This is the longest email I've written, and maybe the most transparent in a while. Delete now if you don't want to read the whole thing or you may not really get what I'm trying to say and being misunderstood would break my heart <3 ily

Hi fam, happy friday <3 Sending you a note a from the heart as the founder of The Doers (ps hi! this is me if we've never met <3) and sharing something that i *hope* helps someone here. I wanted to wait to make it a podcast ep, but the podcast isn't coming back until Oct 6 (you heard it here first!) and that feels like too far away to make you wait.

So why now? I'm a woo woo girlie and, in a call with a private client the other day, I shared this insight with her and she said "Have you talked about this publicly? People HAVE to hear this from you because it's beyond helpful".

And I took that as an invitation to share.

If you're a fellow projector, you get the need to feel like the door is open for you to walk through.

What I shared with her was my perspective on my 2025 (I say my because there is some definite privilege in what I'm about to share. I realize not everyones lives are the same and want to be mindful) (also this is why I wanted to wait to do a podcast because there's so much nuance involved, and I want you to hear my voice so you hear my true intentions, but alas, I feel called to share now).

This particular client was sharing with me an update on the strategies we laid out together. This is typically how I work with clients, we set a strategy and I recognize multiple pivot opportunities if they need to shift, we check in for her to give me an update on what was completed and how it went, and we adapt. Pretty... basic consulting tbh.

She shared with me that her business is down 25% to LY, a fact that really hurt for her to see. Understandably! It can definitely hurt to see your business dip, no question.

However I pointed out a few things for her to remember also about her year: She'd been sick which she didn't account for, she shifted her model a bit, she's changing how she works with clients. It's not as simple as "i spent time in my business" = "i make money". Sometimes it's "i work on the business at a loss" and "the ROI on that is way more than I could've ever dreamed".

But there's something else to consider, and this is what she wanted me to share with you.

MANY businesses are down this year, to the point that any business I consult on, has accounted for and made space for a loss this year. Which means saying "We will strategize to end 10% down from last year" instead of "F*ck we ended the year down 10% to last year". We are planning for the loss. For a few reasons:

• If a business is product based, the tariffs are affecting things. This is not me being political, I'm simply saying that it causes disruption in consumer spending, consumer trust in product, brands ability to purchase/import product.
• If you're a digital educator/course creator/coach, trust is DEEPLY eroded in courses/digital products and you need a strong social media strategy that is modernized to stay relevant. Social is more expensive than it's ever been PERIOD because you either need volume (which takes time) or quality (which takes money). There are ways to make both more simple and affordable, but the algorithm isn't great and the content game is not the same as it was in 2020. There's only one thing that works lately on social media (ps you can watch for free in Access Pass, it's called the Basic Marketing Funnel).
• If you're a service provider, and your clients are hard on money, you will also be hard on money. If you are working with clients who have healthy strong booming businesses, you'll be just fine. It's why at Dial Zero (my marketing agency), we really only want to work with brands that have $5M-$10M+ in Annual Revenue. They have the budget to have a job well done. So take a look at your target market and remember that you will likely make less than them. The marketing agency for Pepsi may get $160M from them for the year, but Pepsi is making way more annually than that agency. It's no different than in your business. You work with broke businesses = you'll be broke too. Heart led or not, that's how it goes and it's worth asking if your mission or your revenue is more important - and then letting the other come in 2nd.

Which leads to how this affects me, and what I'd like to share with you/bc I shared with her.

At The Do-ers, our mission is more important than our revenue, but at Dial Zero we have no mission really outside of revenue. Now we do work with female led brands, we do have the "mission" you could say to do "scroll stopping" social, but we're revenue driven at DZM. I get paid from DZM. I do not get paid from The Do-ers and that's by design so that I do not have to make decisions about my brand due to my livelihood.

You do not have to do that or follow my lead. I'm simply sharing what I've decided and how I move.

But here's the thing that I guess I keep private, but I don't feel private about it.

I'm also accounting for a loss.
A deep loss in my business this year.
By design. On purpose.

This year was always always slated to be a slower year for me. But then tariffs hit and DZM got tougher. We trimmed down some of our team, we cut some clients who were a thorn in my side, and we only worked with the clients that had massive profit or were super chill to work with. I said - easy or bust.

And not even because I'm burnt out. I'm genuinely not. I wasn't.

The truth is, and some of you know this, I've been working on something for The Do-ers for 2 years by the time it's out, and it's coming to you in Q2 next year. Unless I get scared and push it to September hehehehe don't let me I'll grow a pair I promise

With that means, marketing and press and marketing and press and brand building and sales and marketing and brand building and...

It's a lot.​
It's a massive massive sales year for me next year so that we can really do what I've always wanted to do with The Do-ers, and we finally fucking get to. Do I recommend a 5-year beta test to know exactly what you want? Idk probably not ! lol But I'm just that girl that needs to touch the stove that you said is hot just to see if it really is that hot what can I say #aries

We have 4 epic photoshoots planned, end of this year into early next.
We have 2 physical product planned, they won't be dropping in April so hold your horses there lol
​We have ... other things lol that are really exciting
​I have a personal decision in my life that I had to make that I'll share when I feel ready to.

and next year is going to demand a lot from me.

So this year isn't a "loss" it's a cocoon year. And I am ta.king.ad.vant.age.of.it.

I'm sleeping in.
I'm taking off days of the week if I don't feel like working.
I paused the podcasts.
I cut clients that weren't putting any work into action.
I trimmed a team down to only what I needed in The Do-ers.

I knew I needed space before all of my space felt invaded (with my consent let's not be dramatic) which I know is how I sometimes feel in major selling years / chapters / quarters.

I view my business kind of like a recording artist to be honest.

Let's take my girl Billie.
Where's she at? Have you seen her doing press? No
Is she posting all day on IG stories? No
Is she selling Instagram? No
Is she on the late show circut? Nope

She's touring. She's working. And those tickets were sold a year ago.
​But that's the cycle? Isn't it?

You work on your next iteration/chapter/launch
You announce it and do marketing and press and shoots and podcasts and ads and sales
Then you do the work for 2-3 years
AND THEN YOU BREATHE, sometimes for 1 year sometimes 5.

This is a business cycle that works with most people ^^ and it allows you to commit to hustle seasons and relaxed seasons.

Next year, I have a "record coming out" but that record is the official launch of what I set out YEARS ago to make for you. It's a big year for me. and I will launch it and sell it like crazy and then we will work our asses off for 2 years, and ... idk prob do something big for the next version of it! And lather rinse repeat.

And I'm not like "I wish it was out today" No I want it out when it's ready. I want it out when I'm ready. And I'm cocooning. I cut down my salary to only the bare bones of what I need to live. It's not a loss when I actively chose it. I'm romanticizing my life. I'm making watercolor paintings. I'm taking recipes I love and finding new spins on them. I'm spending 3 hours on the phone with my bestie while I take a walk with my weighted vest. I'm going to the pool on a friday just because (aka right after I send this).

And next year, you won't be able to get RID of me I'm gonna be all up in your face HAHAHAHA lol you'll like it I swear

We're not working on this years social, let it flop let it work I don't care. I genuinely DO NOT care.​
We're working on next years social.

I'm not fixing our current website. Somethings broken? We'll get to it. ​
We're building our new website that uses a different platform/setup and may surprise you.

I'm not selling selling selling to hit goals. Oh this always does $50k and it recently did $8k? Great, I'll sleep like a baby still.​
I'm gonna keep offering you everything I've got and if you opt in, feel free. and if you don't I fully support you.

So maybe this is too long and I'll for sure have a vulnerability hangover from this but whatever I'll be laughing at the pool eating nachos with my nephew so life's still flawless and beautiful. I'm healthy, I have a roof, and food, and loved ones. And that is a richness I will never take for granted.

Why I'm sharing this with you though

Because I think a lot of pleasure or guilt lies in whether or now you own the entirety of your decisions. And I own the entirety of my decisions. It comes back to a mantra I share with you often "I ACTIVELY participate in my decisions". This year will be slow, and slow means easy, quiet, less responsibility, chill, enjoyable. It also means less money, less results, less brag moments. And none of this will get to my psyche because

1. I'm committed to a long term vision that I decided for myself, not some short term brag that others make me feel like I need to have
2. and I look at my decisions as what good I get and what hard I accept.

And next year, I'll be way more expressive, I'll be out of my cocoon, and you're going to be so freakin psyched for what I'm building. I have a focus group who gets to see everything and give their feedback and their opinions have meant so much to me. I'm not doing this alone in a vacuum, but with team members who I adore, and with a mission I believe in.

If you're having a slow year,

Girl be so nice to yourself. This is business, and if you're in business for 20 years, you're going to have more "low" years. They don't get easier, so YOU have to get stronger. You have to make sure your worthiness isn't tied up in how much you work. You have to make sure you're committed to being in pain while running the marathon but focusing on the finish line.

Recognize the industry you're in may be having a hard time. That's ok.
Recognize that you may have outgrown your model. That's ok.
Recognize if you built something you "should" have instead of one you actually like. That's ok.

And remember you have choices.

You can choose to say "I'll take the hit and work less and expect less then push next year after I restrategize what needs fixing". Or you can choose to say "I'll push through and I'm gonna make this year a stellar one even if it's harder". One is not better or worse than another.

If you feel like I was hiding this from you, that wasn't my intention.
I so thank my client for sharing you'd want to hear this from me, and if you're reading to the end I assume you do lol
I guess I didn't think it would matter.

And who am I to tell you how hard to work when you have families to feed?

So consider this part outpouring, part permission, part transparency, that you can really low your slow periods.
Listen to yourself to take them when you can.
Pay your bills and work to ensure you aren't irresponsible to your personal or business needs.
But be ok with the ebbs and flows of business.

It's not that serious after all. ​
We're all humans doing what we can to love on and care for our people <3