What if the next chapter of your life is not a detour, but an invitation? In this episode of the Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Julie Delucca-Collins, business strategist, TEDx speaker, award-winning author, founder of Go Confidently Services, and host of the Casa de Confidence podcast.

Julie shares how being laid off during the pandemic became the doorway into entrepreneurship, podcasting, authorship, and deeper purpose.

This conversation explores confidence, courage, self-leadership, business strategy, and what it means to create impact while honoring the season of life you are in.

What You Will Learn

How vision can guide the next chapter even when the full picture is not clear.

Why confidence often comes from showing up before you feel ready.

How midlife can become a powerful season of reinvention and renewed purpose.

What it means to build a business around your gifts, mission, and lived experience.

How small, consistent self-leadership practices support bigger vision and impact.

Why women entrepreneurs need systems, support, and strategy to stop being the best-kept secret.

FAQ:

What is the difference between vision and goals in business?

Vision is the bigger picture of what you want your life and business to become, while goals are the smaller steps that help bring that vision into reality. A strong vision creates direction and clarity for decision-making.

What are simple self-leadership habits that help business owners avoid burnout?

Simple self-leadership habits include creating healthy routines, prioritizing rest, moving your body regularly, setting boundaries, and building intentional margin into your schedule to support long-term success.

How do you know when it is time to start a new chapter in life or business?

Often, there are signs of restlessness, misalignment, or a feeling that you are meant for more. Major transitions, setbacks, or unexpected changes can become opportunities to pursue a more aligned path.

Connect with Julie Delucca-Collins

Go Confidently Coaching

Podcast: Welcome to Casa De Confidence

Book: Confident You - The Raw Conversations: Real Stories of Courage, Healing, and Redefining Confidence

Book: Confident You: Simple habits to live the life you have imagined

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LVP 133 Julie

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Now, here's your host, Anjel B. Hartwell.

Anjel: Welcome to another episode of the Leading Visionaries podcast, where we celebrate the ingenious, insightful, innovative, and inspired leading visionaries of our time, and provide our listeners with world-class examples of the kind of courage, clarity, and confidence it takes to bring visions into reality.

With over two decades of experience as a senior executive, including serving as chief innovation officer for a multi-million dollar company in New York City, Julie has mastered business growth, operations, and leadership. She's led market expansions, negotiated high-level contracts, and driven innovation in the education sec- sector.

Julie: Thank you so much for having me, my friend. Mm-hmm. I've been looking forward to our time together.

Anjel: I as well. I really appreciated being on your show- Mm-hmm ... Casa de Confidence, and, uh, I have to let our listeners know that Julie and I actually know one another and see one another just- That's right ... about every month here at the New England Podcasters group here in New England, and she is one of the founding members, along with myself, of that group.

So it's really- Mm-hmm ... lovely to have you here today, Julie. I wanna start our time together, I really think I would love to dive in with you around the idea of vision. Mm. Were you visionary when you were a child? Did you have big dreams? Oh. Did you have a high imagination? Or was the visionary piece of you something that came online later in your life?

And of course, along the way there's been disappointments, but even now, everything really does begin f- with vision for me. When I launched my business, I was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, and I remember I knew I was gonna go out on my own. I didn't quite know the picture and what that would look like, but I remember sitting in the middle of the night trying to sleep, and I finally sat up in bed and I said, "I need to write down a vision.

What does that look like?" Mm-hmm. And that's where I began. So yeah of course, vision is big for me, and it's part of who I am.

Anjel: Beautiful. So I wanna go a little deeper into this, because for some people, like I would call myself a vision getter- Mm-hmm ... versus a goal setter. I'm not a goal setter. Yeah. I don't set any goals at all.

Mm-hmm. So there are some people who craft vision, who, who create vision versus- Mm-hmm ... receiving vision. So it sounds like you're that kind of a person. So I'd love to hear, like y- for you, is there a distinction, or do you h- experience maybe both?

Julie: Yeah. It, it, for me, I would say it's a little bit of both, you know, because even though, a- a- and by the way, that m- that vision that I wrote on my phone, and I still carry it.

The future me is the one that guides me on the daily activity, on the things, how I show up, what am I implementing, doing, feeling. And for me, having that vision of what is Julie 2.0 doing has always been so instrumental. And then, you know, connecting to what I feel my mission is in life. And my mission, especially for me, I was turning 50.

It's been six years, and I remember that my mission was that I didn't want to be one of these midlife women who kind of counted herself out. Mm-hmm. I saw my mother do that at 50. Mm-hmm. And all of a sudden I was in the same spot, and I wanted to not only- Have that vision of what I was crafting for myself and what I wanted this to really showing up for, because I felt that this was ordained in some ways.

Anjel: Mm.

Julie: Yeah. And a lot of times women don't give themselves credit, discount themselves, or really feel like it's over when they hit a certain age or maybe when they have a disappointment. Mm-hmm. And I think that that's really just the first great opportunity that they can leverage for whatever the next new chapter that they want to write is.

Anjel: Mm. I love that. Well, it's interesting because I think our... There's, there's a generation of women for sure- Mm ... whose parents did count themselves out, whose moms- Mm-hmm ... counted themselves out or, or were counted out by society. Mm-hmm. And for me, what I'm aware of is they're y- because, uh, our life expectancy has expanded so- Mm-hmm

Julie: Yeah ...

Anjel: we're starting again, you know, maybe for the third or fourth time.

Mm-hmm. But we're definitely not old and dying, and it's really like the 80 to 100 that's the old and dying part of the, the journey. Yeah. So I love that you you know, you saw that and you were initiated in your own life to, to change that narrative.

Ad: Okay. Okay.

Anjel: And I also love that you used the word ordained, so I'd love to have you kind of explore a little bit more- Mm

about ordained, especially as it relates to the women that you're coaching, the people that you're attracting, you know. Mm-hmm. This, this idea of being ordained is really powerful, and it, it feels to me like it ties back to the little girl who knew she was going to do big things.

At 71 she was diagnosed with cancer in her leg and had her leg amputated. She was in a coma for several weeks, and that's when most people would have discounted somebody, right? But I saw her not only, uh, come back, but come back big. Mm. And one of the things she would often say to me is, "To those much given, much is expected."

The shoulda, woulda, could'aves is what we end up doing, right? So for me, that ordain, I knew that I was meant to help others. I knew that I was meant to create something different, and also to use whatever gifts I have. And, you know, when I started out my career, I started out to be a teacher. Like, I, that, that's what I thought I was gonna be.

And I remember I loved it. I was having a great time, and I was actually hiking in, in North Carolina, and I remember just thinking, "I'm meant for more."

Ad: Mm.

Julie: There is m- And I don't know what more is.

Ad: Mm.

Julie: But I know that I can still help others. I still can use my gifts, and be in that sweet spot, and develop that sweet spot for myself, while also making a difference in the lives of others.

Mm-hmm. And that's when I started to just pursue different opportunities.

Mm-hmm. We are really in an age where we can create whatever we would like. Yeah. And so, uh, it takes vision and it also takes leadership to step into that role of creator. And so I'd love to hear you speak about maybe the, the turning point or the threshold moment, whether it was COVID that, you know, eliminated your old job- Mm-hmm

or, you know, whether you made the choice then because of the circumstances or whatever it was. Like, talk a little bit about the transition from being an employee to having a vision and starting your own thing.

Julie: Yeah. So first and foremost, uh, you know, my first entrepreneurial journey was at 13. I had my little side hustle.

And I had already started to think, "Okay, what does my next chapter look like? Do I still want to be in-" Not w- necessarily with the company, but in this space. And I knew that I wanted to help women, because as I kept moving up the corporate ladder, I kept hearing women say, "Oh, congratulations on that promotion, Julie.

I wish I was as confident as you." Mm-hmm.

Anjel: And

Julie: it got me thinking that it's not that I had more confidence than anybody else, it's that I showed up despite not thinking that I could do it, not giving- Mm-hmm ... you know, not knowing what was next. But really, that showing up and making the commitment to showing up every day better than the day before was something that was gonna be key.

You're an executive. You have a six-figure salary. Why are you going to do what?" Right? And the more that I, I started to experiment and, and I went through a coaching certification, and I became a yoga teacher. And I wasn't doing it necessarily to pursue those things full-time, but I was doing them really to work on myself and to kind of- Mm

Ad: Mm.

Julie: You know the universe was telling you it was time.

Ad: Mm-hmm.

Julie: And when I got the call, and I, I heard the words, "I'm sorry, w- we, we need to let you go.

The company has to keep going, and we need..." You know, everything that they said with COVID. Mm. And I thought... I remember all the sudden feeling this level of like, ooh, they're opening the door for me.

Anjel: Mm.

Julie: And the universe is just kicking me out. And yes, there was a level of grieving as the first few days went by, specifically because that was a career that I defined myself for over 25 years.

It was gonna be incredibly unknown. But if I could do it, then I can show others that it was possible to do it- Mm,

Anjel: beautiful ...

Julie: despite the second-guessing of themselves.

Anjel: Yeah, beautiful. All right, well, we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we're gonna let our listeners know where they can find out more about you.

And right now, listeners, are you a leading visionary or in the role of leading other visionaries? Consider joining our community and sharing your feedback and takeaways from each episode. We invite you to join us and support this podcast by making a donation at leadingvisionariespodcast.com. If you're interested in finding out more about how you can receive support for getting your vision out of the air and onto the ground in a way that's both impact and income producing, the best support is found in collaboration with other leading visionaries, which is why we've created the Creative Age Leader Lab.

I wanna say a big thank you to all of our listeners who are downloading, rating, and reviewing. We're welcoming thousands and thousands of downloads from all over the world. Wanna shout out this week to our brand-new listeners in Chile, Slovenia, Turkey, and Vietnam. And we'll be right back with Julie DeLucca Collins.

Your word is your wand, and as the leader, your ability to articulate and communicate your vision is essential to its materialization and monetization. Please enjoy with our compliments a free copy of the book "Be Heard by Millions and Live Your Destiny," which was a number one new release in three categories to get you started.

The book is yours by visiting gift.leadingvisionariespodcast.com.

What inspired you to then start a podcast and write a book and all of these other things- Wow ... and write a book, and do a TEDx talk, and all of the other things that you- Wow ... have accomplished in the last six years. And I hope you're taking it in. Like please- Yeah ... take it in, that it's only been six years and you have gone confidently.

Julie: Well, I have to give credit where credit is due. None of this would be possible if I didn't have an incredibly supportive husband, you know, my handsome, hot husband, Dan. He is my partner in life and in business, and we didn't anticipate that we were gonna be business partners in addition to everything else.

I better do something to help her." Uh, and he got the podcasting equipment. He ordered it as a gift, and it came in, and he said, "You've talked about doing a podcast for as long as I've known you. Don't worry about the tech. You do the talking, and I'll do the tech." And that's how the podcast came about. And at first I thought, of course, you know, such a silly thing if you know me.

And with all of that, the podcast started, and it, and we had such a big bash of a entry into podcasting world. We immediately, you know, started to grow and, and even now also, you know, we're heard in so many different countries, top 2% of podcasts. It- we've won an award for podcasting as well. But the thing is that I've always had a vision of the things that I wanted to kind of do in my life: write a book, be a TEDx speaker.

I would say the book- Uh, and, and really I've just released my second book, which is Confident You, The Raw Conversations. But both books came from the intent of sharing the incredible stories of other individuals who, uh, in their own right have gone confidently, fought some of the things that they themselves bring to the table, because I think that we have to fight ourselves to, to do the scary things.

Ad: Mm-hmm. And the lessons that I've learned from them to really be able to feel like not only fulfilled, but also that I'm creating the impact and learning the things that sometimes only by hearing somebody else's story we can learn. Mm. So that, that was the main reason also for the books, that I wanted to share the stories of individuals who have created an impact in my life.

Anjel: Mm-hmm. I agree with that. Well, in the last six years you have certainly accomplished quite a bit.

And so what I'd love to celebrate with you now is how you impact the clients that you serve. Let's talk a little bit about who are the people that are best able to drink in the gift of Julie DeLucca Collins and be- Mm ... well-nourished?

Julie: Well, uh, you know, woman in mid-life, first of all. Second of all is that woman that probably had a very successful previous chapter, and yet finds themselves not knowing how to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Mm. They have a vision of what they can do with their gifts. And my goal is to then create that on-ramp for them, and to make sure that they have the right system support, and that they can stop- Creating that entrepreneur property that most, most women, first of all, in year five, most of small businesses fail, right?

And, and, and these women, I'm tired of these incredible individuals being the best-kept secret.

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Julie: Because we, we can create a larger impact only if we allow ourselves, right, to be heard, to be seen- That's right ... to be understood by those people that need us. And- Mm-hmm ... that's the person that I, I love to really be able to work with.

Um, we have the Confident You Co-op, and this is where, you know, there's no hierarchy. It's just a group of incredible individuals that we come together. Obviously, we do some guest speakers that come and teach us, but really what we do is we support each other in the journey, and we've created this circular economy in which we give feedback, we help to grow each other's businesses.

and really help them put together that plan so that they can do what they do best and really have this system and business run to support what they're doing.

Anjel: Beautiful. All right. Well, I wanna talk now a little bit about leadership because this is Leading Visionaries. We've talked a lot about vision.

I am curious about your own self-leadership-

Julie: Mm ...

Anjel: practices. Like, what are some of the things that you do? I, I mean, we've already talked a lot about going confidently. Yeah, yeah. Like, you look at what you're afraid of, and you go anyway, which isn't really about confidence. It's really about courage in my mind, but-

Julie: Right.

Julie: One of the first things that I will tell you is that I am an extreme extrovert, and one of the things that it becomes very easy for me is to go all in.

And as a leader, I need to practice what I preach, and I need to give myself some of the intentional margin- Whether it be maybe, "Hey, I'm gonna clear my calendar and take a nap on a Monday," or, "I am going to make sure that I'm nourishing my body as well," because I know that with an autoimmune, I need to make sure that I monitor what I'm, what I'm putting in my body, making sure that there's certain things and, and some minimum baselines for my health and my wellness, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual.

But that's my minimum baseline, right?

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Julie: And making sure... And that's how I lead myself, because we tend to think that leadership is gonna be showy, it's gonna be loud, but sometimes leadership is when you decide to just show up- Mm-hmm ... and let others show up for you. Mm-hmm. And that's the other piece where I think that leaders, um, in my early career, I thought I needed to do it all.

Anjel: Mm-hmm. Well, we've got a minute left, so in the last minute I'm gonna ask you the question: Where can you go next?

Julie: Ooh, it's a loaded question. And I think that for me, the place that I wanna go next is as a caretaker, caregiver for my mom, who is elderly. She's moved in with us. I wanna be able to create the space to not just be the business owner, the podcaster, the wife, but I wanna be the daughter that showed up with compassion-

Anjel: Mm-hmm

Anjel: Mm. Beautiful. I love that. Well, I wish you all the best with that vision- Thank you ... and that leadership as you step into the role of caretaker for an elder. It's a big, big deal, and, um, a powerful rite of passage for all, all parties concerned. Mm-hmm. So thank you so much for being with me today, Julie.

Mm-hmm. Thank you. And listeners, we thank you for being with us as well, and we love feedweb- feedback. Please let us know what you thought of today's show by joining our community, sharing your takeaways, and asking questions or submitting guest suggestions. You can weave your visionary thread into our fabric by opting in on our website at leadingvisionariespodcast.com or by interacting with us on social.

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