60 Second Milagros:

Have you ever felt that overwhelming sensation when your to-do list appears chaotic?
Forty-seven tasks to manage, none of them started, and somehow it’s already 10 a.m.?

I can relate.

That’s why I decided to return to basics and use a timer.
Nothing elaborate. Just a timer.

This is what I’ve discovered.
When you tell yourself, “I’m going to work on my website,” your mind can go blank.
That could involve a hundred tasks: updating the design, fixing the links, writing the copy, and your brain says, nope, let’s scroll Instagram instead.

But when you say, “I’m going to focus on this for 20 minutes,” everything shifts.
Suddenly, it feels manageable.

The limitation brings clarity.
The structure creates space.

You can handle anything for 20 minutes, even the hard stuff.

That’s the power of timeboxing.
It forces you to prioritize what truly matters.
It gives your brain a finish line.
And it builds confidence through completion, one small timer at a time.

Because the reality is, you’ll rarely fully clear your to-do list.
But you can complete the timer.

And that’s enough to accomplish remarkable things.

I explain in detail in the latest Start Anyway episode:
“The Hack That Changed How I Work (And Why You Need One Too)”​
​Give it a Listen →​

Quit searching for additional time.
Start valuing the time you already have.

Because the clock is ticking, and that’s actually a positive thing.

Wishing you a focused day,

Madeline

PS And since you’ll have more time, learn how to make “Better Use of Leisure Time” from this 1950’s instructional film ​😅

PPS I released my overwhelmed to online quiz, it just takes 90 seconds and will give you a full step-by-step roadmap and guide for getting online

You know that feeling when you have so much to do that you don’t even know where to start?

Like it feels like this big amorphous blob that’s so hard to even get your hands around it to get a grip on it?

Yeah, me too.

And that’s why today I’m sharing my number one tool for helping to calm that chaotic blob and turn it into action you can take even when you’re overwhelmed.

And that is using a kitchen timer.

I’m serious. A kitchen timer. Or a phone timer or one of those visual timers, whatever. The point is: this one simple tool could completely change how you work.

Now, this idea isn’t new. Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro technique that uses a kitchen timer (his is a tomato, which is why he called it Pomodoro—tomato in Italian). He created this in the late 80s for productivity.

Why Your Brain Freezes (And What a Timer Does About It)

Here’s what happens: You tell yourself you need to work on your website. And then your brain just kind of freezes because what does that mean?

It could mean a thousand different things. Update the design of the home page? Improve the speed? Something else? What’s something else? How long will it take? Do I have enough time to complete it?

So instead of starting, you end up scrolling Instagram for 40 minutes because that’s way easier than diving into something big—this big blob of “I don’t know where to start” that you might not complete.

But here’s what a timer does: it gives your brain boundaries.

It’s like: “Okay, you’re going to work on this one specific thing for 20 minutes. That’s it. Just 20 minutes.”

And suddenly that feels doable. You can do anything for 20 minutes, right? Or even 10. Or just five minutes.

The constraint, that finiteness of it, is what makes it possible to actually start. Because starting is always the hardest part.

Picture This

It’s Tuesday morning. You’re sitting at your desk staring at your to-do list. It’s got, I don’t know, 47 things on it, and you’re thinking, “Okay, where do I even begin?”

You look at the clock and it’s already 10 a.m. and you haven’t even started anything because you spent two hours just trying to figure out what to do first. Two hours just deciding.

Have you done this? I know I have.

Where you’ve spent way more time organizing your tasks (if you can even get to that point), or color-coding your calendar, or researching the perfect productivity system or app instead of actually taking action and doing the work.

You are not alone.

Here’s What’s Really Happening

We get so overwhelmed by everything we need to do that we end up doing nothing. Or worse, we end up doing all the easy, low-value stuff that makes us feel busy but doesn’t actually move anything forward.

You spend an hour organizing your desktop folders or tweaking colors on a presentation that isn’t due for two weeks. All the while, all the important stuff just sits there waiting. Judging you.

And the longer you avoid it, the bigger and scarier it gets in your head. Until you’re so paralyzed by the weight of everything you should be doing that you just freeze. And then you feel terrible about yourself for freezing.

That’s where the timer comes in.

Four Reasons Why This Works So Well

Let me tell you why this works, and maybe you’ll see yourself in this because I think a lot of us struggle with the same stuff.

1. It Makes the Invisible Visible

Time is this abstract concept, right? “I’ll work on this for a while” doesn’t really mean anything to your brain.

But “I’ll work on this for 25 minutes” is concrete. You can see the timer counting down. You know exactly how much time you have left.

And weirdly, that helps you focus because your brain isn’t constantly wondering: How long have I been doing this? Should I stop? Am I done yet?

This is why Disney posts wait times and train stations install countdown clocks. Studies say that when people know the time frame, uncertainty drops, anxiety falls, and the wait even feels shorter—even if the wait time is the same.

2. It Lowers the Activation Energy

This is just a way to say it makes it easier to start. And we all know that starting is usually by far the hardest part.

Once you’re going, you’re usually fine. But that initial activation—that “I need to sit down and begin this thing”—that’s brutal. The tyranny of the blank page, as they call it.

But when you tell yourself, “Hey, I’m just going to set the timer for 10 minutes, and I only have to do it for 10 minutes,” suddenly it feels way more doable.

10 minutes is nothing. You can commit to 10 minutes. Or even five. Three minutes when you’re exhausted or overwhelmed and you don’t want to do anything.

Don’t judge it. Starting is already a win. So even if it’s just one minute, you’ve already done more.

3. It Protects You From Yourself

Here’s the other thing that might happen to you, especially if you have ADHD like I do: you can hyperfocus. Scary levels of hyperfocus where you start working on something and six, eight hours go by and you haven’t moved or blinked and you’re completely fried.

The timer helps stop that because when it goes off, you have to stop. You have to take a break, eat something, stand up, or just take a breather.

And that is protection in the long term from burnout, which is huge.

4. It Gives You Little Wins Throughout the Day

Every time the timer goes off and you’ve completed what you set out to do, that’s a win.

And your brain really needs those little wins. It needs that dopamine hit of “Hey, you said you’d do a thing and you did it.”

Because we all spend a lot of our lives feeling like we’re not winning, that we can’t finish things, that we’re behind, or we’re just kind of failing at life.

So these tiny timer-sized victories really do matter. They help reinforce an identity of “Hey, I’m the type of person who gets things done.”

And identity—that is the core that helps drive everything else.

What Time Boxing Actually Is

When you first hear the term, you might think it’s just scheduling. Like, “Oh, okay, you mean I should just put things on my calendar? Yeah, I already do that anyway.”

No. This is different.

Time boxing is when you take a task and you assign it a specific, fixed amount of time. And here’s the key part: when the time is up, you stop. Whether you’re done or not, you stop.

The time itself is the constraint, not the task.

So instead of saying, “Today I need to write a blog post,” you say, “I’m going to spend one hour writing this blog post from 2 to 3 p.m.” And when 3 p.m. hits, you stop. Even if you’re mid-sentence, even if you’re on a roll, you stop and you move on to the next thing.

And I know what you’re thinking: “But what if I don’t finish? What if I’m almost done and I just need five more minutes?”

I get it. And that’s exactly the point. That’s where the magic happens.

Parkinson’s Law in Action

Parkinson’s law says that work expands to fill the time allotted for it.

So if you give yourself all afternoon to write the blog post, guess what? It’s going to take all afternoon. But if you give yourself an hour, you’d be amazed at how much you can get done in just that hour.

Here’s what probably happens to you (and happens to me too): You set these really generous time boxes, like “I’m going to work on my website for three hours.” And then you know what happens?

You spend the first hour and a half just kind of poking around, checking fonts, scrolling through stock photos. You’re filling the time because you have it. Your brain’s like, “Oh, we have three hours, cool. Let’s mess around for two of them and then we’ll panic for the last hour.”

But when you cut that down to 45 minutes, suddenly you’re like, “Oh, I have to get this done.”

You focus. You know exactly what you need to accomplish. And you do it.

Because the constraint forces you to prioritize and actually execute instead of just thinking about executing.

How to Actually Do This

Okay, so here’s how I use time boxing. And you can adapt this to fit your own life and work style, but this is the basic framework.

Step 1: Pick Your Three Most Important Tasks

Not 10, not 20. Three. And they should be the tasks that, if you did nothing else today, would make you feel like today was a good day.

For me, that might be:

• Finish the homepage copy for my new template

• Record and edit a podcast episode

• Reach out to five potential collaborators

Those are my big three.

Step 2: Estimate How Long Each One Will Take

And here’s the trick: cut that estimate in half.

If you think it’ll take two hours, give yourself one. If you think it’ll take an hour, give yourself 30 minutes.

Why? Because we’re terrible at estimating time, and we usually way overestimate how long things will take when we’re actually focused.

Step 3: Assign Each Task a Specific Time Slot

Not just “sometime today.” A specific slot.

For example:

• 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.: Work on homepage copy

• 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.: Record podcast episode

• 2:00 - 2:45 p.m.: Reach out to collaborators

Step 4: Set Your Timer and Start

When the timer goes off, stop. Even if you’re not done. Move on to the next thing or take a break.

This is the hardest part, but it’s also the most important part. The discipline of stopping is what makes the whole system work.

Breaking Down Bigger Projects

Now, you might be thinking, “Okay, but what about big projects? Like launching a product or building a website? I can’t do that in 45 minutes.”

You’re right. You can’t. But you can do part of it in 45 minutes.

The key is to break those big scary projects down into smaller, time-boxed chunks.

Example: Website Redesign (Monday Morning, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.)

Instead of “work on website,” here’s how I’d break it down:

• 25 minutes: List all the pages I need and what each one should do

• 25 minutes: Sketch rough wireframes for the homepage

• 25 minutes: Write headlines for each section

• 15 minutes: Find 3-5 reference sites I like

• 25 minutes: Pick my color palette and fonts

• 25 minutes: Build the hero section in Show it

Outcome: I now have a clear site structure and my homepage hero is live.

See how that works? Instead of this vague “work on website” blob, I have specific, time-boxed tasks that I can actually complete.

Example: Marketing (Tuesday Afternoon, 1 - 2:30 p.m.)

• 25 minutes: Grab the top pins from my Pinterest to repurpose

• 25 minutes: Write five fresh descriptions with keywords

• 25 minutes: Build the UTMs and check the links

• 15 minutes: Schedule eight pins

Outcome: I have scheduled pins with clean tracking and I know exactly what to post.

Example: Home Reset (Thursday Evening, 5 - 5:45 p.m.)

This works for personal stuff too!

• 15 minutes: Clear visible surfaces (kitchen and table)

• 10 minutes: Prep morning snacks for the kids

• 20 minutes: Fold the laundry

Because a calm, clean home—especially if you work from home—is the background that makes everything else easier.

When I Really Needed This System

I remember when I was pregnant with my son and I was exhausted. I was in the eighth month and I could barely move without losing breath and everything.

I relied on the timer system so much just to be able to get things done.

I would set my timer for 10 minutes. 10 minutes to clean the family room. And then when those were up, I would spend 10 minutes sitting and watching a show.

10 minutes on, 10 minutes off. And sometimes it was 10 minutes on and 30 minutes off, depending on how I was feeling.

There’s no shame in what you have to use if it works. That’s most important because you want to make progress towards your goal. You want to make sure that you’re fulfilling your promises to yourself without feeling overwhelmed, without feeling the shame and worry that comes with it.

Common Problems (And How to Fix Them)

Let me talk about some of the problems you’re going to run into because these little things trip everyone up.

“I Keep Getting Distracted Mid-Box”

Close everything that’s not related to the task. Physically close it. Email, Slack, every tab you have. I get it—I always have a million tabs open—so use a tab saver. There are plenty out there that will save your tabs. But close everything.

And put your phone in another room if you have to. I know it sounds extreme, but sometimes you need extreme measures.

Also, if you keep getting distracted, your box might be too long. Try shorter boxes.

“I Didn’t Finish in the Time I Gave Myself”

That’s totally okay. It’s actually really good information because now you know that task takes longer than you thought.

So next time, give it more time or break it up into smaller pieces. Please do not beat yourself up about it. It’s just information. Adjust and keep going.

“My Kid Interrupted Me and Now Everything’s Off”

Okay, that’s real life. Of course it happens.

When a box gets interrupted, you have two choices:

1. Restart the timer for a shorter amount of time to finish the task

2. Move it to a different time slot

What you don’t do is let it bleed into the rest of your day and mess everything up. Make a conscious decision about what to do when you encounter that interruption.

“I’m Too Tired to Focus for the Whole Box”

Then make it shorter. Five minutes is better than zero.

Sometimes on really rough days, you’ll just do a bunch of 10-minute boxes with five-minute breaks instead of trying to push through a full 50-minute deep work session.

Meet yourself where you are.

“I Finished Early and Now I Don’t Know What to Do”

Celebrate! That’s awesome. Good job. You estimated well or you worked efficiently.

You can either use the extra time to start on the next box, or you can just take an extra-long break. Both are good options.

Don’t feel like you have to fill every second with productivity.

“I Got Into Flow and Didn’t Want to Stop When the Timer Went Off”

Yeah, this one’s tough because getting into the flow state is great. But you also want to be careful about not burning out or neglecting other important things.

So what you can do is note where you are, finish the immediate thought so you don’t lose it, and then stop.

You can always come back to it in another box. But the discipline of stopping is actually really important, even when it feels hard.

“This Feels Way Too Rigid and I Don’t Like It”

Okay, then adjust it. It’s not about being perfect or following some strict system. It’s about finding what works for you.

Maybe you need longer boxes. Maybe you want more flexibility. Maybe you just need to time box three things a day and leave the rest open.

That’s totally fine. Just take what works and leave the rest.

The Real Point of Time Boxing

Here’s what I really want you to understand about time boxing:

It’s not actually about the system. It’s about the mindset shift.

It’s about moving from “I need to do everything and I never seem to make any progress” to “Okay, I have a limited amount of time and I need to be intentional about how I use it. So I’ll have to prioritize the most important things, even if it’s hard.”

Because the truth is, you’ll never get to the bottom of your to-do list. There’s always going to be more to do. There’s always going to be another email, another project, another idea.

And if you keep waiting for the day when everything is done and you can finally lay back and relax, you’re going to be waiting forever.

But what if instead of trying to do everything, you just focused on doing the right things?

What if you protected your time the way you protect your money? What if you said no to good things so you could say yes to even better things?

That’s what time boxing can help you do. It can help you get really clear about what matters and what doesn’t. And it can help you build a business and a life that doesn’t require you to work all the time to feel productive.

The timer itself doesn’t make you more productive. It just makes you more intentional.

And intention is what actually moves the needle.

Your Challenge

Here’s what I want to challenge you to do:

Tomorrow, just give it a try.

Pick three important tasks. Give each one a specific time slot. Set a timer. And just see what happens.

Don’t try to time box your entire life on day one. Just try three. That’s it.

And pay attention to how it feels:

• Does it feel constraining?

• Does it feel freeing?

• Do you get more done or less?

• Do you feel more stressed or less stressed?

Just notice.

Because the only way you’re going to know if this is going to work for you is to give it a try.

And I’m willing to bet that if you give it a real shot, you’re going to be surprised at how much this simple little tool can change your relationship with your work and with your time.

The Bottom Line

Time boxing isn’t sexy. It’s not super complicated. But it works.

And in a world where we’re all trying to do more and achieve more and are so busy and distracted, sometimes the best hack is just being a little bit more intentional with the time we have.

Your time is the most valuable resource you have. So treat it that way.

Protect it. Use it wisely. And don’t let other people’s priorities take over your life and become your time boxes.

Want to make your website look amazing without the tech overwhelm? Check out my Showit and Canva templates at marymilagros.com — or grab my free Sales Page Starter Kit (with GPT for copy!) at marymilagros.com/free.

I was scrolling through my phone the other day and came across a video of my toddler learning to walk.

If you’ve ever watched a toddler learn to walk, you know it’s basically just controlled falling, right? They take a step, wobble, fall right on their butt, and then just get right back up and do it over again.

They don’t sit there and think, “Oh my gosh, I’m so bad at this. Maybe walking isn’t for me. Maybe I should just stick to crawling. That’s what I’m good at.”

No. They just keep going. They fall like a hundred times a day and they don’t even care.

And I started thinking about how somewhere between learning to walk and becoming adults, we completely lose that ability to be okay with falling. We lose that comfort with discomfort.

And as entrepreneurs, that’s the number one skill we need to get back.

Discomfort Isn’t a Bug, It’s a Feature

Here’s the thing: if you’re building something, if you’re creating something new and putting yourself out there in any way, discomfort isn’t a sign that something’s wrong.

It’s actually a sign that something’s right.

It’s a sign that you’re growing, that you’re pushing boundaries, and that you’re doing something that matters.

But most of us treat discomfort like it’s a warning sign. Like it’s our body telling us: Stop. Go back. This isn’t safe.

And I get it, I really do. Our brains are literally wired to keep us safe and comfortable. That’s what they’re supposed to do.

But safe and comfortable doesn’t build businesses. Safe and comfortable doesn’t create anything new. Safe and comfortable keeps you exactly where you are.

So today I want to talk about something I’ve been really thinking about and learning about in my own journey: the idea that your only job as an entrepreneur is to get used to—and maybe even learn to enjoy—being uncomfortable.

Because that mindset, the relationship you have with discomfort, is the most important skill you can develop. Not your marketing strategy, not your product features, not even your business plan.

It’s how you manage your mind around the hard stuff.

And I want to show you how you can actually use those negative feelings—those moments of doubt and fear and uncertainty—as a compass, like little breadcrumbs telling you that you’re actually on the right track.

The Launch That Almost Didn’t Happen

Let me tell you a story that really brought this home for me.

A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready to launch something new. I’d been working on it for a few weeks and I was excited about it. But then as the launch date got closer, I started to feel this heavy weight, this pit in my stomach.

And I started thinking: Maybe this isn’t the right time. Maybe I should wait until it’s better. Maybe I should add one more feature. Maybe my marketing isn’t on point.

I had this whole list of very logical, very reasonable reasons why I should postpone.

I was talking to a friend about it, and she asked me this question that really shifted my perspective:

“Are you afraid because something’s wrong? Or are you afraid because something matters?”

I sat with that for a couple of minutes and realized it was the second one.

I wasn’t afraid because my product was bad or because I was making a mistake. I was afraid because I actually cared. Because if I put it out there and it failed, that would hurt. If I put myself out there and people didn’t respond, that would really sting.

And that’s when I realized: the discomfort I was feeling wasn’t a stop sign. It was actually a green light.

It was my body’s way of saying, “Hey, this is important to you. This matters.” And anything that matters is going to feel uncomfortable before you do it.

So I launched anyway. And you know what? It didn’t go perfectly. Some things worked and some things didn’t. But I learned so much, and I’m still here and I’m still building.

More importantly, I’m starting to understand that discomfort is part of the process. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.

The Entrepreneurs Who Make It

The entrepreneurs who make it—from what I’ve been reading and learning—the ones who actually build something sustainable and meaningful, they aren’t the ones who never feel uncomfortable.

In fact, they’re the ones who feel discomfort and do it anyway.

They’ve learned how to reframe it. They see it as information. They’re using it as a compass, as proof that they’re growing.

So how do you do that? How do you actually shift your relationship with discomfort?

I’ve been working on this myself, and I found five mindset shifts that have really helped me. I want to share them with you today because I think they can help you too.

Shift #1: Discomfort Means You’re at Your Edge (And That’s Where Growth Happens)

Think about it. When you’re working out, you don’t build muscle by lifting weights that are easy. You build muscle by lifting weights that challenge you, that push you right to your limit. The burn you feel, that discomfort—that’s literally your muscles growing stronger.

It’s the same thing in business.

When you feel uncomfortable, when you feel that resistance and anxiety, that’s often a sign that you’re stretching yourself, that you’re doing something new, something you haven’t done before. And that’s exactly where you need to be.

Because if everything feels comfortable, if everything feels easy, you’re probably just staying in your comfort zone. And you’re probably just doing the same things you’ve always done.

I had this moment a couple of months ago where I had to have some really difficult conversations with someone I was working with. I was dreading it. I was losing sleep over it, stressing out, drafting my talking points over and over.

Every part of me wanted to avoid it, just let it slide and not rock the boat. But I knew I had to do it.

And when I finally did it, you know what happened?

Yeah, it didn’t go well.

I know, I know—you’re probably confused. Where’s that happy ending?

But here’s the thing: it didn’t go the way I wanted, but I survived. In fact, I’m thriving. The working relationship ended, yeah, and that stings. It sucks. But I’m still here and I’m still standing.

And I realized something really important: even when things don’t go the way you want and things happen, you’ll be okay. You’ll get through it.

And the next time I have to have a difficult conversation, it’ll be easier. Not because they become easy, but because I know I can handle it. I’ve gotten used to sitting with the discomfort, having things not go my way, living up to my values and what’s important to me, and being great on the other side.

So the next time you feel uncomfortable, instead of asking yourself, “How can I avoid this? How can I numb this?” try asking:

• What is this trying to teach me?

• What skill is this helping me develop?

• How is this helping me level up?

Think about it like the montage in the movies.

Shift #2: Your Brain Will Always Find Reasons Why Now Isn’t the Right Time (Don’t Believe Everything You Think)

This is a big one, and it took me a long time to understand this.

Your brain is really, really good at coming up with logical, reasonable, convincing reasons why you shouldn’t do the thing that scares you.

It’ll say things like:

• “You need more experience first”

• “You need more money first”

• “You need to learn more, prepare more, plan more, research more”

• “The market isn’t right”

• “Your website isn’t ready”

• “You don’t have enough followers yet”

On and on and on.

The tricky thing is that sometimes those thoughts sound so reasonable that you believe them. You think, “Yeah, you’re right, brain. I should wait until I have more experience. That makes sense.”

But a lot of times those aren’t actually logical reasons. They’re just fear dressed up in logic. They’re your brain trying to keep you safe by talking you out of doing anything risky.

And here’s what I’ve learned: there will never be a perfect time. There will always be a reason to wait. There will always be something that’s not quite ready or not quite right.

So you have to learn to recognize when your brain is being genuinely helpful (”You haven’t slept in three days, maybe take a nap before you make that decision”) versus when it’s just being scared (”You’re not ready, you’ll never be ready, who do you think you are?”).

A trick that’s really helped me is to ask myself: “If I wasn’t afraid, what would I do?”

Because a lot of times the answer is obvious. I’d send that email. I’d launch that thing. I’d have that conversation. And that tells me that the only thing actually stopping me is fear, not logic.

Shift #3: Action Creates Clarity (Not the Other Way Around)

We think we need to have everything figured out before we start. We think we need to know exactly what we’re doing, have the perfect plan, see the whole path laid out in front of us.

But that’s not how it works.

You don’t think your way into clarity. You act your way into clarity.

It’s like driving at night with your headlights on. You can only see maybe 200 feet in front of you, but that’s enough to get you all the way across the country. You don’t need to see the whole journey. You just need to see the next step.

Every action you take gives you information. It shows you what works and what doesn’t. It helps you course-correct. It moves you forward.

And the cool thing is that once you start moving, things start to become clearer. Doors open that you didn’t even know existed. Opportunities show up. You meet people who can help you. Ideas come to you that you never would have had if you were just sitting around thinking about it.

So if you’re waiting to feel ready, waiting to have it all figured out, you’re going to be waiting forever.

The way to get ready is to start. The way to figure it out is to do it.

Shift #4: Failure Is Feedback (Not a Reflection of Your Worth)

This one’s huge, and it’s something I’m still working on.

We treat failure like it’s this terrible, shameful thing that means something about us as people. Like if our launch flops or our product doesn’t sell or we get a negative comment, it means we’re not good enough, we’re not smart enough, we should just give up.

But that’s not what failure is.

Failure is just feedback. It’s just information.

Okay, that didn’t work. Interesting. What can I learn from that? What would I do differently next time?

The thing is, every successful entrepreneur you admire, every person who’s ever built anything amazing, they have failed way more than they’ve succeeded. They’ve launched things that flopped.

Remember Zune? New Coke? Crystal Pepsi?

Those are huge companies that had ideas that didn’t work, that made mistakes and looked stupid and had to start over. But the difference is they didn’t let those failures stop them. They didn’t make those failures mean they should quit.

There’s this idea in the startup world called “failing fast.” The idea is that you want to test things quickly, learn what doesn’t work, and then move on. Because every failure is just bringing you one step closer to what does work. It’s giving you information. It’s eliminating one path so you can find the right one.

The Hallway of 100 Doors

Another way I like to think about it is something I heard years ago (I can’t remember where, so forgive me for not giving credit):

Let’s say you’re in this huge hallway with hundreds of doors, and someone told you, “Your success, your dreams, everything you want is behind door 75.” You start at door one.

How quickly would you open doors one through 74?

You would open them super fast, as fast as possible.

You wouldn’t open door four and lament, “Nothing ever works for me. I suck.” You wouldn’t sit in front of door 30 like, “I want to open this door, but I’m afraid I’m going to fail again.”

No. You would go full Supermarket Sweep, opening every single door as quickly as possible to get to door 75—the one where you know your success is.

So the next time something doesn’t go the way you planned, try asking yourself:

• What am I learning from this?

• How can I use this information to get closer to my success?

• What would I do differently?

And don’t make it mean anything about yourself personally.

Just by simply reframing what’s going on, you can turn something that feels devastating into something that’s actually useful and moves you forward.

Shift #5: Build Your Tolerance for Discomfort Like a Muscle

Okay, so here’s the truth: You’re not going to listen to this and suddenly be completely comfortable with discomfort. I’m not even there yet.

Just like you can’t go to the gym once and suddenly be able to bench 200 pounds, you can’t just decide one day to embrace discomfort and have it stick.

It’s something you’re going to have to practice. A muscle you have to build. And you have to get through that messy in-between.

The way you do that is by putting yourself in uncomfortable situations on purpose.

I’m sorry to say it, but that’s just how it works.

Start small. Do little things that scare you. Take little risks. And then notice that you’re surviving.

As you notice that it’s not as bad as you thought, that you’re still here and you’re still standing and you’re still building, you will feel more comfortable. You’ll build that muscle up to where you can put yourself out there more and more.

I’ve been doing this for a while now—for the last few years—where I try to do at least one little thing that makes me uncomfortable, that scares me.

And I’m shocked to see how much I’ve changed. I’m someone who totally swore off all social media years ago, and now it feels so much more comfortable. Now, I will be honest—I still have discomfort every day. But that’s the muscle we’re building, right? That ability to be in the discomfort, feel the negative feelings, but still move forward.

Because if you can do that, that’s what’s going to make you successful in business and entrepreneurship and anything you want to do.

Anyone who’s done anything worth it has had that experience. I was just hearing something about how Kesha—there was a video of her in a subway and nobody knew who she was. She was just singing and people were walking past her.

Everyone has that moment where they’re building and they still haven’t felt that arrival. But it’s about continuing to show up and doing it for yourself, to build that muscle for when the time comes, you are ready.

And every time I do this, even if it doesn’t go perfectly and it feels awkward or scary, I know that I’m building the muscle. I’m proving to myself that I can handle the discomfort.

When you can do hard things and prove that to yourself over and over, things that seemed impossible start to feel a little bit more manageable. It’s like exposure therapy.

You don’t go from zero to launching a million-dollar business tomorrow. You just have to keep taking those next uncomfortable steps. The next one and the next one.

Choose Your Discomfort

Here’s what I want you to take away from this:

Discomfort is not your enemy. It’s not a sign that you’re doing anything wrong or that you’re not cut out for this.

It’s actually a good thing. It’s a sign that you’re on the edge of something new, something bigger, something that actually matters.

Your only job as an entrepreneur is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Learn to sit with that feeling of fear and doubt and uncertainty and keep moving forward anyway.

Manage your mind around the hard stuff. Because entrepreneurs who make it aren’t the ones who never feel afraid. They’re the ones who feel afraid and do it anyway.

And here’s the really cool thing: when you start to reframe discomfort, when you start to see it as a compass instead of a stop sign, everything changes.

Those negative emotions—the fear, the doubt—they stop controlling you because they’re just information now. They’re just little signs and proof that you’re on the right track.

Got a negative comment? Oh, level up! I got my negative comment badge in my game.

Didn’t sell that thing you wanted to sell? Oh, got the entrepreneurship badge of “didn’t sell.”

When you look at it as a game, it becomes fun. It’s information, and it’s all there to help you grow.

The Question to Ask Yourself

So the next time you feel uncomfortable, the next time you feel that resistance, that fear, and that doubt creeping in, I want you to pause, take a deep breath, and ask yourself:

“Is this discomfort telling me I’m doing something wrong? Or is it telling me I’m doing something brave?”

Nine times out of ten, it’s the second one. And that’s when you know you’re exactly where you need to be.

Remember when I was talking about my toddler learning to walk? They didn’t let falling stop them. They didn’t even make it mean anything about who they were or what they were capable of.

They just kept going. And eventually they figured it out.

Man, did they figure it out.

And you will too.

Want to make your website look amazing without the tech overwhelm? Check out my Show it and Canva templates at marymilagros.com — or grab my free Sales Page Starter Kit (with GPT for copy!) at marymilagros.com/free.

I went to a Marc Rebillet concert last night (if you don’t know who that is, look him up—he’s awesome). The venue was full and the energy was electric.

The opening act was playing, and towards the end of their set, one of the DJs came back onto the stage holding two things in each arm. The crowd was screaming. He was motioning as if he was going to throw these items into the crowd.

I got curious and moved closer to see what everyone was going crazy about.

That’s when I saw that he was holding bunches of celery.

Yes. Bunches of celery. Like the ones you buy at the grocery store for three bucks.

He started grabbing stalks of celery off the bunch—one at a time—and throwing them into the crowd. Everyone was throwing their hands in the air, pushing and shoving to catch them. He continued with the next stalk, and people at this point knew full well that it was just celery. They were still jumping and screaming, clamoring to catch the next one.

I was standing there in amazement watching this all happen, thinking: Why is everyone going crazy over celery?

I mean, I like celery. It has its place. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s not something I’d go crazy over.

Then the third stalk zooms right past me and falls onto the ground next to the group beside us. They all had their hands up. One of the guys picks it up off the ground with a huge smile on his face, and the group around him cheers.

I’m thinking: He’s not going to eat that. It’s disgusting. It just fell on the ground. And even if he did eat it, it’s not going to taste any better being manhandled from some guy off the stage.

As the rest of the celery gets thrown into the crowd one by one, I’m trying to understand what’s happening.

That’s when it hit me: This is a perfect example of context and desirability.

The Celery Paradox

Every grocery store in that area is stocked to the brim with celery bunches. These same people pushing others out of the way for a chance to grab a manhandled stalk of celery wouldn’t think twice about walking past a grocery store aisle full of it.

This reminded me of an experiment I recently read about from 2007 or 2008. The Washington Post took world-class violinist Joshua Bell and his $14 million violin (yes, I had to look it up because I couldn’t believe it) and had him play in the DC Metro subway station for 45 minutes.

People hardly noticed him.

At the end, he made $32.17.

Now, that’s a decent haul... but for context, he normally makes $150,000 per concert.

Let’s do a little math. If he plays for two hours with a 20-minute intermission (which is typical), that’s about two 45-minute sets. If we divide his normal fee in half, that means he makes about $75,000 per 45 minutes.

But in the subway, playing the exact same music with the exact same talent and instrument, he made $32.17.

Compared to his normal fee, that’s 2,331 times less than what he normally makes for the same amount of time.

So was it just a really bad day and he only played $32 worth of a show? Were the subway goers too discerning and didn’t find value in his level of talent? Or was it because they didn’t know he was world famous?

Does knowing he’s world famous with a $14 million violin change the value of his performance?

I don’t know all the answers, but I think this points to how important context is in business and in life.

The $12,000 Sweater Question

There’s the inherent value of, let’s say, a sweater in its tangible materials—the time it took someone to create it, the warmth it gives you on a cold day. But then why are some sweaters $10 and others $12,000 (like a Loro Piana)?

Are the materials for the $12,000 sweater 1,200 times more valuable? I mean, you could argue they’re more valuable, but are they 1,200 times more valuable?

Or is there something else in the context and the meaning that people put on that $12,000 sweater that makes it worth the price?

What This Means for New Entrepreneurs

This is what I’ve been mulling over in my head as a new entrepreneur.

Of course, you have to have a good product. That’s a given. But then what? Do you keep focusing on making the product better and better, iterating endlessly? Or should your focus be on finding your audience—your context?

Because your product can be amazing, like Joshua Bell playing the violin. But if no one knows about it, knows why your product is amazing and why they should think so too... then your product is destined to meet the exact same fate that Joshua did with that $32.17.

This is something that, in my experience, most entrepreneurs avoid or dread. They think, “Oh, maybe I just need to update this feature. I need to tweak this button. You know what, let’s revamp the filing system or get newer software.”

They focus most of their time on everything except the things that will move the needle.

The ratio needs to be flipped. Especially at the beginning when you’re starting (though I’d argue it’s important throughout). You have to find and nurture your audience—your context.

So how do you do this?

Here are my seven tips as I’m learning this and building in public. I’m sure there’ll be more tips I find along the way, and I’ll make sure to share those with you as well.

Tip 1: Find the Rooms Where You’re Valued

Most people are trying to convince the wrong crowd. They’ve focused so much on the product that they’ve forgotten who they created it for. So they try to sell it to everyone.

That is the biggest mistake you can make in business and marketing.

Here’s a quick example: Let’s say I make meal plans that come with grocery lists and I try to market them to everyone. The stay-at-home mom on a budget with three kids, the busy executive with more money than time, and the vegetarian yoga teacher who loves to cook.

How in the world will that same exact grocery list and generic meal plan satisfy each of them? If I’m lucky, one of them is going to be happy with my generic plan, but that’s unlikely.

While I’ve spent hours creating an amazing plan, I’ve neglected the most important thing: the customer. Not only am I now in the wrong room—I don’t even know which room I’m in.

So the first thing you need to do is find it.

Look at your followers, your audience, and write down what they have in common. What are they talking about? What keeps them up at night? What do they actually want?

Then look for where they’re hanging out and observe to gather more information. Don’t go in there spamming and trying to sell. Put on the hat of a scientist and observe your subject.

You’re observing your ideal customer so you can learn the exact words they use to describe their problem—because those will be the words your brand needs to speak.

Your job is to learn as much as you can, inside and out, until you can describe their problem better than they can. Once you can do that, you’ll have started to find your people.

Tip 2: Lead With Meaning, Not Mechanics

Joshua Bell did not need a better violin. He already had a $14 million one. I’m sure there’s a better one that exists, but that’s gotta be top tier.

He needed people who understood what they were hearing.

That’s the same with your business. You can’t just sell features. You have to sell the meaning behind them.

Instead of saying “This planner has 52 weekly spreads and habit trackers,” say “This planner helps you reclaim your mornings so you’re not scrambling by 9am.”

Instead of saying “We use organic cotton,” say “You’ll feel the difference the moment you put this on—soft, breathable, made to last.”

People don’t buy what your product is. They buy what it does for them.

So ask yourself: What transformation does your product create? What does life look like after someone uses it? That’s your real value. That’s what you lead with.

Tip 3: Create Moments, Not Just Transactions

Think about the celery. It wasn’t special. But the moment was.

Your brand doesn’t need to be flashy or over-the-top, but it does need to create little moments that people remember. Doing the unscalable, creating those tiny moments of delight that help people feel something.

This could be:

• Taking a couple minutes to send a personalized thank you note to a customer

• Having a little Easter egg in your email or packaging

• Doing a mini ritual like a launch day live stream where your audience gets to be part of the experience

At the end of the day, people want to feel delighted. If you can do little things around your brand that delight them and create emotional moments, that’s how they’re going to feel about your brand.

That’s what turns it from ordinary to something people remember.

Tip 4: Borrow Other Stages

If the concert hall is already built and full, just borrow the microphone.

You don’t need to build your entire audience from scratch. Look for other creators, podcasters, or business owners who already have your dream audience, and then offer to bring them value.

Here’s how:

Look in your network and make a list of five people or brands who are speaking to the same audience as you. Reach out to them. Ask to do a joint live, give them a blog post they can post on their website, or be a guest on their podcast. The sky’s the limit.

If that feels like too much, even just 10 minutes a day of commenting meaningfully (not spam, but commenting with the heart of a teacher) on their posts can make a huge difference.

You’ll be amazed how fast you can build a network and your brand’s visibility when you step into the rooms where your audience is already paying attention.

Tip 5: Build Context Through Consistency

Context isn’t a Ronco rotisserie cooker. You can’t set it one time and forget it. It’s built through consistently showing up.

Every post, every email, every launch is a building block in how people perceive you.

Here are a few questions to see if your branding is showing up like it should:

• Is your message and voice the same everywhere? Or are you showing up as a different person on every platform?

• Are you showing up consistently for at least 90 days in one content format (video, newsletter, or podcast)?

• Do you end every piece of content with the same call to action?

Daniel Priestley in his book Oversubscribed says that it takes seven hours of content for someone to trust a brand enough to buy from it.

Consistency creates trust.

(P.S. — I have a free branding and Canva guide that I can link in the show notes if you want it.)

Tip 6: Build Proof, Not Just Hype

Life would be so much easier if everyone told the truth and all promises were to be believed. But we live in the real world. In the real world, people lie. People in business have lied or made claims that were way too good to be true.

So consumers have become much smarter and more skeptical.

It’s not enough to say you can help them with their problem. You have to show them you can.

Here are a couple ways:

Collect little testimonials. Ask happy customers for one-sentence wins. Something as simple as, “I used it for 10 minutes and finally finished my [blank].”

Document the process. Share how you’re doing things. Teach them, give them value. Let people watch you do it. It helps build your credibility and a relationship without being salesy.

Create a results highlight on your site or profile. Dedicate a section to showing transformations after people have used your product or service. Show photos, stats, quotes, or short clips—anything to show people the vision, the outcome, the benefit.

The proof is what helps create the context. When people see results, the value becomes much more obvious. You no longer have to convince them. They’ll convince themselves.

Tip 7: Curate the Environment Around Your Product

Even the most gorgeous, beautiful art will look cheap under crappy fluorescent lighting.

Your product’s environment—how it’s presented, packaged, and experienced—teaches people what to believe about it before they even try it.

A lot of people forget this. You’re not just designing a product. You’re designing the environment, the stage it stands on, the feeling it gives people.

Here’s how to evaluate your environment:

Look at your digital presence. Google your site. Google yourself. Click on your own links. Scroll through your Instagram, your social media. Ask yourself: If this were someone else’s brand, what would I assume about their quality? Does your online presence feel like how you want your product to be perceived?

Simplify and elevate your branding. Confusion kills value. Limit your palette, fonts, and tone so every detail is saying the same message. Luxury doesn’t come from adding more—it comes from stripping everything away except the essentials. Think Apple. Think the Google search bar. (My 90s kids remember Ask Jeeves or the Yahoo front page.) Google stripped everything away to the essentials and became number one.

Frame your value visually. Use photography, mock-ups, demos—anything you can to show your product in its best context. For example, if you sell a $200 planner, you wouldn’t show it on a messy desk. You’d show it on a beautiful desk with sunlight pouring in and maybe a cup of coffee. People buy the story, the environment, the feeling for themselves.

Set a tone for your brand experience. Think about the way you write your emails, how you deliver downloads, how you onboard new customers. Make sure it all feels cohesive. It doesn’t mean it has to be elegant—if your brand is “craft brewing for bros,” that voice is going to sound way different than “K-beauty skincare for Gen Alpha tweens.” The most important thing is that your voice is clear, consistent, and easy for your audience to understand.

The ultimate goal? Translating your brand’s value into a language that your audience understands instantly—at an emotional level, at a feeling level.

The Stage You’re Building

So those are seven ways I’ve found to build context and avoid playing your $14 million violin (I still can’t believe it’s that expensive) for the wrong audience.

The next time you find yourself wondering, “Is my product good enough?” maybe it’s better to ask: “Am I building the right stage for it?”

Joshua Bell did not become a better violinist when he stepped onto the concert stage. It was only the environment that allowed people to see what was already true about him.

Maybe that’s the same for you. Maybe your product, your idea, your skills, your art is already incredible. It’s just waiting for you to put it in the right light, in front of the right people, with the right story.

Because when you do that, even celery becomes priceless.

Want to make your website look amazing without the tech overwhelm? Check out my Show it and Canva templates at marymilagros.com — or grab my free Sales Page Starter Kit (with GPT for copy!) at marymilagros.com/free.

So this is officially the second episode of my podcast, but technically the third one I’ve filmed.

I recorded one two weeks ago where I was discussing my September goals and everything I’d been working on. And of course, as is part of the entrepreneurship journey, the audio was completely messed up. So I’m really hoping this time I got it right. I probably should stop and check it, but... I just want to get this done.

I love doing these more authentically, especially in this age of AI videos. Which, speaking of—my husband and I were just talking about AI videos yesterday. They’re still really weird and uncanny valley. It shocks me how many people fall for some of them, though I’m not going to lie, there are times where I’ve been fooled too.

But I was watching one yesterday where a toddler was crossing the road and there was this big sinkhole, and the baby fell in the hole, and then at the perfect time a cement truck goes right by and fills the hole up with cement. It was on Reddit, and this woman was asking people to convince her mother-in-law that it was fake because she was crying and going crazy about it.

Like... it’s the fakest video ever. Even if it looked realistic, when is there ever going to be a cement truck that just pours as it’s going by, without any warning, right on top of a baby inside a hole? But anyway, I digress.

Building in Public: The Update

Things happen. Here’s my update on building in public, which is what I’ve committed to doing.

I’m working on redoing my homepage because I initially did it as a landing page—like a sales page—but it really needs to be where my templates live. I’m expanding what I’m working on: LinkedIn templates, other Show it templates, single pages, Canva stuff, all of that. So it needs to be more integrated.

The Tech Stack Saga

It’s been frustrating trying to figure out my tech stack. I think I’ve finally figured it out. (And yes, two weeks ago I said I’d finally figured it out, but then I switched it again.)

So here’s the tech stack now:

• Show it with WordPress integration for blogging

• Shopify for the cart

• Etsy (to help reach my customers since they hang out there)

• Pinterest for advertising

• Sam Cart for the cart and membership delivery (though I’m going to cancel this since I’m using the Shopify integration)

The Course About Courses

I just joined a course—and it’s very meta—it’s a course about creating courses. From Amy Porterfield.

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for... gosh, I still remember back in 2008 or 2009 when my husband first joined his job, I was wanting to do a course. So I’ve been wanting to do this for a really long time.

I figured now is the time. I’m trying to learn everything and dip my toes in everything. Yes, my goal is to consolidate eventually, but I feel like with a course—especially about websites—it makes sense. Every day I hear people say, “I don’t know how to get online, I don’t know what to do, this is too much.”

You’d think that with all the AI tools, it’d be super easy for people. But I think it’s almost overwhelming. They need a Sherpa to kind of guide them through it, and I’m so happy to do that. That’s what I do with my friends and family—people I know—trying to help them get online.

I have a friend who owns a Thai restaurant, and I helped her with her website. Pilates instructors, therapists... people who need help. I’m totally happy to do it. I’m really excited.

The course doesn’t start until the 29th, but I’m anxious to get started as soon as possible. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

The Focus Struggle: LinkedIn vs. Templates

I’ve been having kind of a struggle figuring out what my focus should be.

I do have this history with LinkedIn. It’s how I helped build the company I was with before—helped build them from nobody knowing who they were to being a big player in the industry. Even though they’re still a smaller boutique company, the big guys in our industry knew who we were. And that was all through organic content, no paid ads. All organic through LinkedIn.

So I’ve thought about maybe doing a course for B2B businesses around that. And I think I could do that. I might still do it eventually.

But part of me was thinking about doing that because I know it’s a lighter lift. And it’s not in 100% alignment—I should say it’s still kind of in alignment, but not 100%—with what I’ve been focusing on, which is Show it, templates, and websites. I do want to do Wix and Squarespace and all these platforms eventually.

I worry that by focusing too much on trying to jump to the next shiny object and being like “Okay, maybe I need to do this, maybe this is what’s going to kick-start things”... I’m operating from a place of anxiety and not necessarily making the best decision.

So I talked it through with my accountability partner this morning (who’s great, and if you’re watching, hi!). I’m really going to try to focus on this for now. If opportunities come up and they feel right, I’ll open that up.

At the end of the day, I just really like creating. I want to do whatever is going to help me create and help others learn how to create. Whether that’s on LinkedIn or on their website. But I guess what I’m saying is: I need to focus.

The LinkedIn Mastermind Decision

Speaking of focus...

I got an email today that I got accepted into a LinkedIn group—a very private LinkedIn mastermind kind of thought leadership group. I applied on a whim like a week and a half or two weeks ago.

The email said there was only 10% acceptance (which, of course, to my ego I’m like “Awesome, that’s really nice”). They could help grow my followers and all these things.

But it’s expensive. And again, I really need to put my blinders on and start focusing.

As much as I want to explore everything, if I don’t put any guardrails up, I’m never going to get traction in anything. I really want to make sure I’m focusing on this because, you know, I don’t have a job per se, but I’m working all the time on this business.

If you can relate to that, let me know. That feeling of: Am I doing the right thing? Is this the right choice?

But I’ve learned that you have to make decisions and you have to make the decisions you make work. It’s okay to change your mind, but you can’t be so stuck in analysis paralysis that a year later you’re like, “I’m still trying to decide.”

No.

So that’s where I’m at with that.

Email Marketing: Pretty vs. Deliverable

There are a lot of things I want to discuss in terms of figuring out emailing.

I love designing and I want to create beautiful emails. But when I sent the email to launch the template, my husband was like, “I’m surprised you didn’t make it pretty.” It was all text.

I was like, “I know, but it needs to be delivered.”

From my understanding, the more images, HTML, links, and all that stuff you add, the more likely you end up in the spam folder. My domain is still new, and there’s this whole domain reputation thing. (If you want me to cover that in the main channel—like how to do email and all of that—let me know.)

I really want to land in people’s inboxes. So I’m trying to figure out that balance of creating pretty things (which is kind of my brand—I create templates to make things look nice) but also wanting to land in people’s inboxes with text-based emails.

I don’t know, we’ll see. If you have experience with that, let me know. I’m just learning this on the fly.

What I Launched This Week

I launched LinkedIn templates and a freebie!

The freebie has one banner and two carousels. Then there’s also a full LinkedIn set—I think it’s 50+ templates I created over the weekend.

For the banners, I used inspiration from all the top creators. I went and looked at what they did a lot of, then kind of mushed that all together and created 10 or 12 banners.

It’s normally $27, and I’m selling it for like $8-something. If that’s something you’re interested in, check it out. (I promise I’m not trying to make this a sales thing, but this is what I’m working on, so I’m sharing it with you.)

Moving Forward

I’m going to be doing this more regularly. I just filmed a video for the tutorial side of things—an over-the-shoulder “learn how to do this in Show it with me” kind of thing.

I’m not going to keep talking just because you’re supposed to for a podcast. I’m sure there’s a million things I forgot—throughout the week I’m always like “Oh, I need to talk about that on the podcast,” and then of course when I sit here, I don’t do it.

Next time I’ll have notes.

But in the meantime, I hope you’re all doing well. I hope you’re enjoying your business. If you’re following along with me, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, reach out—I’m happy to talk.

Have a great week. Until next week, I’ll talk to you later.

Building your online presence? I create templates that make it easier (and some are free!) Check them out at marymilagros.com →

P.S. — The constant theme here? Focus. Guardrails. Not getting stuck in analysis paralysis. I’m choosing to make my decisions work rather than endlessly deliberating. It’s scary, but it’s the only way forward.

Okay, so today was supposed to be the day. The day I finally filmed my two-and-a-half-hour Show it masterclass that I’ve been planning for weeks. I spent the last couple of days trying to figure out the perfect setup with lights and my iPhone, and honestly? It’s been frustrating as hell.

I got everything set up, was ready to hit record, and then... the webcam situation wasn’t working. The little picture-in-picture thing I wanted? Not happening because my iPhone isn’t fully connected to the computer. I have a webcam on the way, but after all this time spent on apps and lighting and configurations, I’m worried I’m going to end up right back at square one.

And then I looked at the clock. I have to pick up the kids from school in an hour. Not enough time for the full video I’ve been planning.

So you know what? I decided to just start anyway.

The Podcast Nobody’s Watching (Yet)

This is my podcast called “Start Anyway,” and as you can probably tell, I’m literally building in real time. There’s a huge light reflecting into my bookcase behind me. The setup isn’t perfect. Probably nobody’s watching this right now anyway. But hopefully in the future, someone will, and they’ll get to see every awkward, imperfect step of this journey.

Because here’s the thing: I announced my business on August 1st on LinkedIn. It’s a Show it website template business (with Canva templates coming too), and I’m tired of trying and not having anything to show for it.

One of the hurdles I’m dealing with? Not a lot of people know what Show it is. That’s something I’m going to have to figure out how to overcome. But luckily, on Pinterest, people seem to know it, and I’ve been running some ads there for my freebie.

The Freebie That Actually Rocks

Let me tell you about this freebie because I genuinely think it’s an awesome deal. If you go to my site, you get this free Sales Page Starter Kit—and it comes with a full template (worth $97), a starter guide, a mini workbook, and a GPT for sales page copy. Someone already told me the GPT was super helpful for them, which made my day.

I’ve had quite a few people sign up for it, which is exciting. Though of course, while I’m recording this and trying to show it, I realize I didn’t publish a text change and the cache isn’t updating and... you know what, this is the reality of it all.

Pinterest Marketing is WILD

Can we talk about Pinterest marketing for a second? Because oh my god. I did not understand this world at all.

You think, “Okay, I’ll do one pin every couple of days, that’s a lot, right?”

NO.

Fifteen pins a day is normal. That’s what you should aim for. I’m averaging about seven pins a day right now, which still feels like a lot.

But Pinterest is ultimately a search engine, and it’s really good for my ICP (ideal customer profile). That’s where you all hang out—Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram, but mostly Pinterest. I’ve been part of a really cool program where they’re teaching me how to write pins, create pins, understand the rules... because you don’t want to be creating AI slop, but you also need a process to do them fast because you need a LOT of them all the time.

The ad side of Pinterest? That’s a whole complex thing in itself.

Entrepreneurship Means Being a Jack of All Trades

Here’s what I’m learning about entrepreneurship: you have to be competent in so many things. Email marketing. Pinterest marketing. LinkedIn marketing. Website design (I can help with that one, at least). Understanding offers, funnels, upsells, downsells, where to sell, which software to use...

It’s just so much stuff.

And ultimately—I read this somewhere and I really think it’s true—you end up spending most of your time on marketing your product. Because the product can be amazing, but if no one knows about it, it’s like it doesn’t even exist.

You’re better off creating an amazing product while simultaneously getting it out there and getting feedback. Even if it’s at 70%. I think it’s Bezos who uses the 70% rule: if you waited for 90% of the information, you’ve waited too long.

So yeah, I’m learning all of these things. Even simple stuff like makeup for YouTube—I hardly ever wear makeup, but now I’m doing YouTube, so that’s another thing to learn. Podcasting. Just trying to get my business out there in front of as many people as possible.

Managing Your Mind Is the Real Work

And that’s the other thing, right? You have to learn how to manage your mind around all of this.

I saw someone on LinkedIn put it really well. She’s a popular marketer and she said: “Here’s to being embarrassed every day.” And that’s really what you have to be okay with. People are going to snicker. People are going to say stuff like “Oh look what she’s trying, that’s never going to work” or “What an idiot” or whatever voices are in your head.

But I told someone the other day: I’d rather be hated outside of myself than hate myself.

And if that means I have to be my full, weird, sometimes annoying self—because that’s who I am and I want to put that out in the world—then that’s who I have to be. If others hate it, that’s okay. They’re not my people. I want them to eat, just not at my table. Go hang out and be good, and I totally wish you well.

But this shrinking ourselves and then lashing out at others who don’t dare shrink? That’s not a way to live. We only have so many days left on this earth, and I know that sounds corny, but it’s so true.

So yeah, you’re going to watch me try and fail and try and fail until finally, maybe at some point, something’s going to click and it’s going to work. But in the meantime, I’m feeling called to do this.

Our Deepest Fear

There’s this quote from Marianne Williamson that I keep coming back to:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

When I first heard that, I got chills. Because I’ve seen it so much with people who are brilliant and they’re just so afraid to try. They think that by doing more research, just doing more research, that they’re making progress. But they’re not.

At the end of the day, you have to take action.

That’s why I’m recording this right now. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t get my video going for this awesome idea I have for my main channel masterclass that I said, “You know what? F it. I’m just going to do the podcast.” I had nothing prepared, but I want to share the raw, real, authentic what’s-going-on.

What Else I’m Learning

On a personal note: I’m baking a Jamaican rum cake for my husband right now, so I’m also running out of time for that.

Business-wise, I attended all of Alex Hormozi’s launch content and got some really valuable information. A lot of it reinforced what I’ve already been learning: you just have to do it. You just have to get the reps in. He called it “mental masturbation”—that thing where we research and plan but never execute. I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of it. I know I have.

I’m also listening to the book 10x Is Better Than 2x, which is pretty good. And Under My Hat by Hedda Hopper—she was a gossip columnist from the 1950s, 40s, and 30s. It’s really interesting, though not related to business. Just thought I’d share.

Email Marketing & Launches

My launch is coming up, and I’m learning about email automations. Like, how do you nurture a list? Just like a baby needs to be nurtured, your email list needs to be nurtured. The people on it want to hear from you and they want value, but they also want to know what you’re offering. They want to know you’re alive. But they don’t want to be spammed.

So it’s a balancing act. And then there are different funnels people come through—if they come through this landing page versus that landing page, you have to make sure the automation is keyed in, people are imported correctly, they’re tagged right...

For my launch, I have a specific sequence: what I’m going to say beforehand, what I’m going to say once it launches, and then afterwards, offering value. It’s a whole other beast to learn.

You really do have to become a jack of all trades but master of none. Though ChatGPT has been incredibly helpful for this stuff. Claude too, and any of the AI tools. Plus YouTube—we live in an amazing era where you can find all the information you need to get things done.

My Goals for Next Week

Since we’re doing goal check-ins on this podcast, here’s what I want to accomplish:

• Get my Show it Masterclass done

• Launch my website template

• Create the shopping page for the template

• Get the upsell/downsell things ready (though I might start with a simple checkout)

• Start working on my Canva templates (I have some fun, exciting ones planned, and I think I’m going to sell those on Etsy, linked from my website)

We’re just trying things out. Testing. Seeing what works.

Come Along for the Journey

If you’re also on this solopreneur journey, come along with me. I’m figuring out the community aspect—I have a couple I’ve been testing out. We’re all in this together.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I hope you have a wonderful week.

And remember: just start anyway.

This is the first episode of my podcast turned into a post (yes I used AI to help me but it’s all authentically me from the transcript) and it’s messy, and it’s real. It’s exactly where I am right now. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.