But one keeps you a victim of your life, and the other puts you in the creator’s seat.

Some time ago I posted a note about missing the gym for a whole week and feeling zero guilt. I want to explore this a little deeper, because guilt has its gifts, just like any other emotion, and there was a very specific reason I said zero guilt.

And of course I’ll relate it to business, because everything is connected.

That post was inspired by our scoreboard call in the Your First Yes cohort. This is a small group of people who decided they are done struggling with a lack of clarity and with not knowing how to explain what they do. They are ready for their business to grow, and they know that if they keep doing what they’ve been doing, it won’t take them there.

As the saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Once a week, we meet to track their progress. It’s a structured process that helps them, and us, see where the real issue is, so we can address the root cause instead of overbooking ourselves with actions that won’t take us anywhere.

Why am I telling you this?

Because on this call, if someone took no action on one of the things we measure, it’s extremely important that they write 0. Leaving it blank won’t do.

When I said I felt zero guilt about missing the gym, it was because it was a conscious choice. I chose not to go. It wasn’t that life happened and the gym slipped because I couldn’t prioritize myself.

But notice how often this happens to you. You say you want to do something. It’s in your schedule. And you don’t do it. It slips out of your control because life happened to you.

In all the go, go, go, you didn’t even realize you had a choice. Again, you missed the gym. You missed the newsletter you said you would write. You missed the conversations you said you would have.

Writing a 0 on the scoreboard puts you in the creator’s seat. Leaving it blank, without even knowing why you didn’t do it, keeps you operating as a victim: life happens and you have no choice.

Which means you are constantly operating from old, unhelpful patterns.

I’ve had weeks when I didn’t go to the gym and I did feel guilty. And I let myself feel it. It felt awful.

My shoulders collapsed, and my thought was, here I am again, not making my health a priority. I looked back on my week and didn’t even know why I hadn’t gone. It just happened that way.

It happens to all of us.

And then we avoid the guilt, because so many spiritual and positive teachings tell us that if you didn’t do it, it wasn’t meant to be, or that we should be nice and kind to ourselves.

Guilt doesn’t feel kind or nice, so we don’t let ourselves feel it.

And we keep ourselves from its gift: change.

When you truly feel guilt, you learn. You don’t let your mind come up with an excuse to justify the unconscious choice. Instead, you change your actions, so you don’t have to feel it again.

The next time, maybe you’ll push yourself to go to the gym, because not going belongs to an old version of you that no longer fits your dreams. Or maybe you’ll skip it because you need rest, and you’ll know exactly why.

Either way, when you write 0 on the scoreboard instead of leaving it empty, it’s because you chose it, not because life chose for you.

The week after, I went back to my routine and showed up to the gym more than I said I would.

Guilt isn’t meant to be carried forward in life. It’s meant to be felt deeply, so that next time you choose consciously what you want instead of letting the unconscious choose for you.

Every time you don’t do what you said you would because life happened, you are letting your past choose. And every time your past chooses, you are not moving toward the goals and desires you have.

I am all about being kind and nice to myself, but that can’t rob me of the gift of negative emotions.

For me, being kind sounds like this: okay, I didn’t have the conversations I said I would. I’m aware this isn’t helping my business or the life I want to manifest. So the most loving thing I can do now is show up for myself better, instead of letting the pattern swallow my possibilities.

Sometimes the most loving thing you can do for yourself is to feel the guilt, process it completely, and choose differently next time.

When you do that, the zeros on your scoreboard will carry rich information. You’ll see your gaps. Maybe you need to develop a skill, maybe expand your network, or maybe you just need to do the thing that makes you extremely uncomfortable.

But you’ll only learn this when you consciously choose 0. Then guilt won’t be there.

Instead, you’ll start getting to know yourself better, and clarity will emerge: why you’re not getting the results you want, and where to double down because something is working really well.

With love,

Carolina

Your blanks have a pattern. The free Harmony Map helps you see it.

Take the Harmony Map

Who we’re celebrating:

This week I’m celebrating of Everyday Unconventional, our auction winner.

Amanda spent 15 years working on private yachts and now lives part of the year in an RV. She guides conventional achievers who crave unconventional lives, and she does it as a guide, not a guru.

She doesn’t teach people to copy her choices; she helps them hear their own.

Amanda, thank you for having the courage to share your gifts with the world.

I feel honored to support your journey.

Happenings

Offline, but connected

This upcoming week, we’ll be taking the week off to attend a retreat with a teacher who deeply inspires our philosophy and how we build our business. His whole premise is that only love is real, and everything that is happening, or not happening, in our lives is there to help us awaken to this truth.

From his teachings, I keep learning to love myself more. And love doesn’t always mean comfort. It’s quite the opposite. Love and kindness toward ourselves can mean doing what we don’t want to do, because it’s more aligned with the version of ourselves that is awakening, the one that came here to thrive and create, not to suffer and live a mediocre life.

Love and courage walk hand in hand. When our choices are made from fear, they keep us at a distance from the truth that only love is real.

I’m extremely excited.

We attended his retreat last year and it was a gift. Having had a year to practice the insights I received there, it feels just perfect to engage with him again as this new version of myself. And I’m ready for more uncomfortable actions, which are already on my horizon.

I’ll be connecting with you from my heart, holding our readers and clients in the energy of this container. Because yes, only love is real, and sometimes it causes pain, just to break our hearts open and let more light in.

You’ll probably see less of us on Substack, but we’ll remain connected. And I know you’ll receive the energy.

Memorable Quote by Carl Jung

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

Yesterday, we opened our auction for one private spot: 90 days to choose your offer, build it, price it, and bring it to real buyers.

Business strategy with me. Inner work with Carolina. Private support as you put it into practice.

You don’t need a finished offer. Choosing what to build is where we start.

This is for you if you have skills, experience, and meaningful work to offer, but need help turning it into something people understand and buy.

Then the bidding started.

Then our friends started adding their own work to the prize.

So if you checked in yesterday and thought you knew what was included…

We have some catching up to do.

Open the bidding note ...

Check the latest bids there, then leave yours in its comments.

First, what you’re actually bidding for

The private work is the heart of this.

Over 90 days, we help you:

• Choose and shape your offer in a 90-minute Offer Roadmapping session with me.

• Work through the fear and self-doubt that show up as you act, with three private calls with Carolina.

• Put your offer into words you’d actually use, with your core offer invitation document.

• Build two supporting assets with us, such as invitation emails, an About page, or a pillar post.

• Bring the offer to potential buyers, with private support for conversations, invitations, follow-up, and refinement.

You also have a private thread with us throughout the 90 days for questions, drafts, decisions, and course corrections.

Sometimes the offer needs work. Sometimes the next step is clear, but naming your price or being seen brings things up.

We work on both.

Rachel Connor has shared that she doubled her client base and increased her rates while doing this work.

We won’t promise you a number.

We will help you build something real to sell—and support you as you bring it into the world.

→ SEE THE FULL OFFER

A few moments from the tent

was bidding from a treadmill. Getting his steps in while keeping us on our toes.

appeared at $700, disappeared, then returned at $1,800. Brad understands an entrance.

took the lead at $1,975. followed with $2,100.

Goddess now leads at $2,222.

Along the way, there were familiar faces, first-time bidders, a Fibonacci moment, and people cheering for the people who outbid them.

I love that.

You can want to win and still want good things for the person holding the other paddle.

And then the generosity took another turn.

“We’d like to add something.”

Five people contributed their own work to help whoever wins.

All five contributions unlock if bidding reaches $2,500.

They join a full year in Sacred Growth Club, a custom AI writing voice clone, and our complete micro-training and template library.

Here’s what that means for the winner.

A year of people in your corner

12 months in Sacred Growth Club — $3,996 value

The private work helps you choose, build, and bring your offer to buyers.

Growth Club gives you somewhere to keep refining it, writing about it, and getting support as you grow.

Inside, you get:

• Business Growth Office Hours three times a month with me. Help with your offers, positioning, pricing, and next moves.

• Twice-weekly embodiment sessions with Carolina. Practice staying connected to yourself through the discomfort of visibility, invitations, and growth.

• Twice-weekly Writing Circles. Supported time to write the email, shape the sales page, or finish the invitation.

• Our private community. Honest reflection, shared wins, and support between calls.

It’s where you bring the price you’re hesitating to name or the email you’ve rewritten enough times and would quite like to send.

We aren’t currently accepting direct enrollments. People enter through private work with us or one of our cohorts.

So the auction comes with a little side door. 🎪

Tools to support your writing and next steps

A custom AI writing voice clone trained on your writing and mission

Help drafting in your own voice, with your experience, judgment, and final say.

Our complete microtraining and template library

Practical resources to draw on as you build your offer, make invitations, and respond to what happens.

And four generous additions from our friends

🎁 One year of Slow AI from — approximately $136 value

Sam helps people think clearly about AI and keep their own judgment involved as they use it. Care and perspective in a conversation that can get very loud, very quickly.

🎁 One year of Robots Ate My Homework from — £80 value

Including the entire RobotsOS library: creative thinking, practical AI systems, skills, agents, and playbooks you can bring into your work.

🎁 One year of WriteStack basic paid access from its creator, — $299.88 value

Support for a steadier Substack publishing rhythm, including scheduling your Notes so showing up doesn’t require being online all day.

🎁 ’ entire product stack — $884+ in listed value

Apparently Finn arrived with a moving truck.

His contribution includes:

• StackContacts App, Business Edition — $499

• StackContacts Encore — $99

• Finn Tropy Substack Pro Studio — $79

• CreativeTech Substack Notes for Claude Bundle — $79

• StackContacts Press — $49

• Audience Strategy Coach — $29+

• Substack Control Center — $25

• StackContacts Connect — $20

• Pangram AI Detection for Substack — $5+

• Seven additional free or pay-what-you-want resources

🦩 LATE ADDITION: Pinkie from has added The Branding Flock.

You’re building an offer people can understand. Pinkie helps you make the visuals recognizably yours, too.

The Branding Flock is her 12-month program for solopreneurs building a consistent visual brand with AI, with tools, live sessions, and reusable AI skills.

So every cover, post, and graphic starts from a system that looks like you, instead of another round of “why does this look nothing like my brand?”

It joins the winner’s bonus collection if bidding reaches $2,500.

Apparently the tent now has flamingos. 🦩🎪

Sam, Mia, Orel, Finn, Pinkie thank you.

These are things you’ve spent your time and care building. Seeing you offer them to support someone else’s next chapter means a lot.

What unlocks at $2,500?

Everything listed above goes to the eventual winner if bidding reaches $2,500.

That’s more than $5,255 in listed value, plus Mia’s £80 annual membership, on top of the private work.

Before counting the custom AI writing voice clone.

Before counting our microtraining and template library.

The tools and memberships give us more to work with. The point is what we help you do with them.

Choose your offer. Build it. Price it. Bring it to real buyers.

How the money works

Only the winner pays their winning bid. If you don’t win, you don’t owe your bid amount.

If you win, you’re committing to purchase the package at your winning bid—so bid an amount you’re happy to pay.

Every bidder can also claim these three gifts for a separate $1.49:

• A full year inside Sacred Business Network.

• Clarity Compass.

• All three sessions of Carolina’s upcoming Confidence Workshop.

That’s $255 in value, available even if you don’t win. The Network year is for new members. We’ll send bidders the claim link.

Your next move

If you’ve been watching and thinking, “I could actually see myself doing this…”, here’s your invitation.

You bring your experience, your ideas, and your willingness to put something real into the world.

We bring practical help with the business and inner support as you choose, build, and ask for the sale.

And apparently, our friends bring a truckload of extras.

Bid Now ...

A $2,500 bid would exceed that bid and unlock the whole package for the eventual winner. Check the Note for the latest bids before placing yours.

All bids go in that Note’s comments. Questions, cheering, and a little friendly mischief belong there too.

Carolina, Marcus, and I will see you under the tent.

Bring your paddle. Gary may bring the treadmill.

With Love,

❤️⚡️ Phil (& Carolina)

🚨 Bidding closes TODAY, Thursday, October 15, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

We’re auctioning ONE private spot with Carolina and me.

90 days to choose your offer, build it, price it, and bring it to real buyers with business strategy, inner work, and private support as you move.

You don’t need a finished offer. Choosing what to build is where we start.

This is for you if you have skills, experience, and meaningful work to offer—but need help turning it into something people understand and buy.

Check the bidding Note for the latest bids.

👉 OPEN THE BIDDING NOTE →

All bids go in that Note’s comments. This page explains what you’re bidding for.

Click Here to Bid

HERE’S WHAT WE’RE HERE TO DO.

You’ve got magic.

A body of work, a way of seeing, or a way of helping people that is distinctly yours.

We’re going to help you put it into something people can buy.

🏆 We’re here to help you get PAID for your magic. And THANKED for it.

Not just “clarity.” Not a beautiful plan that stays in a drawer.

PAID.

We won’t promise you a number.

What we will promise is that you’ll have a clear, refined offer to sell, a price you can stand behind, an invitation in your own words, and private support as you bring it to potential buyers.

90 days to build it and bring it into the world.

And if the bidding reaches the next unlock, you’ll have support as your offer takes root beyond those 90 days.

A CLEAR OFFER. AND SUPPORT TO ACTUALLY SELL IT.

Sometimes the offer needs work.

Sometimes you know the next move, but choosing, pricing, or being seen brings up resistance.

We work on both.

I will help you shape the offer, positioning, and business model.

Carolina helps you work through the fear, self-doubt, and inner friction that show up as you bring it into the world.

So when it’s time to name your price, send the invitation, or follow up with someone interested, you have support for both the practical decision and what it brings up in you.

WE BUILD IT WITH YOU.

Some of the work we do for you. All of it we do with you.

That’s how we make sure what emerges is effective—and recognizably yours.

You work with Phil and Carolina separately, with each focused on their part of helping you move.

HERE’S HOW.

👉 Choose the offer you’re actually going to build.
One 90-minute Offer Roadmapping session with Phil to decide who it’s for, what it helps them achieve, and how it fits your business and life.

👉 Work through what’s been stopping you from putting it out there.
Three private calls with Carolina to work with the fear, self-doubt, and resistance that show up around choosing, visibility, and selling.

👉 Get your magic written back to you in words you’d actually use.
Your core offer invitation document: what you help with, who it’s for, what’s included, and what it costs.

👉 Build two supporting assets WITH us.
An About page, invitation emails, a pillar post, or your choice from the available asset list built around your work and your voice.

👉 Bring the offer to real people.
Within your private support, we’ll help you identify potential buyers, start conversations, make invitations, and follow up. Then we’ll use the response to refine what isn’t landing.

👉 Have somewhere to bring the decisions as you go.
A private thread with us throughout the 90 days for questions, drafts, feedback, and course corrections as you put the offer into action.

Different starting points. Different results.

The point is to get your work into contact with real buyers.

Then comes the part this is actually about.

Someone pays you real money for your magic.

And comes back to tell you what it did for them.

Selling does not have to turn you into someone you are not.

At its best, it is a clear invitation:

“This is what I can help with, this is what it costs, and this is what might become possible.”

🎁 IF THE WINNING BID REACHES $2,500…

The winner also receives ALL of this:

✨ 12 months in Sacred Growth Club — $3,996 value
Business Growth Office Hours three times a month with Phil, twice-weekly embodiment sessions with Carolina, twice-weekly Writing Circles, and our private community. A year of support as your offer takes root.

✨ A custom AI writing voice clone trained on your writing and mission
Support for drafting in your own voice, with your judgment and final say.

✨ Our complete microtraining and template library
Practical resources to help you take the next step as you build, invite, and sell.

And our friends have added their own goodies to the prize:

🎁 One year of Slow AI from Dr Sam Illingworth — approximately $136 value
A thoughtful approach to using AI while keeping your own judgment, care, and perspective involved.

🎁 One year of Robots Ate My Homework from Mia Kiraki — £80 value
Including the entire RobotsOS library: creative thinking, practical AI systems, skills, agents, and playbooks to bring into your work.

🎁 One year of WriteStack basic paid access from its creator, Orel — $299.88 value
Support for a steadier Substack publishing rhythm, including scheduling your Notes so showing up doesn’t require being online all day.

🎁 Finn Tropy’s entire product stack — $884+ in listed value
StackContacts App, Business Edition; StackContacts Encore; Finn Tropy Substack Pro Studio; CreativeTech Substack Notes for Claude Bundle; StackContacts Press; Audience Strategy Coach; Substack Control Center; StackContacts Connect; Pangram AI Detection for Substack; and seven additional free or pay-what-you-want resources.

Apparently Finn arrived with a moving truck. 🎪

That’s more than $5,255 in listed value, plus Mia’s £80 membership—on top of your 90 days of private work.

And that’s before counting the custom AI writing voice clone or our microtraining and template library.

The tools give us more to work with. The point is what we help you do with them:

Choose your offer. Build it. Price it. Bring it to real buyers.

If bidding reaches $2,500, the eventual winner receives everything above.

HOW THE AUCTION WORKS

One private spot. No reserve.

Bidding opened at $1. Check the Note for the current high bid before placing yours.

You can bid as many times as you want before bidding closes.

Bidding closes Thursday, October 15, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

All bids belong in the comments of the bidding Note.

HOW THE MONEY WORKS

Only the winner pays their winning bid.

If you don’t win, you don’t owe your bid amount.

If you win, you’re committing to purchase the package at your winning bid—so bid an amount you’re happy to pay.

Every bidder can also claim these three gifts for a separate $1.49:

• A full year inside Sacred Business Network.

• Clarity Compass.

• All three sessions of Carolina’s upcoming Confidence Workshop.

That’s $255 in value, available to every bidder, even if you don’t win.

The Network year is for new members. We’ll send bidders the link to claim the gifts.

READY TO BID?

👉 OPEN THE BIDDING NOTE →

Check the latest bid, then leave yours in the Note’s comments.

Bids, questions, cheering, and a little friendly mischief are all welcome there. 🎪

🚨 Bidding closes TODAY, Thursday, October 15, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Everything Is Connected,
Phil and Carolina ❤️⚡️

PS If you see in the bidding Note or your DMs, he’s with us and helping with the auction. 🎪

Click here to bid

One private spot. 90 days with Carolina and I to choose your offer, build it, price it, and bring it to real buyers.

But there’s a question worth answering before bidding opens:

“What if I’m not even sure what I want to offer?”

Or you have five ideas and don’t know which one to choose.

Or you’ve been thinking about the same idea for three years and wonder whether that means something.

You don’t need to arrive with a finished offer. Choosing what to build is where we start.

You bring your skills, experience, and willingness to act. We help you turn those into a clear decision.

The roadmap session gives us a direction: who you’ll help, what they’ll be buying, and which offer we’ll build together.

And choosing one idea now doesn’t mean abandoning the others. It means giving one of them a real chance.

Last year’s auction winner, left this comment on our post:

“I did the S-B auction and worked with Phil and Carolina about a year ago. It was a wonderful experience that moved my business forward significantly. I got clarity on my offer, wonderful guidance about delivery, and a huge jumpstart on my Substack. A big boost of confidence in creating and putting it out there.”

He also described what shifted through his work with Carolina:

“So it was an upgrade in my own being, and in the process by which I am sharing my life’s work.”

Then he added:

“Worthwhile! p.s. They didn’t ask me to write this.”

That’s what we want for the person who wins tomorrow’s auction: a clear offer, a way to reach people, and the confidence to put your work in front of them.

Now, here’s what everyone who bids gets, not just the winner:

• A full year inside the Sacred Business Network (new members only)

• The Clarity Compass

• All three sessions of Carolina’s upcoming Confidence Workshop

That’s over $255 in value, even if you don’t win the private spot.

There’s one detail: you’ll need to pay $1.49 to claim those three gifts. We’ll send bidders the payment link.

Place a bid of at least $1, and you can claim all three gifts for just $1.49, whether you win or not. We’ll send bidders the payment link.

Only the winner pays their winning bid. Everyone else can simply claim the gifts for $1.49

So even if you don’t win the private spot, you still walk away with over $255 in value for a dollar.

Watch for tomorrow’s auction post at noon Eastern. That’s where you’ll bid.

Have a question before it starts? Leave it below. and our team will help you get ready.

One private spot. $1 minimum bid. Highest bid wins. No reserve.

Everything Is Connected,
Phil and Carolina ❤️⚡️

10/14/26 Update #3 The Auction is Live:

**************************************************************************************************

10/ 13/26 Update #2: The auction opens tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14, at noon Eastern.

And everyone who bids at least $1 can claim three gifts for just $1, whether they win or not: a full year inside the Sacred Business Network (new members only), the Clarity Compass, and all three sessions of Carolina’s upcoming Confidence Workshop.

👉 Read today’s post for how bidding works and how to claim your gifts.

**************************************************************************************************

10/12/26 Update #1: Well… that was fast. 🎪

Our Auction Insider Circle has already hit Substack’s 50-person group limit.

Still interested? Drop your questions or a simple “I’m in” in the comments below. and our team will make sure you have what you need before Wednesday’s auction opens.

The insider’s group is full. The auction is open to everyone.

Keep an eye out for the bidding post Wednesday, October 14, at noon Eastern. One private spot. $1 minimum bid. No reserve. ❤️⚡️

One person will win 90 days of private work with both of us to build a clear offer and bring it to real buyers.

And as the bidding climbs, we’ll be adding more value, including support that keeps us in your corner well beyond those first 90 days.

$1 minimum bid. Highest bid wins. No reserve.

Here’s how to be ready:

Watch for Wednesday’s auction post here on Substack dropping at NOON EASTERN. That’s where you’ll bid.

Before then, we’re gathering interested bidders in a free pre-auction group, where we’ll share tips to help you prepare and give yourself the best chance of winning.

If you’ve already commented on last week’s post expressing interest, keep an eye on your Substack chats for your invitation.

Want in? Leave a comment below saying you’re interested, and we’ll invite you too.

And if you see or hear from Marcus Anderson, he’s with us. 😊 He’s part of our team and will be helping with auction admin, answering questions, and making sure everyone gets what they need.

One person wins the private spot. Everybody who bids gets something.

More on that tomorrow. 😉

This is the same work that helped double both her prices and her client numbers in just 3 months, and land his first $1,500 client, as well as build up his incredible Sober Creative Podcast where he’s landed legendary guests like Hunter Biden.

If you’ve got meaningful work you’re ready to bring into the world, this could be your next move.

Comment below to join us before the auction. Then watch for Wednesday’s bidding post.

Wednesday. Noon Eastern. One private spot.

Everything Is Connected,
Phil and Carolina ❤️⚡️

Which is funny, because behind the scenes, I’ve been pretty far down the rabbit hole.

Claude with Obsidian. A Grok bot. ChatGPT routines. Plenty of experiments that taught me something, even when they didn’t earn a permanent place in my day.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Instinct. And I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about it.

Here’s one feature I love: and I each have our own AI, and we’ve added each other as trusted contacts. Our agents can communicate and help coordinate things on our behalf.

That is very, very cool!

We each have our own context and our assistants can work together to get things done on our behalf.

But the part I’ve put the most thought into is what my AI has to work FROM.

A business has a lot of history. You’ve made decisions, changed your mind, learned what your clients actually need. Some of that lives in documents. Plenty of it lives in your head.

An assistant needs a way to understand which version of the offer is current, which draft is an experiment, and what you mean when you say, “That doesn’t sound like me.”

, who writes ROBOTS ATE MY HOMEWORK, helped me think this through in her essay How to build a world for your AI.

She’s one of my favorite voices in the ai space right now. I used that essay to help build the “world” my Instinct works inside.

For me, that meant giving my strategic documents, references, writing examples, and business decisions a home, with clear guidance about how to use them.

My voice belongs there. So do the principles I trust, our current offers, and the difference between an idea we’re exploring and a decision we’ve actually already made.

Otherwise, a beautifully written answer can send you moving towards something you already decided wasn’t the right direction.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

A person raises their hand with interest in our small group cohort program, Your First Yes. Their email conversation is in Gmail, their assessment results are in Notion, and the offer I’m prepared to share with them lives in Google Drive.

Previously, bringing that together meant opening tabs and reconstructing the conversation before I could make decisions on how I’d best like to communicate in service of someone making a decision.

Now I can ask the system to read the history, find where we left off, so I can craft a useful follow-up message without having to hunt for what the person has already shared with us.

In one evening of auction outreach, this setup helped prepare eight WhatsApp message links and 19 Gmail drafts.

I still crafted the words and assumed full ownership over what to send. But having the context cohesively in one place ready gave me a much easier place to begin.

If you’re experimenting with AI, start with one job you already do every week. Give it the sources you trust and describe what a good result looks like. Then test it on something you do regularly and already have a strong understanding about what the process should look like.

One call preparation brainstorm. One follow-up. An invitation you’ve been meaning to write.

You’ll learn more from that than another afternoon consuming more AI content. You’ve got to get your hands dirty and make it practical!

And this is a pattern I see well beyond AI.

You can have years of experience, thoughtful writing, and work that really helps people, while still struggling to answer, “How can someone buy this?”

The offer is half-written. Your Substack readers love what you share. When someone asks about working together, you’re still piecing the answer together.

All that depth deserves a clear path into the world.

That’s the thinking behind the auction idea Carolina and I shared yesterday: one private, 90-day build for someone who already has meaningful skills and experience.

We’d help shape the offer, build the invitation and emails WITH you, and use your Substack to bring it to the right people. Carolina will also support what comes up around being seen and receiving money for your work.

You’d have somewhere to be supported in decision making while you’re actually moving the ball forward.

We’re exploring an auction with bidding starting at $1. The winning bid would set the price.

If you’d like a clear offer you can put in front of real people, without having to piece every part together alone, read what we’re considering and tell us whether you’d bid.

Everything Is Connected,

Phil ❤️⚡️

Learn About The Auction

If you’re building a business from the heart but feel the walls going up around your next step, our free Harmony Map assessment helps you see what’s creating friction and where to bring your attention so you can move forward.

Take the Harmony Map

Who we’re celebrating: , turning five years of work into a deck you can use

This week I'm celebrating my friend and past client Toku McCree and the launch of Toku Tarot.

He's built a 78-card deck with a question on the back of every card. You don't have to know how to interpret tarot to have somewhere to begin. The question gives you something to explore.

One card is called The Beginner's Mind. Its question: "What do you want that feels impossible?"

Toku says this project has been five years in the making. He's spoken openly about the fear of what people would think of the deck, and of him.

Now he's putting it into the world.

And there's a part of this I'm especially pumped about. A long time ago, Toku and I talked about an opportunity for custom decks for communities. Now we're planning a customized version for Sacred Business Flow!

An idea we talked about is becoming something our community can hold and use.

So here's to you, Toku. For giving this work a form other people can explore. I'm excited to see where it goes. Check out the deck here.

Express Interest in Auction

Happenings

Your offer. Your Substack. Us in your corner. - Opens October 14

You have work you want to offer. Choosing the focus, naming the price, and sending the invitation keep getting in the way.

Carolina and I are opening one private spot for 90 days to build your offer, invitations and emails WITH you, and help you bring it to real people. We'll stay involved as you make invitations and refine the offer from what you hear.

$1 opening bid, not the final price. Bidding opens in the comments of Wednesday's launch post. Read the idea and tell us if you'd bid →

The Weekly Highlights

She had built a successful business doing work she loved, but slowing down still felt like guilt. One observation on our call made her shoulders drop, and it might explain why the success you’ve earned still feels so hard to enjoy.

Carolina's "hell no" to four days of live translation became a yes after a pause - a conversation about trusting yourself to begin before your experience gives you proof.

The Chinese Bamboo and Your Sacred Business

You keep writing, making invitations, showing up, and still the ground looks quiet. Our short animated film, Your Roots Are Listening, is for that season of your Sacred Business: three minutes and twenty seconds for anyone wondering whether their work is taking root.

Memorable Quote by

Confidence, in practice, is our tolerance for being seen mid-process

Source: Mia Kiraki, Confidently Creative? (Aug 17, 2026)

10/14/26 Update #3: The Auction is Live:

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10/13/26 Update #2: The auction opens tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14, at noon Eastern.

And everyone who bids at least $1 can claim three gifts for just $1, whether they win or not: a full year inside the Sacred Business Network (new members only), the Clarity Compass, and all three sessions of Carolina’s upcoming Confidence Workshop.

👉 Read today’s post for how bidding works and how to claim your gifts.

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10/12/26 Update #1: You said yes. It’s happening. 🎪

The auction is officially on: Wednesday, October 14, at 12 noon Eastern.

One private spot. $1 minimum bid. Highest bid wins. No reserve.

And well… our Auction Insider Circle has already hit its 50-person limit. But everyone can bid, and and our team will help you get ready.

👉 Head to our official announcement, “What would you bid to have us in your corner?” for the details—and drop your questions in the comments there.

One person wins the private spot. Everybody who bids gets something. More on that tomorrow. ❤️⚡️

Read the Announcement

Carolina and I have an idea.

What if we opened up ONE private spot to help someone turn their skills and experience into a clear offer, build the page and emails WITH them, and get it in front of people ready to pay?

And what if, instead of setting a fixed price, we offered that spot auction style…

With a $1 minimum bid?

Would you be interested?

Before you answer, let me tell you what we have in mind.

You might already have years of experience helping people. You might be a therapist, a practitioner, a coach, or someone whose work has evolved beyond what your current job allows you to do.

There’s something you want to offer.

But each time you try to make it real, you run into decisions that are hard to make on your own.

Which part of your work should you lead with? What would someone actually be buying? How much should you charge?

Then there’s explaining it. Writing the offer and invitation. Sending the email. Having the conversation where you name the price and wait for an answer.

That’s where we’d work with you.

Your offer, built WITH you

For 90 days, Carolina and I would help you take the idea you keep putting off and turn it into something people can understand, buy, and benefit from.

We’d start by choosing a clear focus: who the offer is for, what they want help with, and what you can help them accomplish.

From there, we’d help you explain it in one sentence and set a price that makes sense for the work and the life you want to build.

Then we’d build the page and the emails WITH you.

We’d also help you grow your Substack and use your writing to get that offer in front of more of the right people, so readers have a clear path from “I love your work” to “How can I work with you?”

You’d have something you could send to a real person when they ask, “How can I work with you?”

And we’d stay involved as you started making invitations, hearing questions and feedback, and refining the offer based on what people actually respond to.

Because getting the offer written is one step. Bringing yourself to send it can bring up a whole other set of questions.

Support for the business and the person building it

You’d have private calls with each of us, doing what each of us is best at.

I’d help you make the business decisions and turn them into a clear offer and real invitations. Carolina would help you work with what comes up around being seen, trusting yourself, and receiving money for your work.

Plus a private thread where you could drop a question any day during those 90 days and get support as you go.

When someone asks about your price, you’d have somewhere to bring that conversation. If you get a response you don’t know how to interpret, we could look at it together.

You’d have help taking the next step while the work was actually happening.

Everything is connected. The offer needs a clear structure, and you need support bringing it into the world.

This would work best for someone who already has skills and experience, but needs help turning what they know into a clear offer.

You can come with doubts. You do need to be willing to build, make invitations, and work with what you learn.

So… would you bid?

We’re considering opening ONE SPOT for this private, 90-day build.

Auction style. $1 minimum bid.

The winning bid would determine the price. The $1 would be where bidding starts.

Right now, we’d love to know whether this is something you’d want.

If you’d like us in your corner while you build your offer and bring it to people who could benefit, would YOU bid at least $1?

Hit reply or leave a comment with:

1️⃣ Yes, I’d bid.

2️⃣ I’m interested, but I need more information.

3️⃣ No, I’m good.

Everything Is Connected,
Phil and Carolina ❤️⚡️

In episode 5 of Sitting on a Bench, Carolina and I start with her “hell no” to translating a four-day sound-healing training, and the pause that made saying yes possible. Then we get into the part “confidence comes with experience” doesn’t explain: what lets you take the first step when you haven’t had that experience yet. We talk about inner confidence, making invitations, and how to bring your work into the world without needing every doubt to disappear first.

TL;DR — Here’s what we covered

• What Changed Between “Hell No” and Saying Yes to 40 Hours of Live Translation

• The Kind of Confidence You Can Access Before You Have Results

• Why Trusting Yourself to Handle the Experience Changes What You’re Willing to Try

• How Needing to Get It Right Can Keep Your Work From Reaching Anyone

• Why Your First Offer Can Be a Hypothesis Worth Testing

• What Working With Famous Musicians Taught Me About Doubt at Every Level

• How to Invite Your First Client Without Pretending You’ve Done It All Before

• Why Clear Agreements Make It Easier to Try Something New

• What Taking Action Can Reveal About Your Work That Thinking Alone Can’t

• Two Simple Practices for Slowing Down and Reconnecting With Yourself

• When More Training Builds Your Skills, and When You’re Still Waiting for Permission

Watch the opening, then upgrade to Network for the full conversation.

Access The Private Podcast

Read more

There was only one problem: the course was taught in Portuguese, and the teacher didn’t have enough English to teach Phil while also teaching everyone else.

A few days later, the teacher sent a message with a possible solution: you could hire a translator, or maybe your partner could come? She could translate, and she would get the certification too.

Phil shared the audio with me! My first thought was… Me? Translating live, simultaneously, for ten hours a day?

Hell no.

My mind had a long list of reasons why I should not go. I’ve never done this before. I don’t have a music background. I don’t even like translating. In daily life I mix up my words. I don’t think I can, or should.

And there was more. Phil was investing real money into this training. If I said yes and failed, I could compromise his experience. Having a real translator sounded like a better idea to me.

Every reason made sense. And underneath them was the fear of disappointing the teacher and Phil, who was so excited about this experience.

But something else was happening too, and I could feel it very clearly. My body was closing. There was a tightness, a contraction, a wall going up. I wasn’t only thinking “no.” I was protecting myself.

This is why body awareness matters so much.

When we are present in our body, we can feel the resistance and the protection building up. We can see it as something happening in us, not as the truth about us. Without that awareness, we don’t see the thoughts as thoughts. We take them as truth. They sound so reasonable: I’m not capable. I’ve never done it. In fact, I don’t even like it. So I’m not going to do it. And the door quietly closes.

We miss the opportunity to learn something new about ourselves. Maybe that opinion we had about who we are was never the whole truth. Maybe there are untapped skills that life keeps nudging us toward, and we don’t pay attention, because the thoughts got there first and we never took the time to question them.

So I paused and asked myself: What am I protecting myself from? I got curious about the wall I was building around that invitation. I also got curious about whether I could actually do it.

Instead of I can’t, the question became can I? Is it possible for someone like me to hear one language in one ear while speaking another at the same time?

I didn’t know. But I chose to give this curiosity more space than the wall, and slowly my thoughts began to shift… hmmm, maybe I do like the idea of meeting the version of myself who could do that. Or maybe the version who can’t do it at all.

Curiosity is the gate.

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I said yes. But I had to detach from the outcome. I was honest with Phil. I told him I would translate to the best of my abilities, and that, in the worst case, he might need to take the course again. I didn’t promise I would be good. I didn’t need to.

I was also making peace with the possibility that it would not be for me, or that maybe I would enjoy it in a way I had never thought of before.

What I felt was a different kind of confidence. Not I know I’ll succeed. It was:

I trust myself to go through this experience, whatever the outcome.

I didn’t need to know how it would end before I could begin.

The training was more than forty hours, ten hours a day, with the teacher speaking nonstop. Was it perfect? Not at all. I asked him to slow down. I told him when I didn’t know a word, or didn’t understand what he meant. I was honest about where I was, and the teacher and the whole group met me there with so much kindness.

And I did it.

What surprised me most was the presence. With someone speaking in one ear and my own voice coming out in another language, there was nothing else in my mind. It was pure presence, and it let me meet myself in a different way. Those days were mindfulness at its best.

Not only did I learn I was capable of translating that way, but I also received hidden gifts from the course itself. I discovered aspects of myself I had barely noticed before and now want to explore.

This kind of confidence, the one that lets you take on a challenge like that for the first time, is available to all of us, but most of us have forgotten it.

We usually talk about what I call outer confidence. It’s the confidence that comes from proof: you’ve done something many times, you have results, you know you can deliver. Or it comes from external validation: a law degree, a recognized certification, the example of people who walked the same path before you. That confidence is real, and it has its place.

But there is another one. Inner confidence. We are all born with it. Watch a child trying something for the first time. There’s no proof and no certificate, just presence, curiosity, and play. Somewhere along the way we forget it, and we start believing we need permission from the past before we can step into the future.

Why does this matter?

Because when you are building a business around your own work, you are stepping into something you haven’t done before. Your experience shaped the framework. Yes, you are sharing skills you have learned throughout your life, but more than anything, you are helping people overcome challenges you overcame for yourself.

No one has walked your exact path before you. At the beginning, you may have years of experience, but no proof yet for this particular expression of your work. Inner confidence lets you begin. Many people never start because they are waiting for proof that can only come from doing it.

Your curiosity about who you might become can be bigger than your fear of failing. And failing is also okay.

I’m not saying I want to become a translator now. That’s not the point. But I discovered a skill I had no idea I had. If I decided to take it further, that’s when outer confidence would come in: I would take courses, learn the techniques, practice, and develop it. Inner confidence opens the door. Outer confidence builds the house.

Life is always talking to us. Sometimes it’s an invitation we didn’t ask for, something we never planned, something we think we don’t even like. But ‘I like it’ and ‘I don’t like it’ can be old opinions, or borrowed ones we’ve never questioned. Your Sacred Business is inviting you to meet more of you.

So the next time you feel the walls going up, pause. Feel it in your body. Ask what you are protecting. Then get curious about who you would be if you could. What small step would let you find out?

What is life inviting you into right now that an old opinion keeps saying no to?

With love,

Carolina

If you’re building a business from the heart but feel the walls going up around your next step, our free Harmony Map assessment helps you see what’s creating friction and where to bring your attention so you can move forward.

Take the Harmony Map

Who we’re celebrating: 8 powerful beings turning their magic into one clear offer

This week I want to celebrate eight people who said yes to themselves. They chose to bring clarity to one offer and start putting it into the world.

We just kicked off our Your First Yes cohort, and we could all feel the connection, even though most were meeting for the first time.

For a community to be built, something has to bring everyone together. For us, it’s building from the heart.

We want money. We are here to build profitable businesses. But money alone is not enough. The business has to support work that matters to us and the life we want to live: more authentic, slower, more connected.

The offers taking shape have that “ohh, that was the missing piece” feeling. For some, they bring more coherence to an already amazing business. For others, it feels like home: finally being able to articulate their magic clearly.

It’s beautiful to witness.

So here’s to all eight of you. For choosing one offer. For being willing to bring it to real people. For giving your magic a chance to become something people can say yes to.

The world needs what you have to give. And your work deserves to support the life you want to live.

If you’re ready to turn your magic into one clear offer people can say yes to, join the waitlist for the next Your First Yes cohort.

Join the YFY Waitlist

Happenings

Market and Sell with Confidence · October 26–28

You know your work has value. Then it’s time to name the price, and the walls go up.

Join Carolina for three live sessions to practice describing your work, saying your price, and making a real invitation—even before you feel ready.

$99 for all three sessions. Replays included. Join us →

The Weekly Highlights

Success without the rush

She had built a successful business doing work she loved, but slowing down still felt like guilt. One observation on our call made her shoulders drop, and it might explain why the success you’ve earned still feels so hard to enjoy.

A $2,000 investment led to roughly $20,000 in revenue, but Phil couldn’t count on a dollar of it when he said yes. Here’s the question that helped him decide whether he was being financially cautious or waiting for proof that could only come after he moved.

The Chinese Bamboo and Your Sacred Business

You keep writing, making invitations, showing up, and still the ground looks quiet. Our short animated film, Your Roots Are Listening, is for that season of your Sacred Business: three minutes and twenty seconds for anyone wondering whether their work is taking root.

Memorable Quote by James Stephens

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

Her impressive career had grown into a successful business helping people with something she truly believes in and loves.

Her breakthrough frequency, the result of her assessment, was Love.

She came to the call curious. She was already being guided by her heart and creating something new, something she called her legacy work. Work she wants to live beyond her life here.

She was clear about how she was helping others, but something was missing.

As she said, “It feels different to me, but I can’t quite name it yet.”

I told her that sometimes, when the next phase of a business is calling for more love, it’s an invitation to do more of what you love.

But for her, as for many of our clients, maybe this next phase was inviting her to love herself more.

Her shoulders dropped. She sat back in her chair and said, “Wow. That’s totally true. I never really thought of that.”

What does that mean in practical terms?

The first invitation love makes, very often, is to slow down.

These women are very successful. They have already built something meaningful. But often, if you are like me and like them, success came through an unhealthy relationship with masculine energy:

Hustle more. Do more. Always be busy. Take care of everyone.

And you are always at the end of the list.

It’s a hard change. I am in it, and I witness many women on the same path.

For me, slowing down means enjoying a stretch of time without feeling guilty. It means creating pockets of space to wonder, to just observe. My business keeps inviting me back to that.

Slowing down requires a different relationship with life altogether.

Deep inside, these women know they can be successful without the rush. They just don’t know how.

There is a constant feeling that they could be doing more, that they should be ahead. When they have space, it needs to be filled with something.

Pausing feels like guilt.

A client once told me her big shift was healing her relationship with masculine energy and feeling for herself that she can do magic, that her business can be built from that energy.

This wasn’t just an insight. She took action from that space. She finally started creating space for herself while creating meaningful impact in the world.

Maybe you are like me too, and like many of our clients. You found success while operating in unhealthy masculine energy, and now your feminine is ready to rise.

Not only in your rituals and personal life, but in business too.

But it won’t rise if we don’t heal our relationship with the masculine.

For some women, this almost comes with a rejection of the masculine. But in reality, these two energies need each other. They depend on each other to give birth to something real and meaningful.

If your business is inviting you to experience more love, don’t forget to add yourself to that list.

Maybe it’s allowing what you do to love you more.

With more and more love,
Carolina

You love your work. But where are you on the list of people it takes care of?

If you’ve built something meaningful but still feel guilty slowing down, that’s worth paying attention to.

The free Harmony Map helps you find your breakthrough frequency and see where to focus next—so the business you’re building can support you, too.

Take the Harmony Map →

Take the Harmony Map

Carolina and I were all in on the business we were building. The money wasn’t coming in yet. And I was about to spend $12,000 on help crafting our story and message.

On paper, it looked scary as hell. My nervous system agreed. We made the investment because we needed a clearer way to speak about the work we were building, even though I couldn’t put a date on when it would pay for itself.

I faced a smaller version of that decision earlier this year, during a summer lull. We felt we were putting real effort into the business and the results weren’t matching it. I had to admit something uncomfortable: I was again too close to what we’d built to see what needed to change.

I needed someone to hold up a mirror.

That support cost $2,000. Before saying yes, I checked that we could cover it from our existing business income even if the work brought in nothing new. It was a stretch, but it wasn’t a bet on an immediate return.

The work has since led to revenue I can trace to that decision, roughly ten times what I paid. More importantly, it helped us build a clearer vision for moving forward. I couldn’t have counted on either outcome when I invested.

I’m glad I said yes. I also know how easily that story could become bad advice.

Someone could read it and conclude that the answer is to trust your gut and make the investment. I don’t believe that. I’ve heard from too many thoughtful people who put money into coaching or business support and didn’t receive what they needed. Sometimes the offer was weak. Sometimes the fit was wrong. Sometimes the work demanded more than they could reasonably give.

Financial risk doesn’t disappear because something feels aligned.

So how do you decide when your heart wants to move and your mind is making a convincing case to wait?

I start by listening to what each is actually saying.

In my body, fear often feels like butterflies in my stomach. There’s energy there, and an awareness of the risk. When something feels like a true no, I experience more of a contraction around my heart space. A yes can feel like a leaning forward, even with the butterflies still going.

That’s how I experience it. It isn’t a universal test, and a feeling alone can’t tell me whether an offer is good or whether I can afford it.

I also look at the person and the support. Have I spent enough time with their work to know how they think? Can they speak honestly about what they’ve helped people achieve and where the limits are? Do I trust them to stay engaged when the plan meets reality?

Then I look back at myself. If I receive the support they’re offering, can I follow through on my part? Is this work I still want when it asks something difficult of me?

That question is about my own commitment. It doesn’t make the person offering support less responsible for delivering what they promised.

Finally, I ask the least romantic question of all:

What happens if the return takes longer than I hope?

With that recent $2,000 investment, I had an answer. I could cover the cost from the business as it stood. I didn’t need the new work to pay for itself right away. Without that answer, the same excitement in my body might have led me to a different decision.

The numbers help me see what I can responsibly risk. My heart helps me see whether the direction is worth pursuing. And my history with myself tells me whether I’m likely to do the work once I say yes.

I need all three.

There’s a point where more analysis stops giving me new information. I’ve looked closely at the person. I understand what the support includes and what it cannot promise. I know what happens if the return takes longer than I want. And I still feel that leaning forward.

At that point, waiting for certainty won’t make the decision safer. The evidence I want can only come from movement. Sometimes that means investing in support. Sometimes it means running the next test myself. Either way, I can’t demand proof of a result before I’m willing to take the step that could create it.

That doesn’t mean every stretch is a yes. A real financial constraint deserves to be honored. So does a true no in your heart.

But if you can carry the risk, you trust the support, and you know you’ll bring your full commitment to the work, life may be asking you to move before it shows you the result.

LFG.

And if you’re ready to move but can’t yet see where your effort belongs, start with the free Harmony Map Assessment. In about eight minutes, it will help you see the pattern creating friction in your business and where to focus next. Then you have something concrete to act on.

Take the Harmony Map

With Love,

Phil

She has another job, she takes care of someone in her family, and a busy life just like almost all of us. But underneath all of it she carries a deep desire to have something of her own… to own her time and help more people. She is extremely gifted. She has already helped people, real people, with real, specific problems.

She knows she can help. She just won't call it a business yet, because it doesn't yet make enough to sustain the life she wants to live.

Her biggest challenge, she told me, was time. So in her mind, the problem was a lack of hours. We hear this often — but in reality time is usually not the issue.

Clarity is.

We hear all the time that you don’t have clarity before you walk, you gain it as you walk. But there is a clarity that is born out of a decision you make, and that is the one people most often never make for themselves.

When I started my business I had a full-time job, I am a mom and I had a life as busy as anyone’s. All I could give my little side gig was four to five hours a week. And I decided that would be enough.

I also decided from the very beginning that eventually this side gig would become my full-time job.

That second decision mattered more than the hours, if you’re building for sustainability, that clarity from the beginning is everything. With only five hours a week you can make a lot happen, if you know clearly what you want.

I’m glad I let those five hours be enough, because they grew into something. Years later I no longer have the full-time job, and Sacred Business Flow is my main source of income. I own my schedule more than I ever have, our business keeps growing, we have a thriving community and private clients and I don’t need forty hours a week to keep it expanding.

The eight-hour workday has nothing to do with how we actually work. It comes from a Welsh mill owner who, around 1817, coined the slogan “eight hours’ labour, eight hours’ recreation, eight hours’ rest” a humane push against the brutal 12-to-16-hour factory shifts of his time. The number we all inherited was designed for assembly lines and for protecting people from exploitation.

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It was never a measure of how long a human can do good work.

The brain doesn’t run on a flat line, it works in cycles, like everything in nature. The researchers who studied elite performers, the ones at the very top of music, sport, and chess, found they didn’t grind endlessly. They worked in intense bursts of sixty to ninety minutes, and then they rested. Which tells me that if you know where you’re going, sixty minutes a few times a week can take you really far.

Time is easy to blame because you can see it. Clarity is invisible, sometimes it feels clear in your head, but your actions aren't yet coherent with where you're going.

If you have five hours a week and you’re not making progress, it probably isn’t the hours. If I handed you thirty hours inside the same system, you’d most likely still be stuck.

More time poured into a lack of clarity just gives you more room to spin. You cannot out-hour a fog.

Maybe you are still looking for the words to explain what you do and how you help, and yes, this requires you to walk the path, talk to people, and keep refining. But more than that, a lot of people hold a desire to turn their side gig into a full-time job or their main source of income, but they haven't said that out loud. What I mean by that is: state to the universe what you want, and work on your belief system to make this goal very, very clear.

This will guide your actions.

Real clarity saves you time but also makes you uncomfortable.

taught me to ask a single question:

The answer is almost always small and something you can do in ten or twenty minutes. But it challenges your identity. It makes you uncomfortable. And the lack of time comes from spinning five hours over whether you should do it or not, when the action itself would take you less than ten minutes.

If you have three or four websites, you don’t need another one. If you’ve taken course after course on how to grow your audience and still aren’t making meaningful revenue, you don’t need another course.

What you need is one clear offer and to invite people into your world actively.

Clarity isn’t hard because it’s complicated. It’s hard because the clear thing is usually the vulnerable thing.

When your priorities are foggy, you could have all the time in the world and still not move forward. You bounce between half-finished tasks, and every time you switch, part of your attention stays stuck on the last one. The day ends, you’re drained, and you swear you didn’t even do much — and you’re right. That exhaustion is what convinces people they need more hours. What they actually needed was to know which one thing mattered.

So if you only have five hours a week to build your business, that’s perfect. Five hours a week took me from a side gig to a fully sustainable business.

Clarity starts with a decision: how do you want this business to serve you?

If you want your side gig to sustain your life, the actions are different than if you are just wishing for some extra cash.

There’s no right or wrong — but with the same hours available, you get to direct the outcome. You can run a hobby on five hours a week, or start a powerful, profitable business on those very same five hours.

The difference isn’t the time. It’s the focus, the intention, and the aligned actions you take.

With Love,

Carolina

If you’re not sure where your five hours should go, that’s what the Harmony Map Assessment is designed to reveal.

In eight minutes, it looks across clarity, confidence, and purpose to show you where your work is getting tangled and where your attention belongs next.

If something meaningful keeps calling you and you’re ready to stop waiting, start here:

Take the Free Harmony Map Assessment →

Who we’re celebrating:

from Resilient Mental State

Celebrating Kyle and his amazing 30-day plank challenge! Every month he offers a fitness challenge to his audience, and his consistency is inspiring.

I signed up, and to make it my own and something I could commit to, I decided I’d do it every time I went to the gym. I started the month sick, and I have a lot going on that’s affecting my regular gym schedule too. But I showed up, imperfect, and I still am, to the best of my ability. And every time I did, I felt on top of the world. Five minutes playing with different types of planks.

Thank you, Kyle, for being such an example of consistency and resilience.

I once heard something that captures how this feels: want an easy life? Do hard things. A great reminder to keep challenging ourselves.

Thank you for your service to the world.

The Weekly Highlights

Asking for help is an act of courage

For many years, I needed to prove to myself that I could do things alone. I think it was part of building my own sense of worth. Feeling capable. Feeling independent. It was an important phase, a long one, and I needed it.

But as I get older, I see how unhelpful it is to keep living that way.

When I do it all alone, my fight or flight stays on. There’s a constant bracing. Always on the go, never quite feeling supported.

So I’m learning how brave it is to ask for help. In every area.

How much more fun it is to build a business with people who share my values, instead of building it inside my head. How good it is to have help at home, and more space to enjoy my kids. How helpful it is to have a place to talk about the patterns I can see but can’t change on my own.

I understand the instinct to try it yourself first. I had it too. Let me see how far I can get on my own. And I’ll own it: it took me way too long to learn that going alone wouldn’t take me far. Not in business, and not in the rest of my life.

Doing it alone showed me what I was capable of. It could never show me what I couldn’t see. You can’t read the label from inside the bottle.

So if you’ve already tried on your own. If, like me, you needed to see how far you could go, and now you don’t have time to waste. If you’re done struggling alone. If you value the journey, and you want to be out of your head and into your life.

If there’s something in your heart you want to offer, and you need help finding the right words for it, naming the real transformation, so others can finally understand what you do.

If you want feedback from people who have walked the path you want to walk, and from a small group of smart people building amazing things alongside you.

If you want accountability to show up, to invite people, to put yourself out there, without feeling alone or lost in your thoughts.

Your First Yes is for you.

Here’s what Fleur shared with us right after our first call together:

The current cohort is full. There’s a waitlist, and if this speaks to you, We’d love for you to add your name. We’d love to support you in the next one.

Join the Your First Yes waitlist

Your Roots are Listening …

If you’ve been showing up for work you believe in and wondering whether anything is growing, we made this for you. 💛

Carolina imagined this little film from the old bamboo fable, and I brought it to life with AI. It’s called Your Roots Are Listening. Take three quiet minutes to watch it with the sound on.

And if someone comes to mind while you watch, please share it with them. They may need the reminder today.

Memorable Quote by Seneca

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it

TL;DR — Here’s what we covered

• How Many Paid Subscribers Does It Take to Earn $5,000 a Month?

• What Our Bestseller Badge Does—and Doesn’t—Tell You About Our Business

• Why a $10 Offer Can Feel Safer Even When the Math Doesn’t Work

• How Three Clients Can Change the Income Equation

• Why Your First Offer Should Be a Hypothesis You Test in Conversation

• Where Your First Clients May Be Hiding in Your Existing Relationships

• When a Paid Subscription Creates More Work Than Its Price Can Support

• Why One Clear Invitation Can Beat a Menu of Ways to Buy

• How to Tell Whether the Friction Is in Your Business Model or in Your Willingness to Be Seen

Access The Private Podcast

‘Thank you , , , and many others for tuning into the live episode of our private podcast with !

If you’re building meaningful work on Substack, the question isn’t only whether people will pay to read it. It’s whether the business you’re building can support the life you want.

In the full conversation, Carolina and I do the subscriber math, share what our own Bestseller badge represents financially, and talk about the offer and conversations that can create income sooner.

Upgrade to paid to watch the full episode →

Read more

It sounds simple until you try to ask it in the middle of a difficult week.

Recently, Carolina and I spoke with someone who had made real progress in her business. Then life became demanding. She needed to rest. By the time she had room to think about the business again, she felt behind.

She could see everything she hadn’t finished. It was harder for her to see what she had done: showing up more visibly, making new connections, changing how she priced her work, and starting to build something she believed in.

During our conversation, she asked a brave question:

Did she still want to grow this business, or had she been holding on to an idea that no longer fit her life?

That question deserved a answer. Stepping away was a valid choice. So was continuing at a pace her life could hold.

What caught my attention was the story beginning to form around the pause: I’ve lost the momentum. Maybe there’s no point picking this up again.

I know that story. I’ve told versions of it myself.

And this is where the teaching met the practical work in front of us.

Choosing a new energy doesn’t mean declaring the hard season an illusion. The demands on her time were real. Her need for rest was real. So was the progress she had made.

The choice was whether the pause had to mean abandonment.

Carolina said something during that conversation that I really resonate with:

That might mean giving the business an extra thirty minutes this week instead of demanding a heroic comeback. Looking at the unfinished invitation and writing one more sentence. Asking for help while you still feel uncertain. Returning to a conversation you care about.

Small actions like these do more than complete a task. They let you experience yourself as someone who can return.

After sitting with it, this person chose to keep going. The next chapter wasn’t a promise to push harder. As Carolina put it afterward, it could be a steady, light, delicious push.

I love that distinction.

If you’ve been building meaningful work, take a moment to look at the energy you’re living in around it. You may find that the business needs to change. You may find that you need rest. You may also find that the work still matters to you, and one small action would help you meet it again.

You get to choose from where you are today.

This is part of what we practice in Your First Yes: choosing one direction, shaping a clear offer, making real invitations, and having support as you move through the resistance that comes with doing it. The current group is full, but if that’s the kind of support you want for your next chapter, join the next-cohort waitlist here.

Join The Wait List

With love,
Phil

Yes, you want money too. But not at the cost of your values, your authenticity, or the life you’re trying to create.

You are building a heart-led business now, and the rules are different here.

You don’t have time to waste, and you are done with the rat race you’ve been told you should keep running if you want to be successful.

If you see yourself in this brief description, then you have dropped into your heart. You have already awakened to something greater, and you are rebuilding your life and your business from an entirely different place than the chapter that came before.

For that, I want to celebrate you.

It takes courage… and courage is what it looks like when you start taking action from your heart.

As joyful as this process is, at least in my experience, it comes with its challenges. And one of the biggest is learning to reposition the mind in this new way of being.

We, or at least I, grew up letting the mind lead the way.

Being busy felt like being productive, and being productive gave me a sense of self. The mind set the goals, based on what I believed was possible. It made the plans, figured out how to get there, kept up with the to-do list. And when something wasn’t working, it was also the harsh judge telling me I should be better, do more.

My mind was wearing many hats at once, and I just thought that was the way things should be.

Having the mind lead the way got me somewhere. It probably got you somewhere too. But the old way no longer works, the mind and the heart can’t wear the same hat.

When the heart starts playing, information gets processed differently.

It’s the beginning of a phase where we move from surviving to truly creating. The new destination is known to your heart but completely unknown to the mind, so it can’t guide you there. But it can definitely help you get there.

The mind didn’t lose its job. It changed jobs.

It no longer decides where you’re going. Its new role is to help your heart take you there.

In the heart space, we awaken to something greater, something far more beautiful than anything we’ve experienced until now. And from the mind’s perspective, it can sound crazy, unreasonable… it might even judge it as delusional.

It will try to convince you that the old way was better, that it knows best.

For quite some time, the mind keeps operating the way it always has. Now the heart is claiming its place, and we need to be the ones to tell the mind it can chill, that everyone gets to play here.

We grew our team: the wisdom in our gut is participating more, the heart is leading, and the mind should be supporting the process, bringing ease, so we can enjoy the present moment.

On the outside, it can look simple. You’re simplifying the business. Choosing one clear offer. Changing your pricing. Speaking more honestly about what you do.

But inside!?

Oh jeez… it’s like a storm. Energetically, everything is changing. Your gut is coming online more than ever. A power that’s been suppressed for decades is trying to emerge, and it feels like a pressure cooker sometimes. And there’s a softness and a sharpness, guided by your heart — you simply can’t accept things the way you once did.

Yes… this is a lot.

In transitions like this, we need to breeeeeeath… more intentionally than ever. It helps the transformation integrate. It helps it settle.

The next phase of your business is being built from the heart. You are safe. All is well. Not only will you survive, you will thrive. YES! Thrive!!!!!!!

I know it doesn’t sound like good business advice, but it is, and it’s a powerful suggestion… chill more!

I am not saying to go to the beach, drink mojitos and expect a sale. (But in the right order, you can do that too)

I am saying enjoy building your foundation, expect good things, do more of what you love, spend time feeling the joy of what you’re building, talk to more people about what you’re doing, have more conversations, go to events, do things you have never done before.

Be more human… less of a robot checking things off a to-do list.

And also, take a Monday afternoon off, go for a massage, celebrate yourself, take yourself to dinner to celebrate your high ticket sale.

You are already an action taker. This isn’t permission to disappear and wait for things to happen.

It’s permission to stop mistaking pressure for progress.

Aligned action beats frantic action.

In this new phase, less is indeed more. The heart is simple. It’s clear, and it doesn’t need to explain itself.

Your business is asking you to stop gripping so hard for what you think you have to make happen. The heart holds a magnetism that the mind simply doesn’t have. Things will come your way — with your active participation, yes — but you won’t see them if you stay constantly busy.

If your mind is always thinking about ten years from now, worried, or ten years ago, wishing you had started this earlier, you can’t listen to what’s presenting itself to you right now. And you lose your ability to be here now — which is the whole reason you dropped into your heart in the first place.

The energy is trying to rise. Up from your belly, crossing the walls of your solar plexus, reaching to connect with your heart. Every time the mind grips, it closes that gate. Every time you soften, it opens.

So here is what I want you to remember, because I think you already know it:

You already said yes. Your heart is there, fully open, waiting for your mind to give it permission to lead.

You know the life you want to experience more of. You know the shape of the business that will support it — the family time, the slow mornings, the room to breathe, the meaning. It’s already in you. You’re not starting from nothing, and you’re not lost.

You’re simply still running a heart-led business on the old engine.

This, too, is a process, and your heart already knows the way. There are probably many things you can let go of, and many others you can simply slow down. What you want is available now. The more you chill in the process, the faster it comes.

With Love,

Carolina

If this feels familiar if you know the business you want, but keep slipping back into overthinking, overworking, or trying to force the next move, the Harmony Map can show you where the friction actually is.

It’s a free, eight-minute assessment that reveals your Breakthrough Frequency: the one area across you, your business, and the Divine that is asking for attention now. Not because something is wrong with you. Because this is where your next move becomes clearer.

Take the free Harmony Map →

I had questions.

How do I send full, rich sound from Traktor through Zoom while Carolina guides the movement from another microphone? What am I supposed to do with years of Spotify playlists that don’t simply appear inside professional DJ software? How do I begin experimenting without buying a small mountain of tracks I may never use?

The answers exist online.

I could ask AI how to configure Zoom. YouTube could teach me what every button on my controller does. There are more tutorials, playlists, equipment reviews, and technical explanations available than I could consume in a lifetime.

And I joined a live course with two beautiful humans.

Because access to information isn’t the bottleneck.

I need a structure that turns scattered tricks into skill. I need experienced eyes on what I’m doing, people who can answer the question underneath my question, and a place where I’m expected to practice.

One of our teachers explained that he and his partner had learned to DJ through years of experimentation and friends showing them isolated techniques. When they created this training, they had to work backward and ask:

That landed with me.

There is a massive difference between collecting instructions and becoming capable.

AI made information abundant. Implementation is still the bottleneck.

On a recent community coaching call, someone was describing a new offer she wanted to create.

She had a thoughtful process. There was plenty she could teach. She was trying to decide how much information to include and how to price it.

Then she named the real promise: within four weeks, the thing her clients had been postponing would finally be booked on the calendar.

That was the offer.

Her clients weren’t buying four weeks of information. They were buying the structure, support, and momentum required to make something happen.

I think this distinction matters more every with each passing day.

AI has made information nearly infinite and instantly available. Whatever you want to learn, you can get an explanation in seconds. You can ask follow-up questions, request examples, simplify the language, and generate a plan before your coffee gets cold.

This is wonderful.

It also means information alone carries less value than it used to.

The valuable part is increasingly what happens after someone understands.

Can they decide which advice applies to them?

Will they practice long enough to develop real ability?

When the plan meets an actual human being, an actual market, or an actual nervous system, can they adjust?

Most importantly, will something become real because they learned it?

Your clients probably don’t need another library of information

This doesn’t mean courses are dead or that people should stop learning.

My DJ training includes lessons, demonstrations, music, and technical instruction. I need every bit of that.

The information has its place because it belongs to a larger container. We practice. We bring questions. Our teachers watch what we’re doing and help us correct it. At the end of the course, we will DJ for one another.

There is a point where hiding behind the lesson is no longer available.

You have to touch the equipment.

You have to make the transition between two tracks.

You have to let someone critique your set.

This is the question I would ask about almost any transformational offer now:

What will be operating in someone’s life when this is finished that isn’t true today?

Maybe the offer is live.

Perhaps the difficult conversation has finally happened, or the book has reached an editor. Someone who has spent years struggling to make a decision may now know exactly what they’re choosing.

That is where the value lives.

Your frameworks still matter. Your knowledge matters. The depth of your training may be exactly why you can see what someone else cannot.

And your client is rarely buying access to everything you know.

They’re buying the change your knowledge helps them make.

We built Your First Yes around this

This is the principle Carolina and I built into Your First Yes, an eight-week experience for thoughtful, capable people who already have meaningful work inside them but haven’t yet turned it into one clear offer, real invitations, and a paying client.

We built it the same way we teach.

We started with conversations. We listened carefully, shaped the offer, put a real price on it, and invited people to join before announcing it to our full list.

The first cohort filled.

Now we’re turning our attention toward helping those participants get results. We’ll watch what works, pay attention to where they need more support, and let the lived experience improve what comes next.

We haven’t announced the date of the next cohort yet.

If you have a real body of work and want support turning it into a clear offer people can say yes to, you can put your name on the early-interest list.

Join the Your First Yes waitlist →

Information may help you see the path.

Movement is how the path gets made.

Join the Your First Yes waitlist

Who we’re celebrating:

This week, we’re celebrating Pinkie from AI Meets Girlboss, who recently became a Substack bestseller and then joined us to lead a workshop for members of the Sacred Business Network.

Pinkie has spent ten years working in branding. She now helps independent creators use AI to build recognizable brands without hiring a full agency or turning visual identity into a second full-time job.

Her workshop was excellent!

She showed us the four decisions that keep a brand from being reinvented every time you publish: who you are, who you’re speaking to, how you sound, and the visual world that carries the message.

Her advice for anyone beginning was refreshingly simple. Start with voice. Once you know what you stand for and who you’re talking to, choose one visual symbol and a color that people can begin associating with you.

Taking this approach can definitely make content creation faster. Once the important decisions have been made, you stop staring at an empty canvas and debating every font, illustration, and cover image from scratch.

The complete replay is now available inside the Sacred Business Network, our paid Substack community, along with our private podcasts, workshops, and member conversations.

If you want a brand that feels distinctive without disappearing into months of branding work, this is a genuinely useful place to begin.

Join the Sacred Business Network and watch the workshop →

Join the Network

The Weekly Highlights

The Exact 6-Step Visual Branding Workflow Pinkie Uses With Every Client

Most AI-generated brand visuals look random because people begin generating images before they have made the underlying decisions. Pinkie shares the clarity-first process she uses to turn a loose idea into a repeatable visual system.

If AI keeps changing your images, every cover feels disconnected, or creating one image takes longer than writing the post, save this one.

AI Meets Girlboss

The Exact 6-Step Visual Branding Workflow I Use With Every Client.

This is a Front Row and Branding Flock resource. If you're building your visual brand with me, this is your reference document — come back to it at every step of our process together. Not a Front Row member yet? Join here…

Read more

8 months ago · 44 likes · 11 comments · AI Meets Girlboss 🦩

Can a Paid Substack Actually Replace Your Salary?

Our paid Substack brings in roughly $10,000 a year. That is meaningful income, and it remains a small part of our larger business.

In this essay, I ran the numbers behind replacing a $5,000 monthly salary with paid subscriptions, including the audience size, conversion rates, fees, and financial runway most cheerful bestseller stories leave out.

It’s a realistic look at when a paid publication can support you and why building close to the work is often the steadier place to begin.

Mose: Live in Florianópolis, Brasil

This set has been in my ears as I begin my ecstatic dance DJ training. It’s a beautiful example of music becoming a journey rather than a collection of tracks.

I’ve been listening closely to the way Mose lets the energy build, soften, and gather again. If you want something to accompany a long walk, a slow Sunday, or a little movement in your own living room, begin here.

Memorable Quote by

Here is the mildly embarrassing reason: we had slipped below the threshold for our bestseller badge, and we wanted it back.

I like the badge. It gives us early access to certain features, and it offers a small signal of trust. People see it and know that others value what we create here.

Still, I think creators are asking that badge to mean far more than it does.

You become a Substack bestseller when you reach 100 paid subscribers.

That is worth celebrating. I have watched several friends earn theirs recently, and I was genuinely happy for them. It feels exciting because it represents 100 people choosing to support your work.

It does not mean you have built a sustainable business.

As of September 2026, our paid Substack brings in roughly $10,000 a year.

Some members joined at our current annual price of $149. Others came through early discounts or birthday promotions, and some were originally comped because they belonged to our other memberships before we ever planned to build a paid publication.

We are in the expansion phase of a multiple six-figure business. Substack subscriptions make up a tiny fraction of that revenue.

Substack helps people discover us, and our essays build trust. The paid publication gives us a beautiful place to share private podcasts and spend more time with the people who want to go deeper.

I value all of that.

But here is something you might not expect: of all the people we serve, our paid Substack subscribers are often the least engaged. Another publication may have a very different experience. For us, paying for more content has not created the same depth of connection as doing real work together.

If we had asked paid subscriptions to sustain the business, we would be in trouble. The problem begins when you ask an audience-building platform to carry the full weight of your business model.

How many paid Substack subscribers does it take to replace a salary?

Let us say you charge $15 a month and want to replace a $5,000 monthly salary.

You need 334 paid subscribers to gross $5,000 a month. That is before fees, taxes, cancellations, and the steady work of replacing people who leave.

Now assume a healthy 3% of your free subscribers eventually convert to paid. You would need more than 11,000 free subscribers to reach 334 paid.

At 0.5%, you would need 66,800.

Your free-to-paid conversion rate is the percentage of free subscribers who eventually become paying subscribers. It is not a universal constant. Your niche, price, existing authority, reader loyalty, and what you offer paid members can all change it over time.

That lower estimate may sound grim. recently wrote an excellent email called I Think We’re Lying About What It Takes. She shared that, without a proven benchmark of her own, she now plans around a 0.5% conversion rate because the old averages are failing so many smart people.

I appreciated her honesty.

I never want to tell someone that they cannot be the exception. I do want them to understand the conditions required for the plan to work.

Those conditions are getting harder. Most of us already have more subscriptions than we want. Information has never been cheaper, especially now that AI can generate another article, course, or guide in seconds.

People are hungry for connection that leads somewhere. They want help making a decision and putting it into motion.

The same problem appears with small courses.

Suppose you have 1,000 subscribers and launch a $297 course. At 3%, 30 people buy and you make $8,910.

That is a real win. Enjoy it.

Then ask the next question: can you do it again?

Your first launch may have benefited from a year of pent-up demand. Relaunching the same course to largely the same people rarely produces another 30 buyers. The audience has already seen it, some bought, and others decided it was not for them.

To earn $5,000 every month from that course, you need about 17 new sales each month. At a 3% conversion rate, that means reaching roughly 567 qualified prospects every month. At 0.5%, it is closer to 3,400.

A successful launch proves people will buy. A sustainable business proves you can keep reaching enough new buyers.

Why successful Substack creators usually have a hidden runway

Sam Illingworth’s growth with Slow AI has been masterful.

In roughly a year, he grew to more than 16,000 subscribers and nearly 300 paid members. I was deeply impressed by what he created.

It also was not his first rodeo.

Before Slow AI, Sam had spent a decade doing public engagement. He had built a successful blog, hosted a podcast, developed audiences on other platforms, and become a university professor who speaks to tens of thousands of people a year. He is also an award-winning playwright and actor.

What looked like a meteoric rise carried 15 to 20 years of skill underneath it.

Understanding that runway makes Sam’s accomplishment far more useful.

There is another kind of success story you will see on Substack: people with thousands of paid subscribers who teach Substack growth.

Their success may be entirely accurate. They also have a built-in market. They are selling help with the platform to people already gathered on the platform, often after bringing an audience, authority, or proven growth skills from somewhere else.

That does not make the result less impressive. It does make the conditions different.

Paid subscriptions become much more viable when you have at least one of three things: an audience you can bring, a built-in market with active demand, or a long runway to build patiently.

Can people really make a full-time income on Substack?

They do. Look closely at what they sell and where they began.

Many of the people with the largest paid memberships teach Substack growth. They have a built-in market on the platform because thousands of creators are already trying to solve that exact problem. Their own growth becomes proof of what they sell, which creates even more demand for the paid subscription.

Others brought their audience from somewhere else. They arrived with years of attention, trust, and demand already in place.

Both paths are legitimate. They also begin with conditions most new creators do not have.

Someone famous can bring thousands of people with them on day one. A writer with a long runway can patiently build for several years. A person who enjoys their job and wants extra money for travel may find that a small paid publication does exactly what they need.

I am speaking to someone else.

I am speaking to the person who feels meaningful work burning in their heart and wants enough financial freedom to answer the call. They want to serve people, create real change, and build a life around work that feels deeply their own.

For that person, time matters.

Why the slower path can feel safer

There is a reason so many thoughtful people choose to try to sell a $10 subscription first.

You can write behind your computer, publish, and wait. You never have to look someone in the eye and say, “I believe this can help you. Would you like to do this together?”

A deeper offer asks more of you.

You have to talk with people. You need to make personal invitations and find a way to sell that feels authentic. Someone may say no, and your body may interpret that no as rejection of something very close to your identity.

The $10 subscription gives you a smaller distance to fall.

The danger is what happens when you keep publishing and almost nobody buys.

You start thinking, “If I cannot sell this for $10, how could I ever sell something for $2,000?”

That interpretation can drain your confidence. Some people spend a year or two following a model that never had the economics to support them, then decide nobody wants their work.

I recently wrote about why the business model, not the work itself, may be the reason someone returns to a job after trying to build a business for two years.

Employment may have been the wisest choice for them. What stayed with me was the possibility that they left believing the work had failed when the structure around it never had a fair chance.

That is why the math matters.

Your work deserves a fair test.

Build close to the work first

Inside our paid publication, we teach a model called the Inverted Pyramid.

You begin with a small number of deeper, higher-value client relationships. For many people with a service-based body of work, an offer between $1,500 and $2,000 is a practical place to begin. It can create meaningful value for the client and meaningful revenue for the business without requiring a huge audience.

Three clients at $1,800 create $5,400.

You could also sell ten places in a $500 group and make $5,000. In practice, getting three strong yeses can be easier than finding ten new buyers every month. A lower price does not automatically create an easier sale.

The money creates breathing room, and the value runs much deeper.

Those first clients teach you the language of the people you are here to serve. You hear how they describe the problem before they know your framework. You discover what they have already tried, where they become afraid, and which parts of your work actually create movement.

You get good at solving real problems with real people.

That becomes the wellspring for everything you may create later.

Your conversations inform your writing. Repeated problems may become a group program, and the parts people can use on their own can become a course. Eventually, a membership has a clear role because you built it from lived demand rather than your own intellectual guesses.

You can scale downward as the audience, proof, language, and infrastructure grow.

Private work can become a smaller part of the business as your infrastructure grows. Carolina and I are making that move now. I also expect I will always work closely with some people because that is the heart of this work. It keeps me near what matters.

For those of us who love people and care about meaningful transformation, closeness is part of the freedom we wanted.

How to calculate whether a paid Substack can support you

Keep paid subscriptions if they serve your larger vision. Turn them on, experiment, and let people support your work. Allow the publication to become one valuable part of a larger whole.

Just know your numbers.

Go into Substack and find your average number of new subscribers per month. Choose a conversion estimate grounded in your actual results. Then calculate how many paid subscribers you would need to create the income you want and how long your current growth rate makes that likely to take.

Do the same with your courses, groups, and deeper offers.

Use our free Launch Reality Calculator if you want help running the numbers. Do not take my word for any of this. Put your own audience, price, conversion rate, and income goal into the calculator and let the math show you what the model requires.

Numbers help you decide what to build with your eyes open.

And if the math reveals a deeper conflict between what you want, what you trust yourself to offer, and the work you feel called to pursue, take the free Harmony Map Assessment.

It will help you look at the convergence of clarity, confidence, and purpose, then see where the real friction may be.

A paid Substack can become meaningful income. But replacing a salary usually requires a substantial audience, unusually strong conversion, premium pricing, or years of trust and authority built elsewhere. For many service-based creators, starting with a small number of deeper client relationships creates a faster and more forgiving path.

Keep the dream. Let clearer math help you build a path that gives your deeper work a genuine chance to support your life.

It was held inside a beautiful construction, shaped like a dome. Everywhere you looked there was a rich detail. Nothing was left to chance. You could see how much thought had gone into it, how much love and care, how every element had been chosen on purpose.

Around us were many instruments. Some I had never seen before and still can’t name.

There was a set of bowls made from seven different metals. And a hand drum so gorgeous it stopped me. More than how it was built, what called my attention was the tuning. Hours and hours of someone’s work in that alone.

Some of the drums were made through ritual and carried a long distance to get there. The djembe was built from wood ordered all the way from Africa.

There was a rainstick, hand carved. I don’t know how many hours it takes to make something that beautiful. Days, probably.

One instrument had been made by the teacher himself.

He orders the strings from Japan. The small pieces come from Europe. The wood is a specific, high quality one, all cut by hand. It takes so long to build one that he can’t make more than one a month.

Why am I sharing this?

Because everything in that room, put together, was worth thousands and thousands of dollars. But the money was the smallest part of it.

What filled that room was the hands of many artists. The hours of many humans working in pure love with their craft. You could feel it. It was alive. Not only from the sound, but from every choice of material. The story behind every piece.

Nothing was plastic. Nothing was about quantity. Everything was about quality.

The drums were made with natural leather. In every step of building, the relationship with the earth was honored. Nothing was rushed. In that room there was no space for the ready to consume, the fast produced, the cheap.

Hold something plastic in your hands and notice how it feels. Then hold something carved from wood and notice how that feels.

It is a completely different energy.

It made me pause and ask myself a question I want to ask you too.

What world are we contributing to?

Because good things take time. They cost energy, they cost hours, they cost money. I have come to believe we need fewer things, but of much better quality.

And every time we choose the cheaply made, the fast produced, the plastic, we are feeding a world that I don’t think any of us really want to live in.

There was a sound healer in that training who already charges for his sessions. Sound healing is not his only source of income.

He had invested a few thousand in the training and bought a few new instruments. And he told me: here I am, paying all of this, and the most I can charge is around $100 dollars.

People won’t pay more, he said.

This is not about a sound healing session. It is not even about how much his time is worth. What it made me think about is how much incoherence lives in our daily choices when they are guided by an unhealthy relationship with money.

I see it often with gifted practitioners. The inner fight to charge good money for something so valuable.

People struggle to charge in a way that can sustain their work. And they struggle to pay in a way that sustains the work of others too.

There is a race to the bottom, and whoever charges the least, or nothing at all, wins the prize of being generous. Is that helping anyone?

I don’t mean the person who truly can’t right now. Some limits are real. I mean the rest of us, who could, and still don’t.

I don’t think money is the problem. I think our relationship with it is. We were made to believe money is evil, that wealthy people are greedy.

But is that true? We live in a world where we need money to live. So if we need it anyway, how can we use money to build the world we actually want?

I want to build a world where I can support the handmade, the organic, the rituals, the people who took the time to build something, the artisan, the plants that were not poisoned to grow fast.

And that begins with valuing someone else’s work.

What if more of us could afford quality things, because more of us were choosing to pay for them? When I pay well, the maker can keep making. And they can pay well too.

The care keeps moving.

I learned once that I would only be able to charge premium for my work if I was willing to pay premium for someone else’s.

This is true.

I believe in accessibility. But I don’t think we are playing this game right. It was never about making the good thing cheaper. It was about building lives where more of us can actually afford the good thing, without asking the maker to bleed for it.

What if the question is not how do I charge less, but how can we all make more?

Because healing our relationship with money is tied straight to building a world that can last.

It is not sustainable to eat food with nothing left in it. Real food takes more time, more hands, more land.

It is not sustainable to keep making plastic the way we do, while good wood costs more, because it is not endless and does not grow fast.

It is not sustainable to work two or three jobs, sixty hours a week, just to cover the basics.

None of these are separate problems.They grow from the same root. A world that wants everything cheap and fast, and forgets what that costs.

A machine can make a thousand things in a minute, so one of them can be sold for a dollar. No hands in it, no hours, no story. That is what this race to charge less is doing to us.

Money runs through all of it.

So I come back to the same question. What world are you contributing to? Maybe it begins in the business you are building: in what you let yourself charge, what you are willing to pay, and what your choices make possible for the person on the other side.

With Love,

Carolina

You may recognize the tension being named here: wanting to serve with integrity while building a business that can actually sustain the work.

The Harmony Map Assessment helps you see where your inner values and outer business may have fallen out of coherence, what is creating friction, and where your attention belongs next.

Free • 8 minutes • Immediate personalized results

Take the Free Harmony Map Assessment →

See the pattern. Find the friction. Know where to begin.

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Who we’re celebrating:

Miguel Kuntur Antino

I am celebrating a man devoted to service and love.

They say we are the average of the five people we surround ourselves with. I want to be surrounded by people like him.

He was our sound healing teacher this past week, and I don’t have words for how much he inspired me. Not only through his teaching, but through who he is.

He has built a successful business anchored in his values, grounded in his respect for Mother Earth and the Great Spirit.

Our businesses are built on similar values. And I love seeing more proof that a real business can be built on integrity, love, and alignment.

It confirms my own path, and I am sure the path of many of you reading this. Money for its own sake was never the goal. We need it, we want it, and still, value and integrity sit at the center.

Celebrating more of that, on this beautiful planet we share.

Way to go, Miguel. Thank you for all of it.

The Weekly Highlights

Sitting on a Bench: Our conversation this week on Self-Authorization

If building a business were easy, far more people would be doing it. I know many more people who want to build one than people who actually do.

Self-authorization is a big part of why. It stops people before they start.

And it is rarely one decision made on one day. It is a slow opening. A softening of a system that has spent years running on external validation, waiting for someone else to confirm we are allowed.

Building a business is not easy. But it is deeply fun, and the life you build around it is even better.

So if you already have a business and you want to take it to the next level, or if you simply carry the desire to build one, this conversation is for you.

Also this week: if you’re building your audience here on Substack, I broke down how SEO for Substack actually works — worth a read if organic growth is on your mind.

Memorable Quote

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours.
Richard Bach

They first came into our community with a real desire to build something of their own. They were thoughtful. Capable. There was genuine passion behind the work.

And every so often, our paths would cross again.

Each time, I heard some version of the same thing:

“I think I’m going to keep trying this on my own a little longer.”

I respected that. I still do.

It is never my place to force advice on someone who has not asked for it. Even when I can see a pattern that concerns me, I do not want to become the person who assumes he knows someone else’s life better than they do.

So I stayed in touch. I checked in. I watched them keep trying.

Then, two years later, came the update:

They were going back to a job.

The business had not worked.

There is nothing wrong with returning to employment. Sometimes a job is the wisest next move. It can create stability, restore breathing room, or simply provide the life someone wants.

That was not the part that stayed with me.

What stayed with me was the possibility that they might walk away believing their work had failed because it was never valuable enough.

I am not convinced that was true.

From where I stood, the deeper work had always been there. So had the passion. What I kept noticing was a reluctance to let anyone help with the parts they did not yet know how to do.

And I understand that reluctance more than I would like to admit.

The closer it is to our identity, the harder it is to admit we need help

There is a particular kind of vulnerability in being highly capable and having to say:

“I do not know how to do this part.”

It is easier when the gap has nothing to do with our identity. I do not feel ashamed calling a plumber. Nobody expects me to know how to repair the pipes.

But when we are building a business around our own ideas, insight, or body of work, the gaps feel more personal.

If I am good at what I do, shouldn’t I know how to explain it?

Shouldn’t I know what to offer?

Shouldn’t the right people simply recognize its value?

That is where self-reliance can quietly turn into a closed loop.

We keep thinking with the same assumptions, testing versions of the same approach, and using the lack of response as proof that the original idea was wrong.

Meanwhile, the actual point of friction may be much more practical.

Maybe the offer is too broad for someone to understand why they need it now. Maybe the invitation never becomes clear enough to answer. Maybe the business model asks a low-priced subscription to produce income that would be far easier to create through a handful of deeper client relationships.

Those are business problems. They can be studied, tested, and improved.

But when you are inside the work, they rarely feel like that.

They feel like doubt.

They feel like heaviness.

They feel like a sign that perhaps you should wait.

Sometimes heaviness means you are learning

I felt this very clearly during a recent four-day sound-healing training here in Brazil.

The training included more than 45 hours of instruction in Portuguese. Carolina sat beside me translating much of it in real time, and I was grateful she did because my Portuguese still feels painfully limited.

There were wonderful people around me. I wanted to speak with them more freely, to form friendships, to understand the smaller comments and jokes that never make it through a translation.

And there was this heavy thing standing between us: I am still learning the language.

The difficulty did not mean I was in the wrong place.

It meant I did not yet have the capacity to experience everything the place could offer me.

Business can feel like that too.

The parts that brought you here may come naturally. You can listen deeply, see patterns others miss, create beauty, facilitate change, or help someone make sense of a part of their life.

Then you reach the place where the work must take form.

You have to choose what you are offering. You need words that help another person recognize themselves in it. Eventually, someone has to be invited to pay.

If you have never developed those skills, of course they may feel awkward. Of course your body may resist. New capacities often feel heavy before they feel natural.

The danger is interpreting every uncomfortable feeling as guidance to stop.

Your gift and your business are different bodies of work

People can study marketing, sales, positioning, and offer design for hundreds or thousands of hours. There is intuition in all of it, and there is also a craft.

Being gifted at your work does not automatically make you gifted at building the structure that allows the work to reach people.

That is not an indictment of your readiness.

It is a more dignifying explanation for why something meaningful may still be struggling to gain traction.

Too many people collapse these two questions into one:

“Is my work valuable?”

“Do I currently know how to build a viable business around it?”

Those questions need separate answers.

When we confuse them, every launch becomes a referendum on our worth. Every offer that does not sell seems to confirm that we were foolish to try. We retreat into more preparation, or decide we should return to the safer thing and stop asking so much of the work that called us.

Sometimes that decision is the right one.

And sometimes the work was ready to be received, while the structure around it never had a fair chance.

The courage to be helped

I used to think courage in business mostly looked like taking the leap, making the offer, or being visible.

Now I think one of its forms is knowing when you have reached the edge of your own perspective.

This does not mean handing your discernment to the next person with a polished sales page. There are good reasons people have trust issues around the business-advice industry.

It means finding someone whose thinking you respect and becoming willing to discover what you cannot see from inside your own patterns.

It might be a mentor. A skilled colleague. A clear diagnostic. Sometimes it is a customer who tells you, in one sentence, why the offer you spent three months perfecting makes no sense to them.

The source matters less than the willingness to receive the signal.

Because there is a real cost to carrying every question alone.

It is not only the money you may fail to earn. It is the two years spent going in circles. The energy drained by trying to take five directions all at once. The slow erosion of confidence that happens when effort keeps producing no useful evidence.

Eventually, a fixable blind spot begins to feel like fate.

And that is the part that breaks my heart.

Not everyone needs a coach. Not every business should continue. And going back to a job can be an intelligent, self-honoring choice.

I simply do not want gifted people abandoning meaningful work because they were diagnosing the wrong problem.

The work might be right.

The friction might be somewhere else.

And seeing that clearly could change what becomes possible next.

See what is actually creating the friction

If you have done substantial inner work and still wonder why the business feels harder than it should, the Sacred Business Harmony Map Assessment™ was made to help you see the pattern more clearly.

It is a free, eight-minute assessment that looks at the relationship between you, your business, and the deeper work that is asking to move through you.

It will not hand you a magical answer. It will help you stop guessing, identify where things are getting tangled, and see where your attention may belong next.

So if you want to move your deeper work forward without spending another year questioning the gift or piecing together random advice, begin here:

Take the Free Harmony Map Assessment →

See the pattern. Find the friction. Make the next move from there.

In this episode of Sitting on a Bench, Carolina and I explore how to choose what comes first without abandoning the rest of who you are, and why your most meaningful work may require a kind of authorization nobody else can give you.

Before you listen

If your deeper work is real but your business still feels tangled, the Harmony Map Assessment can help you see what is creating friction and where your attention belongs next.

It takes about eight minutes and gives you a clearer picture of the pattern beneath the effort.

Take the Free Harmony Map Assessment →

See the pattern. Find the friction. Move your deeper work forward.

This conversation grew from Carolina’s essay, I Wrote Myself Out of My Own Story, about the years she spent explaining her tools while quietly removing herself from the work.

Because people were never only choosing the modality.

They were choosing the transformation, the way she held it, and the unique combination of everything she had learned and lived.

In the first part of this conversation, we explore why choosing one thing does not mean giving up your other gifts, why the order in which you build matters, and how fragmentation can drain both your energy and your momentum.

Then we arrive at a more uncomfortable question:

Listen to the preview above.

The complete episode is available exclusively to paid members of the Sacred Business Network.

If you want conversations that bring the inner and outer work of business together, helping you create more clarity, movement, and sustainable momentum without forcing yourself into someone else’s model, join us inside.

Join the Sacred Business Network (paid tier) and listen to the full episode →

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