Deb Krier on Leading During Cancer Treatment (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 152)
When the leader is in treatment, the business still needs direction. On this episode of The Price and Value Journey, host John Ray welcomes Deb Krier, entrepreneur, cancer advocate, host of The Business Power Hour, and founder of TryingNotToDie.LIVE. Drawing on more than twenty years in communications and her certification as an Integrative Cancer Coach, Deb lays out how she handled executive duties after a Stage 4 diagnosis and what she now recommends to owners and executives who want their firms to hold up under stress.
Deb explains the essentials: a one-page resilience file with decision rights and if-then triggers, simple rules that let the team act without her, and a steady update cadence that reassures clients without oversharing. She shares how to remove single points of failure in work, offer clients clear options when capacity shifts, and protect cash with plain language changes to invoicing or retainers. Listeners leave with practical steps they can complete this week, so the company runs with less drama when life gets loud, and the leader can focus on treatment and recovery.
The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of the Business RadioX® podcast network.
Key Takeaways You Can Use from This Episode
- Build a one-page resilience file: decision rights, dollar limits, if-then triggers, and two short update scripts for clients and team.
- Remove single-point-of-failure tasks by creating simple handoffs and a short list of trusted backups.
- Use clear client options when capacity changes: name what will change, what will not, and the next best alternative.
- Set a predictable update rhythm and channel to reduce uncertainty and questions.
- Protect cash with small process tweaks such as earlier invoicing or clarified retainer terms, explained in plain language.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview
00:28 Deb Krier’s Cancer Journey Begins
02:37 Coping with Diagnosis and Treatment
07:59 Support Systems and Family Reactions
10:24 Balancing Business and Health
12:50 Communicating with Clients
17:35 Handling Inappropriate Reactions
24:10 Questions to Ask After a Diagnosis
28:56 Doctor Disagreements and Trust Issues
30:17 Communicating Health Challenges to Clients
32:42 Adjusting Business Operations During Treatment
33:51 Becoming a Cancer Coach
36:28 Supporting Clients Through Cancer
38:20 Delegating and Business Continuity Planning
42:17 Mindset Shifts and Personal Reflections
44:15 Cancer Coaching Services Overview
47:19 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
Deb Krier
Deb Krier is an entrepreneur and a seasoned professional in marketing and communications. After holding various roles in corporate, agency, and nonprofit settings, she founded Wise Women Communications in 2002, a full-service PR and marketing firm. Her experience spans brand and message strategy, media relations, crisis communication, integrated campaigns, and community relations. She also hosts The Business Power Hour on the C-Suite Network, where she focuses on practical tools that help owners build stronger businesses.
After a Stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis in 2015, Deb turned her lived experience into service for other leaders. She is a certified integrative cancer coach and works with business owners and executives who are navigating treatment or recovery, helping them protect energy, communicate clearly, and keep their companies moving. In 2022, she launched TryingNotToDie.LIVE, a platform that offers community, resources, and straightforward advice for those impacted by cancer.
Deb is based in Atlanta and holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Colorado and an MS in communications management from Colorado State University.
Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | TryingNotToDie.LIVE
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include business coaching and advisory work, as well as advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, coaches, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is a podcast show host and the owner of North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their podcast using The Generosity Mindset® Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.
John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 900 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.
John’s book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices
John Ray is the author of the five-star rated book The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices, praised by readers for its practical insights on raising confidence, value, and prices.
If you are a professional services provider, your goal is to do transformative work for clients you love working with and get paid commensurate with the value you deliver to them. While negative mindsets can inhibit your growth, adopting a different mindset, The Generosity Mindset®, can replace those self-limiting beliefs. The Generosity Mindset enables you to diagnose and communicate the value you deliver to clients and, in turn, more effectively price to receive a portion of that value.
Whether you’re a consultant, coach, marketing or branding professional, business advisor, attorney, CPA, or work in virtually any other professional services discipline, your content and technical expertise are not proprietary. What’s unique, though, is your experience and how you synthesize and deliver your knowledge. What’s special is your demeanor or the way you deal with your best-fit clients. What’s invaluable is how you deliver outstanding value by guiding people through massive changes in their personal lives and in their businesses that bring them to a place they never thought possible.
Your combination of these elements is unique in your industry. There lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.
If pricing your value feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, this book will teach you why putting a price on the value your clients perceive and identify serves both them and you, and you’ll learn the factors involved in getting your price right.
The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers worldwide. Follow this link for further details.
