Authenticity Over Algorithms: Building a Business, Managing an Inheritance & Creating a Wealthy Life with Caitlin Durning

You didn’t build your business just to burn out trying to please everyone online. In this episode, I sit down with marketing agency CEO Caitlin Durning to talk about growing a business that’s rooted in authenticity, navigating the messy middle of entrepreneurship, and her story of inheriting money as a teen after her father’s passing. This is a conversation about money, identity, leadership, and how personal development is the real key to building wealth.

• Why showing up authentically online is your #1 sales strategy in 2025

• The shift from being a people-pleaser CEO to a boundary-led business owner

• How Caitlin received a major inheritance at age 15 and what she learned from it

• Breaking the stigma around “daddy’s money” and building real financial confidence

• The connection between self-trust, content creation, and client attraction

• What to do when you want to burn your business down (but know you’re not done yet)

• Her favorite personal development hack that helped her stay grounded through it all

• You’ve struggled with imposter syndrome or burnout as a business owner

• You inherited money and feel guilt, shame, or confusion around managing it

• You’re ready to show up online as you, not some perfect persona

• You want to build wealth and success without losing yourself along the way

• Caitlin’s agency: Meraki Media Management

• Follow Caitlin on Instagram → @merakimediamanagement

• Listen to our conversation on her podcast The End in Mind: Paying Your Debt is Setting You Up to Build Wealth

• Recommended reads: The Big Leap, Dare to Lead, Atomic Habits