Hey Reader,

I'm coming out of the worst quarter.

One day I'm sure I'll talk about it more, I'm sure there is learning there but right now I'll share what I am comfortable sharing with where I am now.

Last April I found myself at a crossroads. I had an in person day with Anna Payne in beautiful Edinburgh, and we spoke about the two paths in front of me: lead generation and Airtable and automations. I could see both in my future, but I needed to go all in on one before building the other.

I had bought the Dream Dashboards domain in the February to park it (receipts below), and then tentatively spoke about the service but wasn't brave enough to go for it.

I went all in on lead generation, created my group programme, hosted masterclasses - you know the drill.

But after a series of wrong turns and iffy investments that didnt move me forward in the second half of 2024, I found myself at the turn of the year with an ever decreasing email list and an even smaller pool of clients and I figured that I needed to go for what I had dreamt about a year ago.

Man if I hadn't waited who knows where I would be now?!

And the turnaround has been quicker than I had hoped for, thank goodness, but I can't lie and tell you I haven't been doom scrolling indeed.com over the last few months despairing at what I was going to do in the future if things didn't turn around.

Such is the way of self employment, but honestly every time the thought entered my head to look for a role, the immediate follow up was "what the hell do I even have skills for?!"

On Tuesday I was voice noting a pal back in forth. She said she had read a post that said "basically if you have a problem that you have tried to fix but can't, I bet I can find a way to fix it for you". And she described this time suck of a job that someone in her business has to do, and I immediately could see how that could be fixed with a very simple app set up. And now we're working together in May to get that moving.

(If you didn't know I've been using my downtime to learn to code and build apps....check mine out here: meetfletch.co)

This totally isn't what I set out this email to be (such is ADHD) but I guess what I am trying to say is the following:

1. The online business world is changing, rapidly. If you can see a way to pivot, do, cause churning out the same old stuff as everyone else isn't going to fly
2. But also, pivot in a way that keeps you interested, not just in a way that you are clinging on to to make you money
3. Look for people who are doing things differently. Do your audience need another course or do they need something that is going to help them achieve the result they are craving?
4. [If we have spent any time together at all you've definitely heard me say this before buttttt] Every part of time you have is a ferris wheel and if it feels like you are on the downs right now I promise with all my heart that you're just waiting for the person that you need to get you moving to get on the ferris wheel and start your upwards trajectory. But remember, when you're riding high, you can start that downward slide as quickly as you go there.

Don't get me wrong, freelancer life is bumpy. But April is looking better than Jan - March combined and for that I am grateful.

What are your weekend plans? I'm finessing Meet Fletch for the beta launch next week, and onboarding the secret squirrels who have even earlier access. And maybe packing for the three week California trip I fly off on a week on Saturday...!

Speak soon

Zx