Love that I’ve really made failure my brand…
Bits n' bobs from my corner of the internet.
Howdy! I’m excited to catch up with you. We got deep last week, to mixed reviews— more on that below, but I thought it’d be nice and fun to be really simple today and just have some coffee chit chat.
To be honest, I’ve been feeling a little stagnant and stuck on the newsletter front— I love First Rodeo and it’s not going anywhere, to be clear— but every so often it can feel like shouting into the void.
And then last night we had our first cohort/peer group meeting for five of six founders in The Corral! I was reminded how much I love actual honest, no-bullshit conversation, trying to be of service to founders, and connecting with you all in real life. There are many more of these meetings to go and if last night was any indication of what’s to come… I’m excited :)
I’ve felt a bit off lately— Fool’s Spring, growing up, etc— so it was really nice to feel like I could be of service and also seen by a group of smart, hardworking women. I’m learning that those two things (being of service and feeling seen) are the juice in my metaphorical battery pack.
To that note, if you like First Rodeo, can you pretty please leave your thoughts in comments as opposed to emailing me back? I love hearing from you, but it can be tricky to manage separate emails vs. comments in one place— and engagement via Substack likes and comments helps me grow. 🫶
Here are some open tabs and loose marbles knocking around my gourd:
I joined my lovely friends
and on their podcast to talk about failure, lol! Love that I’ve really made failure my brand…
It was lovely to hear more about rejection in the book writing process, since as most of you know… I hope to write one!Had my first dabble with an ultrasonic cleaner over the weekend and it was so easy and SO satisfying— everything is so sparkly. Highly recommend brushing your jewelry with dish soap and a baby toothbrush and then running the cleaner a few cycles— I like this one.
I would never have thought of Banana Republic as somewhere where I’d find great jewelry at a good price but… that’s what happened. I snagged these mariner two-tone hoops and these two-tone mini ring hoops for 40% off and I wear them nearly every day. They have a lot of new arrivals that are great Jennybird dupes, like these wiggly hoops and this chunky two-tone cuff.
I want to get to the point of microinfluencing (or I guess I’m saying I want to do some real influencing) where I get to go on a press (ok, free) trip to Gleneagles where I can write a novella by the fireplace and they gift me this fabulous tee from their new collection. Actually, if there is any opportunity to go to Scotland for free, I will shill anything anyone wants me to. (I hope this honesty brings us closer together and not further apart.)
I’ve worked with Jolie in the past (back when I was at Thingtesting!) but I foolishly didn’t snag the photoshoot samples we had from the partnership. They offered to send a showerhead to me on Monday— reader, I’m writing this on Tuesday night. Somehow it already arrived, I blessedly was able to convince João to install it before my shower and life is so, so good on the other side. Does it work? I think so, but most importantly, the water pressure’s better than before.
Update from my protein journey: this stuff tastes like lemonade from a soda fountain and has 20g of protein per serving. I didn’t want to like it because it’s so expensive but… I love it. It seems to sell out often. I’m excited to try the Peach Iced Tea next…
In case you missed it and want something a little more toothsome to dive into, here is some of my heartier recent writing…
Everything you need to know about selling a business.
When I first set about selling my business, I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.
This industry is recession-proof, profitable, intrinsically tied to our psychology. I want in.
A friend told me the other day that humans were wearing jewelry and precious gems since as long as they were forging weapons. Don’t quote me on whether or not this is historically sound, but it assuaged the guilt I feel for coveting shiny things— though it feels almost animal, intrinsic, subconscious.
In the throes, the grips, the feral pit of: obsession!!
“Literally obsessed” is shorthand for liking something slightly more than usual, these days at least. Obviously, before we watered down our language so much that we found ourselves needing to constantly up the ante by filling up our sentences with “literally” and “deadass” and “obsessed”— the word had a touch of the negative in it, a la Ali Larter’s character in the Beyonce and Idris Elba film
The *1* tool to master if you want to grow a business, personal brand, or capture people's attention.
I called this a tool rather than an app in the title of this letter because that’s actually how I think entrepreneurs and creators of all kinds should view it: the tool to get you to product market fit.
In defense of not optimizing every little thing...
Hi pals! I hope all is well. I spent the week battling positively bone-crushing seasonal depression, but I think I squashed it successfully, and here’s why:
On balancing your "creative" brain and your "business" brain.
Good morning! You may not be reading this in the morning, but I always write to you in the morning, so it felt like the right thing to say.
Thanks again for coming on the pod and being so wise/vulnerable/open/all the things!
BRB saving Gleneagles to my vision board!