Betting On Yourself | The Erin Wilson Show Episode 001

In this very first episode of The Erin Wilson Show, I’m sharing the real story behind starting this podcast — and what it means to bet on yourself in a bigger way.

From asking the universe for rainbows as a sign, to navigating perfectionism and ADHD, to hiring a business coach who specializes in creatives with ADHD, to building a team and scaling my design studio without burning out…
This episode is about trusting your intuition — especially when it asks you to make uncomfortable, expansive moves.

We talk about:
How intuition speaks through the body
The difference between fear and alignment
Why boundaries and intuition are deeply connected
Scaling a creative business sustainably
Releasing control and learning to lead
Creating space for passion projects without sacrificing income

This season of my life is about betting on myself — and I have a feeling some of you are being called to do the same.

Transcript

Welcome to the Erin Wilson Show. I'm Erin, Designer, Creative strategist, Intuitive, And the CEO of Erin Rachel Designs. This is a space for reflection, Insights, And storytelling with the intention of giving you the keys you need to unlock your creative potential and become the creative CEO of your own life. Talking to myself. So right now, Sun streaming in my window, And there's a rainbow projecting onto the wall. And I had this idea to start my own podcast that I've been sitting on for a while. And I said, Okay, Universe, Show me rainbows. If this idea is aligned, And if this is something that I'm meant to do, And rainbows have been coming up a lot. So I'm just going to trust that and see where this goes. I really want to have fun with this. I have a habit, I realized, Of I get these really fun, Creative ideas, And then I get really intense about them. It's interesting because I'm actually a pretty playful person when it comes to my ideas. For some reason, This rigidity and this perfectionism comes in after the initial excitement. And then what happens is I push myself to a point that it's not fun and creative and playful anymore. So that's something I'm working through as a creative person, And one who has ADHD as well. I just officially got my diagnosis in December, And I suspected it for a while. And it was very validating, Very confirming. Anyways, I imagine that this podcast will be me going off on various side quests as someone with ADHD, And I'm just going to roll with it. I'm just going to trust what comes out. And I don't think I will show up with a specific intention for what I'm going to talk about for the most part. I imagine I will just show up and just follow my intuition. That's something else about me is that I'm very intuitive. That's been something I've learned over the years, Is how to decipher what's intuition versus fear versus people-pleasing. What is aligned with me? What is my gut telling me? That's something I've really worked on honing over the years. It's so, So valuable, And the more I learn to listen to it, And the more that I do listen to it, The better life gets. And it just keeps surprising me. Surprising me, But not surprising me, Because I'm learning now that when I do that, Really amazing things happen. Sometimes my intuition is telling me that something's not a good fit, And then that's uncomfortable because then we have to face that, And we have to have hard conversations, Or we have to turn down opportunities that on paper feel like they should be a great fit, But just something inside of us is saying, No, It's not. So yeah, It's a tough lesson to learn, And I feel like I've learned it time and again. And I am now 32 years old, And I feel like my intuition, I mean, My intuition I think has always been strong. It's really the connection to it that hasn't always been strong. And my willingness to listen to it as well. But I feel like in my 30s so far, I am really loving that I'm able to set boundaries and reinforce boundaries in a stronger, More determined way. Boundaries and intuition are so interconnected. And really listening to your intuition is honoring your own boundaries. It's honoring your body's boundaries, Because your intuition speaks pretty strongly through your body. Everyone's different, I'm sure, But for me, It's like a recoiling sensation. And it might be really, Really subtle. So it takes so much practice to learn to understand that, Those signals in your body. Sometimes I'll just hear or see in my mind, No, No, No, No. And again, With learning to trust it, Sometimes I'm like, Really? But it feels like it makes sense. And then my intuition is like, No. So I really worked over the years to just trust and honor that. And I feel like I'm really being rewarded for doing that. Sometimes it's a big leap of faith. For example, I run my own design business. It's called Erin Rachel Designs. I am a visual designer or graphic designer and creative director, Creative strategist. And I've been running my business now for 10 years. I've worked with lots of different clients in different industries, Lots of different mediums. I've tried a lot of different things. Met lots of amazing people. I've worked with clients that haven't been so great. So again, With that intuition piece, Learning to detect red flags. I'm much, Much better at that than I was starting out. I think that's a lesson that every designer has to go through, Unfortunately. I know there's a lot of horror stories out there. Mine haven't been too, Too bad, Luckily. But anyways, With my business, Up until recently, It's been pretty much just me. There's been the odd time that I've outsourced some work, Subcontracted. But it had been a while. And when I did it before, It wasn't with the intention, Per se, Of scaling my business. But something switched in me. Some switch flipped in me in fall, In the fall of last year. So much happened. We bought a house and moved into the house in October. And this space just feels so aligned with where I am and where I'm going. And I feel so peaceful and so much more creative and balanced here. And so I think that was part of this unfolding of, I think it's time for my business to go to the next level. I didn't know what that looked like, But it felt a little bit intimidating. But again, Because I've been working on trusting my intuition for quite some time. I've been practicing trust falls with the universe. That's a word I use. Whatever you believe in. Universe, Spirit, God. Whatever you feel is out there. Maybe you don't feel like anything is out there. But for me, That's how I typically refer to it. And, Yep, Totally lost my train of thought. ADHD brains. So many open tabs. So, Yeah, I just suddenly felt like it was time to take things to the next level. So I got really clear on what types of projects I wanted, What type of client I want to work with. And I think I'm still refining that, But I definitely got more clear on that. And then all of a sudden, I thought to myself, I think I need to hire a business coach. And that's not something I thought about in years. And when I thought about it years ago, It was just because maybe other people were talking about it. It's like, Maybe that's something I should do. But it wasn't coming from internally, From my intuition. It just was an external thing I was thinking about. And so I had that thought, And I was like, Hmm, Okay. And then I could not stop thinking about it. Multiple times a day, It popped into my head, I should hire a business coach. Weird, Where is this coming from? And so I used my good old friend ChatGPT to help me find a business coach. And it pulled up probably about six different companies it had found. And the first result was a woman who lives here in Canada, On the other side of the country. But I said I would prefer if they were in Canada, Just for exchange rates and ease and stuff like that. Supporting other Canadians. And so she was the first result, And she specializes in working with creatives with ADHD. And I thought, Wow, That's a really particular niche, And I didn't know that existed. I wasn't expecting that. And I looked at the other result, And I just wasn't feeling that gut yes. I just felt it so strongly in my body. And so I booked a free consultation with her, And I was expecting a fairly high price tag. And I honestly feel it's very reasonable, But it still was enough to make me go, Ooh, This is a big jump. This is a trust fall. But I knew my whole body was saying yes, And so I really wanted to listen to that. So I talked to my husband Matt about it, And he was super supportive. And I laid it all out. I said, This is what I'm thinking. This is the cost. This is how I think it's going to be worth it. And he was like, Yeah, I think you should do it. And then I just started crying. It was so much gratitude and so much relief, And I realized that I was pitching this to him as if I was speaking into a no. He's very, Very supportive, And I realized where that was coming from was up until this point, I hadn't fully believed in myself. So I didn't feel yet that I was worthy of hiring that support and that I would make the most of it. And so something shifted in me where it's like, I am capable. I am ready to be more of a leader in my business. And so once I had that conversation, I discovered that blind spot, And I realized how far I've come. I was so excited, And that cost suddenly felt like nothing. And it does help as well that I also in October got an exciting new work contract that I'm in until spring. And so I have a solid financial foundation to get me started as I do this business coaching. But I knew somehow that even when that contract ends, This is not going to be a problem. I just, Something in me knew that it was time, And that I would be, You know, I'm being guided to do this somehow. And so I signed up with her, And it was so exciting. And this year, Well, Starting in the fall, But definitely in 2026, It feels like a big theme for me is betting on myself. And it's funny because it's the year of the horse. You know, Everyone's been talking about that. Last year was the snake, And we shed things that did not serve us, And man, Is that true. But anyway, It's funny because I feel like I'm betting on myself. I'm betting on my ideas. I'm betting on my intuition. I'm betting on my business. And it feels like I'm really committing to that for the first time ever. I feel like I've done that in small ways in the past, But this feels like I'm making big moves. And every big move that I take, More and more aligned opportunities appear. And it's just been so rewarding and exciting and scary. But opportunity is always on the other side of fear. Because doing new things is scary. And expansion is scary. And moving to the next level is scary. But every time we do that, We get a little bit stronger, A little bit less afraid. And so, The next levels are, They feel like not as big of a step up, Even though they are. And so, After hiring a business coach, Honestly just having the first couple of conversations with her were pretty groundbreaking. Because it's just so nice to have someone who's in my corner, Who's not family or friends or my partner. Because it's a different kind of validation. It's a different kind of support. And she really sees herself as a partner in my business, Which just is so nice to have. And I can bounce my ideas off of her. And for example, The idea for this podcast. The story I think I'll get into another time. I try to not go down that side quest road for this. But kind of in tandem with hiring a business coach, I started working on hiring a team. So, Hiring a couple of graphic designers who I could delegate some of my work to. Essentially so I can be in more than one place at a time. Because before adopting that model, There was a limit. I could only work with, Well, I could work with more than one client at a time. But I can only, In one given moment, Do one project or one task at a time. So, I was limited in terms of what I could take on, How much I could do in a day. And there's also the element of there's so many other creative things I want to work on or that I am working on. That don't feel like, They didn't feel like they were fitting into my day. So, I wanted to free up more time, But still bring that revenue in and still keep my clients happy. While I could go over here and work on something that I'm really excited about. Not that I'm not excited about my client work, But it's that balance. I like working on projects with my clients, But I'm also working on a book right now that I'm very excited about. It's a channeled book. It's like in that intuition piece that, You know, Universe, Whatever is out there. It's like a co-creation between me and that. And also just coming from my own higher self, My intuition. And I'll share more about that in other episodes. But it's something that I'm very excited about. And that I, Again, Feeling that really strong yes in my body that that project is very aligned. Really exciting things are going to come out of that. So, It's like if I want to make that happen, I can't be doing client work all day, Every day. You know, There's weekends, But I don't know about you. When you incorporate, You know, Socializing on the weekend, Making sure the house is clean, Doing your groceries and other errands, And resting. There's just not a lot of time left for creative projects or hobbies. At least in my experience. And as a creative with ADHD, I have a lot of ideas and projects that I want to spend my time on. So, It becomes very overwhelming trying to decide how to spend my time. I can feel very overstimulated. But with this new business model, It frees me up to, Well, Rest more. Which has been really, Really nice because I needed that. Because I was working too much myself. So, Having a team, It's a win-win because they want the work. It's a good learning experience for both of us. It helps me practice creative direction and leadership and managing a team. And it gives them work and, You know, New aesthetics to play with. New industries to venture into, Potentially. So, It's been really, Really amazing. And I think in another episode, I'll probably have to talk about that process a bit more in terms of trusting and releasing control. Because that was, I mean, It still is a learning experience and a learning curve. But I feel like I've made so much progress in that. And that, Again, It's just been so rewarding. Because the more I lean into it, Into that support system, And the more I lean into trust, The more I'm pleasantly surprised. And it's just like, Wow, It is so cool that this can work. And that I don't have to be the one to do it all. I think a year ago, Two years ago, I couldn't have fully fathomed that. And that I would be capable of balancing that. But last week, For example, I had one of my best income weeks. And looking at the hours that I spent, I was like, Oh, It actually was a really light week. It wasn't too bad. But then when I really looked at, Because I looked at the column with the hours that were outsourced, I was like, Oh, No, It was a really busy week, Actually. It's just that I had support to lean on. So then I imagined, Had I tried to do all that myself, I could have done it, But I would have been exhausted. And going back to what I said earlier, For me, When I pushed through to that point, It takes the creativity and the fun and the play out of it. It just sucks it out. And then you have no energy left for anything else, And you're just depleted. So it was really, Really validating to see those stats where it's like, Oh, I thought the week went this way, But it actually went this way. And this is how I felt. And it was such a balanced week for me. I built in lots of time for rest, For creative play with no agenda. I moved my passion projects forward. My client work got done. Bills got paid. So I'm definitely going to share more about this journey on this podcast with expanding my business, Stepping into more of a leadership role, Practicing trust and releasing control, Trusting my intuition, My creative projects, Side quests. So these are all things I'm going to talk about more in this, And I think I'll leave it here for today. But thank you for listening, And talk to you next time.