๐ฅ You have not missed your moment.
Hey Reader,
Something happened this week that I think a whole lot of us needed.
We exhaled. ๐
The 2026 midterms were a blue tsunami ๐, with Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress and making gains across state governments. If you've been here longer than five minutes, you already know I don't hide my values inside my business, and I know a whole lot of you were watching Tuesday night with the same combination of hope, terror, snacks, and compulsive refreshing that I was.
And then... hope was suddenly an entrรฉe option back on the menu.
I didn't realize how hungry I was for it.
This year has been HARD, and I've watched people slowly shrink under the weight of it. Some of us went deep into behind-the-scenes support (hi ๐๐ป), some fought publicly, some took care of people, some protected their businesses, some protected themselves, and some just tried to make it to fucking Wednesday.
But underneath all of that, I've noticed something else.
You still want things.
You tell me about the podcast you've been thinking about, the YouTube channel you want to start, the book you want to write, the business you want to build, the show you can practically see in your head... and then comes the quieter part.
Maybe I'm too old for that. That's really something for Gen Z. I don't know if I have what it takes. Maybe after I lose 20 pounds.
(Listen, if I'm thinking it, some of you are thinking it. ๐ Don't lie to me.)
I have a theory, and I have absolutely no scientific proof for it: somewhere around middle age, โI haven't done it yetโ quietly starts turning into โmaybe it wasn't meant for me.โ
Those are not the same fucking sentence.
๐ฐ๏ธ You have been fed a profoundly stupid idea of timing.
We have spent decades being force-fed stories about teenage founders, 22-year-old influencers, 30 Under 30 lists, overnight successes, and people who apparently came screaming out of the womb with a ring light and a monetization strategy.
Meanwhile, real life has been doing what real life does. Cicely Tyson won her first Tony at 88, Michelle Yeoh won her first Oscar at 60, Bonnie Garmus published her debut novel at 64, and Ava DuVernay made her first short film at 32 after years working as a publicist.
I'm not showing you these people because you can still become famous when you're old. I'm showing you because your opportunity does not have an expiration date.
One of the posts I've saved tells the story of art critic Jerry Saltz, who stopped making art, drove a truck for a decade, taught himself to write at 41, and eventually won a Pulitzer at 67. Toni Morrison edited other people's books before publishing her own, Anthony Bourdain spent decades in kitchens before writing the book that changed his life.
The point isn't what age they finally โmade it.โ
The years weren't the detour. The years were the material.
And some of you are sitting on a LOT of fucking material.
You've been employed, fired, promoted, heartbroken, underestimated, overconfident, humbled, broke, flush, responsible for other humans, very wrong about things, and occasionally so spectacularly right that you're still a little smug about it. You've developed taste. You've learned what bullshit smells like. You know things now.
And yet I meet people every week with forty or fifty years of material rattling around inside them who are worried they missed their chance because they don't know how to make a Reel.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
I can teach you how to make a Reel. I cannot manufacture forty years of perspective.
The technology is learnable, the format is learnable, the camera is learnable, and you can hire people for half this shit. What I cannot give you is the life you had to live to have something worth saying.
So maybe we stop treating your age like the liability here.
๐ฅ Because I love you enough to stop helping you make excuses.
There are real reasons people don't make the thing. Money is real, disability is real, caregiving is real, discrimination is real, exhaustion is real, and having to keep a roof over your head while your creative ambitions wait impatiently in the corner is very fucking real.
But an obstacle and an excuse are not the same thing, and somewhere inside yourself, you know the difference.
- Sometimes I'm too old means I'm scared I'll look ridiculous.
- Sometimes I don't have time means I haven't decided this matters enough to take time away from something else.
- Sometimes I'm still figuring it out means I don't want anyone to see me before I'm good at it.
- Sometimes I'm waiting for the right moment means I'd like a guarantee this will work before I risk failing publicly.
And there is no guarantee coming.
No Tarot reading is going to hand you one, no astrologer can find you a transit where nothing uncomfortable happens, no Human Design chart absolves you from having to practice, and no vision board will produce your podcast.
I LOVE all of that shit. You know I do. The woo can help you understand yourself, notice patterns, trust your instincts, recognize timing, and imagine something bigger.
But there is no manifestation technique that removes the labor from making something matter.
Eventually, you still have to do the fucking work.
๐๏ธ So... are you going to make the fucking thing?
Because wanting it and making it are not the same thing.
Making it means repetition, embarrassment, terrible first attempts, learning skills, asking people to care, accepting help, and sticking around long enough for any of it to compound. Being seen, heard, and acknowledged is not something the universe owes you because you've got oxygen in your lungs today.
And I don't say that because I think you should hustle yourself into the ground.
I say it because I don't want you spending the next ten years wishing for something you could have spent those ten years building.
Tuesday night gave us a pretty spectacular demonstration of what participation can look like. Political change takes people organizing, donating, knocking on doors, making calls, running for office, making media, talking to their neighbors, volunteering, voting, losing before winning, and continuing when the payoff isn't guaranteed.
You don't pull yourself out of anything alone. It's a group project. Your dream probably is, too.
So that's the question. Not whether you're young enough, thin enough, photogenic enough, cool enough, good at TikTok, favored by the algorithm, or guaranteed to succeed.
Do you still want to make it?
Because if the answer is yes, stop treating the years behind you like evidence that you shouldn't.
Maybe the failed business, weird job, divorce, caregiving years, political awakening, terrible boss, successful career you secretly hated, or decade you spent doing something completely unrelated will become part of why your work matters.
Maybe it won't.
You don't get to know until you make the fucking thing.
We're barreling toward New Year New Me season, and you can arrive in 2027 already moving... writing the pages, recording the episodes, finding the collaborators, making the calls, practicing the craft.
Or you can spend another year watching somebody else do the thing you keep telling me you wish you had done.
And this is where I love you enough to be a pain in your ass: eventually, you have to stop romanticizing the life where you did it and start building the life where you do.
Maybe you'll make it and discover you hate it. Fine. At least then you'll know.
But don't sit on the sidelines of your own life because some invisible committee convinced you that your opportunity expired at 35. There is no committee, there is no train, and there is no magical age when the universe taps you on the shoulder and says, Congratulations, you may now take yourself seriously.
That's a gift you have give yourself.
Tuesday reminded a whole lot of us what hope feels like.
Now that you've got some oxygen back...
What are you going to do with it?
๐ซ It's weird until it works! If this week's newsletter fired you up, come get an in person dose at the studio's open house... โคต๏ธ
๐ฅ Come hang out at the studio.
If you're local to Portland/Vancouver, I'm opening the doors at Sasquatch Media Grounds on Friday, November 13, from
10 AMโ3 PM for one more community gathering before the holiday madness kicks into high gear.
No presentations, no awkward icebreakers, and absolutely no sales pitches. Come see the studio, ask me your burning podcast/YouTube/media questions, drink some coffee, eat something delicious, and meet some interesting people from across my weird and wonderful network.
|
|
|
Drop in whenever you like and stay for 20 minutes or hang out longer. Bring a friend, too! I just need you to RSVP so I know how much coffee and how many treats to acquire. โ๏ธ
๐๏ธ Gossip from the creator trenches...
๐บ YouTube enters the group chat
You need discoverability through search. You just do. And I see folks resisting YouTube because I think you assume it's stupidly complicated when it really isn't. This is where coaching and production start intersecting because if you've been hung up on becoming โfamousโ (whatever the fuck that means to you), you're doing it wrong. I, for one, am VERY excited to help the Washington Democrats figure out what searchable media can do in 2027.
โYour audience wants to stream you โโ
|
|
๐จ Your excuses are being evicted
Don't you kind of want to know who you could become? That's what Liz Gilbert asks in this clip: โIf you sit down and tell that story that is within you, by the end of that, you will be a different person than you were at the beginning of that experience.โ 100% you will be altered by it. I know this, and it's honestly a little terrifying to claim your voice, take up space, and tell the patriarchy that you're not going to go away quietly.
Don't. Get louder.
โThe story within you wants to get out โโ
|
|
๐๏ธ So delightfully unhinged
I love when a creator takes a trend and makes everyone else look like amateurs. In case you've missed it, people are taping their phones to the sides of metro trains and sending them to the next station where a friend collects them. (Phew.) Then these creators turned the movement itself into a very crafty transition into another movement. My favorite part is watching the passengers look at them like, โHave you lost your fucking minds?โ How lucky are we to get this video.
โSmooth operator! โโ
|
Something For Sale
Someone told me this week, "Holy shit that's a discount." Yup. ๐ Got something you're stuck on? Get three private 60-minute strategy sessions with me to use over 90 days. Bring your business, marketing, media, or creative problem... and we'll figure out what makes sense to do next. Just my brain on your business.
 |
$500.00
Borrow My Brain: Holiday Edition โ๏ธ
|
โ
|
|
Something For Free
You probably don't need another microphone, camera, or piece of software. You need to know what the hell you're building. My free white paper, You Don't Have a Production Problem, breaks down what creator studios sell, what creators actually need, and why those are frequently two very different things. There's also a self-audit to help you figure out whether you're ready to launch... or whether you need to build the infrastructure first.
๐ Download the white paper for FREE.
|
โ