How to Use Astrology and Human Design to Build a Business That Aligns With You

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Have you ever felt like you were forcing yourself into a mold that just didn’t fit? That maybe the reason you're feeling stuck or uninspired in your business isn’t a lack of strategy but a misalignment with who you truly are?

In today’s episode of The Goalprener Podcast, host Courtney Spaeth sits down with Daniela West, a brand designer and coach who brings astrology and human design into the branding world. And trust me, this conversation is eye-opening.

Daniela shares her powerful transformation—from growing up in a suppressive environment where her creativity was stifled to completely reclaiming her identity through coaching, web design, and astrology. She opens up about her struggles with burnout, imposter syndrome, and feeling out of alignment in her career, and how she ultimately found clarity and purpose by embracing her authentic self.

What we cover:

• ✨ How astrology and human design can help entrepreneurs align with their true purpose

• ✨ The signs of misalignment in your business and how to course-correct

• ✨ Why understanding your astrological identity can transform your brand and messaging

• ✨ The connection between confidence, self-awareness, and success

• ✨ The power of intuition, decision-making, and embracing adventure in life and business

If you've ever struggled with feeling out of place in your work or wondered how to create a business that feels as good as it looks, this episode is for you.

Daniela’s story is a reminder that when you lean into who you really are, success and fulfillment naturally follow.

🎧 Hit play now and get ready for a conversation that might just change the way you approach your business forever.

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The following is a direct transcript from the episode, edited for readability without ChatGPT to preserve the speaker’s original voice, authentic phrasing and emotional storytelling.

Courtney:

You're listening to the Goalpreneur podcast with Courtney Spaeth, the go-to place for ambitious and driven female entrepreneurs looking to elevate their business and life. Each episode Is packed with actionable insights to help you dream bigger, think bolder, and achieve your next level of success. No playing small here, only strategies and encouragement to help you shine.

And now, here's your host, educator, personal development enthusiast, and holistic esthetician, Courtney Spaeth.

Hello, Goalpreneurs. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm your host, Courtney Spaeth, and I am joined by my beautiful guest, Daniela West.She is a brand designer and coach and brand astrologer.

Daniela, thank you so much for being here and for talking with me and my audience. And I'm going to pass it on over to you. We're just going to jump right into it. So I want you to tell us about how you got started with brand astrology, web designing, because I know that was a part of your entrepreneurial path. And then also as a brand coach. So I'm going to turn it on over to you and you can, inform us.

Daniela:

Amazing, amazing. Thank you so much, Courtney. I'm super, super excited to be here, and share a bit of my journey with you all in your audience.

So, a little bit about me. One of the things that really brought me into my creative and entrepreneurial spiritual journey really goes back to childhood. So a little known fact about me is I actually grew up in a religious cult. It was an environment, it was an upbringing, that was very, very suppressive in terms of what I could say, what I could wear, how I could portray myself to the world. There was a lot of pressure placed on me in terms of how I'm supposed to be, behave, act, and think, and basically show up in the world.

And because of growing up in this very oppressive household and community in general, I basically became what I call a closeted creative.

So when I was a kid, I had a lot of creative gifts. My mom said I could sing before I could talk, for example. And I didn't find that out until I was like 20 years old and she joked about it one day. So yeah, when I was a kid, I sang and I danced and I was very playful and joyful and very, very expressive.

But somewhere along the way, I really got a lot of messaging from my family, from the church community that that wasn't okay. It wasn't okay to be my authentic self. And I had to zip it all up and be the good girl and be the high achiever, get good grades, and just really focus on accomplishments over self-expression. That's really what I learned to value as a kid.

So, flash forward to, let's say, college and graduating, I entered the corporate world, as I think many entrepreneurs start with. I've met a lot of other entrepreneurs who start in the corporate world and they build this business acumen— you know, the corporate lingo, these types of skills.

And so, me, after doing this about seven years in the corporate world, I actually had a bit of a nervous breakdown.

I was noticing that I had horrible acid reflux. I was noticing that I just felt an incredible amount of pressure every day, an incredible amount of discomfort in my body every single day. And I thought that maybe switching jobs was the answer. And so in my corporate career, I think I changed jobs four or five times over seven years. So almost every year I would hop to a new job within corporate, thinking that would make me feel better or more fulfilled.

But what I discovered in the process was that the problem wasn't the job itself—it was the entire environment and the entire role that I kept putting myself in.

I was choosing jobs that were extremely administrative. Thhere was no creativity or innovation involved whatsoever in all of the jobs. They were just very formal and structured and rigid. There was no room for me to play or express myself or bring creative ideas to these roles.

And, eventually I did reach this point of a nervous breakdown where I realized no matter what job I take, it's the same result. I was miserable. I felt like my soul was being sucked away. And it was just the same pattern, no matter what job I took. And, in this nervous breakdown period, I started writing poetry. I started doing things that were more expressive. I turned to music. I turned to photography.

I turned to all these creative gifts that I've always had since I was a kid that I had deeply, deeply suppressed because somewhere along the way, I got in trouble for it. I was told it's not okay—it's not of value in my community, in my family. And the nervous breakdown was really my turning point.

I think this was in 2015, 2016, around then. That was sort of like my last stand with the corporate world. And through that very painful breakdown and experience, I started, for the first time as an adult, to come back to myself, to come back to my authentic nature. I started to come out of the closet for the first time ever as a creative.

And realizing as I was just writing poetry and whatever I needed to, to get that pain out and express myself, I realized, hey, this feels good. And this feels kind of familiar. Like, why did I stop? Why did I leave these gifts behind and try to fit the mold of what I was expected to do?

And so, after that, I discovered—I'm curious if you've ever heard of this—it's the Gallup StrengthsFinder. It's a personality assessment. You ever heard of it?

Courtney:

I have not, and I love those assessments.

Daniela:

Me too. You know the Myers-Briggs?

Courtney:

Yes, Myers-Briggs.

Daniela:

I discovered that first, actually. Myers-Briggs was great. That was sort of my intro to personal assessments and personal development world.

So, I had discovered those assessments during my corporate life, and when I found the Gallup StrengthsFinder, that was a big turning point because it told me that I was literally designed to become a coach. I was designed to be a great coach, and it also told me I would do really well to master some type of technological system that I could get really good at.

Courtney:

What was that assessment called?

Daniela:

This is called the Gallup StrengthsFinder.

Courtney:

Okay.

Daniela:

So it will give you your top five strengths and really break that down for you. For me, that was like my first glimpse into the world of personal development and coaching. I didn't know anything about coaching yet until that test, but that really sparked something in me. It made me super curious to explore the world of coaching.

And that was my entry point into the world of entrepreneurship and coaching. So I think it was 2018 by now, where I have finally decided to quit the corporate world and go into business for myself. And I had hired someone to build my website, help me brand myself as this brand new coach.

I had never done anything like this before.

And, when the website was finished—I have to say, Courtney—I felt really, really disappointed when they showed it to me.

This was another turning point.

We'd been working on it for like three months. It was a three month coaching program and then we took all the insights I'd gained and put it into a website to launch me to the world.

And I was really sad, because the way that they portrayed me—it was still the old corporate me. It wasn't showing this new identity I was stepping into as a coach, as an entrepreneur. It was still very much corporate Daniela. I felt it when I scrolled through and I looked at everything in the design in general. And something in me was like, “I don't know, I feel like I can do a better job.”

Courtney:

I know exactly how you feel and what you're talking about. I have been there. Yeah, I mean, there's some things that you do trust to the experts, and if they can capture what you're trying to present—if they can accurately capture that—it's totally amazing. And it's like, oh my gosh, that’s it, you got that, you got me down so perfectly.

However, if you're mismatched with somebody and they're not catching your vibe, your identity—if they're not able to fully capture you—yes, you're never going to be happy with whatever they present. At least in my experience, it's like no, something is still missing. Try it again.

Daniela:

Yes. You get it. That's exactly it. And I have a sneaking suspicion that there are some other entrepreneurs out there who may have had a similar experience with their website, with their brand. So this was my first experience with websites and branding and launching myself into this new identity. I was so disappointed. It was a very like womp womp kind of moment, you know?

And, I decided I could see the vision. I could see the vision for what I wanted my first website to be. I had it in my mind and I flashed back to when I was 14 years old, actually. I had started my own blog, and I had built it from scratch. I learned coding, I got into web design, just super randomly as a teenager, and I didn't think much of it, but all of a sudden, I made the connection to my younger self as a closeted creative, and all of a sudden, that just came alive, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna redo this whole website myself and see what happens.

Courtney:

So, how'd it go?

Daniela:

It was actually great. It was with Squarespace, which is still what I use today for my website and what became my bread and butter for future web design clients from then on. But it went great.

For me, it ended up being a really fun creative process to figure out how to get me—my identity, my soul, my whole vibe—how to put that into some structure in the screen for people to interact with and really get a good feel for who I am and what it would be like to work with me, just from the website.

I really wanted to portray that as accurately and authentically as possible. So, yeah, eventually that website project ended with the first company I had hired, and I kinda just branched off on my own. I had learned what I needed to learn to do my website, and it just kinda launched me into this new direction.

I went from career coaching that first year of business, which was a super great experience to get used to working with clients and help them discover who are they at their core, what matters to them, what their strengths are, and how we can apply this whole package of who someone is and help them find the right field or job.

So after doing that about a year, I started to bring in this web design experience that I had gained for myself, and I eventually just organically started making websites for people to translate this new identity. I had helped coach them to identify and translate it into something tangible and visual in the website. So, I've done that for the last few years, since 2019.

A look from the portfolio at astrology-inspired brands Daniela has designed and coached

And in the last year, I've been transitioning through a new lens for helping people translate their identities, their vibe. Now I've brought in a more spiritual lens. So over the last few years, I found myself going through quite a spiritual awakening. I wouldn't even know where to start with that journey, but, what it helped me discover was a new tool that I discovered so much passion for, and actually two new tools—that's been astrology and human design.

It's sort of like going back to Myers-Briggs or, the Gallup StrengthsFinder I mentioned. It was sort of like me going back to those roots, but just applying a new, more spiritual, holistic lens to it to just go even deeper into identity and strengths and just make new discoveries about myself and for others.

Courtney:

So do you find that those assessments are quite accurate or are there still some questions sitting out there? Like something's not adding up.

Daniela:

Do you mean like, the Myers-Briggs or?

Courtney:

Yeah, well with Myers-Briggs, there's another assessment that I did and I'm drawing a blank on what it was called, but Myers-Briggs, I've done that a couple times and each time I do, I come up with the same answer. And I don't remember exactly the letter. I know introvert was in there. However, I am situationally an extrovert. But more introverted and I don't remember what the other letters were, but I felt like—especially as an entrepreneur, I mean, we wear so many different hats—and you find that with the assessments, it's giving you a clear picture of who the client is, who you and, it's like, okay, this explains it, this is a perfect assessment of who I am.

Daniela:

And now I feel like this is kind of a foundation for where I'm going. I appreciate personality assessments like Myers-Briggs or Gallup StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, there's a lot out there. I think they're great to get an introductory understanding. I see them as really helping to reveal strengths more than anything—like what we would naturally excel at in terms of the work that we do or how we relate to people.

But I did, and that's such a great question, I did find that eventually I was seeking more depth in my self-awareness and some kind of deeper tool to help guide clients as well.

So in terms of the depth, what I really wanted to understand was, okay, it's great to know about my strengths, it's great to get a better understanding of what I'm naturally good at, but that was only taking me so far as a business owner. Because eventually, after I launched my business, I had a great first year actually, but then I started coming into resistance. Then I started coming into a point where fears were coming up.

Tension was coming up, burnout was coming up, lack of motivation was really starting to appear after that first year of business where I really worked so hard, like so much hustle in the first year to get it off the ground.

And it felt amazing until it didn't.

Courtney:

Is that when you were doing your coaching, your business coaching?

Daniela:

This was more with the web design. This was more when I really went full time with the web design piece, cause websites are a lot of work, a lot of moving pieces. A lot of work. And I did reach multiple points of burnout over the last few years.

And even though I knew I was really, really good at making websites, I knew that something was missing in my understanding of my skills and strengths. I knew something was missing. Because I was doing all these things that I knew I was good at, and I thought, “Well, why isn't it feeling good? Why is this leading to burnout and resistance and bitterness?”

I was really starting to get bitter, to be honest, in that work. And so that was one of the reasons I turned—well, I didn't turn to it—it kind of found me. Astrology and human design, it found me out of the blue through a random Instagram search or, do you know what I mean? Like, you're asking the universe for answers, like what should I do? And these random resources appear.

Courtney:

Yep. Oh yeah. It's like, here you go. Here's your silver platter of what you're asking. Like in unexpected ways, right? And I mean, thinking of being a business owner and entrepreneur, it's supposed to—how do I say this? When I think of being an entrepreneur, it's like, oh my gosh, it is the best thing in the world.

I could not fathom working again for somebody else. Because it's just, I would feel like how you felt—you're in a box and you're trying so hard to get out. But when you think about being an entrepreneur, you create your own schedule. You create the type of work that you want to do. You imagine and you are able to create all of these fabulous things.

But if what you're doing doesn't align, you're going to feel that burnout, like what you were describing. You're going to feel tired. You're going to feel burnt out. You're going to feel stressed and you're going to dread what you do.

But that's the beauty of being an entrepreneur is you get to pivot at any time, and it's okay.

Daniela:

100%. Yes, Courtney. Yeah, and that's the key word—misalignment.

This is what I started to wonder as I was noticing these burnout patterns. I started asking myself, “Why do I keep running into this? It’s the same issues, and I keep bumping my head against the same walls as a business owner.”

And I knew something was off. I knew something about the way I was running my business was misaligned. But I didn't have the tools, or the knowledge, or people to turn to that could help me figure that out. So that's when astrology and human design as a self-discovery system really landed in my lap through the random Google searches, over time.

And as I was consuming the information, I was like, “This is gold!” For me, it was filling in so many gaps of knowledge that I wasn't getting from those earlier assessments. I think it's great to know our strengths, but we're not just our strengths, you know? We have our fears, we have obstacles that we're gonna run into, we have a natural way that we are designed to operate in this world to truly thrive. We have natural strategies of relating with other people that feel most natural and organic.

If you use human design as an example, it can tell you whether you are someone who is naturally designed to do cold outreach, and whether that strategy is going to be effective for you, and whether it's going to resonate with who you're reaching out to. And conversely, it will also tell you whether you are designed to never do cold outreach, because that's not natural to you, and you'll never get responses that way.

And if you keep operating against your design, you will keep hitting friction, you'll keep hitting resistance, because that's not your strategy.

Courtney:

What do you mean by cold outreach?

Daniela:

So cold outreach, just like, being in a Facebook group and DMing complete strangers, people you have never made a connection with, and you just reach out and pitch something to them out of the blue. For some people, according to human design, they actually will do well with that strategy.

But if that's not part of your human design, you are not going to get far at all using that strategy, so it's really a waste of your time and energy. You would be operating under misalignment.

Courtney:

So when you work with clients or choose, or trying to decide who you want to work with, do you have them do this type of assessment first?

Daniela:

Oh, as I am qualifying who's the right fit for me?

Courtney:

Yeah, kind of vetting out people that want to work with you. I mean, or do you just accept if people come up to you or email you, connect with you, I want you to do this and this, I need help with this. Do you vet any of them or are you accepting all clients?

Daniela:

That's a great question.

I don't vet anybody based on their unique astrology or human design because I am equipped to help them discover what that is for themselves.

I think for me, I understand who my ideal clients are based on—this is really specific—but based on my astrological birth chart, I look at my moon sign, which is in Leo. Which is all about creativity expression, using the voice, being bold, having this warm, charming, creative personality.

These are things that are so natural to me and how I carry myself and I learned—which was so eye-opening to me—that my ideal clients will resonate with me because of my moon sign. Because of these characteristics about me, and they will have those, too.

They will have the Leo qualities, in their natural expression. So I can usually tell when someone's warm and charismatic and bold and creative, just by how they carry themselves in conversation.

A look from the portfolio at astrology-inspired brands Daniela has designed and coached

Courtney:

So I was on your website and just kind of, peeking around. I noticed under, I think it was towards the bottom, your birth chart. Is it your birth chart? There were three different ones. There was Leo, Aries, and Aquarius.

Daniela:

Oh, I'm so happy you noticed that. Yeah, I call those “the big three.”

Courtney:

Okay, I thought we only had one. So what are the other two?

Daniela:

Yeah, that's such a good question. So I think in mainstream astrology, the way that it's framed is that we just have this one sign, right? Like, “What's your zodiac sign?”

Courtney:

Okay. So I'm a Libra—I know that. I don't know much beyond that.

Daniela:

Beautiful. So, that actually indicates your sun sign. So, when people say, “Oh, what's your sign? What's your zodiac sign?” They're talking about the sun sign. That's usually the leading sign. That will dictate your overall personality and the natural role that you take in life, in business, and in relationships.

You take on the leading role of a Libra, Libra qualities. So that will be your outward-facing personality.

Courtney:

Okay. And then you talked about a moon sign. And then what's the other sign?

Daniela:

The rising sign.

Courtney:

So, okay, talk to us about that, because I had no clue. That's the first time I'm hearing about either of those two.

Daniela:

Oh, okay, beautiful. So, the moon sign is fascinating. So, I mentioned my moon is in Leo. And a moon sign will indicate your more private, emotional side of your personality. So, the sun sign that we mentioned, you in Libra, that will be your outward-facing public personality.

The moon sign comes in when you feel safer with somebody. You feel safer to open up and show them more of your inner emotional self. That's your moon sign.

And then the rising sign is actually so fascinating in terms of visual branding because your rising sign affects your physical appearance and your outward style more than any of the other signs.

So one interesting little tip and trick that I've been speaking about in my content and with my clients is, if you're confused about your visual style—whether it's your wardrobe or how you want your website or brand to actually look and feel—look at your rising sign.

Because those qualities can really help to guide you in your visual expression. So me, for example—my rising sign is in Aquarius. And when I learned about this, it was such a gamechanger. Because Aquarius is so much about originality, about being different from everybody else. Aquarius is like the alien of the zodiac—we can’t help but stand out, we’re just little weirdos. So we just need to let the freak flag fly and be different and own that in our style and in our branding.

Courtney:

How do you determine what the moon sign is and the rising sign?

Daniela:

So there’s a free resource that I love to recommend. It’s called astro.com—it’s free, and all you have to do is put in your birth information. You need your date of birth, time, and location. So just enter that with your name, and within a minute, you pop in those details and that website will pull up your whole birth chart for you. If you’ve never seen a birth chart before, it definitely looks like something from outer space. It looks like alien language with all the symbols and colors. But it will also give you a breakdown of all the planets in your chart, and the signs. So you can easily get your big three—your sun, moon, and rising signs—using this resource. And you don’t have to know anything about reading a birth chart to discover that list.

Courtney:

Okay. I’m going to look that up. So I feel like within the last six months, I’m trying to remember when I first heard about human design. Before that, never heard anything about it. So it makes me wonder what have I been doing that is making the algorithm putting this type of content in my path? Or maybe it’s just another piece of my puzzle that I need to investigate. To learn more about this to know more about myself, my business, why I am the way I am, why I do things the way that I do them.

So, when you’re working with clients or looking at doing a brand revamp for somebody, are you pulling up all of this information and applying it to their brand?

Daniela:

So, now moving forward, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. I’ve created a new program that does incorporate my knowledge from both astrology and coaching. But in the past, I wasn’t doing this. And do you know what I found, Courtney? A lot of my clients who worked with me to launch their websites in the past, they would launch it and I would check in on them a few months later and ask how things were going, any exciting updates to share, etc. Well, some of them would do well.

But some of them would barely get it off the ground before wanting to quit—before wanting to walk away from it. Some of them just didn’t know how to build momentum. Some of them just didn’t feel confident enough in themselves as a leader. They didn’t know how to self-lead in their unique way. And I found that a lot of clients got really trapped in comparison after the website was launched. A lot of imposter syndrome, a lot of self-doubt that was really creating resistance in just going full throttle with it. Being loud and proud with this new website.

So, after talking to some of my people I realized that they loved the website as product—that wasn’t the issue. The issue was a lack of internal awareness and guidance of how do I take this awesome brand that I now have, and actually run it? Because now I’m the CEO, and it’s just me. So, now what?

Courtney:

I feel like that’s a common thread around entrepreneurs is imposter syndrome, self-doubt, limiting beliefs, what else am I forgetting? There are a lot of things that, once we step into the CEO role, or the entrepreneur/business owner role—once you acknowledge that and fully step into it, it’s like you’re opening the doors for all of these negative things to come in, potentially.

But then remembering your why, remembering your gifts, what you were created and called to do, and who you need to help. Remembering those four things—each time, that will shut down any fear or feeling like an imposter, or fraud, or any of the negative limiting beliefs like “I don’t have the education behind me, I’m not qualified to do this or that.” I feel like those four things will immediately shut down anything negative.

Daniela:

Yes, 100%. I totally agree with you. Because that’s what’s happened to me. When I really dove into my own astrology and understood my human design, through the last several years of study through different programs and approaches to larning these systems—it has really set me on fire. Because what I was finding was, on my journey and other clients I would talk to, they would tell me, “I tried to follow this strategy.” Or “I keep getting all of these ads on Facebook saying “Follow my 5 Steps to Visibility workshop ” or “Try my special strategy or my special method. I have all the answers, just follow my step-by-step program and you will have the same outcome.”

I myself got so frustrated with seeing all of this because I realized that this person’s exact strategy—they created it based on how they uniquely operate. And it may work for other people who are similarly designed in that way, in how they operate, but it could be completely opposite to my natural human design, for example. It could be the complete opposite strategy from the ones that would help me thrive as a business owner.

So that’s really when I started understanding the value of a system like human design or astrology, which can tell me my innate gifts—which we can already learn from other systems—but knowing my innate gifts and the natural role I am meant to take as a business owner, understanding how my energy naturally flows through my body, and how much rest I require to stay in optimal functioning as a CEO. Knowing my natural way of connecting with people, I am a natural networker—that’s why speaking on podcasts is so exciting for me because I just love talking to people—and it’s just natural and easy. But some other people might be designed to be a lot more private. Some other people might not be natural networkers. That doesn’t feel good to them. It’s terrifying for them, you know what I mean?

And that’s ok because we’re all different. Human design is really the science of differentiation. And I would argue astrology is, too. So these systems are here to help you understand how you are uniquely designed and different from every other human being on this planet.

And once you realize that—for me, I have such a clear idea now of who I am, what I came here to do, what my strengths are, who the unique people that I am here to serve with my gifts are. Now, nothing can stop me. It has really given me a confidence that is unshakeable, regardless of what’s going on outside of me.

And a lot of my clients have told me the same thing. It really builds a solid inner foundation first, before launching the website and having the picture-perfect brand and images and all these amazing things. But that’s just on the outside. If you are not internally solid and grounded with self-awareness and that type of confidence, then it doesn’t matter how amazing your website is. It doesn’t matter what business growth strategies you are going to follow if it doesn’t align for you, uniquely. Because that misalignment will create friction and resistance.

Courtney:

So on your website, I saw that you were a splenic Projector in human design, what is that?

Daniela:

Long-story short, one of the interesting things about human design is that it focuses on 9 different energy centers in the body. So one of those energy centers is the spleen. Your energy center will govern different characteristics that will show up in your pesonality. So spleen is where my decision-making authority lies. That’s another great benefit of human design is that you can learn how you uniquely make decisions. There are different ways of getting in touch with your intuition and your decision-making strategy.

So, with the spleen, it’s all about instincts. It’s all about survival. It’s all about asking “How can I make the healthiest decision? Is this decision healthy for me?” That’s the question that—someone whose authority is with the spleen—that is the question they should be asking before making any decision.

So, the spleen is very linked to instincts and intuition. When you’re trying to make a decision, the spleen will come in with a very quick inner voice, “Yes or no.” Right away. Like, let’s say you invite me onto the podcast. You say, “Hey, would you like to show up and speak on my podcast?” How I make the decision will come to me like that. I will just hear a voice that says, “Yes or no.” And I just feel it in my body. And I have to really be paying attention to how the answer is showing up. It’s like a one-hit wonder gut answer, and it won’t come back again.

And I wouldn’t really have known that without learning about human design. Once I did learn about that, I was like, “Oh, that makes total sense. I have experienced that quick-hit instinctual splenic answer many times in my life, but many times I’ve ignored it. And that got me into trouble. That put me in situations that weren’t aligned, and they weren’t healthy for me. So learning about how I naturally make decisions, how I tap into my intuitive answers through the spleen—that was a game-changer.

Courtney:

Interesting. I knew organs held emotions, but I didn’t know that it played a part in decision-making. Well, I got some investigating to do.

Daniela:

Yeah, definitely. It’s really interesting how the body has its own language and how to discover what it means and how that shows up for you.

Courtney:

Oh my gosh. There’s a lot to embrace here. Between learning about, not just your sun sign, now you have your moon and rising . Which also plays a role in how you are designed. And then you have your human design, which is another aspect, which shines light on other areas of your life. There’s a lot to unpack here.

Daniela:

There’s a lot, yeah. They are both very deep, complex systems.

Courtney:

But I think, based on what I am understanding from you, is that once you know that and understand it, it kind of makes your job as a business owner a lot easier. You know what direction you’re going. You know what your talents are, your gifts, your strenghts. It’s paving an easier path for you. Am I right?

Daniela:

Yeah, exactly. It’s helping you find the most aligned path based on what I call, your inner blueprint. And both of these tools are here to illuminate what that inner blueprint is for you. And for me, once I discovered it, I was like, “Why am I wasting time with anything outside of how I’m designed, you know?”

Now, I know exactly which business strategies will work for me, and which won’t. I know exactly why I might be getting burned out, or why I’m feeling bitterness instead of success, as a human design Projector. That’s my type in human design, for example. Every type has its signature of whether you’re thriving or not. And every type will also indicate areas of misalignment. When I was feeling bitterness, that’s the Projector signature that I’m not operating in alignment. Because my signature—I’m designed to experience the feeling of success, not bitterness—so it creates these guardrails, like in bowling.

It creates these bumpers where, if you start veering off, when you’re aware of your unique design, you will know how to course correct and get on the right path for yourself.

You’ll know, even bodily symptoms for example. That is your body’s way of telling you, “Hey, you’re not operating in alignment. Let’s chill, let’s take a step back, let’s recalibrate. Let’s get back on track.”

Coutney:

Do you have quizzes, or links on your website? Do you have links to the assessments you’ve done? Do you have your own assessment or quiz?

Daniela:

For now, I can send you the free links that I’ve used over the years that have helped introduce me to these systems. And I’ll be focusing so much of my content this year, blog posts and all kind of things, with tips of tricks on astrology and human design.

Courtney:

I’m glad you brought it back to blogging. Because that was one thing that stuck out to me when I went on your website. I read that at 14 years old, you started a blog. What 14-year-old thinks about starting a blog? The creative ones! That’s who.

Daniela:

Thanks for saying that, Courtney. Yeah, little 14-year-old me, she just went for it.

Courtney:

Oh my gosh, I think that’s awesome. And then the other thing was, I looked at your bucket list. Did you chceck ogff skydiving from your bucket list?

Daniela:

I was literally thinking about skydiving yesterday like, “When am I doing that?” So, no, not yet. Have you done it?

Courtney:

No way. So my husband is a former marine, and he has done hundreds upon hundreds of jumps. And he’s gonna be 53 and he lie, “I’m falling apart from all of those jumps I did when I was in the military.” He tried to talk me into skydiving and I’m like, “Are you kidding me? No. That’s putting my life into somebody else’s hands and trusting that they packed the backpack that holds the parachute.” I have all of these things running through my mind, and I guarantee I would pass out and I would miss the whole thing. Just the adrenaline in me, or the fear in general. Looking at the ground and getting closer and increasing my speed—falling to the ground, hoping that my chute will open? I can think of a million other things I’d rather do.

Daniela:

As you’re describing this, I’m getting more and more pumped up. I’m like, “I live for this.” You know what it is? It’s my sun in Aries. I’m an adrenaline junkie. The slight risk of death? Yes, I live for it. It makes me feel alive.

Courtney:

Oh my gosh. Okay, so because the audience can’t see the video, my mouth just completely dropped open when she said that.

Daniela:

Oh yeah, that’s classic Aries. Big risk-takers, for sure.

Courtney:

I’m trying to think about the riskiest thing I have ever done. I’m not sure. I mean, I like to step outside the box , and I’m getting more comfortable challenging myself to do things that I am afraid to do. But I think the riskiest thing I’ve ever done—and it’s not really that risky—in the year 2000, I really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, to go to Paris. So a friend and I, his spring break was coming up, so I’m like, “You know what, on a total whim, let’s fly to Europe and see the Eiffel Tower.” Super spontaneous. We did that. And my family, they live in the land of what-if’s. “What if this happens? What if that"?” And I’m like, “Yeah, no, that’s not gonna work for me.”

So, a couple weeks later, we were on a plane, and I remember the big “2000” letters lit up on the Eiffel Tower. Gorgeous. And then we stayed a night in each country. Then we went to Amsterdam, we went to Munich, Venice, and then we flew back to the sates from Rome. So that was all packed into seven days.

Daniela:

Wow, that’s a lot of sightseeing in a week. Amazing.

Courtney:

Yes, and I think the riskiest thing was when we went to a smoke shop in Amsterdam, because why not? And I remember it was late at night, we were walking back to our hotel, and I had called my mom on a calling card because I didn’t have a cell phone back then, and as I’m talking to my mom on the phone, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, there’s a stranger walking up towards us. I gotta go.” And then I hung up. And she didn’t hear from me. But, I mean, I would consider that pretty risky, just on a whim going to strange country and outside of that, I had never traveled anywhere by myself.

Daniela:

Wow, good for you. That was risky, kudos to you. Some people never ever leave their home country, you know? I mean good for you.

Courtney:

And you’ve lived where? So, you’re in Spain now, but, you grew up in Virginia. Where else have you lived? I think I read, Israel, is that right?

Daniela:

Yep, so I grew up in northern Virginia just outside Washington D.C. I’ve traveled to 25 to 30 countries or so, so far. So I’m a big adventurer, big traveler. I have lived in Mexico, different parts of Spain, I have lived in Jerusalem, Israel for a year and a half. I actually did a master’s program there. It was an amazing, wild cultural experience. I learned so much. And then the U.S. Yeah, lots of traveling.

Courtney:

That’s amazing. Now when you travel and were living in all these different places, were you with anybody else? Or were you like, “Oh, that sounds good, I think I wanna move there.”

Daniela:

All the places where I’ve lived, I almost always moved on my own. I’m with my cat, right now. But yeah, it was mostly on my own.

Courtney:

Wow. Good for you, not everybody has that in them to do that—that strength to pick up and move to either a new state or a new country. I mean, changes are you don’t know anybody. It’s just you and now you’re having to figure everything else out by yourself, develop friendships, relationships. So, good job for you. That takes a lot of courage, it really does.

Daniela:

Thank you, I really appreciate that. Yeah, it’s not for everyone. I recommend it. But I think it’s important for people to know what they envision for themselves and what they want to experience. What the value. For me, I really value new experiences, learning from new places, new people, other cultures. So yeah, I think it was following my values and my intution a lot of the time which led me to all these adventures.

Courtney:

I think that’s amazing. What an experience, what a journey.

Daniela:

Yes, I feel like I could write five books about my short life already. I have all these experiences.

Courtney:

Well, you still have your blog, right? Do you write about your experiences on your blog?

Daniela:

I’ve mostly written business articles, but I love this idea about bringing in my travel experiences, too.

Courtney:

Yeah, I mean one of the benefits of being an entrepreneur is you can really work in the online space, which you are, you work wherever. You have that luxury. So lt us into your world. Let us into your experiences and your journey.

Daniela:

Thank you for mentioning that, yeah. That would be a really fun new creative avenue to explore. It’s a good idea.

Courtney:

Well, Daniela, it has been such a pleasure having you on the show today. I will drop all of your links in the show notes below so they can click and get connected with you. Thank you so much for this conversation. It was enlightening and encouraging, and you can do two skydives—one for you, and one for me. I won’t be doing one anytime soon. I do not want any of my kids doing skydiving. I will live vicariusly through you. Thank you so much, I’m so glad you were on The Goalpreneur Podcast.

Daniela:

Thank you, Courtney, I’m so grateful to be here.

Courtney:

If anything in this episode inspired you—if you had an a-ha moment, or even just a little heart nudge, please do me a favor and share this episode. Send it to a friend, post it on your social media, and also tag me at iamcourtneyspaeth. That way I can cheer you on.

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About Daniela West

Daniela West is a heart-led thought leader, storyteller, entrepreneur, survivor, personal brand expert and designer, intuitive artist, singer-songwriter, poet, coach, creative director, educator, emerging author, and host of The Sacred Style Podcast.

With an international master's degree in Nonprofit Management & Organizational Leadership, her work sits at the intersection of identity, artistry, healing, and systemic transformation—guiding individuals and communities to reclaim their power, transform trauma into purpose, and become more whole, healed, and human along the way.

❤︎ LET'S CONNECT ❤︎

• ✨Website: https://danielawest.com/

• ✨YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ItsDanielaWest

• ✨Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsdanielawest

• ✨Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bydanielawest/

• ✨Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/itsdanielawest/

• ✨LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-west/

To work with me 1-1, I offer semi-custom web design in under one week with my signature service, The Soul Site Service.

I also offer 1:1 brand blueprint coaching harnessing the power of astrology to clarify how to brand and market yourself using your unique natural blueprint.

On my Substack, you’ll find all the raw, vulnerable, emotional content that I don’t share anywhere else. Poetry, personal essays, channeled messages, diary letters and musings on spirituality, shadow work, transformation. I write about self, soul, & society to help you rewrite your script on being human.

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