Welcome to The Green Room, a series of friendly conversations with entrepreneurs building in or around the music world, often in ways that diverge from traditional paths.
In this edition, I'm in the Green Room with Caroline Elisabeth, Business Clarity Strategist and founder of Build Your Brilliance.
She is someone many of us introverts can relate to, and I’m so excited for you all to learn more about her, her work, and the behind-the-scenes.
What's been on repeat for you lately?
All music! There’s always something on repeat and it’s never the same type. Lately it’s been a lot of Sombr, I recently discovered and love Rainbow Kitten Surprise which I’m loving. I’m a big indie music fan but my taste is honestly all over the place. Coldplay is my favourite band, I love Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo, and all summer I tend to play country music. It really depends on my mood and what my kids will tolerate LOLTell us what you're building and who it's for.
I'm building Build Your Brilliance, a business that helps experienced women entrepreneurs figure out what's actually going on when the business they've built isn't working the way they want it to anymore.Sometimes they're considering changing their offers, rethinking their marketing or taking the business in a completely different direction. Other times, they just know something feels off, but they can't quite put their finger on why.
My work is a mix of coaching and consulting. We look beneath the obvious problem, question assumptions and figure out what really needs attention before making changes.
I'm especially interested in helping women build businesses that reflect their own strengths, values and ambitions rather than constantly trying to follow someone else's formula for success.
How did you actually get here? Most of us didn't arrive in a straight line.
Not even close!My line feels like a long, winding, up and downhill road! My background is in corporate communications, marketing and content, and over the years I've worked in a mix of corporate, consulting and entrepreneurial roles.
I eventually found myself drawn to the conversations happening underneath the marketing work. A business owner might come to me thinking she needed better messaging or a new strategy, but often there were bigger questions about what she wanted to offer, who she wanted to work with or how she wanted to run her business.
I also became increasingly interested in the way we make decisions as entrepreneurs, especially how easy it is to lose confidence in our own judgment when we're surrounded by advice about what we should be doing.
Build Your Brilliance has evolved alongside those interests. It brings together my practical business experience and my love of helping people see things differently.
What do people misunderstand about your work before they reach out?
I think people sometimes get the impression that my work is primarily about mindset, confidence or finding clarity. And, yes, they all play a role! But there's a very practical business strategy side to what I do.I'm a blend of coach and consultant, which means I'm not simply asking questions and leaving someone to figure everything out on their own, but I'm also not coming in with a predetermined solution and telling them what to do.
We dig into what's actually happening in their business, including the assumptions or patterns that might be influencing their decisions. Sometimes what looks like a marketing problem turns out to be something entirely different.
And once we understand what really needs attention, we work together on the practical changes, whether that's refining an offer, rethinking their messaging or exploring a different business direction.
I want clients to leave with more than a breakthrough or a list of recommendations. I want them to understand the decisions they're making, trust those decisions and know how to move forward.
What's a way of working that suits you but might look strange from the outside?
I don’t know if this is strange, especially for us introverts, but I give a lot of space to my clients to think! I don’t believe every breakthrough needs immediate action and so I allow them time to let it sink in. If someone realizes something about her business no longer fits, we don’t then immediately go into rebuilding mode. I want her to take time to develop her own perspective and notice what else might come up. Too many decisions are made and actions taken under the pressure to happen immediately and I believe that’s what often leads to results that don’t feel like a true fit.What does a good day off look like for you?
A good day off is one without a packed schedule or a long list of things I feel I should be doing!I love having time to myself, but I also love being out for coffee or lunch with friends, laughing, listening to live music, and staying up far later than I probably should.I'm an introvert, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a great night out. I just appreciate the quieter moments to recharge afterwards.
And chats with my two boys (husband included) or a nice walk with my dog, Polly, is usually part of the day somewhere too :)
What would you tell someone a few years behind you on this path?
As an entrepreneur, feeling stuck comes with the territory because you’re constantly doing things you’ve never done before.When I hit a wall, my first move is to sit down and brainstorm every possible solution I can think of, and then start systematically experimenting to see what works.
If standard problem-solving stalls out, I have to lean into patience. You can't force the timeline when you're building something new—I always say things happen in perfect timing, but "perfect" doesn't always mean "fast." So if I'm truly blocked, I’ll step away from that specific problem and pivot my focus to another project. Keeping momentum going in one area gives the blocked issue room to breathe, and inevitably, the solution reveals itself.
What would you tell someone a few years behind you on this path?
For anyone looking to get into artist development: it's going to be a lot harder than you anticipate. What works for major labels and established acts simply doesn't apply to independent musicians.If you're getting into this profession, do it because you truly care about helping artists, not because you're chasing a quick payout. The industry is already full of people promising fast solutions, and they usually end up burning musicians instead of helping them. There is no one-size-fits-all playbook. Every artist has their own unique recipe for success, and it takes real time and dedicated mentorship to help them figure out what that is.
If your plan is just to focus on vanity metrics like streaming numbers and social media followers, that's not going to cut it anymore. You have to go straight to the root of the problem and work with musicians to build a career—and a life—that is genuinely sustainable.
That's a wrap on this edition of The Green Room.
You can find Caroline Elisabeth at her:
• Official website: Build Your Brilliance
•Join her Facebook community, Introvert Entrepreneurs, where we talk about building businesses in ways that actually work for us.
From Caroline:
I'd love to invite you to take my free Business Fit Check, a quick, five-minute reflection to help you explore whether the business you've built still fits the way you want to work and where you want to go.
It's a chance to step back, look at what might not be working quite as well as you'd like, and consider what deserves your attention before making another change.
You'll also receive my weekly Brilliance Letter, where I share fresh perspectives and practical insights to help you build a business that works for you.
If you're building something in music or a heart-led business, and doing it your own way, I'd love to have you here. Reply to this in the comments section below or email me at amy@amyhangin.studio.
Thanks so much for reading. Until the next one! 🪻
Get notified of new posts from The Green Room in my newsletter, where I write about websites for music businesses, musicians, and creative entrepreneurs, and share introvert-friendly business tips. Subscribe here.
