Discover how award-winning writer Paulette Perhach transformed her business by separating her personal brand from Powerhouse Writers, moving from “scrappy” to “bold” while focusing on what AI can’t replicate: community, live events, and deeply personal storytelling that changes lives.

Bio

Paulette Perhach (she/her) is an award-winning writer, viral essayist, and coach who specializes in helping creatives navigate the intersection of craft, business, and personal growth. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times and has extensive experience across major publications, including previous work at Vox, Elle, The Washington Post, Slate, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Paulette is the author of Welcome to the Writer’s Life, selected as one of Poets & Writers’ Best Books for Writers, and holds fellowships from Hugo House and Jack Straw, along with a 2021 Washington State Book Award. Beyond Paulette’s writing achievements, she is a dedicated advocate for creative professionals, serving writers through coaching, speaking engagements, and leading meditation and writing sessions through A Very Important Meeting while completing her first novel from New York.

TRANSCRIPT

Bethany: Hello everyone. Today I have a very special episode for you where I’m interviewing my client and longtime friend Paulette Perhach. We actually did her original mini rebrand in 2021 and then in 2025 she came back and hired us to do a separation of personal brand and company brand, renaming of a company, rebranding and two full websites. So it was quite the overhaul that we did together.

And then I met up with her in person. We sat down at the dining room table and had a chat about the process and what it was like and the decisions that were made along the way. So that’s what you’ll be hearing today. And I’m just so glad that you get to hear it firsthand. 

Bethany: Welcome back to the show, Paulette. The last time you were on my show, actually, you talked about ADHD on my podcast. Last time we recorded something officially.

And then the last time we worked together was in 2021. And we recently completed a complete rebrand, not only separating your business, Powerhouse Writers from Paulette Perhach. So you have two separate entities, building out an entirely new look and brand and strategy and new websites. And in 2021, we did like just a mini rebrand refresh for you. And this has been like a big leap into that.

Paulette: Very big leap.

Bethany: I think a lot of people question like, ‘When’s the time to rebrand? Should I rebrand?’ What changed between 2021 and 2025 that you were like, I have to do this and make this happen?

Paulette: So, what changed over the last four years was that we started The Finishing School for Writers. So, taking what had just been a program of, ‘I’ll look at your work and I’ll edit your work for you.’ I realized that writers need this whole ecosystem of a writer’s life, accountability meetings and the editing and a framework to work from. So, we created The Finishing School. We have the Writer’s Mission Control Center software that is pretty much done.

And so really we’ve just come out with like this whole suite of products and services for writers that are really changing lives. And it’s in a different way than what I was focused on in 2021.

Bethany: Okay. And what’s the different way, other than like, it’s a whole new offer suite and whole new product suite- new clientele, are you removing yourself from it? What are some of those decisions where you’re like, ‘I have to make this its own thing that doesn’t exist inside of everything was on pauletteperhach.com’, you know, so how did that happen?

Paulette: Absolutely. It’s been really cool to see that we have, for example, my writing group every morning at 10 a.m. Eastern and 7 a.m. Pacific. And I’m not there every single day. And so the community has really gone beyond me. You know, they have inside jokes now. I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? What are you guys talking about yesterday?’ And so there’s going to come a time where I’m not the only coach working with the writers.

And I really wanted to allow it to grow beyond me. And there was also the thing where, you know, it’s like, ‘opinions expressed do not reflect the wider organizations’- where I’m doing my own writing, I’m finishing my novel. I am primarily a writer. And I think that people want to work with a writing coach who is primarily a writer because you want to know that you’re in it with them. And so I wanted that to be separate from Powerhouse Writers because I do have my own opinions and I do have my own practices and I am a human person and an artist primarily. So that was important to me to be my own person apart from Powerhouse Writers, which is so much about the community.

Bethany: Yeah, and that’s that big shift that people make in splitting a personal brand from a business brand. And I think artists, public figures, influencers, authors, like come into business typically with a personal brand. And then things kind of grow from there. And then a lot of people don’t necessarily make the separation shift. But by doing that, you’re allowing yourself to exit easily, bring in more coaches, let it exist to support the artistic endeavors, which is an important structural change. And it looks really good. 

Paulette: It looks so good! Oh my god. 

Bethany: And that’s a huge change. We went from bright colors, poppy, bold, thick fonts to a completely opposite, like script fonts, feminine. The icon is like a tulip that looks like a book, and it’s growing. So there was a huge shift there. And obviously, there were reasons behind that in terms of strategy, but when you and I first were talking, you were like, ‘I need to leave some of that behind.’ And so what was your thought process coming into that, your fears with that happening?

Paulette: Yeah, you know, I mean, the fear is that, you know, I did have one person be like, ‘I hope you’re still keeping the colors.’ I’m like, ‘We are not.’ My retinas have been damaged from staring at this red for four years. I’m just kidding. But it was very poppy and bold and it was really hustly and like breaking in and running your own freelancing business. 

And I’ve really become so much more about the beauty of storytelling and the identity of being a writer apart from whether or not you earn money from it. And that still is really important. There’s a lot of people out there doing a lot of great work around that and things are changing so much with AI and it just became like, ‘I either need to really become a business consultant for freelance writers, which is needed. But my other option was to really double down on what can’t AI do?’ I sat down, said, ‘What can’t AI do?’ And I said, ‘Community, live events, and personal essays.’ AI will never be able to do personal essays. And yeah, it can pop out a fake one, but it can’t have anything to do with the risk a person took to write that essay with the impact of the actual events happening to them. 

And I have one coaching student right now who’s working with me for six months and we are working on one essay. And she is not gonna publish that essay. It just gives me goosebumps. There’s something about that, the trusting of the process in which you make beauty from life’s most painful moments. And personal essays don’t always have to be about pain, but I think they are such a structure, the storytelling act is such a structure for the reduction of shame around something and freeing yourself from something. You can take it out of your person and put it on the page and kind of explain it to yourself. And I have found everything I’ve been most terrified to put on the page has freed me from the shame around that. And when you do choose to share that, you don’t have to. When you do choose to share it though, it frees others who wouldn’t necessarily write that down or articulate it or don’t have that gift. 

Even in my class, Posing Naked on the Page, when we have workshop, I can see, you know, people say, ‘This essay changed how I view my history around this’ or, you know, ‘Ever since I’ve read that, I’ve seen this differently.’ And it’s like, even at that level, your story is already doing the work. And that to me is like, I can talk about that for the rest of my life. 

And so this was really something that I wanted to devote the rest of my life to and double down on that as my service to writers, as well as helping them with, ‘How do we make sure we keep going with this because it is so hard to do that.’ There’s a thousand reasons every day not to dig into your deepest wells of trauma and say, ‘do I really want to make art out of this today or do I just want to scroll and go get the Starbucks Pistachio Springtime special?’ Like it’s so easy to be like, ‘I’ll take option two, please.’ Or you like the end of the day comes and you’re like, ‘I didn’t write today.’ Like, let’s prevent that from happening.

Bethany: Okay, so many of the points you made there is like all of the reasons we changed the look and feel of the brand because I distinctly remember when we did your rebrand in 2021, one of your key brand characteristics, personality traits was irreverent, funny, kind of loose, but hardworking. And then this shift into what is so transformational for people, I don’t know that necessarily that irreverent approach would work in the same way.

And then also it’s pretty magical. Like I know when we had our first talk, you’re like, this work is magical and magic can kind of be a mixed feelings word, but like that was so important in the shift to bringing in the purple and the green, like green for transformation and purple is often associated with magic. And so those are just such important pieces to thread through and like the font changes. And it just feels a little more welcoming, calming, also inspirational, which is just like a different feel than what it was before. And so I think that’s gonna support people in like opening up about all of these deeply, I guess they’re not all shameful topics, they’re deeply impactful things that have happened to them in the work that they do.

Paulette: Absolutely. And I love how we brought in nature as well, because for me, the idea of Powerhouse and really it was a renaming of the company- Powerhouse Writers. The metaphor of the powerhouse is the idea that you take something that exists in nature and you become a conduit that can hone that and use it. Right. So this mysterious force of storytelling, when someone works in Powerhouse Writers, they learn how to become someone who can wield that energy. And I have now twice had an essay go viral to more than two million readers each. That kind of like, ‘Oh my God, this thing happened to me.’ And they weren’t new ideas. It was- you should save money. And let me tell you about my shitty breakup. You know, sometimes you got to pay people to listen to you about that stuff. 

And so people say, ‘Oh, I don’t have anything. I didn’t have a very exciting life.’ If you’re human, you have something to talk about. And so to see that power in motion and to be like, ‘Oh my god, like, wow, if you dedicate your life to studying this concept of storytelling and these skills and these tools, you can wield this power that is really amazing.’ It’s about becoming someone who can take these ancient concepts and use them for good.

Bethany: The company is its own entity, and I feel like you’ve described that beautifully. And then there’s your personal brand, which used to house absolutely everything. And now with the work that we did, we separated out like portfolio and all of your different accomplishments and really put you center stage there as an artist, which I think is cool and very important. What was that like for you in terms of the separation and then also just seeing everything come together?

Paulette: Oh my gosh, well number one- putting my portfolio together was really inspiring where I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, like I’ve done some stuff.’  

Bethany: Yes- ‘I’m a badass.’

Paulette: I’m a badass. I’ve done some stuff. You know, because I think the thing with being an artist is everything you do, you’re like, ‘That was the last one. I’ll never have another idea. That’s so sad.’ You know, and then you have to be like, ‘you will…’, you know? And so to see like, okay, I have, there are some things that I’ve checked off where like, I can be like, ‘No, you did that and you’ve done it before, you’ll do it again. So just get to work.’ 

And it was very freeing to be like, I am, you know, opinions stated are not necessarily those, you know, I like to use profanity. Have you heard of it? I enjoy it. And so to have that on the site is fun and to be able to be my total goofball self. 

Bethany: Yes.

Paulette: Like, I think I’m very goofball forward and that is my preference and that’s just who I am. And so not to have to be like, ‘Who I am reflects on the coaching program’ because it doesn’t necessarily- I’m not like teaching classes throwing f-bombs everywhere. I mean…

Bethany: Right, right. sensitive topic, you’re like aware of that. Yeah.

Paulette: Yes. And, you know, I mean, I personally am doing so many different genres, but Powerhouse Writers right now is really focused mostly on nonfiction. We do have a lot of multi-genre writers in there. 

You know, one challenge can be too, is some people wake up and say, ‘I went to, you know, coach writers, and then I forgot to be a writer myself.’ And so it was really nice to be like, ‘No, I’m still very much a writer. This is a very much a part of active part of my life and I’m not letting this go. I’m not going to forget about this to coach writers.’ It’s really important that I keep up both. And you have to kind of keep checking in with yourself. How am I doing on that? And it felt really good to stand apart from the brand and you know, still be able to be my goofball self.

Bethany: Yeah, and let all that come out on the personal side. And like a legitimacy or a piece of credibility of like, if they look at you, know, someone who’s considering your higher ticket coaching program and then sees that you’re like an active writer too, I mean, to me that’s, ‘Oh okay, that’s why I’d like to learn from, actually.’

Paulette: I think that’s very important. Has the person who is coaching you or offering to coach you done the things you want to do?

Bethany: Yeah, check your things. Okay, I want to ask you, I know this is a challenging one, but when it comes to your brand, your old brand, the 2021 brand versus the new ones, what would be one, maybe two words, to describe the old one and then one or two words to describe the new one?

Paulette: Okay, I think the old one was scrappy and the new one is bold.

Bethany: Mmm. I like that. 

Paulette: And scrappy is a kind of bold.

Bethany: It is. It’s like a grindy.

Paulette: It’s like a grindy, la la la, all over the place. And this is like a bold, but like a more settled kind of bold of, I think it’s for people who really know what they want and are saying, ‘This is really the time of my life that I want to go after it. And I am doing it.’ And we have such incredible people in there. And it’s purple. Purple has always been my color.

Bethany: Yeah, I was going to say, you’ve said, ‘This is so me. This feels so me.’ Even though the company has sent it from the personal brand, we’ve brought the colors through all of it. And it all connects, so it doesn’t look totally disconnected. But you’ve said that, ‘This feels so me’ because of the purple, but also because of all of it.

Paulette: And I like that it is feminine, but purple is that mix of blue and red, that feminine and masculine. And you have to be bold and have that masculine energy to get things done and pitch. And you have to have the feminine flowing with the work and touching in with your emotions. And so it’s really that mix of both that I love so much. And I myself feel very both feminine and masculine.

Bethany: Yeah

Paulette: Artists, actually I read in the book Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, artists tend to have that mix of both very often.

Bethany: Yeah, I identify with that a lot too. And then having to switch between the hats for sure. Thank you so much for listening. If you’re curious to see Paulette’s transformation, you can check out her personal brand at pauletteperhach.com. And you can check out Powerhouse Writers at powerhousewriters.com. She has an incredible daily writing group that I’ve been a part of for a while now. It’s called The Very Important Meeting.

She also has coaching for writers who are doing nonfiction personal essay memoir called The Finishing School, which would definitely be worth checking out if you’re curious about that or interested in making your personal story come to life in whatever that looks like for you. So I will be sure to have those linked in the show notes and thanks so much for joining us today.