What if the thing standing between you and your first app wasn't your tech skills — but your belief that you needed any?

In this episode, Anacani gets radically honest about how SHEBuilds Oahu came together — including the fact that she had never opened Lovable before the week she built the entire workshop app herself. What she discovered in that room changed everything, and it's exactly why she rebuilt the app from scratch, better and more intentional than ever.

This episode is for you if:

1. You've been "thinking about" building an app but haven't started
2. You assume you need tech skills, a developer, or a huge budget
3. You want to create a digital tool that generates revenue while you're offline
4. You're a wellness coach, yoga teacher, military spouse, or heart-led entrepreneur ready to scale differently

In This Episode You'll Learn:

1. The honest behind-the-scenes story of SHEBuilds Oahu — and why nobody knew what was actually inside the app
2. What Sankalpa has to do with building software (and why it's the most important step before you open any vibe coding tool)
3. Shift #1: Why every feature must serve ONE North Star transformation — and what happens when it doesn't
4. Shift #2: You don't need to know how to build it. You need to know what it should DO
5. Shift #3: A free or low-ticket app isn't charity — it's a conversion machine
6. A simple 3-step process to generate your app idea today

Resources + Links Mentioned:

1. App Monetization Playbook Workshop ($37)
2. Free: 12 Signs You're Stuck in a Clarity Gap™ — DM TWELVE to @empowerherwave on Instagram
3. Free Community: EmpowerHER Biz Collective on Facebook
4. Vibe Coding Tools mentioned: Lovable, Base44

Your Micro Action From This Episode:

Open your notes app and finish this sentence:

"The ONE thing my ideal client is always confused about is _____________."

That sentence is the seed of your app idea. Don't overthink it. Write it down and let it breathe.

Keywords:

vibe coding for women entrepreneurs, app monetization non-tech founder, how to build an app without coding, heart-led CEO podcast, lovable app builder, base44 vibe coding, wellness entrepreneur digital tools, military spouse business, AI tools for coaches, build an app in one afternoon, Sankalpa business strategy, North Star feature design

What if I told you that thing that you've been waiting for, that idea, the thing that you think requires a developer or some tech degree or a six month timeline, you can actually build it in one afternoon.

And it's not a widget or a Canva template.

It is a real working app with your brand and your offer and more importantly, your voice inside it.

And the kicker is, is that the first time I had ever touched Lovable was the week before.

I stood in front of a room full of women entrepreneurs and taught them how to vibe code using that platform.

I had never opened that tool before and I built the entire workshop app the week before the event by myself, just by knowing how to communicate with AI.

And that was it.

That was the superpower that I had.

And today I'm going to show you exactly how that's possible.

But importantly, how you can turn a simple idea into a revenue stream without tech, without VC funding, or more importantly, without losing your soul and wanting to pull your hair out.

So stick around because at the end of this episode, I'm going to actually tell you about something that I've been quietly cooking up, which is a five day experience that's going to change how you think about your offers forever.

So grab your cup of whatever's keeping you grounded and let's dive in.

Welcome to Heart Led CEO, the podcast for women wellness entrepreneurs who are ready to build, scale and automate their businesses without sacrificing their soul, sanity or authenticity.

I'm Anakani Walters, a nurse turned entrepreneur, military spouse, first time mama in my 40s, and a recovering burnout survivor who's making it a mission to help Heart Led women just like you create driving businesses that really feel good, do good, and give you the freedom that we all deserve.

Because here's the thing.

You don't have to hustle harder to succeed.

You don't have to drown in tech overwhelm or try to do everything alone.

And I'm here to give you the strategies, automation, tools and mindset shifts that will help you step fully into that leader, CEO and impact maker that you are meant to be.

If you're ready to grow your business in a way that aligns with your values and your life, you are in the right place.

Let's get into today's episode.

Hello, hello, hello, my beautiful friend.

Oh my gosh.

I am so glad that you are here.

Welcome back to another Heart Led CEO episode.

And today is one of those episodes that I really was excited to record because it is not just about strategy.

Today it is about proof and it's about what happens when a non tech founder story stops waiting for permission and just builds the damn thing.

So I want to take you back.

Just a few weeks ago I hosted she Builds Oahu, which is a local in person event that was part of a bigger global vibe coding movement that was co sponsored by Anthropic and Stripe through Lovable, the Vibe coding platform.

And if you're like, what is vibe coding?

Beautiful, stay with me.

I will explain that in a way that makes sense in just a second.

But I want to be really honest with you about how this all happened because I think the honest version is way more sexier and powerful than the highlight real version.

So when I decided I was going to host she Builds Oahu because I, I wanted to be part of the movement, I didn't care about anything else.

And I figured I've been in the AI space for almost three years.

I've been practicing and learning and getting certified and I have four out of my seven certifications that I need to get through my program that I'm part of.

And I go to weekly coaching calls and monthly trainings.

And I knew how to communicate with AI, to build things.

So I really in my mind thought, how hard could it be?

Now some of you may actually know that the first time I ever touched Lovable was literally the week before the event.

I built the whole workshop app by myself.

The registration, the guided experience, the generative AI that I really worked hard to build behind what actually like walked people through creating their own app concept.

And all of it was literally a week before the days leading up to the live event.

And I tweaked it, I, I tested it, I worked it and it was fully functional app with real AI mind behind it.

With my strategies backing it up and my expertise, my research that I had already done, my experience, vibe coding.

So it was not just a pretty registration page.

It was an actual tool that could have had every single person in that room vibe coding their own app idea that same day.

Now what got really interesting and for me really humbling is that nobody knew that like the people who registered, all they saw was the front facing page and thought it was just a website, a registration form.

And nobody, I don't think really clicked around to see what was on the inside.

Nobody updated their profile, but maybe two people.

Nobody explored the app beyond the sign up page.

And so when we got to the actual live workshop, people were barely really being introduced to the app itself, which made it really hard to go deeper Because I had to start from the beginning with something that I had already built so much behind.

And I kept thinking that they could have been vibe coding, like, hours before that event.

The only thing that was locked was the actual build lab, which was the prompt guided generative AI that would literally take you step by step into the whole research process.

But it unlocked midnight New York standard time, and we're in Hawaii.

So they had massive hours of leeway to literally start vibe coding before they even got to the event.

They could have been inside the app building or practicing and creating that entire day.

Our workshop live didn't start until the afternoon, but nobody knew to look.

Now, I even had a walkthrough video of all the things that they needed to do.

But do you know what that little insight told me?

It told me that the gap isn't the technology.

The gap is the bridge.

People need someone to walk them across.

They need someone to say, hey, look, this isn't just a signup page.

This is a portal.

Come inside.

Click this, click this, click this.

Now put this in here.

And that's exactly what inspired me to rebuild it.

Better, cleaner, more intentional, and even more of a customer journey.

Built in experience.

Because months of practice of knowing what works, knowing what doesn't, and building with that mindset of the person on the other side, that's not something that just happens overnight.

That's something that you have to kind of earn.

And that's what I want to help you build.

In yoga, we talk about something called Sankalpa.

Your deepest intention, not the goal, not your to do.

List your actual why.

And before I wrote a single prompt in lovable, I did sit with my Sankalpa and asked, who is it for?

What does she need to feel when she lands here?

What is the one shift that I want her to walk away with?

That intention very much shaped every feature, every word, every flow inside that app.

And that.

That is not tech skill.

That is a coaching skill.

And, and my beautiful friend, I already know that you have it.

So I want to give you three shifts today.

Three things that once you really get them, like really, really get them and embody them, that whole I can't do this really starts to wash away.

Now, shift number one that I want you to focus on is every feature in your app should serve one North Star transformation.

And I really want to be clear about something, because I don't want you to hear this and think you need to build something tiny.

Now, my app, that you'll experience in this upcoming workshop that I'm going to talk to you about is not tiny.

It has a build lab, an idea generator, a prompt library from an app developer's mindset, a sharing community, and a content wizard to help you actually promote what you've built.

A learning hub, a network space, and for me, an admin dashboard.

It is massively robust.

But here's the thing.

Every single one of those features exists to serve one journey, taking a wellness or military entrepreneur who has never built an app, and walk them through all the way from idea, to build, to launch and to promote.

And that's it.

That's the North Star.

Every feature is just a different leg of the same trip.

Now, where founders really go wrong is not in building too much.

It is in building without that North Star.

They add features because it's cool, because they saw it somewhere else, because the AI suggested it, just like Chachi pt and they thought, oh, yeah, let's throw that in.

And then the user lands inside the app and doesn't know where to start, what to do first, or what's the purpose of any of it.

And the question isn't how many features.

The question is what is the one transformation you are guiding your user towards?

And you need to write that down first and then let every single feature be in service of that one.

If a feature doesn't move your ICA or your dream client closer to that transformation, then it doesn't belong in version 1.

Build the North Star and let the features follow.

Now, shift number two, you don't need to know how to build, you just need to know what it should do.

This is the part where people get it wrong.

They open up some type of vibe coding tool, like Lovable or my preference is base 44.

Whatever it is, okay, they just start typing, just what we call vibing, just to see what happens.

And that's the sexy vibe coding version that everybody sees in their reels.

And then they get something that looks really cool but does nothing for their business, nothing for their dream clients and friend.

I did this.

I've been there.

What changed everything for me was doing the market research first.

Before I ever touched the builder, I gave the AI my ica, my pain points, the transformation I wanted to create, and then I asked it to help me design the concept, and then I built it.

It's the difference between reacting and deciding.

When you're building with vibe coding, and we talk about this all the time on this podcast, that clarity is protected by constraints.

Your app needs a decision before it needs actual prompt.

Now, shift number three, a free or low ticket app is not charity.

It's a conversion machine.

Now listen, I know a lot of us, especially in the wellness space, have this complicated relationship with charging for things.

And I am raising my hands behind the mic.

We want to be generous and we want to serve, and that is how our heart leads.

And here's what I want to offer you.

Generosity and profitability are not opposites.

Contrary to what some people might make you believe, they are more of a flow.

When you give someone a free tool that genuinely helps them, that gives them some kind of a win or shifts that something in them that they need, and then you say, hey, if you want to go deeper, here's what I've got.

That's not salesy.

That is a beautiful commerce relationship.

That is what good business actually feels like.

It's a beautiful exchange of energy.

And your app can be the free thing that earns trust, or it can be the seven dollar thing that builds your list, or it can be the 37th thing that warms someone up to your $197 offer.

There is a version of this for every stage of your funnel and you just need to know which one you want to build.

And so real quick, before I keep going, because that was a lot.

If you've been thinking about building an app but have no idea where to start, I do want you to know that's literally what my new workshop is designed for.

It's called the App Monetization Playbook and it's only 37.

It's over 500 worth of value that you're going to get in those two hours that we're going to be on this call.

We're going to walk through the whole thing together over Live Zoom.

The concept, the build and how to position it so that it actually sells.

And I'm going to drop the link in the show notes.

Keep listening because I've still got some gold for you right now.

So how does this actually work in practice?

I want to give you a little bit of a peek behind the curtain.

So grab your pen and your note.

If you're driving, know that you can still come back to this.

So stay focused.

But step one, you identify the one thing your ICA is confused about.

I know that there's way more than one, but we don't want to focus on 12 things, just one.

Where does she always get stuck?

It's a very simple question.

What question does she ask you over and over again?

And then once you have that, step two is that you imagine a really short, really satisfying experience.

That answers that one question.

It could be a quiz, maybe it's a calculator or a guided session.

That's really simple.

But it gives them that result.

A very clear named result that she's never had before.

And then once you have that, you move on to step three where you open your vibe coding tool.

I use base 44, you can use whatever you want and then you describe what what you want it to do, not how to code it, what it does, who it's for, what it should feel like.

And then you hit enter and you watch it build magic.

And yes, you will have to refine it, you will have to tell it what you like and what you don't like.

But that's not coding, that's more of a curating and curating.

You already know how to do that.

You do it every single time you design a one to one session or a workshop, a retreat, a yoga class, whatever.

You already know how to hold a container.

This one is no different.

It is just a digital version of what you already know how to do.

Okay my beautiful friend, thanks for hanging out this whole time.

Let's bring it home because that was a lot.

We talked about the three shifts that make app monetization actually possible for a non tech founder like you.

Number one, every feature in your app should serve one north transformation, one North Star transformation and get clear on what that transformation is before you build a single thing.

Before you open up the app that you deciding to actually build in features follow the North Star, not the other way around.

Number two, you do not need to know how to build, you need to know what it should do.

Do your research, do not skip that step and then make your decision before you touch the builder.

And number three, a free or low ticket app is not charity, it's a conversion machine.

Use it as a sacred on ramp to go deeper when your work and your micro action for today, because I want you to have one is I want you to pull out your notes app or if you like to write in your journal or a memo or open up a zoom call with yourself and finish the sentence.

The one thing my ideal client is always confused about is fill in the blank.

I'll repeat it again.

The one thing my ideal client is always confused about is blank and that sentence that is the seed of your app idea.

If you don't have one, I don't want you to overthink it.

Just write it down and then let it breathe.

Take a walk, maybe do a yoga session and then answer the question and then it's just going to come to you.

And if you're already ready to take that seed and actually grow it into something, something that you can either launch or or sell, or something that works while you're offline or guides your students or your clients deeper into your work, I want to invite you to join me for the App Monetization Playbook Workshop.

It's live on Zoom.

It is only $37 and for the first five days you're going to get beta access to the new and improved app that I just rebuilt, the one that started as the workshop app for the she builds Oahu that since has been completely upgraded with more intention, more flow, more strategy and more of the customer journey baked in.

And if it serves you, you can stay on as a monthly member.

This is the kind of thing that I really wish someone had offered me when I was trying to figure out how to turn literally my ideas into income without losing my mind or my wallet.

And now I get to hand it to you.

The links in the show notes and if you have any questions, you can always DM me over on my Instagram @empower herwave.

And if you haven't grabbed and if you're not ready for that yet, feel free to grab my free 12 signs.

You're stuck in a Clarity Gap checklist.

Just comment or DM the word 12TW E L V e at Empower Her Wave on Instagram and I will send it straight to your DMs.

There's no opt in, there's no hassle.

You're just going to get that beautiful clarity.

As always my beautiful friend, continue to be you.

Continue to be beautiful.

Continue leading from your heart.

Have a beautiful rest of your week and I will catch you in the next episode.

All right, beautiful.

That's a wrap on today's episode, but before you go, let's talk about something really important.

You are not just another entrepreneur trying

to figure things out alone.

You are a Wave leader.

Someone whose work is meant to create real impact, touch the lives of others

and make this world better.

And I want you to know you don't have to do it alone.

If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to keep this energy going inside of my free Facebook community.

Empower Her Biz Collector.

It's where we take these conversations deeper with live trainings, tech walkthroughs and real heart centered support from other women wellness entrepreneurs who really get it.

So if you're ready for community, clarity

and support as you build your own

business with heart and ease.

I'd invite you to come and join us.

You'll find the link in the show notes.

And hey, if you love today's episode,

make sure to subscribe.

Leave a review if you feel inclined to share this with a fellow heart led women entrepreneur so that we can

build this movement together.

Until next time, keep leading with heart.