There’s something major in store for Inner Workout at the end of this year, and I want to document the process in this space.

Stay tuned!

Until then, let’s close the loop on this round of reports.

I started this newsletter to document my process of:

• launching a book

• launching two businesses

• reimagining Inner Workout’s business model

Launching a book

Inner Workout has been in the world for just over three months! To date, I’ve sold close to 1,000 copies.

I’ve deepened my thought leadership through the book launch process, and Inner Workout’s audience grew because of the podcast and press appearances.

At this point, I don’t think there’s a strong case for a second book, and I’m ok with that. There’s lots of writing to come for another project if all goes as planned. 👀

Launching two businesses

Let’s start with the less sparkly news. I shut down Gateway Coaching. It was a lovely idea. I’m proud of myself for pulling together the tech and the network of coaches for the platform. I’m proud of myself for pivoting, and I’m really proud of myself for deciding to shut it down.

This is one of those “failures” that taught me lessons I’m already integrating into other parts of my life.

Now for the sparkle! The Lifestyle Business League is thriving. In fact, I just got back from the first planning retreat with my business partner, Amelia. I experienced obstacle after obstacle with Gateway Coaching, but building the League has been full of ease.

I’m obsessed with this free 5 Days to Build Your Biz Community challenge we developed. You’ll want to grab it if you’re a business owner who’s feeling disconnected from community.

Reimagining Inner Workout’s business model

It’s taken over six months, hours of customer discovery, and plenty of conversations with my trusted circle to finally feel excited about what’s next for Inner Workout.

I’m intimidated by what’s ahead, but I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.

More to come! Now it’s time for heads down mode.

I’ll be back later this year. Probably September at the earliest.

You can keep in touch by:

Working with me one-on-one for coaching or business coaching/consulting

Joining the Lifestyle Business League

Getting Inner Workout’s weekly Self-Care Sunday emails

Listening to the Inner Warmup podcast

I’m the go-to person for tool recommendations in some of my circles.

Maybe it’s the former VP of Operations in me, but few things bring me more joy in business than having supportive tools in place.

Here’s how I find them:

Product Hunt

Product Hunt (PH) is a platform whose sole purpose is to help you find the latest tech products. People “hunt” new products every day. l go through phases where I check PH daily. Other times, I’ll use the search functionality to look for a specific type of tool (e.g., course software or survey builder.)

AppSumo

Tech companies use AppSumo to validate their product idea by getting their initial customers. You’ll find lifetime software deals and deeply discounted subscriptions on the platform. I recently subscribed to CastMagic via AppSumo, and I’m obsessed.

The only downside of AppSumo is that these early stage businesses might change their business model or go out of business entirely.

G2 and Capterra

G2 and Capterra are like Yelp for software. You can read reviews from real customers. The real benefit is that both platforms also automatically link to competitors, making discovery a breeze.

Google

There are three ways I use Google when I’m searching for a tool.

1. Search [popular tool]. See if any ads or content from competitors pop up in the results.

2. Search [popular tool] + alternative/competitor.

3. Search for specific functionality. For example, I knew a brand built a white-labeled mobile app on top of the course software, Kajabi. I couldn’t figure out what tool they used to make that possible. So I Googled “Kajabi app builder” and found VidApp.

Being nosy

As a consumer, I’m always mindful of what tools brands use. That’s how I found Webflow, my preferred website builder and countless other tools.

BuiltWith makes it easy to see what tools a brand integrates into its website. I’m also a fan of the good ole right click + “view page source” to check out a website’s code.

A word of caution

I’ll end with a word of caution. Don’t let tools give you shiny penny syndrome. Seek tools because you need them, not because they’re trending. It’s all too easy to let a tool upend systems and processes that still work for you. Yes, I’m speaking from personal experience here…

I’ve focused on cultivating creativity over the past year by redesigning my bedroom, painting, republishing a Langston Hughes book from the public domain, making paper, and, more recently, designing Inner Workout’s rebrand myself.

During some parts of the design process, I felt the sweet nectar of hyperfocus. In other moments, I wanted to drop my computer off our back stairwell and onto the concrete below.

My husband, a designer by trade, assured me that this was my initiation into the designer fold.

I don’t intend to change careers to become a designer. I did the rebrand myself to cultivate self-trust, stretch my creative muscles, and deepen my connection to the next iteration of Inner Workout.

In a past report, I outlined the process I’ve used to DIY a visual brand in the past. I’ll use this report to share five lessons I’ve learned as I dabble in design.

1. Have a defined point-of-view.

With words, you can speak out of both sides of your mouth, leaving people to wonder where you actually stand. You can’t do that with design. You’re playing with concepts and elements for a reason, and you need to be able to communicate your perspective to your potential client.

I noticed my skills as a podcast guest sharpening as I’ve worked on the rebrand process. Developing the refreshed visual brand, voice, and brand strategy has made Inner Workout’s POV clear in my mind, which makes it easier for me to communicate it.

2. Inspiration is everywhere.

This is one of those sayings that sounds cliche but is 1000% true. I’ve learned so much about finding inspiration from , a gem of a human being and a consummate creative.

The Pinterest board for the rebrand has everything from vintage library cards to mathematical fractal models to Japandi interiors.

In fact, these interior photos inspired some of the final touches of the visual brand.

All of those disparate pieces of inspiration came together to form the design elements that will show up in Inner Workout’s refreshed visual brand.

3. Iterate without expectation.

The biggest difference between this project and other projects I’ve done in the past is the number of concepts I iterated on.

I kept trying new themes and different variations on a theme. I wasn’t in a rush to find the final logo mark. Instead, I tried to learn something with each iteration. Things like:

This concept doesn’t translate when it’s scaled down to icon size.

This iteration feels too stiff and doesn’t represent the feeling we want the brand to evoke.

The busyness of this concept is distracting.

The lessons learned from my iterative graveyard allowed me to create a logo mark that felt like a full-body yes.

4. Design is an embodied process.

Even though digital design involves hours of staring at a screen, the process can deepen your connection to your body—if you allow it.

I alluded to this in the point above, but I kept tuning in to how concepts made me feel in my body. Then I cross-referenced that feeling with what I wanted the brand to evoke.

My body was also my partner in sifting through feedback. It helped me notice when I was tempted to make a change from a place of people-pleasing versus when feedback spoke to a larger truth.

5. It is personal. Don’t take it personally.

Speaking of feedback, design reminds me that our tastes are subjective. Everyone offers feedback filtered through the lens of their own experience.

There’s no need to take feedback, offered constructively, as a personal attack. I appreciate customer interviews because they allow me to look at feedback in aggregate rather than taking one person’s personal opinion personally. (Try saying that 10x fast!)

When I’m whipping up an overly complex strategy, my inner wisdom whispers, “Let it be easy.”

When I get swept up in the dance of comparison and perception management, I’m reminded that I have nothing to prove.

This mantra has been particularly potent as I evaluate marketing strategies and tactics.

It’s led me to double down on podcasting, both as a host and a guest.

Hosting a podcast

I started podcasting in 2019 with an ambitious goal to publish an episode every week day of that year.

Did I achieve my goal? Surprisingly, yes.

Would I do it again? Absolutely not.

But it taught me I enjoy making podcasts as much as I enjoy listening to them.

I learned people enjoy listening to my voice. (I’m not one of them, lol). Yet, it’s one of the most frequent compliments I receive.

I also noticed a strange thing happening. People started introducing me as a podcast host and treating me as an expert. All because I uploaded some audio files to the internet about topics that interest me.

While I wouldn’t say that podcasting is easy, per se, it feels easy and fun now that I have a process and a support system.

And I don’t have the energy of proving myself. I’m just nerding out in front of a microphone. It honestly catches me off guard when someone mentions something I said on the podcast.

I know the podcast has listeners in theory, but it’s still wild to hear that the words I record in a room by myself made an impact on someone else.

My friend and Lifestyle Business League business partner, Amelia Hruby, has all kinds of free resources for people looking to start a podcast.

I’ll just share a few quick tips:

1. Commit to your podcast for a period of time, whether that’s for a year (wouldn’t recommend, tbh!) or for a 13 episode season. Ya know, like an experiment. 😉 Soooooo many podcasts end up ghosting their listeners. Don’t commit to publishing a podcast ad infinitum until you know you enjoy it.

2. Don’t be afraid to change it up. If you decide you enjoy podcasting once you’ve finished your initial experiment, make tweaks to make the process more enjoyable for you. How you start doesn’t have to be how you finish. Be School was daily and then it moved to twice a week. Inner Warmup was primarily a solo podcast and now we have interviews. Find the structure that will keep you—and your listeners—engaged.

3. You’ve gotta promote your pod. This may sound obvious, but this is where I’ve struggled the most as a podcaster in the past. You need to write about it, post about it, talk about it at the next happy hour. People find out about podcasts from other people, and you’re responsible for starting that ripple effect.

Side note here: Don’t expect your guests to do the heavy lifting for you. In my experience, the biggest benefit of having guests is that a recognizable/authoritative guest encourages your community to press play on the episode. I haven’t seen a huge bump from having bigger name guests, except in fringe cases where I’ve ranked for SEO for their name and a keyword.

Being a podcast guest

After my book came out, I went into what I cheekily called a book post-partum depression. Joke was on me because it was actually a real depression sparked by my PMDD absolutely kicking my ass.

I was over doing the social media song and dance, except on LinkedIn, so I just stopped posting in feed again.

And you know what? My book kept selling. My email list grew. All because I was a guest on podcasts.

Being a guest on podcasts feels like a cheat code for me. I enjoy talking about topics related to my book. I delight in seeing my book ranking surge because a podcast episode I recorded months ago went live. I appreciate the longevity of the medium. People can and will continue to find the podcast episode.

Some tips for podcast guesting:

1. Define the WIIFM. I worked with Scout’s Agency for this most recent podcast tour, but when I’ve successfully pitched in the past, it’s because I’ve defined the specific value I can provide to that podcast’s guests. This will require doing a little research.

2. Have tangible examples handy. Podcast hosts (and guests!) love two things: quick tips and expert experiences. Prep a few stories that highlight your expertise and offer a tangible application. This is any area that I’ve had to work on myself. Sometimes I speak in the abstract, so I’ve practiced tightening up my takeaways to connect the dots for listeners.

3. Have a valuable lead magnet. I doubled down on podcast guesting to sell my book, but I know that folks might need some nurturing first. That’s why I plugged the Take Care assessment as one of my tangible applications in almost every podcast interview. People exchange their email for the assessment, and I get the opportunity to keep building the relationship.

Wanna hear me be a guest on podcasts? Here’s a playlist.

In a world where many folks don’t even like to talk on the phone, conducting customer discovery interviews can feel intimidating and tedious.

I’m still tempted to skip them myself, but they’re just too valuable to pass over if you’re serious about bringing something resonant into the world.

Customer discovery is the process of getting to know your potential customers deeply, who they are, what they like and dislike, how they talk about the problem you’re trying to solve, and, eventually, what they think about the offering you’ve built.

To prepare for the Inner Workout brand refresh, I spent about five hours this past week in customer discovery conversations. It was incredibly clarifying, and I haven’t even synthesized all the information yet!

These interviews will inform everything from the updated website copy, to marketing channels, to the positioning of our products.

If you want to breathe new life into your project or business, talk to your stakeholders through a round of customer discovery.

Here’s the process I used for this most recent round:

1. Reach out to people for an interview.

I reached out to coaching clients, people who’ve attended workshops in the past year, people who’ve recently sent a note to us about the podcast or book, and some people in my networks who haven’t purchased from Inner Workout but have purchased something similar to the offering I’m building.

The goal is to talk to people who have either been your customer before or seem like they could possibly be a customer in the future. Don’t overthink your invites. Worst case, you’ll get a better idea of who isn’t your target custommer.

State the purpose of the conversation and ask if they’d be willing to spend 20 - 30 minutes sharing their thoughts. Some of my past purpose statements:

I’m building a self-care company, and I want to get a better idea of how people practice self-care.

I’m working on a project, and I’m looking for people willing to talk about their relationship to social media.

I normally offer a little gift in exchange for their time. When in doubt, it’s hard to go wrong with a Starbucks gift card.

2. Schedule the interviews.

I’ve found it easiest to use a scheduling link to minimize back and forth.

3. Prep customer discovery questions.

One of my favorite non-profits, Future Founders, has an amazing, free customer discovery guide. (Side note: If you’re 18 - 30ish and interested in any of their programming, let me know! )

I had two goals for this most recent round of customer discovery interviews:

• Understand the demographics and psychographics of my customer

• Get feedback on the offering I’m working on

I joked with interviewees that the first half of the conversation would feel a little like a first date. I asked a lot of getting to know you questions that helped me understand how they spend their days, what their motivations and pain points are, and where personal development fits into their lives.

The second half was much more open-ended. I prepared a few slides and ask them to share what resonated, what didn’t resonate, and what was confusing.

3. Conduct the interviews.

At the beginning of each interview, I ask for permission to record. This allows me to be more present in the conversation and to capture what people say verbatim without putting my own biased spin on their words. I record in Zoom and use Otter.Ai to transcribe.

I tell interviewees throughout the interview that they will not offend me. Their honest, unfiltered feedback is welcome.

And I’m reminding myself throughout the interview to talk less and to be more curious. The best interviews are the ones where someone will make an offhand statement and we’re able to get to the why behind that statement.

4. Synthesize.

I jot down observations after each session. Once all the interviews are complete, I’ll review responses to each question and look for trends.

These trends will eventually turn into the traits of my 1-3 customer avatars. Your customer avatars are your ideal customers fleshed out as if they were characters in a book or TV show. Having a multidimensional picture of your target customer makes it infinitely easier to connect with, sell to, and nurture potential customers.

Please, please, please don’t skip over customer discovery. I know it’s not the sexiest, and it’s more fun in the short term to try to go viral on TikTok. But this work is worth it, if only to get you into the habit of talking to your stakeholders as much as possible.

I’ve wanted to be seen as more than the self-care and well-being person because I didn’t truly value the emotional labor I offered through Inner Workout, nor did I think I’d be respected and valued if my career consisted of “just” helping people take better care of their selves.

What a realization.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

I spent summer 2019 working on the first iteration of Inner Workout, a practice that helped people build the skill of self-care,

Four years later, I’m working on the next iteration of Inner Workout.

A rebrand fueled by radical self-honesty, four years of data, and the newly-integrated belief that the work of supporting well-being is valuable. It’s what I’m here to do.

As I work through this rebrand, I’m returning to the business basics, the unsexy stuff that most business owners would rather skip. But we’re not skipping these steps, mkay? We’ll walk through them together in the final process reports.

Today’s Tuesday. I could blame my tardiness on the long weekend I took to New York, but that would be a half truth.

Here’s the whole truth: I didn’t know what to write.

The biggest developments in my professional life aren’t ready for public consumption yet.

So in a meta move, I’m sharing my process for figuring out what to write (or post or talk about in a podcast episode) when The Muse isn’t being particularly helpful.

Return to the why behind the what

As I’ve shared previously, I believe in starting each project or marketing channel with either a question I’m trying to answer or a clear intention.

When I felt stuck on what to write today, I returned to some of my intentions for this newsletter: documenting this full season of my professional life, sharing my process, and building credibility/thought leadership.

That’s all it took to spark the idea for this report, but I’ll still share a couple of other things that work for me.

Revisit past work

This is something I’ve been doing more and more with Inner Workout. I’ve publicly talked about self-care for nearly five years at this point. There’s rarely a need for me to start from scratch.

I’ll look back at old newsletters, podcast transcripts, and social posts as a jumping off point, asking myself these questions:

• How can I make this topic feel relevant today?

• What do I know now that I didn’t know when I first created this?

• How have my thoughts on this topic shifted?

Answer a question

Respond to a frequently asked question about your business or your creative work. Publicly respond to something your clients have asked in more private settings. Share an interesting tidbit that people might not even think to ask you.

For example, my back-up plan for today’s report was to write something inspired by a question a client asked me last week about pivoting.

While going the venture-backed route isn’t my preference, I respect how shameless VC-backed companies are about pivoting. Their goal is to find product-market fit so they can create an ROI for their investors. That means they’ll pivot as soon as they realize something isn’t working. More lifestyle businesses need to adopt that mentality. I could say more, but I’m saving this topic for a rainy day.

So there you have it. I wrote a full Process Report without knowing what to write. 🤗

This sparked a frenzy of Google searches.

What did it mean for a book to be in the public domain?
Who could publish books in the public domain?
What books were entering the public domain in 2023?

And that’s what introduced me to Langston Hughes’ second book of poetry, Fine Clothes to the Jew—more on that title later.

I couldn’t locate any modern reprints, and most original editions I found were hundreds of dollars.

So I set about bringing these poems, which are inspired by the blues, back to life as a standalone collection of poetry. It was a labor of love, which involved:

• Transcribing poems from photos and poetry databases

• Hunting down a beat up version of the original book on Etsy

• Realizing that many of the poems on the internet had been mis-transcribed and didn’t include the original spelling of some words, which changes the experience of the poems

• Having conversations with two of my Jewish friends about the original title

• Selecting two of Hughes’ essays to accompany the poems and to contextualize the collection in its time of publication

• Writing an essay contextualizing this work of poetry in the modern day

• Designing the front and back cover, which features an archival photograph of Langston Hughes taken around the same time he published Fine Clothes

• Creating 10 digital illustrations to go throughout the book.

• Stepping up my Adobe Illustrator game

• Formatting the book and getting it set up for distribution

If that sounds like a lot, it was. It’s also exactly the kind of project that I find enjoyable. There were point where I thought, “Did I just essentially write a college essay for fun? Yes, yes I did.”

This is The Process Report, but I’m not going to walk you through the ins and outs of each step. I’d rather share what completing this project allowed me to process.

Black-Jewish relations

I mentioned earlier that the book was originally titled Fine Clothes to the Jew. Here’s an excerpt from the essay I wrote as the preface to the book:

The original title made me squirm even as I read it at the tail end of 2022. It feels almost fated that this work would enter the public domain after the year we’ve had. A year when Kanye West threatened to go “death con 3” on Jewish people, Kyrie Irving tweeted a movie supporting extremist Black Hebrew Israelite ideology, and antisemitic incidents in the States are at an all-time high. 

Fine Clothes to the Jew references a line in Hughes’ poem, “Hard Luck.” And the line in the poem references a colloquialism used by Black folks at the time. When you were low on money, you’d take your best clothes to the pawnshop. Many of these shops in Harlem were owned by Jewish families. 

The essay continues with a short exploration of Black-Jewish relations as well as an explanation of what made the book so controversial in its day. The title isn’t actually what made waves back in 1927.

I wouldn’t have been able to write that essay without talking to two of my Jewish friends. We talked about antisemitism, racism, how it’s entrenched in the fabric of America, how we see it show up in our own experiences.

These conversations probably wouldn’t have happened without this project as an anchor. Because of this project, I’m seeking out more rich, nuanced conversations like this in my life.

As for the title, I ultimately changed it to Gather Up Yo’ Fine Clothes (find it here and here), a line from the same poem as the original title. It captures both the joy and the hardships Hughes explores in his poetry. One could just as easily gather up their fine clothes for a night of dancing as for church or a trip to the pawnshop. 

My own relationship to Blackness

Fine Clothes was controversial in its day, not because of it its title but because of its portrayal of Black folk. It didn’t only showcase what W.E.B. Du Bois called the Talented Tenth. It also included prostitutes and drinkers and poor folks and gamblers.

As I read the poetry and Hughes’ two essays I chose to feature, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” and “These Bad New Negroes: A Critique on Critics”, I was forced to contend with my own relationship to Blackness.

Hughes rails against respectability politics and the ways in which the Black middle class pretends proximity to whiteness will save them. Poring over those essays shook loose some residual internalized white supremacy.

I’ve also adopted a quote from “These Bad New Negroes: A Critique on Critics” as a motto of sorts.

These words invite me to break down the respectable, good girl facade I’ve built so that I can enjoy the full poetry of life.

My creative identity

I’ve always shied away from calling myself a creative, though I’ve always written, danced, and played.

Towards the end of last year, I decided to start embracing my creative identity. I practiced having a creative point of view and bringing it into the world, knowing that not everyone would understand it.

I wanted the cover of the book to feel vibrant and fresh. Though the collection is nearly a century old, the themes are as relevant as ever. The cover needed to reflect that.

Illustrating the book stretched me. I had certain constraints. I would print the book in black and white. I had limited skills in Illustrator.

But I welcomed the chance to practice getting an idea out of my head and onto paper. I drew inspiration from Aaron Douglas’ silhouetted style. Douglas illustrated covers for several Harlem Renaissance authors. I wanted some pieces of the illustration to feel almost too big, too much, just as the original readers of the book felt. And ultimately, I wanted to reflect the themes of each section of the book.

One of my favorites is the illustration I developed for the Beale Street Love section. Below is the illustration and the poem of the same name. (TW: Domestic violence.)

I won’t win any awards for these illustrations, but, through creating them, I learned more about Illustrator and myself.

Why I’m sharing now

I didn’t initially share about the book because I didn’t want to distract people from the launch of Inner Workout. Then, I didn’t share because it felt vulnerable. It still feels vulnerable. This process ended up being more personal than I imagined it would be.

But that’s why I created this space, to hold the interests and explorations that don’t fit in the box of “Taylor the self-care lady.” To document my process while I’m still in it, learning, growing, and developing.

Final thoughts

At the beginning of this report, I said I did this project just for funzies. That’s 95% true. I do also make a couple dollars each time a book sells. It’s the tiniest bit of passive income. since I’m not planning on advertising it.

My dream for this project is that it would somehow get incorparated in to a high school class. If you know any high school English teachers, I’m happy to share the PDF version for free!

Ok, that’s it. This is what I do for fun. Read a book of poetry a million times. Attempt to give it a new life. Deepen skills. Have unexpected conversations. Ask myself the difficult questions. Mostly for funzies.🤗

If you want a copy of your own, you can find it here and here.

In my experience, not having both kinds of people in your life leads to resentment, disappointment, and isolation.

I’d be a rich woman if I had a dollar for every well-meaning but ill-advised suggestion I’ve received. I’m lucky to have people in my life who care about my success and the success of my endeavors. They’re quick to tell me about an offering I should create or an opportunity I should pursue. However, much of the input I receive isn’t actionable because the person hasn’t run a business, hasn’t run a business like mine, or doesn’t share my values.

I can’t tell you how many catch up conversations turned into unsolicited advice sessions or all the moments where I wanted to celebrate a milestone, knowing that the other person wouldn’t fully understand the work it took to get there.

For example, Inner Workout’s Self-Care Sunday newsletter now averages a 50% open rate. If you’re unfamiliar with email marketing, 50% could sound like a failing percentage. I mean, that’s an F in school, right? But it’s actually more than double the average open rate!

In Q1 of last year, my goal was to sustain an average 20% open rate. A 50% average is incredible growth, and it’s refreshing to have people in my life who don’t require context-setting before they celebrate (or commiserate) with me.

The more I’ve cultivated relationships with like-minded business owners, the richer my other relationships have gotten. In the past, I’ve wished that my loved ones understood what I did for a living. That’s no longer their role. My loved ones hold space for me to explore all my other identities and interests. While they’re excited about anything I accomplish career-wise, what they care about most is my company.

If you’re an entrepreneur or a creative of some sort, I encourage you to check in on your relationships. Do you have both kinds of people in your life? How can you cultivate the relationships you need?

I’ll end with a shameless plug. My friend Amelia and I started the Lifestyle Business League because we wanted a community of like-minded business owners at a similar stage as us. It’s a cheat code for business community. 🤗

But what I realized recently is that not every problem needs a business to solve it.

Back in February, I shared that Gateway Coaching wasn’t working.

I thought I had three options:

Rework the business model.
Sell the company.
Dissolve the company.

I started Gateway Coaching to make coaching more accessible and to help trained coaches earn their experience hours. Trying to make a profit was impeding the impact I wanted to have, and the impact was one piece of the project that was most compelling to me.

So I started reimagining Gateway Coaching, incorporating feedback and gut feelings from the first iteration.

• I wanted it to be accessible to the people who would benefit from coaching most without creating a pricing race to the bottom a la Groupon.

• I didn’t want to overwhelm potential clients with too many coach options.

• I wanted people to work with the same coach, since that was what was happening anyways

• I didn’t want to build the next iteration alone.

Gateway Coaching 2.0 is slowly re-emerging as a volunteer-run initiative, rather than a company, and I’m working with a small steering committee to bring it to life.

There’s still more to build out, but the gist is that we’ll open up client applications a few times a year.

In order to qualify as a client, you must either be:

• A recent graduate who graduated less than a year ago

• Currently unemployed

• Making less than 35,000 a year

For $119, we’ll match you to a coach who you’ll work with for four sessions. $100 goes straight to the coach. $19 covers our operational costs. Once operational costs are covered, we use the $19 to subsidize the cost for future clients.

Yes, there’s money exchanged. I believe coaches deserve to be compensated, and there is some truth to the saying, “People who pay, pay attention.”

But there’s no profit motive. I’m donating my time to solve a problem, and other people care enough to donate their time and skills to build it with me.

This didn’t need to be a business, but it does need to exist.

Let’s process together

New! Coaching for mid-career folks who can’t spend the rest of their career working like this

Add me to your business support system with biz coaching and consulting

Find business community in the Lifestyle Business League

Get on the waitlist for group coaching through Begin Within

Invite me to speak at your organization

Take care with the Inner Workout Book

This newsletter started with an explicit expiration date for a reason. It’s a moment-in-time project, not a forever thing.

What does that mean for you?

Weekly reports will continue until June 30th, and then I’m making space for other endeavors.

I’ve loved having this container to document this pivotal point in my journey as a writer, creative, and leader. These reports have also made it easier for me to answer questions at scale, so they’ll stay live even after I stop sharing weekly.

This is starting to sound like a goodbye letter. We’ve still got two and a half months together in this space, and there’s lots more to process.

Let’s get into it.

The Inner Workout book has officially been in the world for an entire month. It feels like it’s been longer.

If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know the story. I started book talks at the end of 2020, wrote the book in 2021 and 2022, and have either been in promotion prep mode or full-on promotion mode all year.

I mentioned my book launch strategy in previous newsletters:

1. Lean on my existing community.

2. Take a crescendo approach to promotion.

3. Lean on experts to do the heavy lifting in their areas of expertise.

Today’s report is all about that last point.

Because I’ve had a lot of experiences in my career, I’m decent at many things. However, I’m only excellent at a few.

I’ve DIYed many pieces of my business over the years. I pitched podcasts, partners, and media outlets. Built my own websites. Edited videos. It’s worked out pretty well for the most part, but the launch of my first book felt like a time to treat myself by not doing it all. I wanted to give my book the best chance of success by leaning on experts and freeing up my capacity.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of what that looked like, allow me to acknowledge the financial privilege I have in being able to invest in support. I’m really fortunate to have a portfolio career that allowed me to save up for this book launch for years. That option isn’t available to many first-time authors. If you’re curious to hear more about the dollars and cents of it all, you can get a breakdown on what I spent here.

Here’s what it looked like to lean on experts in my launch and how it panned out for the book’s success:

I drew from successful authors’ strategies

Even though I dropped a healthy amount of cash on this launch, I still did a lot of the work myself. One of my favorite hacks as a business owner is to look at how well-resourced businesses and founders approach situations. I bookmarked book pages on people’s websites, kept a folder of book launch emails, and was always on the lookout for strategies and tactics that I could implement.

I’ve gotten compliments on the webpage for the Inner Workout book, and it looks that good because it draws from the book pages I loved most.

Would I repeat this tactic again for my next book launch? You betcha.

I hired a podcast PR firm

When I initially launched Inner Workout, the company, one of my awareness building tactics was to be a guest on podcasts. And you know what? It helped me build my email list and social media following, even if only at a small scale.

Podcast guesting was something I continued to do, with successful results, as Inner Workout grew. Since I was DIYing the process, I was limited by my capacity to research, pitch, and follow up with podcasts.

As I dreamed up the book launch, I knew this was a tactic worth doubling down on. So I spent the big bucks and hired Scout’s Agency. Their founder co-hosts a top-rated podcast, and it felt like I was buying both the firm’s expertise and their relationships.

This tactic did not disappoint. In our four months of working together, they secured 32 guesting opportunities. Some of these shows have huge, aligned audiences. I don’t know if I would have broken through to them on my own.

In addition to their efforts, I sourced ~10 podcast guest opportunities of my own. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was a guest on 50 podcasts by the end of this year.

We coordinated as many podcasts as we could around the book launch date, and there are podcasts that will continue to go live through the end of this year. I appreciate this approach because I tend to see a bump in my Amazon book ranking as episodes go live. This ensures that people will continue to hear about the book for the rest of this year and beyond.

Beyond the podcast pitching, Scout’s Agency was incredibly supportive. I barely lifted a finger for scheduling. They made sure every podcast had my headshot and bios. They even sent me flowers for my book launch.

I would absolutely do a podcast tour again, not just for the results but also for the ease. My only job was to show up and speak.

I hired a literary publicist

In most cases, a literary publicist also pitches podcasts. I separated these two functions because I really wanted to work with a team that specialized in podcast PR.

My literary publicist, Megan, was a godsend. I received very little support from my publisher’s marketing team, so Megan became a sounding board, a voice of reason, and someone I could trust to always tell it to me straight.

Before I get into results, I want to acknowledge that it’s a weird time for media. Layoffs are happening left and right. Organizations want to do more with less.

I also had a weird situation where another very similar, better positioned book with a more credentialed author shared the same publishing date with me.

That being said, we didn’t get a ton of traditional press. My favorite was this Fast Company piece that was really well received by my network.

Would I invest in a literary publicist again? It depends.

Knowing what I know now about book marketing, I can better position my next book in the market from the get-go, but I’m not entirely sure that traditional media will be the best place to invest my time, money, and efforts in several years.

Beyond considering the state of media, it also depends on where I’m at career-wise and where the business is at. But if I decide to invest in a literary publicist again, you can bet I’m calling up Megan.

Let’s process together

Add me to your support system for business coaching and consulting

Find business community in the Lifestyle Business League

Get on the waitlist for group coaching through Begin Within

Invite me to speak at your organization (Mental Health Awareness Month will be here before you know it!)

Take care with the Inner Workout Book

TL;DR - Could you answer this anonymous two question survey for me? TYSM!

The second habit of highly effective people is to begin with the end in mind.

The Process Report started with my dual desires to talk publicly about things beyond self-care and personal development and to document this season of building and launching.

I committed to sharing about business, creativity, strategy, and process in this container every week until the end of June.

This all started with desire and commitment, but no end in mind.

Oops. 🙈

I’ve got plenty to share between now and the last week of June.

More inside looks on launching a book and what happens once a book is in the world. Updates on what the heck is going on with Gateway Coaching. Perspectives on portfolio careers, thought leadership, and building a body of work. Finally sharing about the secret project I worked on over Christmas break that’s quietly been in the world and making a little money for a few months.

All of that goodness is heading your way for the next few months, but I’d like your feedback on what’s next for The Process Report.

It’s time for me to get clear on the end in mind for this here newsletter.

Better late than never, right?

The only thing I know for sure is that this space won’t be weekly after June.

I’d like to figure out the rest with you.

Let’s process together

Add me to your support system for business coaching and consulting

Find business community in the Lifestyle Business League

Get on the waitlist for group coaching through Begin Within

Invite me to speak at your organization (Mental Health Awareness Month will be here before you know it!)

Take care with the Inner Workout Book

The event was lovely. I’m always humbled and surprised when people show up, but this newsletter isn’t actually about the author event.

I’m normally “a fly in the afternoon/evening before an engagement and head straight to the airport after facilitating” kind of gal. This time was different. The author event was on Wednesday night, and I didn’t facilitate until Friday.

So I gave myself a little end of quarter retreat. Here’s what it entailed:

A moment of pride.

I wrote what happened this past quarter and honed in out what I was most proud of. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a tendency to move onto the next big thing. For example, I may or may not have developed a strategy for an Inner Workout tech product during book launch week because my brain has no chill. That’s why grounding myself in pride and celebration is such a necessary part of my process.

A moment of clarity.

I took some time to get clear about what I want in the next three months. How do I want to feel? How do I want to spend my time? How do I want to make money? I answered these questions by reviewing what didn’t work last quarter, checking in with my inner compass, and considering what excites me in the short and long term. By the end of my reflection, I had a few stated goals as well as a few questions I wanted to explore over the next few months.

A moment of planning.

I packed a stack of sticky notes and wrote what needed to be accomplished in order to achieve my goals or answer my questions. Then I grouped the tasks by month—ordering, re-ordering, and scrapping tasks to ensure that my approach to this quarter’s work reflected my priorities.

Eventually, I jumped over to Amie to give my tasks and sub-tasks a digital home. I ended by blocking time (and buffer time) on my calendar for April’s tasks. It puts me at ease to know that I have more than enough space to get everything done.

In reality, the process is more fluid than a three-step checklist makes it appear. I jotted down some tasks on Post-its before I started reflecting. I clarified and re-clarified while planning.

What’s most important to me is that I’m excited for what the next 90 days have in store, both personally and professionally.

How do you approach quarterly planning?

Let’s process together

Add me to your support system for business coaching and consulting

Find business community in the Lifestyle Business League

Get on the waitlist for group coaching through Begin Within

Invite me to speak at your organization (Mental Health Awareness Month will be here before you know it!)

Take care with the Inner Workout Book

2. Take a crescendo approach to promotion.

3. Lean on experts to do the heavy lifting in their areas of expertise.

Today’s report is all about the crescendo* approach to promotion and the results it got me.

*For the non-musicians, a crescendo is a musical term where you play softly and increase the volume over a period of time.

Starting with a bang

If we’re getting technical, I got loud before I got quiet. I told my nearest and dearest as soon as I found out the book was available for pre-order in early November, but I didn’t share the link publicly until my 30th birthday on November 28. I invited people to pre-order via both newsletters, on Instagram, and on LinkedIn.

The book became a #1 new release in one of the Amazon categories, which, honestly, isn’t that impressive of a feat. It was still a fun little milestone. Happy birthday to me!

Getting quiet

And then…I didn’t share publicly again until February.

My original plan was to pick up promotion in January, but my publicist said that starting promotion 6-8 weeks pre-launch is the sweet spot. I leaned closer to six weeks.

Most of us have heard the insight that people need to hear about something seven times before taking action. I wanted people to hear about the book enough times to pre-order but not enough times to get bored with the book conversation before it even launched.

So, unless you were a subscriber to The Process Report, you weren’t seeing me sell the book.

Whisper campaign

In February, we launched the burnout season of Inner Warmup. I talked with brilliant guests, opened up about my most recent brush with burnout, and shared how the concepts from the book helped me heal. The season provided a ton of free value while soft-selling the book.

February is also when I started linking to the book in every Self-Care Sunday newsletter and focusing on the book launch here.

The name of the game here was awareness building.

Getting loud

I turned up the volume on March 5th. Daily LinkedIn and Instagram posts. Reposting Stories. Podcasts appearances. I even posted on my personal Facebook—something I rarely do—one week before launch and the day off launch.

It really built a buzz that was honestly overstimulating to me at times. I was fielding tags, DMs, and comments on too many platforms. It was a good problem to have, but I had to double down on my digital wellbeing practices.

The promotion noisemaking came to a head during launch week, with six podcast guest appearances, social posts, emails, a Chicago launch event, and a virtual launch event.

I wasn’t sure how to ground this number. Should I celebrate? Be disappointed? One on hand, I haven’t sold an Inner Workout product to that many individuals since our Kickstarter campaign. On the other hand, bestselling books sell 5,000 - 10,000 books in their first week.

Then I did some digging and saw a stat (can’t find the source) that most non-fiction books sell 250 - 350 copies in the first year. Inner Workout exceeded that in a week! And there’s still plenty of room to grow into my goal of Inner Workout being a book that has legs.

Thoughts on pre and post launch strategy, what I’d do differently, and what the heck happened in Q1 to come in future Process Reports, but I think this is enough for today!

Let’s process together

Add me to your support system for business coaching and consulting

Find business community in the Lifestyle Business League

Get on the waitlist for group coaching through Begin Within

Invite me to speak at your organization

Take care with the Inner Workout Book

The roundup also featured another book on self-care, written by an MD with over 100k followers on Instagram, and the book shared my pub date. Dun dun dun…

In the moment, it felt like I got punched in the stomach, but it ultimately turned out to be an incredible gift. This situation gave me an opportunity to live my values, showed me how I could be a better book marketer, and pointed me to what I want.

Living my values
I don’t want to buy into the capitalist lie that there can only be one winner. Once I moved through my emotions surrounding this other book, I realized that more values-aligned people talking about self-care is never a bad thing! So I reached out to the author to see if she’d be interested in a joint virtual event. Her team politely declined, but I’m proud of myself for asking. Collaboration over competition, always.

Becoming a better book marketer
The company name Inner Workout was fitting when I was building an integrative, mat-based practice. However, the name requires more explanation the further I’ve pivoted beyond that first iteration of the business.

I still love the name Inner Workout as both a business name and book title, but it can’t compete with the clarity of the other author’s title and sub-title: Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included).

Honestly, that could also be the title of my book, where I wax poetic about moving beyond the mainstream approach to self-care, but you wouldn’t know it based on my title alone. Inner Workout: Strengthening Self-Care Practices for Healing Body, Soul, and Mind is vague by comparison. I appreciate how Real Self-Care conveys a differentiated perspective on self-care. It’s giving I’m not like other girls energy, but in a good way.

I’ll carry this lesson with me when I write my next book. The title isn’t for the people familiar with my brand, it’s for the person browsing the bookstore, looking for a book title that speaks to them.

Pointing me to what I want
Jealousy often points you towards your desires. This isn’t an original thought. You’ve probably seen some version of this sentiment on social media.

I was jealous of this other author. Her credentials and audience size instantly gave her a level of credibility that isn’t immediately extended to me.

And as I’ve watched her launch progress, I’ve seen her achieve more things that I now know I want some day. A Good Morning America segment. A write up in a popular Substack and in the New York Times. I’m 90% sure this book will hit multiple bestseller lists.

There’s no ill-will or competitive spirit in this jealousy. In fact, this jealousy is opening the door to possibilities I didn’t realize I was interested in.

Pooja’s 10 years older than me, and seeing what she’s accomplished gets me excited for what the next decade could bring.

To steal another social media quote, I won’t compare my beginning to someone else’s middle.

However, I will allow my reaction to someone else’s middle to clarify my desires.

What desire is your jealousy pointing you towards?

If you haven’t done so already, now’s a good time to order Inner Workout and Real Self-Care (Bookshop affiliate links)!

If you haven’t ordered it, please take a moment to do so. The book is packed with meaningful practices. It’s absolutely gorgeous. And it’s a tangible way to support my free offerings like my newsletters and podcast, which still cost time and money to create.

Now that official business is out of the way, it’s story time.

A few weeks ago, I reached out to my publisher to follow up about lifestyle shots for the book. They’d told me in January that their photographer would be working on them. I wasn’t expecting anything too fancy, just a handful of photos that I could use for marketing and share with partners who needed photos for their marketing efforts.

You know what my publisher sent me? A mockup that looked like it’d been made in Photoshop…

Maybe there was a mixup. I followed up again to ask for the lifestyle photos we’d discussed previously and was told that the photographer had left the company.

Cool. Cool. Cool.

We were less than a month out from launch. I had folks waiting for book photos that didn’t exist, and I hadn’t budgeted time or money for these photos because I thought the publisher would provide them.

So what did I do? I called my mom. Then I called my friend Amelia. There was frustration and tears. Then I put on my game face.

After listening to my venting, Amelia invited me to lean on community. “There is someone in your network who will be willing to take these photos and turn them around quickly,” she encouraged me.

I needed that reminder because my knee jerk reaction is always to assume I have to carry everything alone.

A flurry of action followed. Amelia sent me the photos from her book photo shoot for inspiration. I texted my friend Nastasia, a semi-retired photographer, to see if she could spare any time for a photoshoot the following week.

I whipped up a creative brief in Notion, a task I wouldn’t have felt creatively confident enough to take on last year. It was a somewhat backward endeavor. I catalogued photos that resonated, noted what drew me to them, translated those photos into a vibe, then sought more inspiration that met the vibe.

This ordeal started on Friday at the end of the workday. By Saturday, we had a photoshoot on the books for Monday.

And that’s not even the wildest part. I paid zero dollars out of pocket.

I talk a lot about the importance of building a network and a community. This shoot was a case study of community in action.

Amelia recently signed up for a software that gives outrageous referral bonuses, and she made sure to use my referral code when she signed up. I had a $400 Visa gift card sitting in my inbox because she was looking out for me.

That gift card allowed me to book a Peerspace for a few hours, buy some props, and I had plenty left over to buy supplies for my book launch party.

When I reached out to Nastasia, I planned on paying her. I believe that you should pay your friends’ rates, not ask for discounts. Imagine my surprise when she asked if we could do a trade: she’d take these photos in exchange for coaching sessions.

It was an immediate yes from me. And also a reminder that reciprocity can exist even when there isn’t money exchanged.

I’ve been reading a lot of research on resilience lately. In the mainstream, resilience is characterized as an individual trait, but the research shows that our communities and context play an enormous role in our ability to be resilient.

My journey to publishing this book has been filled with setbacks and miscommunication and confusion. Maybe one day I’ll share the full story. I’m not sure yet.

What I am sure of is that this book will be in the world tomorrow because of my support system. The story of these photos, which are more gorgeous (and plentiful!) than anything my publisher would have given me, is just one small example of that truth.

I’m entering book week with so much gratitude. Thank you community. Thank you support system. Thank you readers.

And if you want to celebrate with me in real time, make sure you’re RSVPed for Sunday’s virtual launch event!

We maximize our energy and impact when we tie our tactics to a larger strategy. This is a lesson I’m forever learning.

If I had to sum up my book launch strategy in three points, it’d be these:

1. Lean on my existing community.

2. Take a crescendo approach to promotion.

3. Lean on experts to do the heavy lifting in their areas of expertise.

I’ll focus on the first point for today’s report. I mentioned last week that my network has my best investment for this launch.

Here are some tactics that allowed me to lean into my existing community:

Reviving my personal newsletter.

We love a meta moment. Yes, creating The Process Report was a strategic move! I stepped back from my previous personal newsletter as I was building Inner Workout, but I missed having a space to talk about topics outside of self-care and personal development. I enjoy talking about business and creativity and strategy, too!

The Process Report gave me a playground to explore these topics and a means to reconnect with a newsletter list that was gathering dust.

So, did it work? You’d probably be a better judge of this tactic than I. I can say that several of you have told me you pre-ordered the book. I’ve also gotten positive feedback on my willingness to bring you along in this process. Feels like a win to me! 

Mapping my network and making specific asks.

This tactic was by far the most work, both practically and emotionally. Even before I started working with my publicist, who assigned me a similar task, I made lists on giant post-its of people and organizations in my orbit who could help get the word out about the book. 

I also sifted through my LinkedIn and had a teammate filter through the accounts following either me or Inner Workout on Instagram. 

Eventually, all of this data went into spreadsheets where I mapped out specific asks. Could X share the book with their newsletter? Could Y have me as a guest on their podcast? Could I collab with Z organization for an event?

So, did it work? I can’t say definitively yet. I brought in eight podcast guesting opportunities from my network. Two organizations I’d worked with previously bought books. Time will tell the impact of sending out 70+ advance reader copies to people with large audiences who were following me and/or Inner Workout on Instagram.

One thing that was for sure not worth the energy? I sent emails to every collegiate and alumni Alpha Omicron Pi sorority chapter. It may have yielded a handful of sales, but it wasn’t worth the time it took me and my teammate to complete. 

Inviting my community to join the launch team.

A launch team is a group of people who commit to supporting the launch of your book. I liked the idea of creating a launch team for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s an opportunity to live into the ethos of the book by giving and receiving. I have to be reminded that people want to help, but they can’t help if I don’t ask.

Second, people buy books because of recommendations. It’s one thing for me to tell you that my book is amazing. It’s another to hear your friend share how the book helped them build a connection to themselves. In theory, a launch team is a way to tap into that recommendation engine.

So, did it work? Again, we’re still just over a week out from launch, so I can’t make a definitive call yet. I’ve got 14 lovely humans who joined the launch team. Several of them have already tangibly supported the book launch, but most of their support will happen in the next couple of weeks.

I’ll explore the other pieces of my book launch strategy in upcoming reports. Until them, pre-order the book if you haven’t already (here’s why!), and RSVP for our virtual launch event!

I committed to writing these reports through the end of June because I wanted to document what happens beyond the launch. I’m particularly interested in observing the long tail of my investments into press and podcasts. This is all an experiment, remember?

I’m still learning what efforts create meaningful impact, but I can already tell you what have been my top two investments: relationships and my reputation.

Networking always made me think of men in suits out looking to meet people for personal gain. I don’t think of myself as a talented networker. Yet, by some stroke of luck, I’ve built a supportive community over the course of my career that ranges from close friends to colleagues to acquaintances to cheerleaders.

And they’re all making the launch process that much smoother.

There are folks like L’Oreal of , who’s moderating the virtual book launch, and Jessica, who’s having me on her podcast, who offered their support before I could even ask.

There were people and companies who were immediate “yeses” to a collaboration around the book. I didn’t have to craft an extravagant pitch. They know me. We’ve worked together. They’ve seen me in action. And I know their communities. I could easily highlight how a collaboration would benefit us both.

It sounds so simple when I share this here. However, I need you to know how terrified I often felt when sending emails. It took a pump up playlist and a Focusmate buddy to give me the chutzpah to press send. I don’t enjoy asking for support. It’s a whole thing, but this book launch is forcing me to move through that. And I’m blown away with the level of support and encouragement I’m receiving.

As I consider what’s next after my first book is out in the world, I find myself thinking in decades rather than days. I imagine there’s someone reading this who sees where I’m at right now and feels like they have to get here ASAP. From here I’m sitting,this doesn’t feel like a “here” to get to. I don’t feel like I’ve arrived, and I don’t know that I ever will.

There’s no rush, friend. Be present in the season you’re in. Build relationships. Explore your interests. Share your journey. The seeds you’re planting are your best investment. They’ll bloom into something more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

Subscribe now

I don’t know how many pre-orders there are. I’ve had people assume my publisher sends me some kind of pre-order report. They don’t. I asked for an update earlier this month, and the number (2,900 for the curious) they gave me wasn’t meaningful because it also included the books sold to bookstores. Bookstores still have to sell those books to customers, and some of those stores ordered books on consignment, meaning they can return any books that don’t sell to my publisher.

So how much of that 2,900 are individual sales? No idea.

How much is going to bookstores? Couldn’t tell ya.

How many of those bookstores have a consignment agreement? *shrugs*

I could have pre-sold anywhere from 100 or 1,000 copies to individual readers like you.

This is the marathon of sales cycles, and I have very little idea how much progress I’m making.

It’s disorienting, but here’s what I do know:

The number of people who redeemed the pre-order bonus. 45 people are have been through the workflow on Flodesk, my email service provider. Assuming everyone was honest about pre-ordering the book, I’ve sold at least 45 books. It’s likely that at least half of the people who pre-ordered didn’t redeem their free digital journal. So there are probably a minimum of 90 pre-orders.

My Amazon ranking. Since these are pre-orders Amazon, Bookshop, and other booksellers don’t count these as true sales until the book ships in March. That means I won’t see a sales report for a few more weeks. Thankfully, I can see my Amazon sales ranking.

Depending on how your book is categorized, a dozen sales might make you an Amazon bestseller. It’s not particularly difficult to game the algorithm. I’m not interested in my Amazon ranking because I’m chasing besteller-dom. I’d actually prefer it if you pre-ordered from Bookshop or your local bookstore. However, this is one of the few data points I have. I can see the spike when I promoted the book on my birthday. The dip when I laid low on book promotion in January, and the spike when I picked it back up again this month.

How many orders are represented in this graph? Your guess is good as mine, but I appreciate having a bit of proof that orders are happening.

The people who have personally informed me of their pre-order. I heave a grateful exhale every time I get a DM or a LinkedIn message or an email response from someone who pre-ordered a book. It’s always a day-brightening data point.

Subscribe now

The publishing industry is opaque, so I find clarity by returning to the goals I set for this launch:

1. Share an accessible resource for people in their self-care and inner work journeys

2. Build my thought leadership in self-care and personal development

3. Sell enough to get another book deal

I’m well on my way towards the first two goals, and I’ll keep working blindly towards the third. Onward!

Subscribe now

I’m a failure.

I have no creativity, no business acumen, no X factor.

People will view me differently now.

The admitting is the hardest part, but on the other side there is so much expansion.

I’m speaking from very recent experience.

This iteration of Gateway Coaching isn’t working.

There isn’t product-market fit. Coaches understand that value of the platform. There’s an organically growing waitlist of coaches who want to join the platform.

But I didn’t realize that marketing Gateway in its current form meant essentially educating potential consumers on an entire industry. Most folks don’t know the difference between coaching and consulting and mentoring. And education is just the beginning. Once they understand what coaching is, they have to trust the platform and then find their coach. It’s a long sales cycle that would cost a lotta time and money, a heavy load for a bootstrapped company to bear.

I bit off more than I could chew.

I knew and resisted that truth for a few weeks. Gateway Coaching is the first project I’ve started that wasn’t self-contained. There are over 20 coaches on the platform, coaches who hoped Gateway would help them earn the experience hours they need for their ICF credential. Beyond the familiar narrative of being a failure, I felt like I’d failed them. That was a fresh pill of shame to swallow.

It became clear that I had three options:

Rework the business model.
Sell the company.
Dissolve the company.

Those options led to action.

I listed the company for sale. Not a multimillion dollar acquisition deal (lolz). Just enough to recoup most of my costs. I started chatting casually with potential buyers and truly thought I’d hang my founder hat up for a while.

I reached out to the founding coaches. Every month, I send them a video update about the platform. This month’s update forced me to show up as the transparent leader I aim to be. Recording that video is one of the most intimidating things I’ve done in recent memory. I shared a version of what I wrote there, pressed send, and tried not to look at my inbox for the rest of the afternoon.

What happened next still brings a tingle to my spine. Coaches replied with words of encouragement, offers of support, constructive feedback, and even an alternative business model that I’m seriously considering.

Wow.

There are portals of possibilities that are waiting to open up for you, but they’ll remain closed until you’re honest about what’s not working.