Why Following Your Joy Is a Life & Business Strategy: Lessons from 100 Podcast Episodes!
Watch & Subscribe on YouTube
Today we’re celebrating a major milestone — the 100th episode of the Follow Your Joy podcast.
To mark the occasion, we’re doing something a little different.
Instead of interviewing a guest entrepreneur, I invited my long-time brand manager, good friend, and creative partner Chelsey Marie to join me on the show and flip the script. Chelsey has worked beside me for over a decade behind the scenes producing the podcast and supporting the evolution of my brand.
In this special episode, Chelsey interviews me about the story behind Follow Your Joy — why I started the podcast, what I’ve learned from 100 conversations with entrepreneurs around the world, and why joy and intuition remain the most powerful strategy for building a meaningful life and business.
Inside this conversation we talk about:
- The origin story of Follow Your Joy and how the idea arrived intuitively
• What happens behind the scenes of producing a storytelling podcast
• How intuition shapes the way I interview and uncover the heart of each guest’s story
• The burnout that changed the trajectory of my life and led me to Italy
• Why joy, creativity, and feminine energy are essential to sustainable success
• The pressure entrepreneurs feel to monetize everything they create
• How business owners quietly lose their joy — and how to find it again
• What 100 episodes has taught me about the human spirit
We also talk about the deeper philosophy behind the show: Following your joy isn’t just a feel-good idea. It’s a life & business strategy.
When you listen to your intuition and act on what lights you up, your path becomes clearer, your work becomes more meaningful, and your life becomes richer.
Thank you to every listener who has been part of this journey. Let’s raise a glass of bubbly to celebrate 100 episodes that illuminate the human spirit!
If there’s one theme that runs through every episode, it’s this: Joy isn’t a reward — it’s a compass.
Let’s discover why following your joy might be the most powerful strategy for your life and business.
Always on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart & YouTube
Resources + Links:
-High value gifts, ebooks, downloads, product specials, journals, and more from my selectively chosen guests accessible ONLY in The Portal of Joy: www.marladiann.com/podcast/portal
-Marla’s Amazon Lifestyle Influencer Store – take a peek, shop for favorites! https://www.amazon.com/shop/marla_diann
-If your own midlife (45+) reinvention is knocking, let’s explore it. What does freedom look and feel like for you? More travel? More creative expression? I begin our connection with a Lifestyle Design Chat. Comment Freedom with your email. I’ll send you my Calendly link to get on the calendar.
P.S. When you book and attend our call, I’m bearing gifts. You’ll receive my custom “La Vita Dolce Italy Slow Travel Tips & Reinvention” Guide ($49 value)
Loved this episode? Don’t stop here, unlock the tools, resources, and free downloads mentioned during the episode. Click here to access the portal of joy.
Book your Soul-Led Next Chapter call with Marla:
Click here to schedule.
If you enjoyed the episode and podcast, I’d appreciate a review on Apple & Spotify. Let’s connect: @marla_diann.
tune in on your favorite platform
hi, i’m your host
Marla Diann!
I’ve been transforming creative entrepreneurs’ lives for over 27 years through two businesses. As a success coach and business strategist, I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs collapse the time frame of achieving their desires and goals.
It’s time to make joy your inner GPS for life and business decisions rather than lean on your logic and reason, first.
You’ll not only be following what is most authentic to you and for you, but you will live the beautiful life meant just for you.
more episodes
Click the topic below you want to listen to.
Ep #32: How Stacie Went From Laid off Single Parent to Successful Business Owner and Non-Profit Founder
We all have a unique opportunity to create a business with a cause. It differentiates the daily work because that work brings light and life to others as well as to us. After being laid off in 2008 this is exactly what Stacie Martin did. She loved the work she did in...
Ep #31: How she monetized her love of writing, humor, connection and weddings
You are in for a treat! Nina is a hoot and so witty! Her story takes us through the aha moment of choosing to be an entrepreneur and why she attached herself to the wedding industry. Although we didn’t bring this out, her secret writing project is a fictitious...
Ep #30: Recession Proof Your Money & Your Mindset
Happy New Year. 2023. Can you believe it? I am still wrapping my head around that. Join me feeling gratitude for 2022 and its ups and downs we experienced. Without that we have no polarity in life and it is in those challenges, we evolve, if we allow it. As I say,...









0 Comments