In My World​
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One of my Business Storyprenuers gave me a casual anxiety attack yesterday during our office hours when she said there are like 20 more days of summer. My actual reaction when she spoke.

This summer isn’t the one I envisioned as my first one living abroad (and I’m at peace with it) but after our zoom yesterday (thanks Lilian🤣) I found myself mentally reliving the first half of this year.
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Rebuilding a life from the ground up is not easy.
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It’s way harder than I imagined.
Way more exhilarating than I imagined.
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I’ve been really mean to myself this year.
But I’ve also had to become softer.
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The end of August will be one full year since I moved my family of 5 to Lisbon from NYC (if you’re new here….I made a reel of this experience.)
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​I thought I’d take a moment to give you a rundown on what has not worked and what has worked in my business at the halfway mark.
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If you reply and tell me what parts of this list you’d like me to dive deeper into, I can do that in a future newsletter.
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​1. I had a goal of growing my email list this year. Something I had never put much focus into (SO DUMB by the way).

I feel good about my growth at the halfway year point considering I have not really invested into any “list growth” techniques outside of organic social media and consistent newsletter writing.
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​2. I wanted to focus on my social media from a strategic hat (for the first time ever) and my goal was to have 10,000 followers by the end of the year.
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​Caveat being, new followers that are my target market (ie) business owners, digital marketers and online entrepreneurs who want to tell better stories in their marketing.
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For reference, it took me 7 years to reach the Jan 1st number of 8,571.

August 1st here are my numbers.
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​That number is 10,786 to be exact.
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I am really happy about this. I am pacing about 7 months ahead of plan.

3. Launching a “passive” product funnel that didn’t require me to live launch.
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Up until this year, every time I made money it was tied to a live launch (workshops, masterminds, etc.).
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I love live launches. Gemini chaos energy here so the high stakes is something I tend to thrive on.
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Trouble is, they are also incredibly time consuming & high stress & high stakes (see chaos energy above.)
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Also, you can’t scale & consistent income is tricker if you’re only live launching products.
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Being that I’ve had to move into the main earner since we’ve moved here, I knew I needed to build out products that didn’t require me being “on” 24-7.
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It’s been more challenging to do this than I ever would have anticipated (theme of my year.)
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​Right now as I type, I’m on my third pivot in trying to figure this out for my business.
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It’s been a lesson in patience to say the least.
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And I know it’s not the product (I validate all my DIY products first in live settings and only turn the best ones into purchase)….it’s how I am connecting (or in my case not connecting) with the brand positioning.
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Because I’ve expanded my list this year I have a colder audience. I’m not used to having a colder audience so it’s requiring me to think in a new way.
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Pivot quick if your data is showing you a story you don’t like.
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​4. I wanted to develop a lead magnet this year.
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​I mentioned last week how important lead magnets are if you’re an online entrepreneur.
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I hate $hit checklists and throwaway canva PDFs.
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I decided to go way outside the norm and make a Free Storytelling Bot.
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The purpose of this was to make someone excited about telling their own stories and then guide them into my storytelling courses.
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But it’s been a wild success.
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So again…here I am halfway through the year realizing I need to pivot (again) and will be heading down an AI Storytelling product path I could never have anticipated.
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​*****for those of you who did sign up….we are building this out to a new level.. So please bear with me. And for those who have subscribed… THANK YOU!!! It’s only going to get better & you are locked in as special as you are my pioneers and you will reap those benefits.
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​5. I wanted to be about $100,000K further along than where I am right now in my business at this point.
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​This has been a hard one to swallow because I’ve felt more pressure this year as my husband builds his fractional CRO business.
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On one hand, the original plans didn’t go to plan so I had to pivot.
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Pivoting takes time.
I am bootstrapped by…ME.
I have a team of 3 contractors and we can only do so much.
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On the other hand, this revenue shortage brought me to take on private clients (who I love), I’ve been ghostwriting for a few founders on Linkedin (Love it and again was not in the plan January 1st but people came to me) and has made me think outside the box.
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There are lots of takeaways here at the halfway point in my year.
Hopefully for you too.
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It’s always humbling to realize that no matter how much you plan, “manifest”, desire, execute and do.
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Things won’t necessarily go to your plan.
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But the real lesson is what you do in the AFTER.
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You don’t have to pivot.
You don’t have to change.
You don’t have to listen to anyone.
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But that’s pretty risky if you ask me.
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Always be moving forward…

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​A Story Audit:​
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Reminder, you can use me for free coaching if we select your submission.
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​I take submissions each week and will audit anything you send from a storytelling and marketing perspective.
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Meet Joanne Pavin, an integrated wellness coach.

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​She wanted me to audit this reel for her.​

It’s a reel to promote a retreat she is hosting in Woodstock, IL this fall.

What Works:

• Strong Hook: the opening question, “People ask me all the time what type of supplements I take,” immediately grabs my attention and piques curiosity. It sets up a relatable scenario for her target audience.
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• Unexpected Answer: the reveal that “Nature” is her most important supplement is unexpected and thought-provoking. It challenges the common assumption that supplements are solely pills or powders. Given she’s selling her retreat it is a really clever way to back into this.
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• Visual Storytelling: the reel effectively uses visuals to showcase nature and great job on the driving shot off the top… anything with movement will grab attention quicker. There are some gorgeous photos in here and I love the horse, the sunsets. I am intrigued.
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What Could Be Improved:​
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• Specificity: while the message about nature’s benefits is clear and the opening line is great… the rest of the caption falls flat.
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• It could be strengthened by providing specific examples of how spending time in nature positively impacts well-being. It feels generic and I am never told WHAT exactly makes it the best supplement.
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• Storytelling Visual Arc: The reel doesn’t tell a story and while the visuals of nature are great the editing is really distracting. The flashes, outdated transitions and flashing on the photos takes me out of the reel. I’m not focused on “calm” as the way this is edited does not make me feel calm.
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• Caption doesn’t compel me: I am a cold audience reading this caption. So maybe I’m not the target, but if I’m reading the caption, it goes off on a tangent and talks about one person who is leading the horse therapy (which is way cool)
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• But it’s missed because there is not a story arch or flow in this caption. Telling me a name of someone I don’t know high up in the caption doesn’t necessarily make me want to read the rest. Is this a retreat only with horses? If so, that is SO COOL but I am not clear.
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• CTA is weak: there are two CTAs. Each post should have one as people won’t do two things you tell them. Also when I see something telling me to “DM”.. I am like “swipe.” Unfortunately/fortunately AI has changed the CTA caption landscape.
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  There is a reason you see so many “COMMENT A WORD” and then YOU get the info you need in your DMs. No outreach required or no taking you out of the caption.

Who here is launching something?
Or planning on it?
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In online business, “launching” is one of the norms. (see above!)

And whether you’ve done zero launches or launched several times a year, it’s a total Mind F.

• Where do I start?
• Will they buy?
• Will I reach my goal?
• Is this even good enough to sell?

Every year my friend Brenna launches this free podcast event and then donates any money it makes (you can purchase all access pass for $37 to charity.)​
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I bought a ticket last year and the SHORT (like under 10 min) audio podcasts were UNREAL.
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I fan girled, we became friends.
She asked me to be a part of the speaker lineup this year.
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Because I am all about full transparency (um…maybe TMI sorry) last fall was my most successful launch ever (it was live & you know how I LOVE me a live launch) at more than $100,000.
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And I used one tactic to get me there (and I will be using this again for my upcoming Founder’s Fire Fall launch.)

She records a series of intimate conversations — all held on Voxer (yes, the walkie-talkie app), where she asks industry experts to answer one simple question:

“WHAT’S SOMETHING THAT WORKED WELL IN YOUR LAST LAUNCH?”

These aren’t stuffy interviews or tactics you find on Google, but a quick chat between friends about real-life experiences.

And I want to invite you to eavesdrop on these conversations so you can “get in the room” with top marketing pros (including me!) and uncover what’s working with launches NOW.
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I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week!