You know that moment when you decide you're finally going to charge what you're worth, you practice saying your new rate, and then that voice in your head immediately screams "LIAR!"? Yeah. That voice. I used to think something was wrong with me because I couldn't just believe I was worth more. I'd watch other entrepreneurs embrace "charge what you're worth" advice, double their prices, and somehow it would just... work for them. They believed it. Their confidence shifted. Clients said yes. But every time I tried it, my brain would argue back with a LIST of reasons it wasn't true. Here's what I've learned after 18+ years: That voice isn't sabotaging you. It's actually trying to protect you. Your brain operates on evidence. And if all the evidence it has collected says "you're not worth that much" — whether from past low rates, financial struggles, rejected proposals, or even just societal messages about your industry — it's going to reject any belief that contradicts that data. This is called confirmation bias, and it's how ALL human brains work. We seek information that confirms what we already believe and ignore contradictory evidence. So when you try to tell yourself "I'm worth $X per hour" without any proof to back it up, you're asking your brain to ignore all its evidence and just accept something new because you said so. For some brains, that works. For others — especially analytical, pattern-seeking brains — it creates a war between what you're trying to believe and what your brain knows as fact. And if you have money trauma in your background (and most entrepreneurs do), this gets even MORE complex. Financial trauma creates responses similar to PTSD. It affects how you make pricing decisions TODAY, even when the original trauma had nothing to do with money. So when your brain screams "LIAR!" at your new pricing, it might actually be saying: "I need more data before I can believe this is safe." You're not broken for needing evidence. Your brain is protecting you from building confidence on a foundation it perceives as shaky.

Sometimes you just got to be honest with yourself. Yeah, I know that selling can be learned, but it’s just not for me. I am a builder. I like to be the one that creates the systems, the automations, the thing that makes your eyes bug out of your head because what I helped you with works better than you expected. That’s me! I pivoted into consulting and support because the sales process frustrated me and training someone was like digging a hole in the ground just for me to lay down in it. I HATE SALES! It took a couple years for me to come to terms with it, but when I did, I immediately pivoted into consulting and support. I felt like the pressure and weight of it all had been lifted. This has been a drastic change but a good one. It is something that is way more my speed and it has born more fruits with little talking. I have always preferred letting my work speak for me. I am super aware that I provide quality support and my work is above average. @Christina Hooper will probably give a tongue lashing😅 for downplaying it. My work and the results thereof are what keep the income rolling in. My long winded way of saying know your strengths and weaknesses. Reinforce where you can, learn a new skill if you truly want to, and don’t be afraid to make a change or walk away if you have to. Either way you lose absolutely nothing. However, in every situation you learn something new about yourself. What is something you are currently struggling with? What are the solutions you are considering? How will you feel if you decide to go through with the scariest of the solutions? (Scared is a given😜)

Seeing what Kasim is creating here inspired me to make a bold move with my business school (formerly The Neuro-Spicy Academy). I decided to transition it from a paid school to a free community - including making my newly updated business design course free and continuing to run all 3 weekly calls free too. It's bold, but my business model between my different companies makes it possible to evolve to support this community approach because I realized that's where the real transformation happens. I set up the Skool comunity a couple weeks ago and started moving my course and others I had in my school over. We've already got some members too! And today I officially sent out the annoucement to everyone on our email list, redirected the old website to Skool, updated my email signature, and updated all my socials. So today it's really real, it's happening, and I'm excited for all the people I'll be able to kickstart on their journey to freedom as entrepreneurs!

Wesley, an adventurous and wild little child came home from school yesterday very sad. He told me that he got bullied and that he cried. My heart sunk. "What happened, baby?" I asked him. He told me that a girl at his desk pod made fun of him for eating something disgusting. Phew. Ok, I'm glad it wasn't bullying. I explained to him that bullying is when someone intentionally puts you down so that you can be inferior to their ego. I said that that's not a very nice thing for her to say, but that isn't bullying. She just doesn't yet know how to respond to different things in her life in a healthy way... yet. That's ok. I didn't want him to feel a victim, especially because I really encourage my kids to stand up for their beliefs. He decided that next time he would say: "It's not gross. And I love it! My mama made it for me with love, so it doesn't matter if you don't like it because I do!" And then he got excited that he had a plan to stand up for himself. What I made for him, most DO find disgusting. My kids don't like liver by itself, yet, every time we go to a fancy French restaurant that has a $28 pate appetizer, they basically lick it off the plate. So, I made them a blueberry pate with a maple syrup and grape compote. With homemade and home grown maple syrup and grapes. They loved it! It's hard to be different and do different things. When you do things that benefit yourself, and requires you to be brave, it can feel so hard when the rest of the world says "That's weird. That's gross.". My kids are different. They're raised different. And I want them to know that that's ok. We're not here to blend in with the crowd. You don't have to like liver, but you can be happy for someone who is eating nourishing foods that bring them joy. So the moral of the story is this: Do what you love if it benefits you and brings you joy. Because the world benefits when you are happier and healthier. With love, Nancy

Here’s the truth: It takes the same amount of energy to assume someone’s out to get you as it does to assume they’re just living their life and not even aware of how they’re impacting you. One drains you. The other keeps you sane. Real-life examples... - Someone cuts you off in traffic? Assume they’re racing to the hospital — or yeah, maybe they just really have to poop. - The car in front of you is crawling? Assume there’s a kid in the back holding a fishbowl they don’t want to spill. - A client snaps at you on a call? Assume they fought with their spouse that morning, not that you screwed up. - Someone doesn’t answer your email for a week? Assume their business is going great and they’re drowning in new clients, not that they’re blowing you off. - A prospect ghosts your discovery call? Assume their kid got sick or their schedule imploded, not that they secretly hate you. - A collaborator misses a deadline? Assume they’re juggling too much, not that they don’t respect your time. - A customer asks a “dumb” question? Assume they’re overwhelmed, not that they weren’t paying attention. When you shift your default assumption to “positive intent,” you stop carrying around all the little irritations that turn into stress. You get to laugh instead of rage. You stay calm instead of spiraling. Why this matters for entrepreneurs... Stress isn’t just uncomfortable — it’s expensive. - It clouds decision-making, which can tank opportunities. - It eats your mental energy, leaving you drained before you’ve even hit your big tasks. - It seeps into sales calls and client interactions, where tension can cost you trust (and money). - It strains family relationships, which makes it even harder to recharge. - It chips away at your health — leading to brain fog, fatigue, and burnout. The reality? A stressed-out founder is less effective, less creative, and less fun to be around. Lower stress isn’t about being zen for its own sake — it’s about keeping your edge, your energy, and your relationships intact.