[00:00:00] Ruth Poundwhite: Hi, and welcome back to the final episode of 2025 for the soulful sales show.[00:00:06] Ruth Poundwhite: It is that time again, the Weird Hermits Mastermind have [00:00:10] gotten together for their final round table discussion of the year. Don’t worry though, we are planning to run live round tables every two months in 2026, so watch [00:00:20] this. Space. And in this one we are talking all about planning 2026. Now, the great thing about these discussions is that we are all different.

 

[00:00:29] Ruth Poundwhite: We all [00:00:30] run different kind of businesses. We all have different strengths and different preferred ways of doing things. In this discussion, we talk about a whole range of things. We are sharing what worked [00:00:40] in 2025 and what didn’t, what we are setting our sights on for 2026 plus the number one thing that we would focus on if we had to make more money with less.

 

[00:00:48] Ruth Poundwhite: Time and effort. [00:00:50] So it’s a really, really juicy conversation. And I should say, by the way, we all have a freebie that you can access from the link in the show notes, so definitely go check that [00:01:00] out and check out my fellow weird hermits to find out more about them. I’ll put their links in the show notes as well, and enjoy.

 

[00:01:06] Sage Grayson: Welcome to our 2026 [00:01:10] planning round table. Thank you so much for joining us today. I’m your moderator, Sage Grayson, and you can reach me@sagegrayson.com. And [00:01:20] we are the weird hermits. We are a group of women online business owners who have earned multiple six figures for multiple years.

 

[00:01:29] Sage Grayson: We [00:01:30] call ourselves the weird hermits because we all. Work in our homes, like weird little hermit crabs, but we love it. And at least once a week we gather together [00:01:40] to share strategies and brainstorm solutions and really support each other’s businesses. I love this group so much, and every once in a while we do one of [00:01:50] these live panels where we invite, you are lovely followers, so you can interact with us and ask us all of your burning questions about a specific topic.

 

[00:01:59] Sage Grayson: And [00:02:00] today’s topic is. Planning it is such a juicy one. You are going to love this. We are going to talk about exactly what is working for our [00:02:10] businesses. And what’s not working. We’re gonna talk about the bad stuff too, and we’re gonna show you how you can have a focused and [00:02:20] sustainable business into the new year.

 

[00:02:22] Sage Grayson: You are going to love this and we are so glad you’re here. Alright, before we get started, if you have any questions for us, please make sure you put them into the chat. We’re [00:02:30] gonna monitor the chat and. We’ll get you as many questions as we can. Also, make sure that you have some way to take notes because I don’t want you to miss a thing.

 

[00:02:39] Sage Grayson: And one more [00:02:40] thing we’ve got for you. We have gathered up freebies, deals and invitations just for you from the weird hermits, and I’m going to put the link to that document into the chat right now. [00:02:50] All right. We will share that link a few times, uh, during the, uh, the call and also we will link our our gifts document [00:03:00] with the replay when we’re done.

 

[00:03:01] Sage Grayson: Alright, I think we’re ready to get started. Let’s introduce our expert panelists. All right, so I’m just gonna go around as I see [00:03:10] my weird hermits here. We’re gonna do one to two sentence introductions. Does that sound good?

 

[00:03:15] Monica Froese: All right. Uh, Monica, will you introduce yourself? I had a feeling I was [00:03:20] gonna be first since I was here first.

 

[00:03:22] Monica Froese: Uh, my name’s Monica froze, and let’s see. I have multiple brands. I have Redefining Mom, which is a brand for moms, kind of [00:03:30] indicative of the title, uh, empowered Businesses, my B2B side of Things. And basically, I help people create high converting digital products, and I have a Shopify store called Empowered Shop.[00:03:40]

 

[00:03:40] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. Thanks for being here. Destiny. Oh, we

 

[00:03:45] Destini Copp: can’t hear you. It would be nice to turn on [00:03:50] my, you look so festive. Oh my goodness. Yeah. I have my, uh, merry, uh, Christmas sweater on too. So there you go. So my name is Dr. [00:04:00] Destiny Copp, and I am a university marketing professor full-time, but I also have two businesses that I own.

 

[00:04:06] Destini Copp: One is Hobby School, which is my B2C brand and also my [00:04:10] personal brand where I do business growth coaching for digital product entrepreneurs.

 

[00:04:16] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. Thank you Liz. Give us your introduction. [00:04:20]

 

[00:04:20] Liz Stapleton: Hey everybody. Super excited to be here. Uh, I also have multiple brands because once you start one business, why wouldn’t you want more than one?

 

[00:04:27] Liz Stapleton: Um, so [00:04:30] over@elizabethstevenson.com, I help online business owners with the legal side of running a business. And then over at, created our ops hub, which used to be called Blogger Breakthrough. Uh, I help with systems and you know, just [00:04:40] simplifying and kind of systemizing your business so that you can take back your time.

 

[00:04:45] Sage Grayson: Fantastic. Thank you. Uh, Steph, give us your introduction. [00:04:50] You’re on mute. Oh, Steph, we can’t hear you.

 

[00:04:53] Steph Blake: I know it’s not working. Can you hear me now?

 

[00:04:55] Sage Grayson: Yes.

 

[00:04:56] Steph Blake: Yeah, we can hear you. Okay, good. Um, hi everyone. I am Steph Blake. I [00:05:00] have three brands where I do a lot of different things, but mostly I help entrepreneurs simplify and automate their businesses.

 

[00:05:06] Steph Blake: And then I also have a personal brand. [00:05:10] Called Create and Escape, where we focus on all of the inner stuff that happens, um, that goes right along with business so that we can have more fun and play and create and [00:05:20] all of that Good stuff. So glad you’re here. Fantastic.

 

[00:05:24] Sage Grayson: Ruth, would you like to give us your introduction?

 

[00:05:27] Ruth Poundwhite: Hi everyone. I am Ruth [00:05:30] Pound White. I am a business and self-belief coach. I. Have the Soulful Sales Summit and the Soulful Sales [00:05:40] Podcast, and I help people to sell more in alignment with their energy, values and personality.

 

[00:05:47] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. Kate, [00:05:50] give us your introduction.

 

[00:05:52] Kate Kordsmeier: Hi everybody. I’m Kate Meyer from Success With Soul.

 

[00:05:55] Kate Kordsmeier: I help, uh, entrepreneurs grow their businesses without social [00:06:00] media. So I quit social myself in 2021 and now help others do the same. And yeah. Glad to be here.

 

[00:06:09] Sage Grayson: Thank you. We’re [00:06:10] glad you’re here. And Tara, give us your intro.

 

[00:06:13] Tara Reid: Hey everyone. I am Tara Reed. I am a business and marketing strategist, uh, [00:06:20] primarily for other introverted entrepreneurs.

 

[00:06:22] Tara Reid: I’m a huge introvert. Um, I’m also the host of the Introvert Preneur Virtual Summit. Um, we’re going into our sixth year [00:06:30] of running it and the Introvert Preneur podcast. And yeah, I’m so excited for this. ’cause 2025 has been a shit show, so I’m ready for 2026. [00:06:40]

 

[00:06:40] Sage Grayson: We are going to share all of the shitty things that happened to us this year.

 

[00:06:46] Sage Grayson: So we’re gonna get into all of that. Uh, just real quick, I am Sage Grayson, [00:06:50] and I am a former, uh, book editor, turned Life and business coach. Or as I like to say, I’m the life editor and so are you. And I help ambitious entrepreneurs earn 10 K months with their [00:07:00] businesses consistently with ease so they can quit their nine to five jobs.

 

[00:07:04] Sage Grayson: Alright, is that everyone? Did we get everyone’s intro? We’re good. Okay. Um, [00:07:10] oh, is the, uh, is our file with all of

 

[00:07:14] Kate Kordsmeier: the gifts not opening correctly? Do you need me to, it’s working. I’m not sure it’s working for [00:07:20] everyone else, so I think it might be a Okay. User we

 

[00:07:23] Sage Grayson: permits, did everyone add your gifts to it so I can change it from to viewer?[00:07:30]

 

[00:07:30] Sage Grayson: Everybody

 

[00:07:30] Steph Blake: has editor access Sage, so it can be viewer only. I updated that. I think that’s why there were issues.

 

[00:07:37] Sage Grayson: Okay, so now it says viewer on [00:07:40] mine, so it should be working now. We will share that link multiple times during the, the recording and we will definitely link it up to the replay. Alright, I [00:07:50] think we’re ready to dive in.

 

[00:07:50] Sage Grayson: Remember, if you’ve got questions for us, please uh, add them into the chat and we’ll get to as many as we can. So. Let’s start this off on a high note, [00:08:00] shall we? I would love to hear the two or three things that were really, really working for you in [00:08:10] 2025. So who wants to share what was really blown it outta the park?

 

[00:08:14] Sage Grayson: What really knocked your socks off this year? What was working in your business this year?[00:08:20]

 

[00:08:21] Liz Stapleton: I can, I can go with one JV workshops. Yes, please. I, I started kind of regularly hosting JV workshops and they’ve been going really well and the [00:08:30] system I built around it worked really well. So that’s kind of been a big win for me this year is I’ve, you know, I’ve known JD JV workshops work, but then actually building it out, so it [00:08:40] takes me, you know, 30 minutes to set one up has been huge.

 

[00:08:43] Sage Grayson: Whoa. How did you get it down to 30 minutes?

 

[00:08:47] Liz Stapleton: Um, I built a system with Airtable and I [00:08:50] automate a lot, so it’ll automate, you know, creating the promo pack and, you know, setting up the pages in WordPress and then, then I just have to go add a pattern and it’s pretty quick.

 

[00:08:59] Sage Grayson: Oh, I love [00:09:00] it. I think a lot of us have been using extra automations this year.

 

[00:09:03] Sage Grayson: Yes. To make things easier for us. Anything else that was working for you, Liz?

 

[00:09:08] Liz Stapleton: Uh, I, it’s been a [00:09:10] pivot year for me, so I’m just gonna stick with the JV workshops for now. I’ve completely rebranded a site, so

 

[00:09:18] Sage Grayson: Fantastic. All right. [00:09:20] Who else has some good news? Who else wants to share something that was really working for you?

 

[00:09:24] Sage Grayson: I can, yes, Kate. Oh, Kate and then Tara. Tara, go ahead. Go ahead.

 

[00:09:29] Tara Reid: Okay. I was [00:09:30] just gonna say, because, um, the one thing I can say for this year is that the evergreen things that I’ve put in place did work because [00:09:40] it was. Such a challenging year that I wasn’t able to show up for like half the year in the way that I wanted to.

 

[00:09:47] Tara Reid: Um, so it wasn’t as bad as it [00:09:50] could have been if I didn’t have those evergreen things in place. So my Evergreen, uh, six month email sequence, yeah, still was going out, still saw sales and [00:10:00] results and nurtured my audience. Um, my traffic didn’t dip a huge amount because I’ve. Had been focused on Pinterest and SEO.

 

[00:10:09] Tara Reid: So the [00:10:10] things that past Tara had done definitely were something that I was thankful, um, that she had done because I did still see those results this year when I wasn’t [00:10:20] able to show up.

 

 

[00:10:21] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. Yeah, I think that that is a huge win to, to still get the results, even if you’re not able to, to be there. [00:10:30] Um, wonderful.

 

[00:10:30] Sage Grayson: Thank you.

 

[00:10:32] Kate Kordsmeier: Kate. Tell us about your wins. I just wanna say, I know that 2025, we hear this all the time, [00:10:40] 2025 is such a weird year, and we have a lot of people that have really struggled. Some in this group, some just of friends and you know, people that we know. It’s been challenging [00:10:50] personally for a lot of people.

 

[00:10:51] Kate Kordsmeier: So I don’t say this to, um, dismiss any of that because I think it, it is very real. But I also say that it’s not the [00:11:00] case for everybody, and I think sometimes it’s helpful to hear that it’s not all doom and gloom across the board. This was one of my best years in a long time, [00:11:10] and I feel like I’m on a really good.

 

[00:11:12] Kate Kordsmeier: Trajectory right now. And I agree with what Tara said. A lot of what’s been working for me this year are things [00:11:20] that passed me set up, and I can’t even really say there’s like, I did this one specific thing and that changed everything. It’s a lot of. [00:11:30] Small systems and things that I’ve built over time that have a compound effect.

 

[00:11:35] Kate Kordsmeier: And I think maybe that’s one of the biggest changes that we’re really seeing. [00:11:40] I mean, there’s never been a magic bullet, but I think a lot of us have seen that. Um. It’s not just one thing and that you have to have kind of [00:11:50] this whole ecosystem working together, and that when you do, when one thing breaks or when something stops working or your personal life takes over or whatever, [00:12:00] that your whole business doesn’t disappear because you have all of these different levers that you can pull.

 

[00:12:05] Kate Kordsmeier: So. Just sharing that 2025 is not all [00:12:10] doom and gloom and that there are, there are some people are out there still buying, still engaging, still opening emails, still coming to calls. Um, and I [00:12:20] think there’s a lot of messaging right now that’s like, nothing’s working anymore and I think those people are usually trying to sell you something.

 

[00:12:27] Kate Kordsmeier: So just, you know, [00:12:30] some

 

[00:12:30] Sage Grayson: things are still working quite well. Yes, I have one. Monica, please.

 

[00:12:36] Monica Froese: So I did enter 2025 probably in the worst state. Uh, [00:12:40] not a, not a great way. Entering 2025, let’s say that to the point that in May I actually updated my resume and if anyone has known me for a while. There is no [00:12:50] planet that I wanna go back to corporate.

 

[00:12:51] Monica Froese: Okay? Like that is like not, I am not meant to answer to someone else in my life. Um, and luckily, luckily that is not what ended [00:13:00] up happening. Um, I basically, in May I did that and I think that was my wake up call to be like, you know what? Sometimes I think I. We get so set in our ways of what we’re doing [00:13:10] that I almost feel like I stopped being innovative.

 

[00:13:12] Monica Froese: And so I went into the summer as my, this was gonna, I said for basically from June through, like end of September. I’m like, I’m gonna say yes to [00:13:20] everything. And like, ’cause I, I had been in, I had not had the capacity to say yes to a lot of things because my personal life up to that point for the previous two years and [00:13:30] the second half of this, of this year was like something crazy, like 300%.

 

[00:13:34] Monica Froese: Uh, more revenue than the first half of this year. So that’s what kicked it off. And then I did a podcast interview for [00:13:40] my 100 pod podcast, uh, episode on the Empowered Business Podcast. And it was just, it, I didn’t even mean for this to be the hundredth episode. It just happened to be, and it was with a friend of mine, Cheryl Rik, [00:13:50] who is a email marketing expert and specializes in like, deliverability stuff.

 

[00:13:55] Monica Froese: And something listening to her, I realized, wow, I, [00:14:00] for, you know. Especially in the age of AI and all the noise and having inbox scanners out there, I’m like, we really have to know how to like get into the inbox. And so I came up with this idea called [00:14:10] inbox experiments. I really didn’t like, I mean I didn’t come up with it strategically.

 

[00:14:13] Monica Froese: I just one day was like, I wanna get people to respond to my emails. And so what I did was I started on [00:14:20] Saturday morning at 9:00 AM I would say, Hey, uh, I was really into creating a lot of GPTs and I was like. Respond, yes, I want the GPT and I’ll send it to you. And what I started noticing is [00:14:30] people, so I got people to respond.

 

[00:14:31] Monica Froese: That was, you know, one of those signals I was looking for, getting people in. But then it kicked off these conversations. People would then use the GPT and be like, this is amazing. What’s the next [00:14:40] step? And I’m like, oh. So now I’m getting them to respond and I’m getting them to use it. So then I started incentivizing them that if they responded with the output, that [00:14:50] um, I would.

 

[00:14:51] Monica Froese: Send them another bonus. And that bonus, it was like something, maybe another GPT, but it was always an offer to like what the next step after that GPT was. [00:15:00] That went really well, which led me to this 21 day event I hosted in October called, um, potion a Day, and it was, I dropped 21 New GPTs and it revived my shop, which had [00:15:10] kind of taken a hit because I really hadn’t been promoting it.

 

[00:15:12] Monica Froese: Um, and it was the biggest marketing campaign that I ran this year, and they were $9 gpt. So. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Getting people to [00:15:20] respond was my takeaway. I feel like I stopped talking to people and suddenly I was having hundreds of replies. So that’s what I say worked.

 

[00:15:27] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. That is fantastic. We’re [00:15:30] so glad to hear that.

 

[00:15:32] Sage Grayson: Destiny, do you wanna tell us what was working in your business?

 

[00:15:36] Destini Copp: I, I think my story is probably very similar to Kate [00:15:40] in that I can’t really necessarily pinpoint, you know, one exact thing that worked for me this year. Um, because I think it’s really just a [00:15:50] combination of what I’ve been building over time that has really kind of, you know, it’s that 1%.

 

[00:15:56] Destini Copp: Kind of improvement that you make on a regular basis [00:16:00] that kind of builds up in your business. Um, and, and I did place a lot of emphasis on really doubling down and focusing on what’s [00:16:10] working. And if something was working right, keep doing it. Like don’t stop doing it. Like build upon that and really double down on that.[00:16:20]

 

[00:16:20] Destini Copp: I know webinars work for me. I know that these events in hobby school work for me. We have like a rinse and repeat process that is super easy. I honestly, I don’t even have to [00:16:30] touch anything there. We just have a rinse and repeat process that we can run every single month, and I know based on. Past history.

 

[00:16:38] Destini Copp: I know like [00:16:40] what revenue I’m gonna get from something like that. But again, this is just something that I have built over time and not necessarily, oh, this was just one [00:16:50] magical thing that worked for me this year

 

[00:16:53] Sage Grayson: that is such a great point, is to focus in on the things that are already working for you and build those up.

 

[00:16:58] Sage Grayson: Uh, that’s where you’re going to get [00:17:00] the best results. I love it. I love it. Steph, tell us about your wins.

 

[00:17:04] Steph Blake: Yeah, well the thing that was working this year was me because the last two [00:17:10] years I honestly was not able to work sometimes five hours a week because I had a lot happening in my personal life. Um, so I did a lot this [00:17:20] year.

 

[00:17:20] Steph Blake: Honestly, I created a whole new company, create an Escape. That took up the vast majority of my time. But really, I think the I, I agree with [00:17:30] things that everybody has say, has said here, but especially with what Kate said, where everybody’s just been so doom and gloom. People say that literally every year.

 

[00:17:38] Steph Blake: Every single year, people say it’s the [00:17:40] worst year ever. Right. That’s not the case. Right. This is, has also been one of my best years since 2020, which was my [00:17:50] best year. And it’s just because, well, one, I was working and I was able to think and be more strategic, but also because I focused on doing what I wanted to do [00:18:00] and for many years I, well, I started with high ticket, then I went to low ticket for a really long time and I realized that was not a model that resonated with me.[00:18:10]

 

[00:18:10] Steph Blake: I did not enjoy it. So then this year I switched back to doing what I really enjoy doing, and I wouldn’t even call it high ticket, um, but it’s [00:18:20] higher than what I was doing before. And really focusing on working with people more closely on a one-to-one basis and just diving really deep. And [00:18:30] it wasn’t until I, uh.

 

[00:18:33] Steph Blake: I think this is the same for everything, right? We go through so many experiences for a reason, and it was if I hadn’t had gone through everything that I went through [00:18:40] in the past couple of years, I don’t think I would’ve had this realization that I really enjoy diving deep with very few people. And that’s okay.[00:18:50]

 

[00:18:50] Steph Blake: Even if everybody else says you have to have 3 million people in your membership or whatever. That’s not aligned with me, and I would say that’s a huge one for me and something I’m definitely carrying over [00:19:00] to, um, next year as well.

 

[00:19:02] Sage Grayson: Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you said that. Uh, that really resonates with me too because I am, uh, shifting from, uh, low ticket to [00:19:10] high ticket as as well.

 

[00:19:11] Sage Grayson: Uh, so I, I’ll mention that, uh, later. But yes, I do wanna say to everyone that, uh, what your win is might be completely different from [00:19:20] somebody else’s win, but you know what’s gonna work for your business. Uh, and Ruth, will you tell us what was working for you this year?

 

[00:19:28] Ruth Poundwhite: My son is just running. I can [00:19:30] hear him running upstairs outside, so apologies if there’s noise from him.

 

[00:19:33] Ruth Poundwhite: But it, it was, I was gonna say what Kate said because there really is no one thing, there’s no magic thing. If [00:19:40] you looked at all the individual things I did, some of them actually probably didn’t even do that well, but they’ve all added up and consistently I’ve shown up and sold and focused on the [00:19:50] things that are working like Destiny said.

 

[00:19:52] Ruth Poundwhite: But I wanted to share. A, a couple of more mindset pieces and one was, um, I really messed up with my money [00:20:00] in 2024. I had a really bad year for my mental health. Um, kind of like what Steph was saying. I was not working. And, uh, a result of that was [00:20:10] not tracking my money properly, not setting aside, I took too much money out my business.

 

[00:20:13] Ruth Poundwhite: It really screwed things up. The benefit of that has been how on the ball I’ve [00:20:20] gotten about my money and gotten so, so clear on what I’m spending in my business, what I need to bring in every month to cover my essential expenses, getting rid of my ential [00:20:30] expenses, and just getting so on top of things. I feel so much more empowered.

 

[00:20:34] Ruth Poundwhite: And it motivates me so much. You know, I went from a goal of having however many months saved with expenses and then I keep [00:20:40] increasing that goal of like, oh, I wanna have an extra month saved. I have an extra month saved. That has been really, really motivating for me. And I know when I had my, so I had a previous business, I know when I had [00:20:50] my best years in that previous business was when I was so on the ball with tracking my money and knowing my numbers.

 

[00:20:56] Ruth Poundwhite: And I feel like I’m back to that place. And I, and I do think it’s [00:21:00] had a tangible. Effect, uh, in my business. And again, it’s been a good year for my business as well. Um, and the other mindset piece is really being honest with myself, [00:21:10] especially after such a hard year about my capacity and the support that I need and building in the systems and the support.

 

[00:21:17] Ruth Poundwhite: To stop me having [00:21:20] to do all of the things and getting stressed and not being able to hold it all. That has been huge for me as well. But obviously that could be a whole other conversation, so I’m just gonna leave it there. [00:21:30]

 

[00:21:30] Sage Grayson: Beautiful. Yes. I love that you said, uh, you mentioned energy and capacity, uh, too.

 

[00:21:35] Sage Grayson: Uh, I will briefly go into my, uh, wins. So, uh. [00:21:40] I was, uh, very, very sick for about four months at the beginning of the year, and I had to forgive myself that I wasn’t able to do as much work as I, I normally, you know, I’m like a go, go, go [00:21:50] getter. I always have something I’m working on. Uh, but, uh, I was able to still have a really great, great year.

 

[00:21:57] Sage Grayson: Um, and what was working for me was, um. [00:22:00] I think kind of owning my worth a little bit more. So you, uh, all know I’m the queen of $7 trip wires. Well, quietly without notice, I changed my $7 trip wires, [00:22:10] uh, so that my trip wires are now 75% off, not $7 for everything, even if it was $500, but 75% off. [00:22:20] My income for my digital product sales tripled.

 

[00:22:23] Sage Grayson: So that was kind of like a, a learning for me that I don’t have to give everything away [00:22:30] dirt cheap, and people will still buy, people will still see the value. So I did really like my $7 wire experiment, and I [00:22:40] do believe that that can really work. Uh, for people who are just starting out, and you just need to get those daily sales rolling.

 

[00:22:46] Sage Grayson: You just need to get people over the hump of buying anything. So I [00:22:50] will still tr uh, teach the $7 Trip buyers, but I think as you grow with your business, uh, your audience grows to it and they will pay you more. So that worked for me. Moving from [00:23:00] Facebook group to school, which I literally did two weeks ago, has already been amazing for me.

 

[00:23:04] Sage Grayson: The engagement is so much more and I’m loving the leaderboards. I’m loving just, uh, how everyone seems to be there. [00:23:10] It’s really great. So more to come with school. I’m excited about that. Um, and also, uh, like Step had mentioned, I had been doing, uh, low ticket [00:23:20] digital product sales for about the past three years, and now I’m moving back to more, uh, active income.

 

[00:23:27] Sage Grayson: Um. Like high price, [00:23:30] uh, like elite level programs, which is what I did at the beginning of my business pre pandemic and. It’s feeling so good. I really miss this. I mean, uh, Steph and I [00:23:40] had a whole conversation about how I, I like being around people. I want to be teaching more. I want to be doing more active stuff, and that’s certainly because I’m an extrovert.

 

[00:23:48] Sage Grayson: Um, so now my [00:23:50] goodbye nine to five mastermind group has been exploding and it’s been so great. It’s been so great, uh, being able to like, talk to people, uh, and get on Zoom calls and, uh, [00:24:00] if that works for you. Uh. Go all in with, with active income, go all in with high ticket. Uh, you don’t feel like you, you have to, to do it the way that everyone else does.

 

[00:24:08] Sage Grayson: And I feel like I can do [00:24:10] that now because I’ve got almost 60 digital courses that I feel like I can just sell my all access pass, which is called Life Editor Academy and just sell that as it is and then [00:24:20] really focus in on, um, my mastermind group. Other things that’s, that have been working just like Kate, I’m on huge daily sales streak, so I’m at, um, more than 700 [00:24:30] days of daily sales.

 

[00:24:31] Sage Grayson: Um, and yeah, I think, uh, I feel like I’m coming back to a version of me that I haven’t seen for a few years, and that [00:24:40] feels really, really good. Um, so that was what was winning for me in 2025. Okay. Just checking the chat here. Um, [00:24:50] I think. Could we, do we want to, uh, talk about what was not working? In 2025 and maybe, uh, mistakes or things we [00:25:00] wouldn’t do, or things we are not bringing with us into 2026, who’s got something that was like, Hmm, you know, that that wasn’t great this year.

 

[00:25:08] Sage Grayson: Maybe I’ll not, I’ll not continue [00:25:10] that next year. Who’s got something like that? Kate, please.

 

[00:25:13] Kate Kordsmeier: Yeah, I, I’m gonna segue a little bit too, because Ruth said something that I just wanna go back to, but I think it [00:25:20] actually answers the question that you’re asking here. It might take me a second to get there. So, um, I do think mindset is really important.

 

[00:25:27] Kate Kordsmeier: And one of the things I was thinking as everybody was [00:25:30] talking is that. I said at the beginning of this, oh, this has been one of my best years in a while. And it’s true that it has, but it, I’m [00:25:40] also making way less gross revenue than I have in years past. And so I thought that was interesting. And thinking about what Ruth said, it was like, I [00:25:50] think I also changed my.

 

[00:25:52] Kate Kordsmeier: I moved the goalposts and I used to be all more and more and more. I have to be seven figures. I have to make all this, like I, I needed to [00:26:00] sound really impressive and I feel like one of the things that I shifted, I started shifting in 2024 after I came back from a six month [00:26:10] sabbatical, but I really leaned into it hard this year.

 

[00:26:14] Kate Kordsmeier: Having a high profit business and not focusing so much on [00:26:20] that, I have to be a seven figure business owner and focusing more on what am I paying myself and how does it feel? And I think that is why when I say [00:26:30] I’ve had one of the best years, it’s not necessarily. I’ve made the most money that I ever have.

 

[00:26:35] Kate Kordsmeier: It’s that I, I am paying myself the most I ever have, [00:26:40] and I am enjoying the process so much more. So I think one of the things that did not work for me to answer your question. Was [00:26:50] looking at too much at what other people are doing or worrying too much about how things sound. Even to myself, I know in 2023 I kept saying [00:27:00] like, my business is disappearing.

 

[00:27:02] Kate Kordsmeier: I used to make this much now and like. Just so much resistance with reality rather than accepting [00:27:10] reality and then making changes based on where I was at. And so I feel like that resistance, um, really hurt me and took me a long time [00:27:20] to. Truly let go of and just surrender to like, this is where you are now.

 

[00:27:25] Kate Kordsmeier: And something we’ve been talking about in our group is like, we all know how to make [00:27:30] money. We’ve all done it before. And so when any of us is like, oh, it’s not working, or Why isn’t this going the way I expected? Or what if I have to go back and get a real job or anything? [00:27:40] It’s like just reminding ourselves, we actually do know how to make money and if we can just like calm our nervous systems and you know.

 

[00:27:49] Kate Kordsmeier: [00:27:50] Kind of point to our true north. I think that’s where the magic has happened for me this year.

 

[00:27:55] Sage Grayson: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for that. Monica, what do you have?

 

[00:27:58] Monica Froese: I have something to piggyback off of [00:28:00] what, uh. Kate just said because, um, I always was striving for like the $7 million a year type business. I do not want [00:28:10] that.

 

[00:28:10] Monica Froese: I do not want the responsibility of that. I want to spend time with my kids and not be as stressed and so. That was like, I was like there [00:28:20] when my divorce happened in 2023 and then I, it was just like a whirlwind after that. And what I learned from that experience, I learned a lot. But one of the things business wise I [00:28:30] learned was when your revenue starts dipping and you have a high expense business, it’s, it does not come down at the same rate.

 

[00:28:38] Monica Froese: And so I had to make [00:28:40] really tough decisions this year. On my expense load like decisions that if you had said a year ago I was gonna make, I’d been like, I’m never getting rid of that. I’m not, I’m not cutting support there. And I [00:28:50] basically for the second half of the year, did this completely alone. And then that’s exactly what I like.

 

[00:28:56] Monica Froese: Reminded myself, I know how to make money online. I know how to do this. I’ve been doing this [00:29:00] for a decade. This I know what I’m doing. But I would much rather have high profit and enjoy my life than Chase some arbitrary revenue number that only stresses me out. [00:29:10]

 

[00:29:11] Sage Grayson: Yes. Yes. Stop chasing the numbers. Oh my gosh, I love that.

 

[00:29:16] Sage Grayson: Who else has something that you’re not taking into 2026 [00:29:20] with you? Yeah, Ruth.

 

[00:29:21] Ruth Poundwhite: So something that I’ve really witnessed in my fellow weird hermits is we will have a conversation and you’ll be like, I’m thinking of doing [00:29:30] this, and then I just see you like go out and do it. And I love seeing that in you all, and.

 

[00:29:37] Ruth Poundwhite: What I realized in myself [00:29:40] is I often make a decision to 90% of the way there, but that 10% of doubt takes up so much space in my head, [00:29:50] and I think about changing the decision that I already almost made. So I am done with 90% decisions and I truly believe that [00:30:00] making quick decisions, and I have believed this for a long time.

 

[00:30:02] Ruth Poundwhite: It’s not a new thing, but it’s definitely a thing that I continue to work on, making quick decisions, putting things out there [00:30:10] imperfectly, testing things. And yeah, I just saw Kate say, I see you do this too. And that’s the thing, like I, I do believe that it would look like that from the outside, but sometimes in my [00:30:20] head, like, I’m ta I’m so caught up in like, oh, should I change it?

 

[00:30:23] Ruth Poundwhite: Should I change it? And I’m so done with that ’cause it, it’s not serving me. And actually, you know, I’m, I’m trying to finish work [00:30:30] by the end of next week. Take off time for Christmas and then I’m going to Thailand for three weeks. So I’m like, I do not have time to overthink anything right now, [00:30:40] and it’s actually quite helpful.

 

[00:30:41] Ruth Poundwhite: Okay. It’s quite helpful. So yeah, I’m leaving behind 90% decisions in in 2025.

 

[00:30:47] Sage Grayson: That is so good. Leave behind the 90% decisions. I love [00:30:50] quick decisions. Thank you. Steph, what were you going to say?

 

[00:30:55] Steph Blake: Ruth, I love that I, I put in the chat, build the plane while you’re flying it, and I never really [00:31:00] understood. I heard that years ago and I never really understood it until I realized I had a DH ADHD and I was like, oh, this is what I do the vast majority of the time because I just have an idea and I run with it for [00:31:10] better or mostly for worse most times.

 

[00:31:12] Steph Blake: But, um, one of the things I’m definitely leaving behind is paying team members that I don’t need. I realized that I was [00:31:20] overpaying for. Things that I, for team members that I was procrastinating on doing, [00:31:30] there’s a lot that goes into it, but there was a lot of internal self-worth issues with that. It’s like, I can’t do this thing, or I’m afraid to do this thing, so I’m just gonna pay somebody else to do it.[00:31:40]

 

[00:31:40] Steph Blake: So I just offloaded a lot of things that I didn’t want to deal with. And after realizing how much money I was paying for people. Without the results that I wanted, I [00:31:50] was like, okay, how can we, how can we change this without, how can we change this quickly? Right? So I was like, okay, [00:32:00] what can we simplify?

 

[00:32:00] Steph Blake: What can we automate and what can I use AI for? And I just basically completely changed so many backend elements in my business by either [00:32:10] just eliminating them, offloading them to other team members that I have, or automating them. Or using AI in some way. It’s usually a combination of all of those. [00:32:20] Um, but I would say that was a huge change.

 

[00:32:22] Steph Blake: And kind of like Kate said as well, it helped me to increase my profits too and face the things that I didn’t wanna face. [00:32:30] Which again, is part of just, uh, your evolution as an entrepreneur.

 

[00:32:34] Sage Grayson: I love it. Uh, I’ve got a great question about, uh, automation that we’ll get to in a minute, but [00:32:40] I, I, I definitely believe in, in, in, in cutting out what, what you don’t need, whether that’s team members or complicated systems.

 

[00:32:47] Sage Grayson: Uh, Tara, would you tell us about [00:32:50] anything that you are not bringing into 2026 or what are you gonna leave behind?

 

[00:32:55] Tara Reid: Oh, so much So, um, [00:33:00] I feel like right now is like a, a weird time for me to answer this, but I feel like what I’m gonna take into and everything else can just be left behind, [00:33:10] um, into 2026, is I feel like I’ve reignited my passion a little bit for marketing, for [00:33:20] implementing, for doing the things and.

 

[00:33:23] Tara Reid: I feel like, like right now, it’s like we had our in-person thing and then it was Black Friday [00:33:30] and now it’s December, which is always a weird month. And where I like to take some time off at the end of the month, like at least two weeks, and I’m like [00:33:40] trying to take everything that I got from being in person with all of you amazing humans.

 

[00:33:47] Tara Reid: And I, I feel like it’s just lit [00:33:50] me up again where I just wanna take. What I’ve been doing that feels good and leave everything else behind. Um, so I loved [00:34:00] when Ruth, Ruth said the 90% on decision making. ’cause I just put that in our Voxer about moving everything to Kartra. I was like, I’m 90% sure. [00:34:10] And so that’s something that I’m probably gonna do is move everything to Kartra, simplify, get rid of old offers.

 

[00:34:18] Tara Reid: Like I don’t need to move them. They can just. [00:34:20] Retire and go away. Um, so yeah, simplifying. Um, yay, Kate. Yeah. You, you’ve turned me onto Kartra. I’m like obsessed. So[00:34:30]

 

[00:34:32] Sage Grayson: wonderful. Yes. I, I. Right there with you about, uh, making the, making those tough decisions, leaving behind what’s [00:34:40] doing not working and what you said, doing what feels good. Uh, I think a lot of us just need to trust ourselves a little bit more. Uh, Liz, I gotta hear, what are you leaving behind [00:34:50] and, and not taking into the New Year

 

[00:34:52] Liz Stapleton: blogger breakthrough?

 

[00:34:54] Sage Grayson: Tell us why. That was huge. That was huge. Oh my goodness.

 

[00:34:58] Liz Stapleton: Um, so it got rebranded, right? [00:35:00] So I, I didn’t, I’m not completely like doing it. I just, uh, it no longer was aligning with where I was going and what I wanted to do, um, [00:35:10] and. I don’t just serve bloggers, really. I’m, I’m serving creators, uh, with systems, uh, prebuilt systems, and, you know, so that was, I [00:35:20] was feeling very stagnant.

 

[00:35:21] Liz Stapleton: So this year I was like, I’m going to really simplify and streamline my business, and I cleaned up Elizabeth stevenson.com. In like Q1, um, like [00:35:30] create a new Evergreen newsletter that’s done really well, like revamped products, workshops, the whole thing. And I’m still working on funnels there, but like, it really came together [00:35:40] quickly.

 

[00:35:40] Liz Stapleton: And then when it went, came time to clean up Blogger Breakthrough, I really struggled. And then you guys were like, you know, I’ve never liked the name. And I was like. [00:35:50] That

 

[00:35:50] Sage Grayson: was an

 

[00:35:51] Liz Stapleton: interesting, and so you guys kind of got me thinking about it and I was like, okay, this. You know, and so once I finally like I didn’t have a clear [00:36:00] direction for it, I was just kind of like doing the summit every year and it wasn’t really doing as well and it didn’t really align with what I wanted to be doing.

 

[00:36:08] Liz Stapleton: And so once I kind of got clear [00:36:10] on that, like I’m actually excited about this site again, and like what I’m building over there and the offers I’ve created, and it’s making it much easier to like. [00:36:20] Simplify and see what needs to be cut as like an old thing versus, uh, new. Granted, the freebie I put in is definitely, probably an old thing I’m not really offering anymore, but we’re, we’re gonna just [00:36:30] go past that.

 

[00:36:31] Liz Stapleton: Um, so it was, it really provided a lot of clarity for me. So. Blogger, breakthrough Blogger. Breakthrough Summit [00:36:40] is not anymore. I’m gonna do a different summit in March and I’m looking for speakers if anyone wants to apply applications or do the 15th. So please

 

[00:36:48] Sage Grayson: put the, the link in the chat so people [00:36:50] can apply.

 

[00:36:50] Sage Grayson: Yeah, I’ll,

 

[00:36:50] Liz Stapleton: uh, so yeah, that’s, I’m, I’m leaving behind a whole brand in 2025.

 

[00:36:56] Sage Grayson: That’s incredible and we are all so, so proud of you. Uh, [00:37:00] so, so let that, let them be, know that you don’t have to keep dragging her along something, even if it’s what you’re known for, even if it’s something that you loved for a long time, you’re allowed to grow and change.

 

[00:37:09] Sage Grayson: And we are [00:37:10] so excited. We are so excited. Okay. Uh, I have another question that, uh, Kate is also connected to. You’re getting rid of the low, low, low memberships, [00:37:20] uh, too. I would love to hear. If your business had to make the same amount of money that you made this year. Or [00:37:30] more, but you had to do it with half the energy output.

 

[00:37:36] Sage Grayson: Uh, just so all of you know here, most of our, our weird hermits here are, [00:37:40] uh, introverted. They have, uh, neurodivergent, uh, uh, what else? We are caregivers. Many of us have children. We have busy, busy lives just like [00:37:50] you do. So if you had to make the same amount of money in your business or more, but with half the energy output, like let’s say you just don’t have the energy.

 

[00:37:59] Sage Grayson: What would [00:38:00] you cut, automate, delegate, delete. Tell me if you had to make the same amount of money, but you’re getting rid of all the fluff here, [00:38:10] tell us what, what, what are you getting rid of? Uh, if you only had half the energy,[00:38:20]

 

[00:38:20] Destini Copp: I, I’ll, I’ll jump in. I mean, honestly, ’cause this is where I am because I. And I’ve talked to Kate about this several times. I have been [00:38:30] going through extreme burnout this year. Mm-hmm. Especially the past six months. So I’m like, I’ve got to figure out something different. And so I’ve really just kind of [00:38:40] looked at everything that I’ve been working on and.

 

[00:38:44] Destini Copp: Assessing everything. So looking at what can we automate? Who do I need to hire? So I’ve been [00:38:50] hiring and, and this is, you know, kind of opposite of some of the discussion here. I have been hiring people to help me because I’m like, I have got to reduce the [00:39:00] hours that I’m working. Um, the other thing that I’m gonna do going forward into the new year is to really focus on paid advertising.

 

[00:39:08] Destini Copp: So a lot of the effort that I’ve [00:39:10] been doing in some of these. Legion activities that have been taking up my time. I just don’t have the time anymore, so I’m gonna automate a lot of the Legion [00:39:20] activities. And that is, I, I cannot tell you how much that’s gonna take off my plate. So that, and hiring people, um, you [00:39:30] know, I, I’m so looking forward to 2026 and actually working a lot less than what I’m doing right now.

 

[00:39:37] Sage Grayson: I love that. Hiring people beeping, beefing up your [00:39:40] ads. That is gonna give you your energy and your time back too. So just to say like, to everyone what, uh, what we’re suggesting, we might have different things that give us our energy back than you might. [00:39:50] Uh, Kate, what were you going to say about, uh, how are you going to preserve your energy if you had to make the same amount of money or more, but do it with half your energy?

 

[00:39:59] Kate Kordsmeier: [00:40:00] I love this question. This is such a good one. Sage is surprising us here with the questions today, so we’re all like, ooh, juicy. Um, [00:40:10] yes, I agree with Destiny on the ad front. I feel like 2024 for me was the year of bundles and summits, and I 100% [00:40:20] think bundles and summits are the best way to grow your email list for free.

 

[00:40:24] Kate Kordsmeier: Fast. There’s nothing else that I have found that is as fast and as free as [00:40:30] bundles and summits. And it takes time and energy and email calendar promo space, and you have to create presentations and you’ve gotta get all the pages, you know, all [00:40:40] the things. So in 2025, I said, I’m gonna be a lot pickier about what I’m contributing to this year.

 

[00:40:48] Kate Kordsmeier: Save some of that energy [00:40:50] and I’m gonna go all in on ads. It took me a while to get my ads where they are profitable now. I have been running the same ad since [00:41:00] February and it took me tweaking mostly backend funnel pieces, not the ad itself, um, until July to get it profitable, and now it is working like [00:41:10] gangbusters and so I am just all in on.

 

[00:41:14] Kate Kordsmeier: Continuing to, I mean, it’s so much easier. It’s so much more automated. It is so much more like [00:41:20] you turn it on and you don’t really think about it again until you come back in a couple weeks and make sure things are working. And obviously there’s that tweaking, you know, phase. But this is, we’re actually [00:41:30] teaching this funnel in, um, I get it done week in January inside my membership.

 

[00:41:35] Kate Kordsmeier: And I feel like, yeah, ads are just [00:41:40] a mu like they’re the fastest way to grow your list. Free. I mean, not free like bundles and summits, but um, it’s paid, but I feel like [00:41:50] it’s been working really well. And, um, yeah, so I’m all in on ads too, and I think with that I am tweaking some of my offers. Um, [00:42:00] this is the first year that looking at the next year, I’m not like.

 

[00:42:03] Kate Kordsmeier: Making massive changes to things. I feel like I’m like, things are working. It’s 2026 is [00:42:10] gonna be more of a refining year for me of how can I make it work even better without changing too much. So, like you said, sage, like how can I make this work [00:42:20] in less time from me with less expenses from me with less, you know, burnout, how can I feel better about things?

 

[00:42:26] Kate Kordsmeier: And so. One of the things I’m doing is I’m closing my [00:42:30] low ticket membership. I have a $9 a month membership. Um, I am, you know, rebranding some things and I, like you said, sage, [00:42:40] I am raising my prices on a lot of stuff and I think that we all have to go through our own evolution with pricing. I am so glad that I did the [00:42:50] $7 trip wire for a year.

 

[00:42:51] Kate Kordsmeier: I am so glad. That I really got a lot of energy and momentum going in my business. I got people quick wins and I [00:43:00] got great testimonials and people were buying a ton ’cause it was really cheap. Um, but it requires so much volume and I think I’ve figured out like the high [00:43:10] volume business, that’s just not a game that I wanna play.

 

[00:43:13] Kate Kordsmeier: I’m obviously, I’m an introvert, chronically ill a neurodivergent. I’ve got two kids, like I’ve got all the things [00:43:20] that are like, my capacity is very low. And so, yeah, so I am raising my prices on a lot of things and doing it in a very [00:43:30] like values aligned way. I think my pendulum has really swung, like I went all the way into Hide Hive high ticket for a couple of years.

 

[00:43:38] Kate Kordsmeier: Then my, I think I [00:43:40] overcorrected, right? And my pendulum swung all the way into like everything’s $7. I’m glad I did it. I learned so much and now I’m, I’m finding my [00:43:50] sweet spot in the middle, which isn’t super high ticket, but it’s also not everything is $7. So that’s what’s working for me and what I’m kind of, what I’m gonna try to do more [00:44:00] of in, in 2020.

 

[00:44:02] Kate Kordsmeier: What year? 2026. Um, in less time.

 

[00:44:07] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. Uh, Ruth, your [00:44:10] entire summit is about this topic, about how you can earn more money. Without hustling like crazy while still preserving your energy doing it so fully. Uh, [00:44:20] if you had to earn the same amount of money next year, what are you going to cut? Automate, delegate, get rid of

 

[00:44:26] Ruth Poundwhite: everything.

 

[00:44:27] Ruth Poundwhite: That isn’t my unique magic. [00:44:30] So the first thing that came to mind was thinking about Destiny and how Destiny runs her summits for a hobby school. And just said, it’s so hands off. She doesn’t have to do anything. [00:44:40] That is not my experience of running a summit. Okay. Just to be real, it’s not my experience, but I have more support now than I have had before and this year, [00:44:50] and what I have realized is I want to control everything so much I wanna delegate, but only in.

 

[00:44:57] Ruth Poundwhite: You know, like, here’s this very specific thing that I want [00:45:00] you to do, and what I’m leaning into in the last few months is here’s this thing that I want you to take control of, and you tell me what I need to do. [00:45:10] That is a huge difference to my mental capacity. So for example, I have someone basically project managing the summit.

 

[00:45:18] Ruth Poundwhite: She’ll come to me for like, I am [00:45:20] choosing the speakers and I know destiny feels like that’s very important element, like the topics and stuff that’s like our unique magic. Like we have the vision for what we want the event to be. And [00:45:30] obviously this does not just apply to summits, but this is just the example I’m using.

 

[00:45:34] Ruth Poundwhite: The other stuff is practical logistics, keeping things moving. I don’t need to be in the weeds with all of [00:45:40] that. But it’s much easier said than done. But if I had to, and you know what? When you ask that question, I’m like, well, if we have an answer come to mind, [00:45:50] then maybe we just do that thing. It’s not just a question and a nice answer, but let’s actually do it.

 

[00:45:55] Ruth Poundwhite: Yeah. So what I will do is hand over automate, delegate [00:46:00] the stuff that is not my unique magic and focus on what it’s

 

[00:46:04] Sage Grayson: Oh, perfect. Perfect. Yes. Does [00:46:10] anyone else have, uh, thoughts about if you were going to earn in the same amount of money or more, but you had half the energy, what would you do? Oh, Tara,

 

[00:46:19] Tara Reid: I just wanted to [00:46:20] share, um, something that I put in the chats.

 

[00:46:22] Tara Reid: ’cause I think it’s important to, like, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Um, sometimes it could be, you know, maybe there’s something that. [00:46:30] Isn’t necessarily working, or maybe you don’t fully enjoy it, um, on the consistent, like routine that you’ve set for it. So it, it could be something [00:46:40] that you just maybe scale back.

 

[00:46:41] Tara Reid: Like, that’s what I did when I first left social media. I scaled back for six months and then after the six months, I checked in with myself, like, how am I feeling? Do I [00:46:50] feel like I’m missing out or like, I’m. Not like what am, what have I been doing with the time that I’ve gotten back in that six months and is it worth it to let it go completely.

 

[00:46:59] Tara Reid: So [00:47:00] it’s sometimes it’s like scaling something back to give yourself permission to let it go. Um, so I just wanted to share that. ’cause one example is my podcast. I brought it [00:47:10] back a couple months ago. I did like weekly episodes and now I haven’t published an episode again in a few weeks. And I’m like, it’s something that I do [00:47:20] kind of enjoy, but I’m not getting the.

 

[00:47:22] Tara Reid: Return on the investment that I’d like to have from it. So I’m like, I don’t wanna ditch it completely. ’cause I, I do kind of like [00:47:30] it. I like having that platform if I want it. So I’m just going to, like, I was doing weekly episodes now. It’s just gonna be like when I feel [00:47:40] I have something to share and wanna put an episode out.

 

[00:47:44] Sage Grayson: Yes. You don’t have to stick to a strict schedule. I think your episodes will be more helpful if it is something that [00:47:50] you truly want to share and not just like, well, I gotta get an episode out.

 

[00:47:53] Tara Reid: Yeah. And we put so much pressure on consistency. So I just wanted to say it’s like you can just scale things back [00:48:00] slowly and then check in and see how it feels, see how your numbers are looking for that.

 

[00:48:05] Tara Reid: Yes.

 

[00:48:05] Sage Grayson: Uh, uh, what I would do, or what I have done this [00:48:10] year is, uh, I took my, my, uh. Low prize membership and I rolled it into my mastermind group. So it’s included in there, but not separate. Uh, so it’s fewer things for me to have [00:48:20] to manage, which is great. Um, also a, a lot of my shifting is, uh, stepping into a new mindset.

 

[00:48:27] Sage Grayson: I’m working with a mindset coach too, and I just, I [00:48:30] feel like I have not given myself enough time to really, uh, work on myself. Uh, so I’m carving out more time in my schedule to, to get in the right [00:48:40] mindset of how I want to. Uh, approach my business, how I want to interact with my audience, uh, instead of just like, go, go, going all the time, which is [00:48:50] definitely a habit of mine just to just keep going and keep going.

 

[00:48:52] Sage Grayson: So I’m, I’m slowing down and I’ve noticed even in the past month was, uh, November was my highest income month of the year. And [00:49:00] uh, hopefully December will beat it, but I think that was definitely because I was spending more time on me and less time on like, what can I give everyone? What can I give everyone?[00:49:10]

 

[00:49:10] Sage Grayson: Um, we do have a hard stop at the top of the hour. Let me just post our gifts document in the chat one more time, so make sure you all, uh, check [00:49:20] out our freebies, our, uh, deals, different invitations. Sage,

 

[00:49:25] Steph Blake: can I share real fast? Oh, yes, please. Yeah, so it, it actually is kind [00:49:30] of along the lines of what you said, Sage.

 

[00:49:32] Steph Blake: For the past couple of years I’ve been taking care of like literally everyone except for myself. So one of the things that I’m leaving behind is. Not taking [00:49:40] care of myself. I started about halfway through this year realizing how important it truly is to take care of your body, your mind, your nervous [00:49:50] system.

 

[00:49:50] Steph Blake: I said we need to just do an entire panel just on nervous system work because it’s so crucial. Um, and I don’t know what [00:50:00] happened, but something changed. Like I turned into a different person after the summer and I noticed that my business. It followed, right? Like I made so much more money doing so [00:50:10] much less work.

 

[00:50:10] Steph Blake: So that’s something that I am continuing to do and take into next year. But to kind of answer your question, one thing that I would do, I mean, I already automate like [00:50:20] literally everything I can automate, so that’s not a problem. But the ads, the ads piece is something that I didn’t do for such a long time because I was terrified.

 

[00:50:28] Steph Blake: I was like, oh my gosh, I’m gonna spend money and I’m gonna [00:50:30] lose money. Like, that was my mindset. Like I would not make money. With my ads. So as, again, as soon as I switched that mindset and I was like, no, all of my ads are gonna be profitable, sure, there’s going to [00:50:40] be work that goes into it. You have to learn how to, how to run ads, how to set ’em up, create copy that converts.

 

[00:50:46] Steph Blake: It’s a whole skillset that you have to learn. But I think once I kind of stepped into [00:50:50] that mindset of knowing like, no, I can do this. I can figure it out. That was a huge thing for me. And also really leaning into [00:51:00] more higher ticket work, but more implementation. I mentioned this. Was it this week? Last week?

 

[00:51:04] Steph Blake: I don’t even remember when it was, but I did an implementation session. Way one of my [00:51:10] clients where we just like got on and I just like basically set up everything for her in three hours. And I came off of that feeling the most excited that I’ve felt in such a long time. [00:51:20] And I’m an introvert, so that’s not something that usually happens.

 

[00:51:23] Steph Blake: I’m usually drained and I have to go take a nap after I have calls that I was like, oh my gosh, this is it. Like this is really the magic for [00:51:30] me where I just go and I just like set up people’s automations all day. It’s so much fun and so exciting for me and I could charge more so. Um, but again, that [00:51:40] brings in the need to like leave behind old mindsets.

 

[00:51:43] Steph Blake: Little ticket offers things that don’t work, right. So it all kind of like ties together with what everybody else was saying. [00:51:50] Great.

 

[00:51:50] Sage Grayson: I love it. Um, I have one more question. I would love to do like a quick round, like a speed round with everyone answering real quick. [00:52:00] Um, okay. So, uh, what is one boundary. You enforced this year, a boundary that you enforced this year that had the biggest [00:52:10] results for your business?

 

[00:52:11] Sage Grayson: Uh, I will say my boundary. I enforced, I no longer do extended payment plans for my coaching. I would ridiculously give [00:52:20] people 12 month play plans for a six month program. Nope. Nope. I don’t do crazy payment payment plans anymore. That was a boundary that I set and people stepped up and now they’re paying, uh, [00:52:30] one payment, which is great.

 

[00:52:31] Sage Grayson: Uh. Monica, do you have a boundary that you set this year that got you a big result?[00:52:40]

 

[00:52:40] Monica Froese: I don’t. I had, you know what? I feel like I’ve always had very good boundaries in the business. Like I, uh. I’m, I, so I don’t struggle there. I [00:52:50] set a lot of personal boundaries in my life and that’s, and that does impact the business. I set boundaries. Like I have a family that very much demands my time for everything and thinks I’m like [00:53:00] the responsible one for everything.

 

[00:53:01] Monica Froese: And it was really wing on me ’cause I, I couldn’t be present in the way I need it to be for my daughters and the business. And so I’ve enforced a lot of [00:53:10] family boundaries, which has paid dividends for my mental health. Love it.

 

[00:53:16] Sage Grayson: Destiny, what boundary did you set that heck gave you a big result? I don’t [00:53:20] know.

 

[00:53:20] Sage Grayson: I mean, I’ve

 

[00:53:20] Destini Copp: always had, I’m like, Monica, I’ve had very strong boundaries in my life, both personally and professionally. Um, I, you know, my boundary going into [00:53:30] 2026 is just like protecting my time. I have to stop working as much as I’m doing, but that’s really on me, right? I need to figure out other ways to get the work [00:53:40] done.

 

[00:53:40] Destini Copp: And I, I think I’m there, like I figured it out. I am putting that boundary on myself for 2026.

 

[00:53:48] Kate Kordsmeier: Destiny. You need [00:53:50] your, you need like a destiny for yourself on your work boundaries because yeah, we all have this joke that like, you know, if we get, you know, a nasty customer [00:54:00] service email or somebody’s just beha, misbehaving, whatever, we’re like, what would Destiny do?

 

[00:54:06] Kate Kordsmeier: ’cause she’s got her boundaries on luck at it.

 

[00:54:09] Destini Copp: So [00:54:10] Yes, for sure. Yeah, you’re right Kate. I need to, uh, do that for myself. So, yeah. Kate, what’s your boundary?

 

[00:54:19] Kate Kordsmeier: I agree [00:54:20] with what Monica said about, um, family boundaries. I feel like I put a lot of boundaries in with my husband this year, particularly with childcare and sharing the [00:54:30] load fair play.

 

[00:54:31] Kate Kordsmeier: 1000% recommend for any married couples. Um, one of my favorite things that I did though is that I have a monthly solo [00:54:40] retreat where I get to go to a hotel by myself for one night, and I usually go for like a full 24 hours. And, um, this has been life giving to me and the business [00:54:50] and my personal life. Oh, I love that.

 

[00:54:53] Kate Kordsmeier: And I’m a huge miles and points person, so I, I’m usually not spending any money to do it. I just like find a cheap points deal [00:55:00] and book it. That’s smart.

 

[00:55:02] Sage Grayson: Yes. Everyone steal that idea.

 

[00:55:04] Ruth Poundwhite: Ruth,

 

[00:55:05] Sage Grayson: what’s

 

[00:55:05] Ruth Poundwhite: your boundary? My boundary is really boring and it is not one that I stick to [00:55:10] all the time. So it’s not really a boundary, but get enough sleep, go to bed on time.

 

[00:55:15] Ruth Poundwhite: Honestly, it fixes everything. It

 

[00:55:18] Sage Grayson: sure does. [00:55:20] Steph, what’s your boundary?

 

[00:55:21] Steph Blake: Yeah, so I already have pretty good business boundaries, but mine is definitely personal. Every night after my youngest goes to bed, which is usually between like seven or seven [00:55:30] 30, I go upstairs and I close the door, and nobody’s allowed to come in and find me.

 

[00:55:33] Steph Blake: So I usually get like three hours of alone time with no husband, no kids, and I’m usually reading my Kindle at that [00:55:40] time.

 

[00:55:40] Sage Grayson: Oh, I love it. Tara, what’s your boundary?

 

[00:55:45] Tara Reid: Um, I’m with what Liz said in the comments [00:55:50] about, um, everyone’s like, I’ve had strong boundaries. Meanwhile, I’m like, what’s a boundary? I was like, yeah, me too.

 

[00:55:56] Tara Reid: Um, I feel like I’ve always been good [00:56:00] with like setting boundaries. It’s sticking with them. That has always been a struggle because I’m naturally a people pleaser. I hate any [00:56:10] kind of confrontation. Um, so I feel like it’s always been something that I’ve really had to work at. Um, so it’s still like I, I can set a boundary and [00:56:20] I am good for several months and then I start to find myself going back into that pattern.

 

[00:56:26] Tara Reid: Um, so I think for me, the boundary is just [00:56:30] knowing that about myself and knowing that I have to keep checking in with myself about any boundaries that I’ve set and making sure, like asking myself like. Why am I doing [00:56:40] this? Or I kind of, I’m, I’m gonna start using like, what would Destiny do? That’s, I was gonna start using that and say that to myself all the time.

 

[00:56:49] Tara Reid: ’cause yeah, [00:56:50] Destiny’s got her boundaries. I need custom GPT for that and so you guys can start

 

[00:56:54] Destini Copp: using

 

[00:56:54] Tara Reid: it. That’s what I need to do.

 

[00:56:56] Sage Grayson: We need that. Liz, take us [00:57:00] home. What’s your boundary?

 

[00:57:01] Liz Stapleton: Um, so one like business boundary I’ve always been good about is not tolerating, being treated like crap. [00:57:10] So, uh, it’s not often I get like a nasty email.

 

[00:57:12] Liz Stapleton: I know we, it all happens to us at some point, but I actually had one earlier this, like Monday I had messed up the in on my 12 days of [00:57:20] freebies and it made it like you couldn’t click right or something. And someone emailed me like. Livid about this saying I did it on purpose, that I was trying to like [00:57:30] illegally collect information and like.

 

[00:57:33] Liz Stapleton: Swearing and I was like, okay, unsubscribe. Like, I’m not responding. I’m not, I don’t need this [00:57:40] like unsubscribe. I don’t want you on my list. So, you know, I don’t tolerate that. Like it wasn’t even a customer. It was a customer that warrants a response, right? Like you need to. But I was like, [00:57:50] Hmm, sorry, I’m trying to give you something free.

 

[00:57:51] Liz Stapleton: And I made one tiny mistake that I was able to fix in 10 minutes once I knew about it. Like I had other people email me like, Hey, this isn’t quite working. And I was like, oh, so sorry. [00:58:00] Like, let me fix that. But this person was like rude and I was like, I’m a human. Bye. So that’s a business founder. Like I’ve never had qualms [00:58:10] about unsubscribing people who don’t recognize me as a human.

 

[00:58:13] Liz Stapleton: Um, and just kind of setting that boundary and I will blacklist people as well. So they can’t come back. [00:58:20] Um, as far as, uh, you know, per like, other boundaries, I haven’t been great. I, I think you guys all know I hit a level of [00:58:30] burnout this year. That required quite the conversation with my family, um, and the support I needed to recover from this burnout.

 

[00:58:38] Liz Stapleton: And I’ve [00:58:40] been holding fairly well to those boundaries. I’ve definitely had to remind, uh. Directly, not, not gently, directly of like, oh, [00:58:50] hey, this hasn’t happened yet. This needs to happen. Go do that. Um, but yeah, so it’s, it’s something I’m working on. I, you know, the last few years personally have had a [00:59:00] lot of stuff and it came to a head in September this year when I was just like,

 

[00:59:04] Kate Kordsmeier: not and

 

[00:59:05] Liz Stapleton: function.

 

[00:59:06] Liz Stapleton: So, um, yeah, working on that boundary. [00:59:10]

 

[00:59:10] Sage Grayson: Great. I think that is huge that, uh. We don’t need to put up with people who don’t see us as human. We don’t need to put up with abuse in our business [00:59:20] friends. We have to wrap this up. I have another call to jump onto, uh, but we are the weird hermits and we love doing these panels, so please [00:59:30] put in the chat right now.

 

[00:59:31] Sage Grayson: Email us, let us know what topics you want us to cover in our future round tables. We will be sending out the replay and next to the replay we will have [00:59:40] our document with all of our gif. Let me base that in there one more time for you. Um, yeah, we definitely wanna know your key takeaways. Two and how you [00:59:50] are going to be planning for your 2026.

 

[00:59:53] Sage Grayson: All right. Did I miss anything? We good to go? Alright, perfect job. As always, [01:00:00] Sage, thank Thank you so much for being here and we’ll talk to you real soon. Bye.

 

[01:00:09] Sage Grayson: [01:00:10] Hey there. Welcome to our 2026 planning round table. Thank you so much for joining us today. I’m your moderator, [01:00:20] Sage Grayson, and you can reach me@sagegrayson.com. And we are the weird hermits. We are a group of women online business [01:00:30] owners who have earned multiple six figures for multiple years.

 

[01:00:33] Sage Grayson: We call ourselves the weird hermits because we all. Work in our homes, like weird little hermit [01:00:40] crabs, but we love it. And at least once a week we gather together to share strategies and brainstorm solutions and really support each other’s businesses. [01:00:50] I love this group so much, and every once in a while we do one of these live panels where we invite, you are lovely followers, so you can interact with us and ask [01:01:00] us all of your burning questions about a specific topic.

 

[01:01:03] Sage Grayson: And today’s topic is. Planning it is such a juicy one. You are going to love this. [01:01:10] We are going to talk about exactly what is working for our businesses. And what’s not working. We’re gonna talk about the bad stuff too, [01:01:20] and we’re gonna show you how you can have a focused and sustainable business into the new year.

 

[01:01:26] Sage Grayson: You are going to love this and we are so glad you’re here. Alright, [01:01:30] before we get started, if you have any questions for us, please make sure you put them into the chat. We’re gonna monitor the chat and. We’ll get you as many questions as we can. Also, make sure that you have some [01:01:40] way to take notes because I don’t want you to miss a thing.

 

[01:01:43] Sage Grayson: And one more thing we’ve got for you. We have gathered up freebies, deals and invitations just for you from the weird [01:01:50] hermits, and I’m going to put the link to that document into the chat right now. All right. We will share that link a few times, uh, during the, [01:02:00] uh, the call and also we will link our our gifts document with the replay when we’re done.

 

[01:02:06] Sage Grayson: Alright, I think we’re ready to get started. Let’s introduce [01:02:10] our expert panelists. All right, so I’m just gonna go around as I see my weird hermits here. We’re gonna do one to two sentence introductions. Does that sound good? [01:02:20] All right. Uh, Monica, will you introduce yourself? I had a feeling I was gonna be first since I was here first.

 

[01:02:27] Monica Froese: Uh, my name’s Monica froze, and let’s see. I have [01:02:30] multiple brands. I have Redefining Mom, which is a brand for moms, kind of indicative of the title, uh, empowered Businesses, my B2B side of Things. And basically, I help people create high converting [01:02:40] digital products, and I have a Shopify store called Empowered Shop.

 

[01:02:44] Sage Grayson: Wonderful. Thanks for being here. Destiny. [01:02:50] Oh, we can’t hear you. It would be nice to turn on my, you look so festive. Oh my goodness. Yeah. I have my, uh, merry, uh, [01:03:00] Christmas sweater on too. So there you go. So my name is Dr. Destiny Copp, and I am a university marketing professor full-time, but I also have two businesses [01:03:10] that I own.

 

[01:03:10] Destini Copp: One is Hobby School, which is my B2C brand and also my personal brand where I do business growth coaching for digital product entrepreneurs. [01:03:20] Wonderful. Thank you Liz. Give us your introduction. Hey everybody. Super excited to be here. Uh, I also have multiple brands because once you start one business, [01:03:30] why wouldn’t you want more than one?

 

[01:03:31] Liz Stapleton: Um, so over@elizabethstevenson.com, I help online business owners with the legal side of running a business. And then over at, created our ops hub, [01:03:40] which used to be called Blogger Breakthrough. Uh, I help with systems and you know, just simplifying and kind of systemizing your business so that you can take back your time.

 

[01:03:49] Sage Grayson: [01:03:50] Fantastic. Thank you. Uh, Steph, give us your introduction. You’re on mute. Oh, Steph, we can’t hear you. I know it’s not working. Can you hear me now? [01:04:00] Yes. Yeah, we can hear you. Okay, good. Um, hi everyone. I am Steph Blake. I have three brands where I do a lot of different things, but mostly I help entrepreneurs simplify and [01:04:10] automate their businesses.

 

[01:04:11] Steph Blake: And then I also have a personal brand. Called Create and Escape, where we focus on all of the inner stuff that happens, um, that goes right [01:04:20] along with business so that we can have more fun and play and create and all of that Good stuff. So glad you’re here. Fantastic. Ruth, would you like to give [01:04:30] us your introduction?

 

[01:04:32] Ruth Poundwhite: Hi everyone. I am Ruth Pound White. I am a business and self-belief coach. I. [01:04:40] Have the Soulful Sales Summit and the Soulful Sales Podcast, and I help people to sell more in alignment with their energy, values [01:04:50] and personality. Wonderful. Kate, give us your introduction. Hi everybody. I’m Kate Meyer from Success With [01:05:00] Soul.

 

[01:05:00] Kate Kordsmeier: I help, uh, entrepreneurs grow their businesses without social media. So I quit social myself in 2021 and now help others do the [01:05:10] same. And yeah. Glad to be here. Thank you. We’re glad you’re here. And Tara, give us your intro. Hey everyone. I am [01:05:20] Tara Reed. I am a business and marketing strategist, uh, primarily for other introverted entrepreneurs.

 

[01:05:27] Tara Reid: I’m a huge introvert. Um, I’m also the [01:05:30] host of the Introvert Preneur Virtual Summit. Um, we’re going into our sixth year of running it and the Introvert Preneur podcast. And yeah, I’m so excited for this. ’cause [01:05:40] 2025 has been a shit show, so I’m ready for 2026. We are going to share all of the shitty things that happened to us this year.[01:05:50]

 

[01:05:50] Sage Grayson: So we’re gonna get into all of that. Uh, just real quick, I am Sage Grayson, and I am a former, uh, book editor, turned Life and business coach. Or as I like to say, I’m the life editor and [01:06:00] so are you. And I help ambitious entrepreneurs earn 10 K months with their businesses consistently with ease so they can quit their nine to five jobs.

 

[01:06:08] Sage Grayson: Alright, is [01:06:10] that everyone? Did we get everyone’s intro? We’re good. Okay. Um, oh, is the, uh, is our file with all of the gifts not [01:06:20] opening correctly? Do you need me to, it’s working. I’m not sure it’s working for everyone else, so I think it might be a Okay. User we permits, did everyone add your gifts to it [01:06:30] so I can change it from to viewer?

 

[01:06:34] Sage Grayson: Everybody has editor access Sage, so it can be viewer only. I updated that. [01:06:40] I think that’s why there were issues. Okay, so now it says viewer on mine, so it should be working now. We will share that link multiple times during the, the [01:06:50] recording and we will definitely link it up to the replay. Alright, I think we’re ready to dive in.

 

[01:06:55] Sage Grayson: Remember, if you’ve got questions for us, please uh, add them into the chat and we’ll get to as many as we [01:07:00] can. So. Let’s start this off on a high note, shall we? I would love to hear the two or three things that [01:07:10] were really, really working for you in 2025. So who wants to share what was really blown it outta the park?

 

[01:07:19] Sage Grayson: What really knocked your [01:07:20] socks off this year? What was working in your business this year?

 

[01:07:26] Liz Stapleton: I can, I can go with one JV workshops. Yes, please. I, I [01:07:30] started kind of regularly hosting JV workshops and they’ve been going really well and the system I built around it worked really well. So that’s kind of been a big win for me this year is I’ve, you [01:07:40] know, I’ve known JD JV workshops work, but then actually building it out, so it takes me, you know, 30 minutes to set one up has been huge.

 

[01:07:48] Sage Grayson: Whoa. How did you get it down to [01:07:50] 30 minutes? Um, I built a system with Airtable and I automate a lot, so it’ll automate, you know, creating the promo pack and, you know, setting up the pages in WordPress and [01:08:00] then, then I just have to go add a pattern and it’s pretty quick. Oh, I love it. I think a lot of us have been using extra automations this year.

 

[01:08:07] Sage Grayson: Yes. To make things easier for us. [01:08:10] Anything else that was working for you, Liz? Uh, I, it’s been a pivot year for me, so I’m just gonna stick with the JV workshops for now. I’ve completely [01:08:20] rebranded a site, so Fantastic. All right. Who else has some good news? Who else wants to share something that was really working for you?

 

[01:08:28] Sage Grayson: I can, yes, Kate. [01:08:30] Oh, Kate and then Tara. Tara, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. I was just gonna say, because, um, the one thing I can say for this year is that [01:08:40] the evergreen things that I’ve put in place did work because it was. Such a challenging year that I wasn’t able to show up for like half the [01:08:50] year in the way that I wanted to.

 

[01:08:51] Tara Reid: Um, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been if I didn’t have those evergreen things in place. So my Evergreen, uh, six month email [01:09:00] sequence, yeah, still was going out, still saw sales and results and nurtured my audience. Um, my traffic didn’t dip a huge amount because I’ve. [01:09:10] Had been focused on Pinterest and SEO.

 

[01:09:13] Tara Reid: So the things that past Tara had done definitely were something that I was thankful, um, [01:09:20] that she had done because I did still see those results this year when I wasn’t able to show up. Wonderful. Yeah, I think that that is a huge win [01:09:30] to, to still get the results, even if you’re not able to, to be there. Um, wonderful.

 

[01:09:35] Sage Grayson: Thank you. Kate. Tell us about your wins. I just [01:09:40] wanna say, I know that 2025, we hear this all the time, 2025 is such a weird year, and we have a lot of people that have really struggled. Some in this group, some [01:09:50] just of friends and you know, people that we know. It’s been challenging personally for a lot of people.

 

[01:09:55] Kate Kordsmeier: So I don’t say this to, um, dismiss any of that because I think [01:10:00] it, it is very real. But I also say that it’s not the case for everybody, and I think sometimes it’s helpful to hear that it’s not all doom and gloom [01:10:10] across the board. This was one of my best years in a long time, and I feel like I’m on a really good.

 

[01:10:17] Kate Kordsmeier: Trajectory right now. And I [01:10:20] agree with what Tara said. A lot of what’s been working for me this year are things that passed me set up, and I can’t even really say there’s like, I did this one [01:10:30] specific thing and that changed everything. It’s a lot of. Small systems and things that I’ve built over time that have a compound effect.[01:10:40]

 

[01:10:40] Kate Kordsmeier: And I think maybe that’s one of the biggest changes that we’re really seeing. I mean, there’s never been a magic bullet, but I think a lot of us have seen [01:10:50] that. Um. It’s not just one thing and that you have to have kind of this whole ecosystem working together, and that when you do, when one thing breaks or [01:11:00] when something stops working or your personal life takes over or whatever, that your whole business doesn’t disappear because you have all of these different levers that you can [01:11:10] pull.

 

[01:11:10] Kate Kordsmeier: So. Just sharing that 2025 is not all doom and gloom and that there are, there are some people are out there still buying, still [01:11:20] engaging, still opening emails, still coming to calls. Um, and I think there’s a lot of messaging right now that’s like, nothing’s working anymore and I think those [01:11:30] people are usually trying to sell you something.

 

[01:11:31] Kate Kordsmeier: So just, you know, some things are still working quite well. Yes, I have one. Monica, [01:11:40] please. So I did enter 2025 probably in the worst state. Uh, not a, not a great way. Entering 2025, let’s say that to the point that in May I actually [01:11:50] updated my resume and if anyone has known me for a while. There is no planet that I wanna go back to corporate.

 

[01:11:55] Monica Froese: Okay? Like that is like not, I am not meant to answer to someone else in my life. [01:12:00] Um, and luckily, luckily that is not what ended up happening. Um, I basically, in May I did that and I think that was my wake up call to be like, you know what? [01:12:10] Sometimes I think I. We get so set in our ways of what we’re doing that I almost feel like I stopped being innovative.

 

[01:12:16] Monica Froese: And so I went into the summer as my, this was gonna, I said [01:12:20] for basically from June through, like end of September. I’m like, I’m gonna say yes to everything. And like, ’cause I, I had been in, I had not had the capacity to say yes to a lot of things [01:12:30] because my personal life up to that point for the previous two years and the second half of this, of this year was like something crazy, like 300%.

 

[01:12:38] Monica Froese: Uh, more revenue than the [01:12:40] first half of this year. So that’s what kicked it off. And then I did a podcast interview for my 100 pod podcast, uh, episode on the Empowered Business Podcast. And it was just, it, I didn’t even mean [01:12:50] for this to be the hundredth episode. It just happened to be, and it was with a friend of mine, Cheryl Rik, who is a email marketing expert and specializes in like, deliverability stuff.[01:13:00]

 

[01:13:00] Monica Froese: And something listening to her, I realized, wow, I, for, you know. Especially in the age of AI and all the noise and having inbox scanners out there, I’m like, we [01:13:10] really have to know how to like get into the inbox. And so I came up with this idea called inbox experiments. I really didn’t like, I mean I didn’t come up with it strategically.

 

[01:13:17] Monica Froese: I just one day was like, I wanna get people to [01:13:20] respond to my emails. And so what I did was I started on Saturday morning at 9:00 AM I would say, Hey, uh, I was really into creating a lot of GPTs and I was like. [01:13:30] Respond, yes, I want the GPT and I’ll send it to you. And what I started noticing is people, so I got people to respond.

 

[01:13:35] Monica Froese: That was, you know, one of those signals I was looking for, getting people in. But then it kicked off [01:13:40] these conversations. People would then use the GPT and be like, this is amazing. What’s the next step? And I’m like, oh. So now I’m getting them to respond and I’m getting them to use it. So [01:13:50] then I started incentivizing them that if they responded with the output, that um, I would.

 

[01:13:56] Monica Froese: Send them another bonus. And that bonus, it was like something, maybe [01:14:00] another GPT, but it was always an offer to like what the next step after that GPT was. That went really well, which led me to this 21 day event I hosted in October called, um, potion a [01:14:10] Day, and it was, I dropped 21 New GPTs and it revived my shop, which had kind of taken a hit because I really hadn’t been promoting it.

 

[01:14:16] Monica Froese: Um, and it was the biggest marketing campaign that I ran this year, [01:14:20] and they were $9 gpt. So. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Getting people to respond was my takeaway. I feel like I stopped talking to people and suddenly I was having hundreds of replies. So [01:14:30] that’s what I say worked. Wonderful. That is fantastic. We’re so glad to hear that.

 

[01:14:36] Sage Grayson: Destiny, do you wanna tell us what was working in your business? [01:14:40] I, I think my story is probably very similar to Kate in that I can’t really necessarily pinpoint, you know, one exact thing that [01:14:50] worked for me this year. Um, because I think it’s really just a combination of what I’ve been building over time that has really kind of, you know, it’s that [01:15:00] 1%.

 

[01:15:00] Destini Copp: Kind of improvement that you make on a regular basis that kind of builds up in your business. Um, and, and I did place a lot of emphasis [01:15:10] on really doubling down and focusing on what’s working. And if something was working right, keep doing it. Like don’t stop doing it. [01:15:20] Like build upon that and really double down on that.

 

[01:15:24] Destini Copp: I know webinars work for me. I know that these events in hobby school work for me. We have like a [01:15:30] rinse and repeat process that is super easy. I honestly, I don’t even have to touch anything there. We just have a rinse and repeat process that we can run every single month, and [01:15:40] I know based on. Past history.

 

[01:15:43] Destini Copp: I know like what revenue I’m gonna get from something like that. But again, this is just something that I [01:15:50] have built over time and not necessarily, oh, this was just one magical thing that worked for me this year that is such a great point, is to focus in on the [01:16:00] things that are already working for you and build those up.

 

[01:16:03] Sage Grayson: Uh, that’s where you’re going to get the best results. I love it. I love it. Steph, tell us about your wins. Yeah, [01:16:10] well the thing that was working this year was me because the last two years I honestly was not able to work sometimes five hours a week because I had [01:16:20] a lot happening in my personal life. Um, so I did a lot this year.

 

[01:16:25] Steph Blake: Honestly, I created a whole new company, create an Escape. That took up the vast majority of [01:16:30] my time. But really, I think the I, I agree with things that everybody has say, has said here, but especially with what Kate said, where everybody’s just been [01:16:40] so doom and gloom. People say that literally every year.

 

[01:16:42] Steph Blake: Every single year, people say it’s the worst year ever. Right. That’s not the case. Right. This [01:16:50] is, has also been one of my best years since 2020, which was my best year. And it’s just because, well, one, I was working and I was able to think and be more [01:17:00] strategic, but also because I focused on doing what I wanted to do and for many years I, well, I started with high ticket, then I went to low ticket for [01:17:10] a really long time and I realized that was not a model that resonated with me.

 

[01:17:14] Steph Blake: I did not enjoy it. So then this year I switched back to doing what I really enjoy doing, and [01:17:20] I wouldn’t even call it high ticket, um, but it’s higher than what I was doing before. And really focusing on working with people more [01:17:30] closely on a one-to-one basis and just diving really deep. And it wasn’t until I, uh.

 

[01:17:37] Steph Blake: I think this is the same for everything, right? [01:17:40] We go through so many experiences for a reason, and it was if I hadn’t had gone through everything that I went through in the past couple of years, I don’t think I would’ve had this realization that I really enjoy [01:17:50] diving deep with very few people. And that’s okay.

 

[01:17:54] Steph Blake: Even if everybody else says you have to have 3 million people in your membership or whatever. That’s not aligned [01:18:00] with me, and I would say that’s a huge one for me and something I’m definitely carrying over to, um, next year as well. Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you said that. Uh, that [01:18:10] really resonates with me too because I am, uh, shifting from, uh, low ticket to high ticket as as well.

 

[01:18:15] Sage Grayson: Uh, so I, I’ll mention that, uh, later. But yes, I do wanna say [01:18:20] to everyone that, uh, what your win is might be completely different from somebody else’s win, but you know what’s gonna work for your business. Uh, and Ruth, will you tell us what was working for you this [01:18:30] year? My son is just running. I can hear him running upstairs outside, so apologies if there’s noise from him.

 

[01:18:37] Ruth Poundwhite: But it, it was, I was [01:18:40] gonna say what Kate said because there really is no one thing, there’s no magic thing. If you looked at all the individual things I did, some of them actually probably didn’t even do that well, but they’ve all added up and [01:18:50] consistently I’ve shown up and sold and focused on the things that are working like Destiny said.

 

[01:18:57] Ruth Poundwhite: But I wanted to share. A, a couple of more [01:19:00] mindset pieces and one was, um, I really messed up with my money in 2024. I had a really bad year for my mental health. Um, kind of like what [01:19:10] Steph was saying. I was not working. And, uh, a result of that was not tracking my money properly, not setting aside, I took too much money out my business.

 

[01:19:18] Ruth Poundwhite: It really screwed things up. [01:19:20] The benefit of that has been how on the ball I’ve gotten about my money and gotten so, so clear on what I’m spending in my business, what I [01:19:30] need to bring in every month to cover my essential expenses, getting rid of my ential expenses, and just getting so on top of things. I feel so much more empowered.

 

[01:19:38] Ruth Poundwhite: And it motivates me [01:19:40] so much. You know, I went from a goal of having however many months saved with expenses and then I keep increasing that goal of like, oh, I wanna have an extra month saved. I have an extra month saved. That has been really, really [01:19:50] motivating for me. And I know when I had my, so I had a previous business, I know when I had my best years in that previous business was when I was so on the ball with tracking my money and [01:20:00] knowing my numbers.

 

[01:20:00] Ruth Poundwhite: And I feel like I’m back to that place. And I, and I do think it’s had a tangible. Effect, uh, in my business. And again, it’s been a good year for my [01:20:10] business as well. Um, and the other mindset piece is really being honest with myself, especially after such a hard year about my capacity and the support that I need and building [01:20:20] in the systems and the support.

 

[01:20:22] Ruth Poundwhite: To stop me having to do all of the things and getting stressed and not being able to hold it all. That has been huge for me as [01:20:30] well. But obviously that could be a whole other conversation, so I’m just gonna leave it there. Beautiful. Yes. I love that you said, uh, you mentioned energy and capacity, uh, [01:20:40] too.

 

[01:20:40] Sage Grayson: Uh, I will briefly go into my, uh, wins. So, uh. I was, uh, very, very sick for about four months at the beginning of the year, and I had to forgive myself that I wasn’t [01:20:50] able to do as much work as I, I normally, you know, I’m like a go, go, go getter. I always have something I’m working on. Uh, but, uh, I was able to still have a [01:21:00] really great, great year.

 

[01:21:01] Sage Grayson: Um, and what was working for me was, um. I think kind of owning my worth a little bit more. So you, uh, all know I’m the queen of $7 [01:21:10] trip wires. Well, quietly without notice, I changed my $7 trip wires, uh, so that my trip wires are now 75% off, not $7 for everything, even if it was [01:21:20] $500, but 75% off. My income for my digital product sales tripled.

 

[01:21:27] Sage Grayson: So that was kind of like a, a [01:21:30] learning for me that I don’t have to give everything away dirt cheap, and people will still buy, people will still see the value. So I [01:21:40] did really like my $7 wire experiment, and I do believe that that can really work. Uh, for people who are just starting out, and you just need to get those [01:21:50] daily sales rolling.

 

[01:21:50] Sage Grayson: You just need to get people over the hump of buying anything. So I will still tr uh, teach the $7 Trip buyers, but I think as you grow with your business, uh, your audience grows [01:22:00] to it and they will pay you more. So that worked for me. Moving from Facebook group to school, which I literally did two weeks ago, has already been amazing for me.

 

[01:22:08] Sage Grayson: The engagement is so much [01:22:10] more and I’m loving the leaderboards. I’m loving just, uh, how everyone seems to be there. It’s really great. So more to come with school. I’m excited about that. Um, and also, uh, [01:22:20] like Step had mentioned, I had been doing, uh, low ticket digital product sales for about the past three years, and now I’m moving back to more, [01:22:30] uh, active income.

 

[01:22:31] Sage Grayson: Um. Like high price, uh, like elite level programs, which is what I did at the beginning of my business pre pandemic and. [01:22:40] It’s feeling so good. I really miss this. I mean, uh, Steph and I had a whole conversation about how I, I like being around people. I want to be teaching more. I want to be [01:22:50] doing more active stuff, and that’s certainly because I’m an extrovert.

 

[01:22:52] Sage Grayson: Um, so now my goodbye nine to five mastermind group has been exploding and it’s been so great. It’s been so great, uh, being [01:23:00] able to like, talk to people, uh, and get on Zoom calls and, uh, if that works for you. Uh. Go all in with, with active income, go all in with high ticket. [01:23:10] Uh, you don’t feel like you, you have to, to do it the way that everyone else does.

 

[01:23:13] Sage Grayson: And I feel like I can do that now because I’ve got almost 60 digital courses that I feel like I can just sell my all access [01:23:20] pass, which is called Life Editor Academy and just sell that as it is and then really focus in on, um, my mastermind group. Other things that’s, that have been working just [01:23:30] like Kate, I’m on huge daily sales streak, so I’m at, um, more than 700 days of daily sales.

 

[01:23:35] Sage Grayson: Um, and yeah, I think, uh, I feel [01:23:40] like I’m coming back to a version of me that I haven’t seen for a few years, and that feels really, really good. Um, so that was what was winning for me in 2025. [01:23:50] Okay. Just checking the chat here. Um, I think. Could we, do we want to, uh, talk about what was not working? [01:24:00] In 2025 and maybe, uh, mistakes or things we wouldn’t do, or things we are not bringing with us into 2026, who’s got something that was like, [01:24:10] Hmm, you know, that that wasn’t great this year.

 

[01:24:12] Sage Grayson: Maybe I’ll not, I’ll not continue that next year. Who’s got something like that? Kate, please. Yeah, I, I’m gonna segue a little [01:24:20] bit too, because Ruth said something that I just wanna go back to, but I think it actually answers the question that you’re asking here. It might take me a second to get there. So, um, I do [01:24:30] think mindset is really important.

 

[01:24:31] Kate Kordsmeier: And one of the things I was thinking as everybody was talking is that. I said at the beginning of this, oh, this has been one of my [01:24:40] best years in a while. And it’s true that it has, but it, I’m also making way less gross revenue than I have in years past. [01:24:50] And so I thought that was interesting. And thinking about what Ruth said, it was like, I think I also changed my.

 

[01:24:56] Kate Kordsmeier: I moved the goalposts and I used to be all [01:25:00] more and more and more. I have to be seven figures. I have to make all this, like I, I needed to sound really impressive and I feel like one of the things that I [01:25:10] shifted, I started shifting in 2024 after I came back from a six month sabbatical, but I really leaned into it hard this year.

 

[01:25:18] Kate Kordsmeier: Having a high [01:25:20] profit business and not focusing so much on that, I have to be a seven figure business owner and focusing more on what am I paying [01:25:30] myself and how does it feel? And I think that is why when I say I’ve had one of the best years, it’s not necessarily. I’ve made the most money that I ever [01:25:40] have.

 

[01:25:40] Kate Kordsmeier: It’s that I, I am paying myself the most I ever have, and I am enjoying the process so much more. So I think one of the [01:25:50] things that did not work for me to answer your question. Was looking at too much at what other people are doing or worrying too much about how things [01:26:00] sound. Even to myself, I know in 2023 I kept saying like, my business is disappearing.

 

[01:26:06] Kate Kordsmeier: I used to make this much now and like. Just [01:26:10] so much resistance with reality rather than accepting reality and then making changes based on where I was at. And so I feel like that [01:26:20] resistance, um, really hurt me and took me a long time to. Truly let go of and just surrender to like, this is where you are now.

 

[01:26:29] Kate Kordsmeier: And something [01:26:30] we’ve been talking about in our group is like, we all know how to make money. We’ve all done it before. And so when any of us is like, oh, it’s not working, or Why isn’t this [01:26:40] going the way I expected? Or what if I have to go back and get a real job or anything? It’s like just reminding ourselves, we actually do know how to make money and if we can just like [01:26:50] calm our nervous systems and you know.

 

[01:26:54] Kate Kordsmeier: Kind of point to our true north. I think that’s where the magic has happened for me this year. [01:27:00] Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for that. Monica, what do you have? I have something to piggyback off of what, uh. Kate just said because, um, I always was striving for [01:27:10] like the $7 million a year type business. I do not want that.

 

[01:27:14] Monica Froese: I do not want the responsibility of that. I want to spend time with my kids and not [01:27:20] be as stressed and so. That was like, I was like there when my divorce happened in 2023 and then I, it was just like a whirlwind after [01:27:30] that. And what I learned from that experience, I learned a lot. But one of the things business wise I learned was when your revenue starts dipping and you have a high expense business, it’s, [01:27:40] it does not come down at the same rate.

 

[01:27:42] Monica Froese: And so I had to make really tough decisions this year. On my expense load like decisions that if you had said a year ago [01:27:50] I was gonna make, I’d been like, I’m never getting rid of that. I’m not, I’m not cutting support there. And I basically for the second half of the year, did this completely alone. And then that’s exactly what I [01:28:00] like.

 

[01:28:01] Monica Froese: Reminded myself, I know how to make money online. I know how to do this. I’ve been doing this for a decade. This I know what I’m doing. But I would much rather have high profit and [01:28:10] enjoy my life than Chase some arbitrary revenue number that only stresses me out. Yes. Yes. Stop chasing the numbers. Oh my gosh, I love that.[01:28:20]

 

[01:28:21] Sage Grayson: Who else has something that you’re not taking into 2026 with you? Yeah, Ruth. So something that I’ve really witnessed in my fellow weird [01:28:30] hermits is we will have a conversation and you’ll be like, I’m thinking of doing this, and then I just see you like go out and do it. And I love seeing that in you all, [01:28:40] and.

 

[01:28:42] Ruth Poundwhite: What I realized in myself is I often make a decision to 90% of the way there, but that [01:28:50] 10% of doubt takes up so much space in my head, and I think about changing the decision that I already almost made. [01:29:00] So I am done with 90% decisions and I truly believe that making quick decisions, and I have believed this for a long time.

 

[01:29:07] Ruth Poundwhite: It’s not a new thing, but it’s definitely a thing [01:29:10] that I continue to work on, making quick decisions, putting things out there imperfectly, testing things. And yeah, I just saw Kate say, I see you do this too. And that’s the [01:29:20] thing, like I, I do believe that it would look like that from the outside, but sometimes in my head, like, I’m ta I’m so caught up in like, oh, should I change it?

 

[01:29:27] Ruth Poundwhite: Should I change it? And I’m so done with that ’cause it, [01:29:30] it’s not serving me. And actually, you know, I’m, I’m trying to finish work by the end of next week. Take off time for Christmas and then I’m going to Thailand for three [01:29:40] weeks. So I’m like, I do not have time to overthink anything right now, and it’s actually quite helpful.

 

[01:29:45] Ruth Poundwhite: Okay. It’s quite helpful. So yeah, I’m leaving behind 90% decisions in in [01:29:50] 2025. That is so good. Leave behind the 90% decisions. I love quick decisions. Thank you. Steph, what were you going to say? Ruth, I [01:30:00] love that I, I put in the chat, build the plane while you’re flying it, and I never really understood. I heard that years ago and I never really understood it until I realized I had a DH ADHD and I was like, oh, this [01:30:10] is what I do the vast majority of the time because I just have an idea and I run with it for better or mostly for worse most times.

 

[01:30:17] Steph Blake: But, um, one of the things I’m definitely leaving behind is [01:30:20] paying team members that I don’t need. I realized that I was overpaying for. Things that I, for team members that I [01:30:30] was procrastinating on doing, there’s a lot that goes into it, but there was a lot of internal self-worth issues with that. It’s like, I [01:30:40] can’t do this thing, or I’m afraid to do this thing, so I’m just gonna pay somebody else to do it.

 

[01:30:44] Steph Blake: So I just offloaded a lot of things that I didn’t want to deal with. And after [01:30:50] realizing how much money I was paying for people. Without the results that I wanted, I was like, okay, how can we, how can we change this without, [01:31:00] how can we change this quickly? Right? So I was like, okay, what can we simplify?

 

[01:31:05] Steph Blake: What can we automate and what can I use AI for? And I just [01:31:10] basically completely changed so many backend elements in my business by either just eliminating them, offloading them to other team members that I have, or automating them. [01:31:20] Or using AI in some way. It’s usually a combination of all of those. Um, but I would say that was a huge change.

 

[01:31:26] Steph Blake: And kind of like Kate said as well, it helped me to [01:31:30] increase my profits too and face the things that I didn’t wanna face. Which again, is part of just, uh, your evolution as an entrepreneur. I love it. [01:31:40] Uh, I’ve got a great question about, uh, automation that we’ll get to in a minute, but I, I, I definitely believe in, in, in, in cutting out what, what you don’t need, whether that’s team members or [01:31:50] complicated systems.

 

[01:31:51] Sage Grayson: Uh, Tara, would you tell us about anything that you are not bringing into 2026 or what are you gonna leave behind? [01:32:00] Oh, so much So, um, I feel like right now is like a, a weird time for me to answer this, but I feel like what [01:32:10] I’m gonna take into and everything else can just be left behind, um, into 2026, is I feel like I’ve reignited my [01:32:20] passion a little bit for marketing, for implementing, for doing the things and.

 

[01:32:27] Tara Reid: I feel like, like right now, it’s like [01:32:30] we had our in-person thing and then it was Black Friday and now it’s December, which is always a weird month. And where I like to take some time [01:32:40] off at the end of the month, like at least two weeks, and I’m like trying to take everything that I got from being in person with [01:32:50] all of you amazing humans.

 

[01:32:51] Tara Reid: And I, I feel like it’s just lit me up again where I just wanna take. What I’ve been doing that feels good [01:33:00] and leave everything else behind. Um, so I loved when Ruth, Ruth said the 90% on decision making. ’cause I just put that in our Voxer about [01:33:10] moving everything to Kartra. I was like, I’m 90% sure. And so that’s something that I’m probably gonna do is move everything to Kartra, [01:33:20] simplify, get rid of old offers.

 

[01:33:22] Tara Reid: Like I don’t need to move them. They can just. Retire and go away. Um, so yeah, simplifying. Um, yay, Kate. [01:33:30] Yeah. You, you’ve turned me onto Kartra. I’m like obsessed. So

 

[01:33:36] Sage Grayson: wonderful. Yes. I, I. Right there with you [01:33:40] about, uh, making the, making those tough decisions, leaving behind what’s doing not working and what you said, doing what feels good. Uh, I think a lot of us just need to trust ourselves a little bit [01:33:50] more. Uh, Liz, I gotta hear, what are you leaving behind and, and not taking into the New Year blogger breakthrough?

 

[01:33:58] Sage Grayson: Tell us why. That was [01:34:00] huge. That was huge. Oh my goodness. Um, so it got rebranded, right? So I, I didn’t, I’m not completely like doing it. I just, uh, it no longer was [01:34:10] aligning with where I was going and what I wanted to do, um, and. I don’t just serve bloggers, really. I’m, I’m serving creators, uh, with [01:34:20] systems, uh, prebuilt systems, and, you know, so that was, I was feeling very stagnant.

 

[01:34:25] Liz Stapleton: So this year I was like, I’m going to really simplify and streamline my business, and I cleaned [01:34:30] up Elizabeth stevenson.com. In like Q1, um, like create a new Evergreen newsletter that’s done really well, like revamped products, [01:34:40] workshops, the whole thing. And I’m still working on funnels there, but like, it really came together quickly.

 

[01:34:44] Liz Stapleton: And then when it went, came time to clean up Blogger Breakthrough, I really struggled. [01:34:50] And then you guys were like, you know, I’ve never liked the name. And I was like. That was an interesting, and so you guys kind of got [01:35:00] me thinking about it and I was like, okay, this. You know, and so once I finally like I didn’t have a clear direction for it, I was just kind of like doing the summit every year and it wasn’t really doing as well and [01:35:10] it didn’t really align with what I wanted to be doing.

 

[01:35:12] Liz Stapleton: And so once I kind of got clear on that, like I’m actually excited about this site again, and like what I’m building over there and the [01:35:20] offers I’ve created, and it’s making it much easier to like. Simplify and see what needs to be cut as like an old thing versus, uh, new. Granted, the [01:35:30] freebie I put in is definitely, probably an old thing I’m not really offering anymore, but we’re, we’re gonna just go past that.

 

[01:35:35] Liz Stapleton: Um, so it was, it really provided a lot of clarity [01:35:40] for me. So. Blogger, breakthrough Blogger. Breakthrough Summit is not anymore. I’m gonna do a different summit in March and I’m looking for speakers if anyone wants to apply applications or do the [01:35:50] 15th. So please put the, the link in the chat so people can apply.

 

[01:35:54] Sage Grayson: Yeah, I’ll, uh, so yeah, that’s, I’m, I’m leaving behind a whole brand in [01:36:00] 2025. That’s incredible and we are all so, so proud of you. Uh, so, so let that, let them be, know that you don’t have to keep dragging her along something, even if it’s what you’re known [01:36:10] for, even if it’s something that you loved for a long time, you’re allowed to grow and change.

 

[01:36:13] Sage Grayson: And we are so excited. We are so excited. Okay. Uh, I have another question that, uh, [01:36:20] Kate is also connected to. You’re getting rid of the low, low, low memberships, uh, too. I would love to hear. If your business [01:36:30] had to make the same amount of money that you made this year. Or more, but you had to do it with half the energy output.[01:36:40]

 

[01:36:40] Sage Grayson: Uh, just so all of you know here, most of our, our weird hermits here are, uh, introverted. They have, uh, neurodivergent, uh, uh, what else? We are [01:36:50] caregivers. Many of us have children. We have busy, busy lives just like you do. So if you had to make the same amount of money in your business or more, but with half the [01:37:00] energy output, like let’s say you just don’t have the energy.

 

[01:37:03] Sage Grayson: What would you cut, automate, delegate, delete. Tell me if you had [01:37:10] to make the same amount of money, but you’re getting rid of all the fluff here, tell us what, what, what are you getting rid of? Uh, if you only had half the energy,[01:37:20]

 

[01:37:24] Destini Copp: I, I’ll, I’ll jump in. I mean, honestly, ’cause this is where I am because I. [01:37:30] And I’ve talked to Kate about this several times. I have been going through extreme burnout this year. Mm-hmm. Especially the past six months. So I’m like, I’ve [01:37:40] got to figure out something different. And so I’ve really just kind of looked at everything that I’ve been working on and.

 

[01:37:48] Destini Copp: Assessing everything. [01:37:50] So looking at what can we automate? Who do I need to hire? So I’ve been hiring and, and this is, you know, kind of opposite of some of the discussion here. I have been hiring people [01:38:00] to help me because I’m like, I have got to reduce the hours that I’m working. Um, the other thing that I’m gonna do going forward into the new year is [01:38:10] to really focus on paid advertising.

 

[01:38:12] Destini Copp: So a lot of the effort that I’ve been doing in some of these. Legion activities that have been taking up my time. I just [01:38:20] don’t have the time anymore, so I’m gonna automate a lot of the Legion activities. And that is, I, I cannot tell you how much that’s gonna take off my plate. [01:38:30] So that, and hiring people, um, you know, I, I’m so looking forward to 2026 and actually working a lot less [01:38:40] than what I’m doing right now.

 

[01:38:41] Sage Grayson: I love that. Hiring people beeping, beefing up your ads. That is gonna give you your energy and your time back too. So just to say like, to everyone what, [01:38:50] uh, what we’re suggesting, we might have different things that give us our energy back than you might. Uh, Kate, what were you going to say about, uh, how are you going to preserve your energy if you had to make the [01:39:00] same amount of money or more, but do it with half your energy?

 

[01:39:04] Kate Kordsmeier: I love this question. This is such a good one. Sage is surprising us here with the questions today, [01:39:10] so we’re all like, ooh, juicy. Um, yes, I agree with Destiny on the ad front. I feel like [01:39:20] 2024 for me was the year of bundles and summits, and I 100% think bundles and summits are the best way to grow your email list for free.

 

[01:39:28] Kate Kordsmeier: Fast. [01:39:30] There’s nothing else that I have found that is as fast and as free as bundles and summits. And it takes time and energy and email calendar promo space, [01:39:40] and you have to create presentations and you’ve gotta get all the pages, you know, all the things. So in 2025, I said, I’m gonna be a lot pickier [01:39:50] about what I’m contributing to this year.

 

[01:39:52] Kate Kordsmeier: Save some of that energy and I’m gonna go all in on ads. It took me a while to get my ads where [01:40:00] they are profitable now. I have been running the same ad since February and it took me tweaking mostly backend funnel pieces, not the ad itself, um, [01:40:10] until July to get it profitable, and now it is working like gangbusters and so I am just all in on.

 

[01:40:18] Kate Kordsmeier: Continuing to, [01:40:20] I mean, it’s so much easier. It’s so much more automated. It is so much more like you turn it on and you don’t really think about it again until you come back in a couple weeks and make sure things are working. [01:40:30] And obviously there’s that tweaking, you know, phase. But this is, we’re actually teaching this funnel in, um, I get it done week in January inside my membership.[01:40:40]

 

[01:40:40] Kate Kordsmeier: And I feel like, yeah, ads are just a mu like they’re the fastest way to grow your list. Free. I mean, not free [01:40:50] like bundles and summits, but um, it’s paid, but I feel like it’s been working really well. And, um, yeah, so I’m all in on ads too, and I think [01:41:00] with that I am tweaking some of my offers. Um, this is the first year that looking at the next year, I’m not like.

 

[01:41:07] Kate Kordsmeier: Making massive changes to [01:41:10] things. I feel like I’m like, things are working. It’s 2026 is gonna be more of a refining year for me of how can I make it work even better [01:41:20] without changing too much. So, like you said, sage, like how can I make this work in less time from me with less expenses from me with less, you know, burnout, how can I [01:41:30] feel better about things?

 

[01:41:31] Kate Kordsmeier: And so. One of the things I’m doing is I’m closing my low ticket membership. I have a $9 a month membership. Um, I am, you [01:41:40] know, rebranding some things and I, like you said, sage, I am raising my prices on a lot of stuff and I think that we all have to go through our own [01:41:50] evolution with pricing. I am so glad that I did the $7 trip wire for a year.

 

[01:41:55] Kate Kordsmeier: I am so glad. That I really got a lot of [01:42:00] energy and momentum going in my business. I got people quick wins and I got great testimonials and people were buying a ton ’cause it was really cheap. Um, but [01:42:10] it requires so much volume and I think I’ve figured out like the high volume business, that’s just not a game that I wanna play.

 

[01:42:17] Kate Kordsmeier: I’m obviously, I’m an [01:42:20] introvert, chronically ill a neurodivergent. I’ve got two kids, like I’ve got all the things that are like, my capacity is very low. And so, yeah, so I am [01:42:30] raising my prices on a lot of things and doing it in a very like values aligned way. I think my pendulum has really swung, like I went all the way into [01:42:40] Hide Hive high ticket for a couple of years.

 

[01:42:42] Kate Kordsmeier: Then my, I think I overcorrected, right? And my pendulum swung all the way into like everything’s $7. [01:42:50] I’m glad I did it. I learned so much and now I’m, I’m finding my sweet spot in the middle, which isn’t super high ticket, but it’s also not everything is $7. So [01:43:00] that’s what’s working for me and what I’m kind of, what I’m gonna try to do more of in, in 2020.

 

[01:43:06] Kate Kordsmeier: What year? 2026. Um, in less time. [01:43:10] Wonderful. Uh, Ruth, your entire summit is about this topic, about how you can earn more money. Without hustling like [01:43:20] crazy while still preserving your energy doing it so fully. Uh, if you had to earn the same amount of money next year, what are you going to cut? Automate, delegate, get rid of [01:43:30] everything.

 

[01:43:31] Ruth Poundwhite: That isn’t my unique magic. So the first thing that came to mind was thinking about Destiny and how Destiny runs her [01:43:40] summits for a hobby school. And just said, it’s so hands off. She doesn’t have to do anything. That is not my experience of running a summit. Okay. Just to be real, it’s not my experience, but I [01:43:50] have more support now than I have had before and this year, and what I have realized is I want to control everything so much I wanna [01:44:00] delegate, but only in.

 

[01:44:01] Ruth Poundwhite: You know, like, here’s this very specific thing that I want you to do, and what I’m leaning into in the last few months is [01:44:10] here’s this thing that I want you to take control of, and you tell me what I need to do. That is a huge difference to my mental capacity. So for example, I [01:44:20] have someone basically project managing the summit.

 

[01:44:22] Ruth Poundwhite: She’ll come to me for like, I am choosing the speakers and I know destiny feels like that’s very important element, like the topics and stuff [01:44:30] that’s like our unique magic. Like we have the vision for what we want the event to be. And obviously this does not just apply to summits, but this is just the example I’m using.

 

[01:44:38] Ruth Poundwhite: The other stuff is [01:44:40] practical logistics, keeping things moving. I don’t need to be in the weeds with all of that. But it’s much easier said than done. But if I had to, and you know what? When you ask [01:44:50] that question, I’m like, well, if we have an answer come to mind, then maybe we just do that thing. It’s not just a question and a nice answer, but let’s actually do it.

 

[01:44:59] Ruth Poundwhite: Yeah. So [01:45:00] what I will do is hand over automate, delegate the stuff that is not my unique magic and focus on what it’s Oh, [01:45:10] perfect. Perfect. Yes. Does anyone else have, uh, thoughts about if you were going to earn in the same amount of money or [01:45:20] more, but you had half the energy, what would you do? Oh, Tara, I just wanted to share, um, something that I put in the chats.

 

[01:45:26] Tara Reid: ’cause I think it’s important to, like, it doesn’t have to be all or [01:45:30] nothing. Um, sometimes it could be, you know, maybe there’s something that. Isn’t necessarily working, or maybe you don’t fully enjoy it, um, on the [01:45:40] consistent, like routine that you’ve set for it. So it, it could be something that you just maybe scale back.

 

[01:45:45] Tara Reid: Like, that’s what I did when I first left social media. I scaled back for six months [01:45:50] and then after the six months, I checked in with myself, like, how am I feeling? Do I feel like I’m missing out or like, I’m. Not like what am, what have I been doing with the [01:46:00] time that I’ve gotten back in that six months and is it worth it to let it go completely.

 

[01:46:04] Tara Reid: So it’s sometimes it’s like scaling something back to give yourself permission to let it go. [01:46:10] Um, so I just wanted to share that. ’cause one example is my podcast. I brought it back a couple months ago. I did like weekly episodes and now I haven’t published an [01:46:20] episode again in a few weeks. And I’m like, it’s something that I do kind of enjoy, but I’m not getting the.

 

[01:46:26] Tara Reid: Return on the investment that I’d like to have from [01:46:30] it. So I’m like, I don’t wanna ditch it completely. ’cause I, I do kind of like it. I like having that platform if I want it. So I’m just going to, like, I [01:46:40] was doing weekly episodes now. It’s just gonna be like when I feel I have something to share and wanna put an episode out.

 

[01:46:48] Sage Grayson: Yes. You don’t have [01:46:50] to stick to a strict schedule. I think your episodes will be more helpful if it is something that you truly want to share and not just like, well, I gotta get an episode out. Yeah. And we put so much pressure on [01:47:00] consistency. So I just wanted to say it’s like you can just scale things back slowly and then check in and see how it feels, see how your numbers are looking for that.

 

[01:47:09] Tara Reid: Yes. [01:47:10] Uh, uh, what I would do, or what I have done this year is, uh, I took my, my, uh. Low prize membership and I rolled it into my [01:47:20] mastermind group. So it’s included in there, but not separate. Uh, so it’s fewer things for me to have to manage, which is great. Um, also a, a lot of my shifting is, uh, [01:47:30] stepping into a new mindset.

 

[01:47:31] Sage Grayson: I’m working with a mindset coach too, and I just, I feel like I have not given myself enough time to really, uh, work on myself. Uh, [01:47:40] so I’m carving out more time in my schedule to, to get in the right mindset of how I want to. Uh, approach my business, how I want to interact with my [01:47:50] audience, uh, instead of just like, go, go, going all the time, which is definitely a habit of mine just to just keep going and keep going.

 

[01:47:57] Sage Grayson: So I’m, I’m slowing down and I’ve noticed even [01:48:00] in the past month was, uh, November was my highest income month of the year. And uh, hopefully December will beat it, but I think that was definitely because I was spending more time [01:48:10] on me and less time on like, what can I give everyone? What can I give everyone?

 

[01:48:15] Sage Grayson: Um, we do have a hard stop at the top of the hour. Let me just post our gifts [01:48:20] document in the chat one more time, so make sure you all, uh, check out our freebies, our, uh, deals, different invitations. Sage, can [01:48:30] I share real fast? Oh, yes, please. Yeah, so it, it actually is kind of along the lines of what you said, Sage.

 

[01:48:37] Steph Blake: For the past couple of years I’ve been taking care of like literally [01:48:40] everyone except for myself. So one of the things that I’m leaving behind is. Not taking care of myself. I started about halfway through this year realizing how important it [01:48:50] truly is to take care of your body, your mind, your nervous system.

 

[01:48:54] Steph Blake: I said we need to just do an entire panel just on nervous system work because it’s so crucial. Um, [01:49:00] and I don’t know what happened, but something changed. Like I turned into a different person after the summer and I noticed [01:49:10] that my business. It followed, right? Like I made so much more money doing so much less work.

 

[01:49:14] Steph Blake: So that’s something that I am continuing to do and take into next [01:49:20] year. But to kind of answer your question, one thing that I would do, I mean, I already automate like literally everything I can automate, so that’s not a problem. But the ads, the ads piece is something that [01:49:30] I didn’t do for such a long time because I was terrified.

 

[01:49:32] Steph Blake: I was like, oh my gosh, I’m gonna spend money and I’m gonna lose money. Like, that was my mindset. Like I would not make money. With my ads. So as, again, [01:49:40] as soon as I switched that mindset and I was like, no, all of my ads are gonna be profitable, sure, there’s going to be work that goes into it. You have to learn how to, how to run ads, how to set ’em up, create [01:49:50] copy that converts.

 

[01:49:50] Steph Blake: It’s a whole skillset that you have to learn. But I think once I kind of stepped into that mindset of knowing like, no, I can do this. I can figure it out. That was a huge thing for me. And [01:50:00] also really leaning into more higher ticket work, but more implementation. I mentioned this. Was it this week? Last week?

 

[01:50:08] Steph Blake: I don’t even remember when it was, [01:50:10] but I did an implementation session. Way one of my clients where we just like got on and I just like basically set up everything for her in three hours. And I came off of that [01:50:20] feeling the most excited that I’ve felt in such a long time. And I’m an introvert, so that’s not something that usually happens.

 

[01:50:28] Steph Blake: I’m usually drained and I have to go take a [01:50:30] nap after I have calls that I was like, oh my gosh, this is it. Like this is really the magic for me where I just go and I just like set up people’s automations all day. It’s so much fun and so exciting for me [01:50:40] and I could charge more so. Um, but again, that brings in the need to like leave behind old mindsets.

 

[01:50:47] Steph Blake: Little ticket offers things that don’t work, right. So it [01:50:50] all kind of like ties together with what everybody else was saying. Great. I love it. Um, I have one more question. I would love to do like [01:51:00] a quick round, like a speed round with everyone answering real quick. Um, okay. So, uh, what is one boundary. You [01:51:10] enforced this year, a boundary that you enforced this year that had the biggest results for your business?

 

[01:51:16] Sage Grayson: Uh, I will say my boundary. I enforced, I no longer do [01:51:20] extended payment plans for my coaching. I would ridiculously give people 12 month play plans for a six month program. Nope. Nope. I don’t do crazy payment payment [01:51:30] plans anymore. That was a boundary that I set and people stepped up and now they’re paying, uh, one payment, which is great.

 

[01:51:35] Sage Grayson: Uh. Monica, do you have a boundary that you set this year that [01:51:40] got you a big result?

 

[01:51:44] Monica Froese: I don’t. I had, you know what? I feel like I’ve always had very good boundaries in the business. [01:51:50] Like I, uh. I’m, I, so I don’t struggle there. I set a lot of personal boundaries in my life and that’s, and that does impact the business. I [01:52:00] set boundaries. Like I have a family that very much demands my time for everything and thinks I’m like the responsible one for everything.

 

[01:52:05] Monica Froese: And it was really wing on me ’cause I, I couldn’t be present in the way I need it to [01:52:10] be for my daughters and the business. And so I’ve enforced a lot of family boundaries, which has paid dividends for my mental health. [01:52:20] Love it. Destiny, what boundary did you set that heck gave you a big result? I don’t know.

 

[01:52:24] Sage Grayson: I mean, I’ve always had, I’m like, Monica, I’ve had very strong boundaries in my life, both [01:52:30] personally and professionally. Um, I, you know, my boundary going into 2026 is just like protecting my time. I have to stop working as much as I’m doing, [01:52:40] but that’s really on me, right? I need to figure out other ways to get the work done.

 

[01:52:44] Destini Copp: And I, I think I’m there, like I figured it out. I am putting that boundary [01:52:50] on myself for 2026. Destiny. You need your, you need like a destiny for yourself on your work boundaries because yeah, we [01:53:00] all have this joke that like, you know, if we get, you know, a nasty customer service email or somebody’s just beha, misbehaving, whatever, we’re like, what would [01:53:10] Destiny do?

 

[01:53:10] Kate Kordsmeier: ’cause she’s got her boundaries on luck at it. So Yes, for sure. Yeah, you’re right Kate. I need to, uh, do that for myself. So, [01:53:20] yeah. Kate, what’s your boundary? I agree with what Monica said about, um, family boundaries. I feel like I put a lot of [01:53:30] boundaries in with my husband this year, particularly with childcare and sharing the load fair play.

 

[01:53:35] Kate Kordsmeier: 1000% recommend for any married couples. Um, [01:53:40] one of my favorite things that I did though is that I have a monthly solo retreat where I get to go to a hotel by myself for one night, and I usually go for like a full 24 hours. [01:53:50] And, um, this has been life giving to me and the business and my personal life. Oh, I love that.

 

[01:53:57] Kate Kordsmeier: And I’m a huge miles and points person, so I, I’m [01:54:00] usually not spending any money to do it. I just like find a cheap points deal and book it. That’s smart. Yes. Everyone steal that idea. Ruth, what’s your [01:54:10] boundary? My boundary is really boring and it is not one that I stick to all the time. So it’s not really a boundary, but get enough sleep, go to bed on time.

 

[01:54:19] Ruth Poundwhite: [01:54:20] Honestly, it fixes everything. It sure does. Steph, what’s your boundary? Yeah, so I already have pretty good business boundaries, but mine is definitely [01:54:30] personal. Every night after my youngest goes to bed, which is usually between like seven or seven 30, I go upstairs and I close the door, and nobody’s allowed to come in and find me.

 

[01:54:37] Steph Blake: So I usually get like three hours of alone [01:54:40] time with no husband, no kids, and I’m usually reading my Kindle at that time. Oh, I love it. Tara, what’s your boundary? [01:54:50] Um, I’m with what Liz said in the comments about, um, everyone’s like, I’ve had strong boundaries. Meanwhile, I’m like, what’s a boundary? I was like, [01:55:00] yeah, me too.

 

[01:55:00] Tara Reid: Um, I feel like I’ve always been good with like setting boundaries. It’s sticking with them. That has always been a [01:55:10] struggle because I’m naturally a people pleaser. I hate any kind of confrontation. Um, so I feel like it’s always been something that I’ve really had to [01:55:20] work at. Um, so it’s still like I, I can set a boundary and I am good for several months and then I start to find myself going back into that [01:55:30] pattern.

 

[01:55:30] Tara Reid: Um, so I think for me, the boundary is just knowing that about myself and knowing that I have to keep checking in with myself about any boundaries that I’ve [01:55:40] set and making sure, like asking myself like. Why am I doing this? Or I kind of, I’m, I’m gonna start using like, what would Destiny do? That’s, [01:55:50] I was gonna start using that and say that to myself all the time.

 

[01:55:53] Tara Reid: ’cause yeah, Destiny’s got her boundaries. I need custom GPT for that and so you guys can start using it. That’s what I need to do. [01:56:00] We need that. Liz, take us home. What’s your boundary? Um, so one like business boundary I’ve always been good about [01:56:10] is not tolerating, being treated like crap. So, uh, it’s not often I get like a nasty email.

 

[01:56:17] Liz Stapleton: I know we, it all happens to us at some point, but I actually [01:56:20] had one earlier this, like Monday I had messed up the in on my 12 days of freebies and it made it like you couldn’t click right or something. And someone emailed me like. [01:56:30] Livid about this saying I did it on purpose, that I was trying to like illegally collect information and like.

 

[01:56:37] Liz Stapleton: Swearing and I was like, [01:56:40] okay, unsubscribe. Like, I’m not responding. I’m not, I don’t need this like unsubscribe. I don’t want you on my list. So, you know, I don’t tolerate that. Like it wasn’t even a [01:56:50] customer. It was a customer that warrants a response, right? Like you need to. But I was like, Hmm, sorry, I’m trying to give you something free.

 

[01:56:56] Liz Stapleton: And I made one tiny mistake that I was able to fix in 10 minutes once I knew about it. [01:57:00] Like I had other people email me like, Hey, this isn’t quite working. And I was like, oh, so sorry. Like, let me fix that. But this person was like rude and I [01:57:10] was like, I’m a human. Bye. So that’s a business founder. Like I’ve never had qualms about unsubscribing people who don’t recognize me as a human.

 

[01:57:17] Liz Stapleton: Um, and just kind of setting that boundary and I [01:57:20] will blacklist people as well. So they can’t come back. Um, as far as, uh, you know, per like, other boundaries, I [01:57:30] haven’t been great. I, I think you guys all know I hit a level of burnout this year. That required quite the conversation with my family, um, and [01:57:40] the support I needed to recover from this burnout.

 

[01:57:43] Liz Stapleton: And I’ve been holding fairly well to those boundaries. I’ve definitely had to remind, uh. [01:57:50] Directly, not, not gently, directly of like, oh, hey, this hasn’t happened yet. This needs to happen. Go do that. Um, but yeah, so [01:58:00] it’s, it’s something I’m working on. I, you know, the last few years personally have had a lot of stuff and it came to a head in September this year when I was just like, not and [01:58:10] function.

 

[01:58:11] Liz Stapleton: So, um, yeah, working on that boundary. Great. I think that is huge that, uh. [01:58:20] We don’t need to put up with people who don’t see us as human. We don’t need to put up with abuse in our business friends. We have to wrap this up. I have another call to jump onto, [01:58:30] uh, but we are the weird hermits and we love doing these panels, so please put in the chat right now.

 

[01:58:35] Sage Grayson: Email us, let us know what topics you want us to cover in our future round [01:58:40] tables. We will be sending out the replay and next to the replay we will have our document with all of our gif. Let me base that in there one more time for you. [01:58:50] Um, yeah, we definitely wanna know your key takeaways. Two and how you are going to be planning for your 2026.

 

[01:58:57] Sage Grayson: All right. Did I miss anything? [01:59:00] We good to go? Alright, perfect job. As always, Sage, thank Thank you so much for being here and we’ll talk to you real soon. [01:59:10] Bye.