The SPARK 153 ~ Know When To Fold Em...

Sometimes, my brain thinks I’m still in my early 30’s (I can assure you my body doesn’t).

On Monday of this week, I drove down to L.A., had dinner with my daughter, and flew out to Costa Rica at 11:42 PM.

I’m not a fan of flying at that hour, but there weren’t a ton of options for flight times. I figured, “No problem, I’ll sleep on the plane and will be good to go.”

HA! 🤣

Not only did I have a guy next to me who “man-spread” the entire flight (Dude, get your elbow out of my side), but I get restless legs, and I thought I was going to pull my hair out.

I contemplated buying a couple of mini-bottles of hard liquor to help me sleep, but I knew that would throw me off the next day.

Needless to say, I survived.

After a long nap Tuesday afternoon and 9 hours of sleep that night, I felt human again the next day.

What’s the point in telling you this?

A couple of reasons.

First, I have officially decided that a new goal is to fly first class only on anything over 3 hours. Sometimes, a little contrast is all we need to raise the bar on what we want (not to mention the “upgrade” I paid for more legroom didn’t feel like much of an upgrade).

Second, this has been a great reminder about creating more ease in my business (and life).

This trip back to Costa Rica was originally going to be a visit to see friends and enjoy this country I called home for almost two years.

Then, the opportunity to host a retreat landed in my lap (long story), which is something I’ve always wanted to do, and here I am, hosting the first (of many, I hope) Women’s Business retreats with my dear friend, Liz Weaver.

Part of creating more ease means letting things go.

In other words, you have to “know when to hold em, know when to fold em’.” (Thank you, Kenny Rogers, for that little diddy).

So, how do you decide when it’s time to let something go to make room for what you really want to do?

There are two things to look at:

Does it make sense? In other words, is it profitable, and does it attract the customers you want to work with and serve long-term?
Do I enjoy this? How do I feel when I work on this?

The second question is more important than the first.

Just because something makes money doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it.

Especially if you don’t enjoy it anymore.

If I was willing to do work I didn’t enjoy that much, I’d get a job.

I’m currently exploring how to integrate my other brand, Create It, into my personal brand.

I don’t have the energy or desire to maintain two brands that require “me” to show up.

I had my reasons for starting a new brand from scratch last year… but they’re not really valid anymore. And it’s OK.

It’s OK to change your mind and pivot.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s probably necessary for growth, especially personal growth.

Here are the first two things I’m looking at doing in order to make this happen.

Treat the newsletter like its own entity instead of an extension of the brand. We’ve moved it to Substack (where it’s doing much better) and are focusing on growing it and pursuing sponsorship.
Sell the planner (physical & digital versions) from my KimDoyal site and test out TikTok shops (wish me luck).

I’m still committed to mastering paid traffic this year, but now I can do it a little differently.

Instead of figuring out ads for two brands, I can do it for one, where I already have an audience.

Not only will this save me time, but money as well. Even though we just converted the CreateItCompany site to Kadence, I’m going to let the site go.

HighLevel is about to release its full e-commerce solution, so I’ll process all orders through there (this doesn’t have to happen immediately, so I can wait until I’m back in the States).

None of this was an easy decision.

However, I instantly felt my body relax once I made this decision. It was like a huge sigh of relief.

Don’t be afraid to let things go, pivot, or change directions entirely.

Just because you’ve invested time and money into something doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it.

Your business should do more than support you financially… it should support you in creating a life you love.

SPARK Spotlight 🔥

This week, I’ve been emailing about my Email Insiders cohort training (working with my friend Nathan, whom some of you have been in contact with).

This is a LIVE training with me for two months, plus an additional month of support. I’ll be doing a one-to-one onboarding call with each person as well.

Email Nathan here for more information.

This issue is brought to you by the BRAND NEW Membership plugin, MemberDash. Created by the team at LearnDash.

A Little Brainpower 🧠

This is meaty, but the payoff is worth it if you want to start offloading certain tasks. Read “The Last 100 Exercise: How I’m Delegating 85% of my work.”

Here’s a great article on creating lots of content… without AI. “10 Practical Recommendations on How to Create Tons of Content without Help of AI.”

Should ad agencies be getting nervous? “YouTube Announces New AI Tools To Help Advertisers Reach Audiences.”

Tool Time 🛠

Screen recording: I tested this and love it! You can test it for free or get a lifetime deal on it! Try FocuSee free here.
Google slides: Animate objects with a single keyboard shortcut in your Google slides. Use TurboAnimator free here.
Podcast/Video: This looks a little similar to Descript. Edit and customize videos for sharing. Try Streamlabs Podcast Editor free here.
Canva: In case you missed it, Canva has released a whole slew of new AI tools! Check out Magic Studio here.

Leave it to a kid… 🤣

One of the things I like most about traveling is that it gets you out of your day-to-day. And… as wonderful as it is, travel can also remind you what you appreciate about your day-to-day.

This is my first trip back to Costa Rica since moving back to California this past February, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. Regretful? Missing it?

On one hand, it felt like coming ‘home’ (and it certainly didn’t feel like it had been eight months) – on the other hand, I felt a deep knowing that I made the right decision to move back when I did.

That’s the crazy thing about decisions, isn’t it?

You make a decision, not knowing if it’s the right one, and you move forward in faith. Sometimes, we get validation, and sometimes, we don’t.

The only thing that matters is that we keep moving forward.

Have a wonderful day,
Kim