Creating Life First Business Strategy

for Entrepreneurs​
​

Creating Life First Business Strategy for Entrepreneurs​
​Think: one game-changing strategy, the resources you didn't know you needed, and a few fun favorites we're loving right now. Quick to read, packed with value, you in? 🕒 3-minute read, unlimited inspiration.

Hi Reader,

I was reminded this week of a book called The Gap and the Gain.

The whole idea is this. We spend our lives measuring ourselves against where we want to be. The "gap." But the only honest measure of progress is comparing ourselves to where we used to be. The "gain."

I talk about metrics all the time. So this week I did a different kind of math.

5 years ago.

Working in corporate. Running my mastermind on the side. Took three days off in the summer to host an in-person retreat and told my boss I was going to a leadership conference. Hosted clients at our house (a tradition that stuck, by the way, we still do it today). Showed up at the office Monday morning like nothing happened.

This week.

Fully retired myself and my husband from corporate and built a full product suite for a new client. Watched my girls at their 6th grade talent show. Interviewed one of Inc. Magazine's 2026 female founders for the podcast (coming this summer, eeeek). Wandered around the garden center with zero agenda because “hello, flower season, I have been waiting for you”. Met with my team. The team I did not have five years ago, except for Kaitlyn, my amazing VA, turned community manager.

Similar.

But different.

If you only measure forward, the finish line keeps moving. You hit the goal, you immediately want the next one, and you forget the version of you who was sneaking retreats into PTO and building a business in 5am pockets ever existed.

That woman is still in here somewhere. She deserves the receipts.

So this weekend, do the math backwards. You will be surprised what you find. 💛

XO,
Holly

P.S. The Co-Op is officially open. If you have been measuring your business against where you want it to be and feeling stuck, this is the room where we measure the gains together and build the next chapter on top of them. Apply here.​

✨Your Weekly Strategy Shift

The "5 Years Ago" Audit

Take 10 minutes this weekend. Open a blank doc. Write down what your week looked like 5 years ago. Where you were, who you were working for, what you were juggling, what you wished you had time for.

Then write what your week actually looked like this week. Not the highlight reel. The real one.

Compare them.

This is the only metric most entrepreneurs forget to track. And it is the one that will keep you in business when the open rates and the launch numbers and the algorithm decide to misbehave.