Empowering Healthy Business Podcast Episode 48 : Using Intuition to Make Better Business Decisions with Nick Musica
Most business owners are taught to “trust the numbers.” Financial data, reports, and forecasts shape nearly every decision. But what happens when the data isn’t clear or when your gut says something different? In this episode of the Empowering Healthy Business Podcast, host Calvin Wilder sits down with Nick Musica, founder of Optics In and a longtime digital marketing professional, to talk about how using intuition to make business decisions can unlock better outcomes, stronger teams, and more fulfilling work. Nick shares his personal transformation from a stable corporate career to an intuitive business leader and coach—and how learning to listen inward can help any entrepreneur grow with more confidence and less stress.
From Data-Driven to Intuitive
Nick spent years building a career in digital marketing. Like many professionals, he valued structure, stability, and measurable results. But over time, he realized that something was missing. After taking a Harrison Assessment, a behavioral tool measuring 175 traits, Nick discovered he scored a 10 in “wanting a stable career” and a 2.4 in “risk tolerance.” That meant he was wired to avoid uncertainty—yet he dreamed of starting his own business.
Through coaching, he learned that awareness is the first step toward change. By understanding his blind spots, he could begin making small shifts that opened new doors. Eventually, he left corporate life to build Optics In, a digital agency born from both strategic thinking and intuitive leadership.
“If you’re unaware of your blind spots, you can’t change anything,” Nick says. “Awareness lets you shift behavior—and that’s where new opportunities appear.”
The Role of Intuition in Everyday Decisions
So what does intuition look like in real-world business? For Nick, it’s not mystical—it’s practical. Intuition is that quiet internal signal you feel when something “just doesn’t add up,” even if the numbers look fine. It’s the awareness that a meeting feels off, a client isn’t fully aligned, or a new hire might need support rather than replacement. Nick explains that intuition complements data. Data shows the averages, but intuition helps spot the exceptions—the moments where human insight matters most. The best leaders blend both.
“Data matters,” Nick says. “But if you only rely on it, nothing new happens. The real growth happens when you balance analysis with intuition.”
Building Intuition Through Practice
Like any skill, using intuition to make business decisions takes time and consistency to develop. Nick highlights a few simple but powerful ways to strengthen it:
- Meditation matters. Quiet moments help reduce noise, clear stress, and allow deeper insights to surface. It’s not about forcing answers during meditation but creating mental space for solutions to appear naturally.
- Listen to your body. Intuition often shows up physically — a sense of tension, calm, or resistance can signal what’s right or wrong. Paying attention to those sensations helps guide smarter decisions.
- Use presence-based coaching. This approach helps leaders notice subtle cues in conversations and body language, improving awareness and clarity.
- Trust the process. As Nick explains, “People say they don’t have intuition, but it’s just been shut off. When you get quiet enough to listen, it comes back.”
From Fear to Flow: How Intuition Drives Growth
Nick’s story shows how intuition can transform fear into progress. When he launched his agency, Optics In, he had no clients and no certainty—but intuition told him to go for it. Within weeks, it worked.
He now teaches others how to follow that same path by integrating intuition into leadership and business decisions:
- Start with trust. Intuitive choices often feel risky, but confidence grows when you act from genuine alignment, not fear.
- Coach through clarity. Nick now helps executives, founders, and even CFOs reconnect with intuition to overcome indecision and rediscover direction.
- Balance logic with feeling. Intuition bridges data and emotion. While numbers reveal trends, intuition fills the gaps with empathy, timing, and creative insight.
- Make decisions that feel right. The best business decisions aren’t just data-driven—they’re human-driven, combining analysis with awareness.
Conclusion
Business success isn’t only about perfect spreadsheets or flawless forecasts. As Nick Musica reminds us, using intuition to make business decisions helps leaders act with confidence even when data is uncertain. By combining intuition with information, awareness with analysis, you make choices that are both smart and aligned with your long-term goals. Take time to pause, reflect, and listen to that inner voice—it might be your most valuable business tool.
Want to go deeper? Listen to the full conversation with Tom Freedman on the Empowering Healthy Business Podcast