Hi ,

Here's the thing...business has felt somewhat untethered lately. I suspect people are using AI and saving money instead of investing in coaching, and I haven't felt that inspired to try to compete with AI. I love coaching, and if I had a full calendar of people to work with I would be thrilled, but I really hate marketing and so here we are. So what do I do to avoid marketing? I start a new business.

A few weeks ago I had an epiphany. I'm really good at starting businesses. Not to be confused with good at coming up with ideas for business (because I'm not great at that), but when I get an idea worth pursuing, I'm all in. My most recent business, Valkinna, I spent a week building and the following week I had my beta group ready to go. A few months in, I pulled the plug because marketing is the least interesting part to me.

I used to be embarrassed by the number of businesses I have started and closed down. Coaching has stayed steady, but I keep starting other random projects on the side. (Fun fact, about 10 years ago I started one called "Your Garden Trust" because I felt like learning to grow your own food was the best trust fund you could give yourself.) However, only recently I've come to accept that the skills of building a business are very different from the ones required to grow a business. And I've met many people who love the growing part! I've worked for several of them, because they wanted to focus on the marketing while I served the clients and built the systems.

Which brings me to the idea I had. One day in frustration I said to myself "I wish I could just build businesses and then hand them off to someone else to run". Then I got to thinking about all the business owners who take months, or even years, to get their business off the ground. They want to make money, they want to serve people, but they just can't get the darn idea built. Maybe I can help.

Truly, no work would be more fun to me than spending a few dedicated days with a person who has an idea but no clue how to make it happen. That's my dream! And I think for many people, their dream is to get that part over with as quickly as possible. I imagine a few long days of brainstorming followed by actually building the thing together. By the end, you would have something ready to test with actual people. And probably even the invites for those people ready to send. 

I know before I said I hate marketing, but what I really mean is I hate marketing my own business. I actually spent several years building marketing plans for other people, so we could absolutely also make sure you have a plan to grow your business, too. But let's get your idea beyond the plan and into reality first.

What do you think? I'd love to try this out with a few people, so if you're that person or you know that person, I'm in. I'm thinking 2-3 days, probably an investment of about a thousand bucks, and by the end you'll be ready to do the real work you want to do. Just reply to this email and we can chat about it.

If you don't have a whole new business to start, but maybe a new offering or idea to work into your existing business, I'm 1000% there for that, too. My superpower is getting things off the ground, whatever that thing is.

And if you're not into this, I'd encourage you to reflect on this theme still in your own work: what patterns are there after the years you've been in business? What can you learn about yourself and your skills from them? 

I hope to hear from you!

Have a wonderful day,

Stephanie Wasylyk

Your Business Guide