Hey there,

I got some news recently that was equal parts “F yeah!!” and “F sigh🫠🫠🫠”

A potential investor (and My StoryPro user… there’s a trend here I’m realizing) told me she wants to give me money. *that would be the F yeah part.

Then she told me why she can’t. Yet.

“When I google My StoryPro the first thing that comes up is Patrice Poltzer,” she said over a Whatsapp phone call.

She went on to tell me that even though she believes in me as a founder and loves the product … as an angel who invests in many founders, she needs to feel REALLY confident that the business isn’t tied to ONLY the founder.

In other words, My StoryPro is too intertwined with my face and reputation (now at least) and then tells me I’m in that tricky part of growth…

What got this thing off the ground (my reputation) is the exact thing that needs to evolve before she writes a check. ***this would be the SIGH part… always something right?!🥴

I sat for a second in silence with her on the phone because she’s not wrong.

I’ve spent my entire entrepreneur life as a service-based founder running programs sold by me but for this new chapter, it’s calling in a role that requires skills and expansiveness I have to prove beyond “me”.

We know that My StoryPro needs to get TF out of my Baby Bjorn.

I know this phrase is so overused but truly I’m flying the plane while figuring out how to rebuild it mid-air. OH AND TO DO THIS WITHOUT CRASHING.

It feels vulnerable.
It feels chaotic.

It’s brought me back to weekly in-person therapy. But it also feels like I’m LIVING. My nervous system might have another adjective but this is not a democracy.

And I know a lot of you are rebuilding your plane mid-air too.

Like my friend Melissa, who moved to Lisbon from Atlanta and is trying to get her tech product off the ground as a non-tech person.. While simultaneously bringing PERSONALITY back to Linkedin (wait was there EVER personality!??!

Some of you may recall her from HACKATHON 2026 (don’t mind me while I keep this memory alive as long as I can.)

That day was her big AHA spark.

She’s a former creative director who has never launched a tech product who has now launched a tech product for creative agencies who hire freelancers and she’s SHOWING UP for this new venture.

Mid-air. Living. But also *most likely scaring the crap out of her nervous system.

Kate’s another one.
We JUST met IRL this past Tuesday when she was passing through Lisbon by way of Austin.

Kate took my most recent “Founder’s Fire Big Idea” mastermind and decided to pivot from running an AI community for female business owners to building something new.

She took Founder’s Fire not to tell a tidy origin story… but to learn how to tell her story when she is smack in the middle of a messy transition and is unsure of the ending.

Nothing brings me more joy than meeting students IRL and feeling like I’ve known them for life.
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And then there’s Jessie.

This was the kickoff for something called the Yapping Challenge (which I’m pretty sure I was the last person on the Internet to learn about and I have NEVER in all of my zooming webinar life seen a chat have a seizure for 2 straight hours as this one was..)

And if you haven’t been online in the last month, a few quick cliffnotes:

​Jessie made $6 million in the last four weeks getting me and 17,000 other people to join a $297 challenge that teaches you how to… YAP on camera. (ie) Talk to your phone. (I start on Monday.)

The internet lost its mind. I mean, I did too.

Let’s talk about her flying while building story.

She shut down her decade-long services-based business, started a from-scratch IG account to document flipping furniture”…to “see what would happen”. (not much)

But then this random post went viral.

She had no idea what it meant, but she knew to start collecting emails -and built the whole challenge in real time.

Less than two months later, $6M for her family.

Seriously the zoom chat was the most frantic thing I have ever witnessed in my life.

Glimpses of: “I’m 70!” … “starting over!” … “no idea what I’m doing” … “my way is to make money for my family” … “to help my husband” … “to finally go after my dream.” “same Jessie except I’m 53!”….”tired of sitting on the sidelines”…”want to leave the job I hate..”.

8,000+ people not messing around.
Including me.

“Patrice, come back to me about investing when you’ve taken steps to showing me My StoryPro can thrive outside only you….”

Our conversation has been ringing in my ear for two straight weeks.

So when the Yapping Challenge showed up, I signed up.

Because what better way to prove I can build something bigger than my face than to put my actual face out there, on camera, every day 🤣… But jokes aside, I haven’t been this excited in maybe ever to start getting on social media.
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Melissa, Jessie, Kate and all my 7,999 challenge peers…
​No one is waiting for the plan to be perfect.
​No one is waiting for the plane to land. (well maybe it can land at SOME POINT ok please thanks.)

But all of these people know that the thought of NOT putting themselves out there is scarier than diving headfirst into potential internet judgment troll shame.

And while I know this, sometimes you just need to hear someone else say it to you. (as Jessie did to me on the Internet.. ha!)​
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And so let me be that person for you today.
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​No one cares about what your dreams are more than you.
No one cares about your professional goals more than you. ​
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Not even the people who love you most.

You have total agency to make $hit happen for yourself, but you have to put in the reps and be OK with putting your ideas “out there for judgement.”

The only person who loses sleep over whether you showed up today is you and if you have that little nudge deep down SHOUTING at you to “get out there” you should probably listen to it, even if you have no idea where it will take you.

So if you follow me on IG (and I’m starting fresh on TikTok🥺) PREEMPTIVE APOLOGIES.
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Got the cliche teeny not-as-good-Euro-brand-mic and I’m committed to seeing where six weeks of yapping takes me.

Ok so that’s the big news over here… aside from that it is officially Lisbon Summer season (AKA) White Lotus Season 4.

I often joke that I feel like I’m living in a White Lotus Simulator sometimes. (but minus the murder and stuff)

Also, I will be heading to the States for a month this summer….specifically Chicago area where I am originally from.
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For all of my ranch-loving, Portillo’s swooning, “Bulls are better than The Knicks” Midwest posse…
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I’d love to arrange a meet-up and meet some of you IRL!
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So if you are in the area and you’d like to hang this summer, please shoot me a note here and I will arrange a hang.
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We can compare YAPPING challenge trauma stories🤣😭

My first YAP is this coming Monday and if you’re doing this too.. please let me know!

I’d love to know who I can be accountable towards.
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See you on the other side!
And go USA!! (And Portugal!)
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XO
Patrice
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P.S If you’re in a weird middle place too, I want to hear about it. And if you’ve been sitting on your own story, your own messy middle and not sure how to start… that’s exactly what My StoryPro is built for. You don’t have to have it all figured out and this is what she specializes in!