animals as Teachers
- Horse therapy example: how animals mirror our energy and leadership styles
- Kathy's experience volunteering at a horse rescue - how sensitive animals reflect our authentic selves
- The importance of collaborative leadership styles and knowing when to lead from different positions
Final Thought
Nothing is wasted - even struggles and detours serve a purpose. Personal growth work is essential for career and leadership success. The key is to reclaim small pieces of joy and creativity that may have been "squashed out" over time.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Bravery and Personal Growth
03:00 Kathy's Journey: From Corporate to Coaching
08:53 The Concept of Finding Brave
12:00 Defining Bravery: Personal Experiences and Growth
17:10 Understanding Masks: Why We Hide Our True Selves
19:47 Power Gaps: Identifying and Overcoming Barriers
25:11 Personal Agency: Claiming Your Power
29:51 The Role of Family and Social Conditioning
31:11 Mitigating Challenges and Personal Growth
34:50 Recognizing Unique Talents and Abilities
40:53 Exploring Self-Validation and External Resources
46:43 Understanding Leadership Styles and Personal Power
53:01 Embracing Personal Growth and Future Aspirations
Resources:
Get my FREE book 'It's Not About The Money'
Take the Money StoryTypes® Quiz
Sign up to my FREE Newsletter
Come to our Wealth Awakening Retreat
Become a Certified Financial Coach
Connect with Kathy
Get Kathy's Book - The Most Powerful You: 7 Bravery-Boosting Paths to Career Bliss