I went to a business speaker panel last week and something stuck with me. All 4 entrepreneurs on stage said sometimes it takes 9 "no's" to get a "yes". For all of you out there in the "no" phase, there's hope for a "yes" keep going. ❤️

I've been busy working in other jobs this week, so pond project progress has been slow, but I managed a couple of evenings out there where I played Minecraft IRL where I had the kids mine for gemstones under the trunk. My daughter found quite a lot of quartz which she's excited to have found. It's nice to have cleared up all the logs, branches and pond stuff which has now found a new home int he woods which I might get round to chopping for the path one day, or if not it will make a home for lots of lovely animals. I have mainly filled in lots of cracks around the pond water feature so that when it's running we don't lose water down the cracks. I used putty resin for this which will stay flexible and not crack. And it's quite safe for the fish, frogs and newts now it's cured. I've seen quite a few baby frogs hopping around now. The last picture is of Norman. He scares the life out of me often.

A community is not a community if there's just one person broadcasting in it. It's a lecture. A community becomes a community when people are having conversations, sharing stories and differing points of view. It's very difficult to do this alone, so I recommend buddying up with one or two other skool Community owners and be as active and add as much value in their Community as you do your own. If they do the same then all of you have a much more interesting community that people will want to be part of and participate in, then if the same amount of content was provided by just one of you. It's quite obviously something we encourage in here and I would love to hear stories where this has or even hasn't worked for you.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend. We've just had a great walk, some exercise moving the branches and logs, and had a lovely Chinese takeaway meal for tea. Our family discussion over dinner was about imagining if you woke up one morning and ever person in the world was gone. This came about because my eldest son was asking why we (his parents) are so sociable, and he is not. It's an interesting thought that would be my personal worst nightmare. A world without people for me would not be a world I would want to live in. Then we moved onto a subject that what if everything man made was gone? Only nature exists... No tech, no houses, no money... It's a really thought provoking one that changes a lot of power dynamics. So which one would you choose? Tell me why below. You wake up tomorrow and...

Last night, I was a guest speaker on @Jill Hart's "Monetise your mission" mastermind inside her Client Acquisition for Coaches Community, and that is where I met the absolutely fabulous @Soph Newman. (I had my daugters school sports day and so I was a bit rushed and I forgot to post about the live, but I'll pop a replay up for you all soon.) We got into a great discussion about exactly this. How crucial it is to understand what every single minute of your time is actually worth. Sophie form the Good Girls Guide to Money has written a brilliant piece called Undercharging Isn't Generosity (It's Protection). If you have ever stared at a draft invoice, felt your chest tighten, and knocked £50 off the price before hitting send, you need to read her work. She hits on a massive truth that every entrepreneur needs to hear: what we love to call "generosity" is often just our anxiety buying insurance. We undercharge so nobody can accuse us of being greedy, and we disguise our people-pleasing as kindness. Sophie breaks this down into three specific traps that are quietly costing your business: - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿-𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗿 - You get paid for a one-hour session but give them two hours, a follow-up, and extra resources you stayed up until midnight creating, just to ensure they can't possibly be disappointed. - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 - You flinch and drop your own price before the client even has a split second to reply. Most of the time, they weren't even going to flinch—you discounted the price just to avoid your own uncomfortable feelings. - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝘅 - The old, broken script that making good money and doing meaningful, helpful work cannot exist in the same room. As Sophie points out, there is absolutely nothing pure or helpful about being broke. Before you drop a price or throw in an extra freebie again, Sophie recommends asking yourself a simple gut-check: "Is this generosity coming from my Soul, or from my Role?". True generosity leaves you feeling steady and gives from an overflow; "role" generosity completely empties you out just to keep you feeling safe.