My note:

The Response;

Firstly, thank you to Susan for being so open and honest and responding in such a self aware way.

That’s half the battle conquered already.

Secondly, if you’re nodding along in empathy with Susan, please know you’re not alone. That feeling of overwhelm, information overload and not knowing where to start is the most common reason so many incredibly talented people never get a freedom funding business off the ground.

And yet, it’s not the real reason. At the risk of sounding like AI (which this is not, this is me writing with my own hand), overwhelm is, in reality, fear dressed up as an emotion we can relate to.

And the only way through it, is to stop thinking and start doing.

The Research Loop (aka The Comfiest Trap in the World)

The great thing about research, is that it feels like progress.

You’re learning, taking notes, comparing platforms, reading reviews and watching 3-hour YouTube breakdowns of affiliate marketing funnels.

What a productive learning day!

And at the end of it, you know maybe slightly more than you did yesterday, (depending on how much info you can retain - which in my menopausal brain ain’t much these days) but you’ve built precisely nothing.

I know this, not just from the questions and conversations I’ve had over the years, but also because I myself have lived in that loop for months, sometimes for years.

Before I launched my first business, after my first big failure, after burn out, even before I launched my ecommerce brand This Big World in January.

I told myself I was “sharpening the saw”, as per the famous Lincoln quote.

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax,"

But what I was actually doing was avoiding the terrifying moment where I’d have to put something out into the world and risk it (and me) being seen as rubbish, or silly, or out of touch, or whatever judgement fear we have deep inside.

The research loop, also called ‘The Resistance’ in Steven Pressfield’s book ‘The War of Art’, is crazy dangerous because it masquerades as productivity.

You feel busy. You feel like you’re making informed decisions. But what you’re actually doing is giving yourself permission to not start, over and over again, while feeling virtuous about it.

But starting imperfectly and risking being bad at it on your first go (and maybe second and third) is the whole game.

Which leads nicely to…

You Don’t Need to Be an Expert

Let’s address Susan’s comment about wishing to be “an expert in one thing.”

The good news is: nobody starts as an expert. You become one by doing the thing repeatedly, in public, and getting slightly less terrible at it over time.

When I started my first online business in 2010. I didn’t know what an opt-in page was. I didn’t know websites began with https:// (and got publicly humiliated in the Warrior Forum when I asked about it). I spent 4 hours one day trying to embed a paypal button in a page, and an entire afternoon crying with frustration when I couldn’t upload a video (pre YouTube embeds!).

One of my favourite stories is when I was unable to turn off a webinar at the end of a presentation, had to be guided through it by one of the attendees and then swore loudly at my incompetence as I thought I was off air but was still live! 😂

I had zero tech skills, an old laptop, and a 4-year-old using me as a climbing frame.

I wasn’t qualified or ready. I just started, took action every day, and figured it out as I went along.

16 years later, I’ve built multiple businesses, sold a 7-figure Amazon business, and am writing this from the real Amazon (ironic) in Brazil while running two brands from my laptop.

I’m not smarter, more talented, or more techy than Susan or anyone else.

I just err on the side of action and refuse to stop, even when it gets hard. (Probably especially when it gets hard).

If I Were Starting From Scratch Today

As for a blueprint, mentoring or pointing towards help, here’s exactly what I’d do if I were starting from zero in 2026, with no audience, no tech skills, and no idea what I was doing.

Just 4 key steps.

1. Pick your topic.

Not the most profitable topic. Not the one some bloke on YouTube promised would make you six figures in 90 days. Pick something you enjoy talking about. Something you’re interested in, have experience with, or just won’t shut up about at dinner parties.

Pets. Travel. Health. Menopause. Leadership. Parenting. Retiring well. Art. Music. Baking. Gardening. Grief. Fitness over 50. Vintage cars. Literally anything.

If you have opinions on it and could happily bang on about it for six months, it’s a valid topic.

2. Pick your audience.

Your niche is not your topic, it’s your audience.

Who do you want to talk to, help, serve, inspire, entertain?

Who are you writing for, creating for, adding value to?

“Everyone” is not an audience. Everyone means no one.

Get specific. Who exactly are you talking to?

• Women over 50 who want to get fit but hate the gym?

• Blokes who’ve just retired and are going quietly mad?

• First-time dog owners who are in way over their heads?

The more specific you are about your ‘who’, the easier everything else becomes.

3. Pick one platform and show up every day for six months.

Not five platforms. One.

Post consistently, build an audience, and encourage people to sign up for your email list. That’s the whole game at this stage.

(Substack is brilliant for this because your newsletter, your content, and your subscriber list all live in the same place. No funnels, no separate email software, no tech headaches.)

6 months of showing up will teach you more than six years of watching webinars ever could.

4. Listen to your audience and sell them what they want.

Once you’ve got people paying attention, they will tell you what they need.

In the comments. In the DMs. In the questions they keep asking. That’s when you create or find a product to sell them. Not before. Not based on what you think they want. Based on what they’ve actually told you.

That’s it. That’s the whole blueprint.

Everything else (the fancy websites, the complicated funnels, the seventeen different software subscriptions) is stuff you figure out later, if and when you need it.

The tools in 2026 are absurdly easy. AI can help you write copy, design graphics, and figure out almost anything you’re stuck on.

You don’t need expensive courses. You need these 4 steps and the willingness to expose yourself online (not literally obviously! 😂)

The Real Problem

As I said at the start, it’s not the courses or webinars that are the problem.

The information overload isn’t the problem or the ADHD brain (though I have sympathy, truly).

The problem is that starting something real is scary.

It means you might fail. It means someone might judge you. It means that comfortable identity of “person who’s going to start a business one day” gets replaced by “person who started a business and it might not work.”

That second identity is much more uncomfortable, but it’s also the only one that leads anywhere.

When I launched my travel challenge cards in January, I had a literal meltdown. (Just ask my husband).

When my vision turned into reality and I now had to start promoting and asking people to ‘buy my stuff’, I panicked!

‘Who’s going to buy? No one will like them? They’re silly, they don’t solve a real problem, it was a stupid idea!’

And that was after a solid year of procrastination & ‘research’.

But I took action, started selling and last week hit my first big milestone of over 200 packs ($5k in sales) sold.

Susan pretty much answered her own question when she said that she feels like if she could just get started, she’d figure it out.

She’s right.

She (and you) absolutely would. The figuring-out happens in the doing, not in the researching.

So, Susan (and Friends)

Close the browser tabs. Cancel the next webinar. Forget about finding the perfect business model.

Pick one thing. The one that makes you feel a tiny spark of “ooh, I could do that.”

Give yourself 90 days to try it. Not 90 days to research it. Ninety days to actually do it, no matter how imperfectly and likely with no idea what you’re doing half the time.

It’s how anybody who’s ever done anything worth talking online about started.

Not with a perfect blueprint. With a deep breath and a wonky first attempt.

The hardest part is starting and trying long enough to make some progress. Everything after that is just problem-solving, and you’ve been doing that your whole life.

So pick your thing & make it happen. I’ll be here cheering you on.

And actually, Susan, I want to put my money where my mouth is.

I have a course called ‘Start the Right Side Hustle (How to Go From Stuck to Started)’ on Gumroad that walks you through exactly this process, step by step. It’s normally $47, but I’m going to give it to you for free. Keep your eye on your Substack inbox for access details.

For everyone else reading this who feels like Susan & is stuck in their own research loop, you can find the mini course here. (Or join as an annual subscriber to get my complete library for free!)

It’s not another strategy or new idea to add to your overwhelm. It’s action based exercises you can do in a weekend to move you from thinking to doing.

It’s the blueprint Susan asked for, to get you off the starting line. 🔥

I hope it helps! I’m off piranha fishing 😳 Wish me luck! 😂

We just left the city of Sao Luis yesterday having arrived the day before from our amazing trip to the Lencois Maranhenses National Park.

While in Sao Luis, ChatGPT suggested we go for a wander through the old town ‘in daylight hours’ but as we drove through the crumbling neighbourhoods, and after the excitement of the preceding days, we decided to skip it & head to the ‘Lavanderia’ instead! (Needs must when you’re travelling with scant clothes.)

And what an experience! There was a desk & 2 chairs so we took our computers, bought a couple of cold beers from the convenience store next door, & had a ball while washing our clothes & getting a bit of work done!

Rhett even popped next door for a quick haircut!

The highlight was a couple asking me, in a language I didn’t understand, how to use the washers. Through the universal language of sign we all succeeded in our endeavours and left with clean and dry undies! What a thrill. 😁

Anyway back to the bus…

This whole top Northern coastline in Brazil is a little more challenging to navigate than the popular tourist hotspots.

We flew to Fortaleza, (missing out some spectacular coastline by the way, which we will be back to explore), bussed 8hrs to Jericoacoara, which I will be writing about as it’s one of the most magical places I’ve ever visited. 🥰

Then changed vehicles (& drivers) 4 times for an uncomfortable 10 hour transfer to Barreirinhas (pronounced - Bah Hah Reen Ya) to visit the Lencois Maranhenses National Park (wow), then jumped into a van for a 4hr journey up to Sao Luis.

I’m now writing this post 13hrs into our 16hr journey on an overnight bus (with a broken toilet) to Belem where we’ll fly to Manaus (The Amazon 😳).

And if all that sounds exhausting, it is! I’m not getting any bloody younger. 😂

So, as we got on our overnight bus the loo was fully operational, the seats looked good, all was well. But somewhere mid journey I merrily popped my head round the toilet door to find it filled to the brim with water (thank god that’s all it was filled with.)

I was pretty desperate so my knight in shining armour husband went in and ‘fixed it’ adding very grumpily ‘don’t ask’ as he came out.

I didn’t ask, but the half a bottle use of my hand sanitiser told me all I needed to know! 😳

Thankfully the bus has stopped for toilet & food breaks a couple of times en route so it’s not as bad as you might imagine! Plus the seats are recliners & quite comfy, so I did get some sleep and am feeling pretty good this morning!

But not withstanding some long hours in buses, what an exhilarating couple of weeks it’s been. Fortaleza was surprising, Jericoacoara magical, Lencois Maranhenses out of this world and next stop….

…unbearable humidity, tarantulas, piranhas, crocs & bugs. (I’m not freaking out at all!)

Updates to follow….

I write about the good, the bad and the downright ugly of nomadic life after 50. How I fund it, how I live it, and how I’m ageing disgracefully doing it. Annual subscribers get my full library of guides, courses and resources. Just saying. 😏

“How do I sell digital products when I don’t have an audience?”

And while I’d love to give you a litany of examples of where this is possible, the honest answer is… you don’t.

Imagine opening a shoe stall in the middle of the desert. Beautiful shoes, hand-stitched, great quality. But if nobody’s walking past, nobody’s buying.

The shoes may be the best in the world, but if no one knows you exist, it’s irrelevant.

Unfortunately it’s one of the biggest reasons so many brilliant ideas never turn into sales. Not because the products aren’t good, but because no one knows your brand exists yet.

I’ve made the mistake plenty of times myself. I’ve created planners, guides, and mini-courses that I thought people wanted, only to launch them into the void.

No sales, no feedback, just the sound of crickets and tumbleweed whistling through my inbox!

I thought my products were great and super valuable but I just hadn’t built enough trust, connection, or community around them.

Build first. Sell later.

Now imagine you’ve wandered into a huge Bedouin camp, with hundreds of barefoot nomads preparing to cross a rough stretch of mountains.

Their feet are cracked. The ground is freezing. Everyone knows the journey ahead is tough.

You set up the exact same shoe shop, but this time you do it in the middle of the camp.

You chat to people. You run short walk-around-the-camp demonstrations. You explain which shoes are best for rocky ground. You help them try on a pair.

How many shoes do you think you’d sell then?

It’s the same product, but a different environment, and a different outcome.

That’s the whole game online.

If you want to sell anything, digital, physical, or otherwise, you need to find the people who might genuinely need what you’re making, show them how it helps, and stay front-of-mind long enough for them to trust you.

The good news is you don’t need thousands of people. A small, engaged group is more than enough to start.

Here’s how to build that group:

1. Pick your target market. Who do you want to help and why?

2. Share value consistently. Educate, inspire, or entertain through content that speaks directly to them.

3. Build your email list. This is where your relationship deepens. Platforms like Substack make it easy to publish, grow, and connect all in one place.

4. Listen and engage. Ask questions. Start conversations. Notice what people respond to.

5. Create products that solve real problems. Don’t guess. Build from what your audience tells you they need.

It takes time and tenacity, and that’s where most people fall off. But those who stay the course build a foundation strong enough to sell with ease later.

When Your Products Still Aren’t Selling

If you’ve been creating things for a while and it feels like you’re trying your absolute best but nothing’s moving, you’re not alone. Someone else messaged me recently saying:

“I’ve created a few products, but none of them are selling. I enjoy making them, but I struggle to convince people to buy.”

That feeling is far more common than you think. And it brings us right back to our little Bedouin camp. Because even inside the camp, surrounded by the right people, you can still struggle to sell your shoes if:

1. They don’t know or trust the seller (you).

If you suddenly appear out of nowhere offering expensive hiking boots, they’ll hesitate. They’ve never seen you before. They’re not sure you understand their journey. They need time to feel safe buying from you.

That’s where your warm-up phase online comes in, creating consistent, helpful content and building your audience and email list.

2. You’re offering the wrong thing.

If your shop is full of flimsy flip-flops and everyone’s about to trek across icy mountains, it doesn’t matter how beautiful the sandals are. They’re not relevant right now.

This is what happens when we create the products we like, rather than the products our audience actually need.

3. You’re not demonstrating the value.

If you don’t offer those little walking tours to show the difference between your sturdy boots and their cracked bare feet, they won’t understand why your product matters.

This is your messaging, your examples, your before-and-after stories and your “let me show you what this can do” demonstrations - (webinars, sales pages, articles, videos. podcasts etc).

When you fix these three things, gradually you will start to make some sales. You won’t be retiring overnight, but you will start to feel encouraged!

Because selling isn’t about convincing. It’s about relevance, clarity, and trust.

Starting From Zero (And Why It Feels Hard)

Of course when you’re starting from zero, none of this feels easy. You don’t have a camp. You don’t have barefoot nomads. You’re basically standing in the desert with your shoes, talking to the wind.

But every single person you admire online started the same way. Zero followers. Zero subscribers. Zero sales. Just one person posting something valuable. Then another. Then another.

The first few months will feel quiet. You’ll second-guess everything, and you’ll wonder whether it’s working at all. But you’ll keep going anyway, because every post, every email, and every conversation is another person wandering into your camp.

And you don’t need hundreds. You just need enough people to start trying on the shoes.

Promote, Then Promote Again

Once you do start creating products, don’t fall into the “post once and pray” trap.

Even the people who love your work will miss half of what you share. They’re busy. Life is loud.

It’s not personal.

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t set up your shoe stall, shout about it once, then sit quietly in the corner hoping someone remembers you’re there. You’d keep chatting. Keep demonstrating, and keep showing people what you’ve got and why it matters.

• Tell the story behind your product.

• Share who inspired it.

• Show the process.

• Mention it casually inside other posts.

• Teach one tiny part from inside it.

I promise you’re not being pushy if it’s valuable. You’re helping and promoting at the same time. It’s what every successful (and trusted) creator does.

When Nothing Seems to Happen

Someone else said to me recently, “I don’t know if it’s the product or the marketing, but nothing is working.”

Most of the time it’s a mixture of both, and that’s okay. Remember our Bedouin camp.

• Even with the right crowd around you, you might be selling flip-flops when they need boots.

• Or you’ve got the perfect boots but you haven’t shown anyone what they can do.

• Or you’ve done everything right but your camp is still only three people and a camel.

Your early products are experiments. They help you listen better, test faster, and figure out what your particular crowd actually needs.

Sometimes the product is great but the message is off. Sometimes the audience is warm but the offer needs tweaking. Everything gets better the more you create.

And then one day something clicks. Someone buys your product, then shares it with someone else, who also buys it. The sales start to come in.

That moment changes everything. But it doesn’t come from nowhere. It comes from all the months of showing up that felt like nothing was happening.

The Real Secret

The best selling never feels like selling. It feels like helping. It sounds like, “I made this because I know how tough this bit can be, and it might help.”

You don’t need a huge audience, you just need a warm one. It doesn’t matter how small as long as they know you, trust you, and feel like you genuinely understand their world.

Build the camp first. Chat to the people in it. Find out what they need. Then make the thing that helps.

That’s how you turn ideas into income.

And if it feels slow right now, you’re not behind. You’re just building your camp.

If not, now you do and you can thank me later when you win the local pub quiz!

It comes from pau-brasil, or brazilwood, a tree the Portuguese found growing in abundance along the coast. The wood produced a valuable red dye that became a major export, and eventually the name stuck to the whole country.

I learned this from Adriano, our walking tour guide in Salvador, who was a ridiculously knowledgeable historian! I retained about 10% of the history. My husband retained less.

We’d only stopped in Salvador for two days on route to Lençóis to go hiking in the Chapada Diamantina National Park. I wasn’t expecting much, which is always the moment an experience floors you right?

Because Salvador, being the birthplace of Brazil, is super interesting, and the historic centre of Pelourinho, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is so ridiculously gorgeous I decided to dedicate an entire post just to this area.

So here’s a quick rundown of our whistlestop 48 hours.

Sunset at the Lighthouse

We stayed in Farol da Barra near the lighthouse, home to the best sunset in Brazil (according to ChatGPT - which of course is always 100% accurate 😉).

It’s also the safer, more touristy end of the city and a solid base if you want to explore without having to stuff your passport in your bra. (Not sure of the equivalent for the male reader! 😂)

We arrived late in the evening so our first real taste of Salvador was Sunday morning, heading out for our walking tour of Pelourinho. I’d done zero research. In fact I couldn’t have pointed to Salvador on a map a week earlier. Sometimes that’s the best way to travel!

The Birthplace of Brazil! 🇧🇷

In 1500, Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral landed further south along the coast. But it was here in Salvador that the Portuguese really set up shop.

They named the bay Baía de Todos os Santos because they sailed in on All Saints’ Day. (Imaginative lot, the Portuguese.) Salvador became the first capital of colonial Brazil and stayed that way for over 200 years.

Pelourinho itself means “pillory” in Portuguese, named after the post in the main square where enslaved people were publicly punished.

And that’s the thing that starts to dawn on you as you walk around. This gorgeous, Instagram-worthy town was built on top of one of the most brutal chapters in human history.

The African Heart of Salvador

Adriano walked us through the layers of African culture woven into everything here.

Salvador is the largest city of African descent outside of Africa, and it shows. The influence is everywhere, in the music, the food, the religion, the art.

The bit that really stuck with me was about Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion that took root here. Enslaved Africans were forced to adopt Catholic practices, but rather than conform, they disguised their own deities as Catholic saints. From the outside it looked like conversion, but underneath, their traditions survived. Brilliant.

I particularly liked the stories about the beaded necklaces tied to the orixás (deities), each colour representing a different deity and personality. I fancied myself red, for fire, passion and vital energy. (Menopause has certainly leant itself to the fire part anyway. 🥵)

Then there’s capoeira, the martial art/dance hybrid I first saw at Favela Rocinha in Rio.

Created by enslaved Africans as resistance disguised as play, it was illegal in Brazil until 1940. Now it’s practised in town squares all over Salvador and there’s a brilliant monument called the Arena da Capoeira near the port celebrating the biggest names in the tradition.

Michael Jackson Was Here

As we wound through the streets, Adriano got visibly excited as he pointed up at a balcony on one of the colonial buildings.

In 1996, Michael Jackson came to Pelourinho to film “They Don’t Care About Us” with Spike Lee. The Brazilian government tried to ban the shoot, worried it would damage the country’s image. Jackson was having none of it. He collaborated with Olodum, Salvador’s legendary drum collective, and the video put Pelourinho on the world stage.

The house is still there. You can pay 10 reais (about $1.50) to go up to the balcony where he danced, or you can do what I did and take a photo from the street like a cheapskate.

Why the Colourful Houses?

Something I’d been wondering the whole tour was why all the colonial buildings were painted in such bright colours.

Turns out they weren’t always like this. Pelourinho was crumbling into serious disrepair through much of the 20th century. A major restoration effort in the 1990s brought the colours, partly to celebrate Salvador’s African and Bahian identity, and partly to attract tourism.

It worked. Pelourinho became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the gentrification that followed displaced many of the original residents, which is its own complicated story.

An Homage to a Tragic History

After the tour we wandered down to the Mercado Modelo, the old customs house in the lower city. It’s a bustling market now, full of Bahian arts, crafts and souvenirs. Worth a browse, but it’s what’s underneath that’s important.

In the basement, the Galeria Mercado sits in what were once slave quarters. Enslaved people brought from Africa were held in these chambers below sea level, chained to the walls until they were sold. The space would sometimes flood with the tide.

After being closed for 15 years, it reopened in 2024 as a gallery with permanent art installations. It’s been done very tastefully. It’s understated, and deeply respectful, creating a space that gently honours what happened here.

Lunch in the Sun

We had lunch at Poró, recommended by Adriano, and it was gorgeous. If you go, get the filet mignon. The quality of the beef was outstanding and the price was laughable.

I insisted on sitting outside in the sun because I’m British and that’s what we do. By the time we finished our steaks, my husband looked like he’d just completed a half marathon. I regret nothing.

Drinking With the Locals

We got back up to the main square just in time to see Didá Banda Feminina marching through the streets, drumming and dancing. It was International Women’s Day and here was an entire band of women spreading joy through the city. Absolutely loved it.

Then we settled in at O Cravinho, the local tourist & Cachaca hotspot! If you don’t know cachaça, it’s Brazil’s national spirit, distilled from sugarcane juice.

We started chatting with a local called Philipe who introduced us to Senzala, a local cachaça. Senzala is smooth, grapey, slightly sweet, and dangerously drinkable. The name means “slave quarters,” which ties right back into Salvador’s story. Even the drinks carry history here.

I’m not sure how many we had, but by early evening when we joined the crowd on the hill by the lighthouse to watch the sunset, I was singing along with the band and clapping with the crowd when the sun finally dipped!

Plus the queijo sticks we had on route home felt like the best we’d ever tasted! (What was in that Cachaca??)

Day Two: Bonfim, Moqueca, and Sunset in the Sea

The next morning we headed to the Igreja de Nosso Senhor do Bonfim, the most famous church in Salvador. The iron railings outside are thick with thousands of colourful fitas, tied there by devotees and visitors making their wishes.

Bonfim means “good end” in Portuguese, and the church has a long reputation for miracles.

The day before, Adriano had given us each a Bonfim ribbon, partly as a gift and partly, he said, so we wouldn’t be hassled by the street sellers. (Smart man.)

The ribbons are 47 centimetres long, the exact length of the right arm of the Christ statue inside the church. You tie them with three knots, make a wish with each one, and when the ribbon naturally wears through and falls off, your wishes come true. You can’t cut it. You can’t tell anyone what you wished for.

We ended up with three, so we tied one each and one together. It was unexpectedly romantic for two people who’ve been married long enough to argue about Google Maps.

Inside, the church was unexpectedly lovely! There’s an alcove at the back filled with photos, handwritten notes and even prosthetic limbs left by people who made the pilgrimage seeking healing. (I’m not convinced all of them were real prosthetics but I wasn’t about to touch one and find out.)

From there we walked to Ponta do Humaitá, a headland that juts out into the Bay of All Saints and tried Moqueca for the first time at a little restaurant overlooking the bay.

Moqueca is a traditional Bahian fish stew made with coconut milk, palm oil, tomatoes and coriander, slow-cooked and served in a clay pot. It sounds gorgeous right?. But was actually a bit tasteless. I’m not sure whether that’s the dish, or the restaurant. Jury’s still out and I’ll update when I’ve tried another one.

Sunset in the Sea

That evening we did one of my favourite things. Bought a couple of strawberry squiffy drinks, put on our swimmers and headed to the beach near the lighthouse.

The night before we’d watched sunset from the hill. Tonight we wanted it from the water. And it didn’t disappoint.

And then, standing in the sea as the sky turned orange, who should appear but Adriano. Off duty, with his wife and family, wading in for their own sunset swim. We stood there chatting in the water, watching the sun go down together.

It was one of those completely unplanned moments that makes you think, ‘yeah, this is exactly why we do this….’

A pretty perfect end to a very short stay in Salvador.

There’s a particular kind of optimism required to board a 7-hour bus through the Brazilian northeast when you’ve spent the last 24 hours surviving on sips of water and blind faith in Imodium.

It’s the kind that hopes desperately that binge watching Bridgerton episodes will distract you. The kind that hopes the air con is strong…

And the kind that ignores the fact that the last 90 minutes of this journey involves a 4x4 bouncing across open sand dunes to reach a village with no paved roads. 😳

I am currently that optimist.

We’re leaving Fortaleza this morning, heading for Jericoacoara, or ‘Jeri’, as everyone calls it, because life is too short to keep pronouncing 6 syllables when 2 will do.

It’s a tiny beach town on Brazil’s northern coast, tucked behind dunes, only reachable by off-road vehicle, and somewhere that people either rave about or have never heard of. (I’m the latter, looking forward to being the former!)

But before we go there, let’s me tell you about..

The Fortaleza Surprise

The past week has been a work week. As nomadic solopreneurs, we’re still working on the whole travel/work balancing act, and desperately needed a few days catch up.

We chose Fortaleza as our mission base and flew up a few days ago from Salvador.

I’ll be honest. I’d written Fortaleza off before we arrived. Everything I’d read made it sound like a concrete sprawl with a beach attached. A city you pass through on the way to somewhere more interesting.

I was wrong.

Fortaleza has a full 34 kilometres of coastline!

The beaches are enormous.

They feel like you could walk for 20 minutes and still not reach the water’s edge at low tide.

The ocean is warm, and in the evenings, the promenade along Praia de Iracema comes alive in a way that made me fall for the place almost immediately.

Market stalls and food vendors and little plastic tables outside restaurants where people sit drinking ice-cold beer and eating grilled fish while someone plays guitar on a corner. Kids running around. Couples walking. Old men arguing about football.

The whole lovely, chaotic theatre of Brazilian street life happening in every direction.

We found a little apartment just off the main stretch with beach views (almost!) and settled in for a productive week.

And it was, mostly. Right up until my stomach staged a mutiny.

The Apartment Revelation

I should say something about the apartment, because I’ve had a bit of an accommodation conversion happening on this trip.

I am a hotel person. I have always been a hotel person. I like someone else making the bed. I like not having to think about where the nearest supermarket is. I like breakfast appearing without effort. I like the fact that when something breaks, you ring a desk and someone else deals with it. (Yes, I am totally spoilt!)

Hotels remove friction from travel, and when you spend your life living out of a suitcase you come to appreciate anything that removes friction.

But we’re now on our second Brazilian apartment and they’re super convenient & great value.

This one in Fortaleza has been clean, well-equipped, had a nice balcony (I do like a balcony) a proper kitchen and a laundry room in the building.

When you’re living out of a carry-on bag for weeks at a stretch, the ability to wash everything and start fresh is borderline life-changing. You stop doing that grim mental calculation of “can I get one more day out of this t-shirt” and just throw it all in.

(NB: For the most part here in Brazil, detergents are injected automatically into the wash which is extremely handy!)

It’s so funny how the smallest things become the most liberating!

The kitchen also means you can keep costs down on the days when you don’t want to eat out. Which, when your body has decided that food is the enemy and water is merely tolerated, turns out to be quite useful.

What Doesn’t Kill You

The stomach bug arrived yesterday on our last day. I have no idea where from. Rhett & I ate the same foods the day before and if anything was awry it’s usually him that succumbs.

I, very luckily, have been gifted with the digestive system of a mountain goat, so an episode like this is very unusual for me.

Anyway. At least the buses here are super comfy (that’s until we board the bone shaker into town).

The Road Ahead

Jeri is the first stop on what’s shaping up to be one of the more ambitious stretches of this trip.

From there, we’re working our way along Brazil’s northern coast towards Lençóis Maranhenses, which is a national park full of freshwater lagoons sitting between sand dunes.

It looks like someone photoshopped a desert and a swimming pool together. I can’t wait to see it for myself! (Pics to follow)

Then on to Belém, and from Belém we fly to Manaus. The Amazon.

That’s the plan, anyway. Plans in Brazil tend to be more like suggestions. Buses get cancelled. Roads flood. Your stomach rebels. You learn to think in loose terms.

But right now, I’m packed. The Imodium is packed. My optimism, battered but intact, is packed.

Wish me luck with that 4x4. 😳😂

In the weeks before I flew to Rio, my phone felt like a rolling feed of doom.

• “Be SO careful.”

• “Don’t take your phone out.”

• “My friend’s cousin got robbed there.”

• “Are you sure about this?”

A good friend of mine who’d lived in Brazil some years ago, even warned me ‘if someone robs you, give your bag straight away, as there’s likely to be a guy with a gun round the corner’.

Ok then….😳

Google wasn’t helping either. Every travel forum had a horror story, and every blog post came with a safety warning longer than the article itself.

It reminded me of one of my favourite bits in the movie Armageddon when Truman describes the asteroid..

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty darn anxious, and by the time I boarded the plane, I’d half convinced myself I was flying into an urban warzone.

And then I landed….

Arriving in Lapa (With My Guard Very …

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After spending a fantastic day exploring the town of Pelourinho, Salvador yesterday, I started to reflect on how on earth I got here.

Not geographically. That bit’s easy. Flights, buses, multiple ubers. 😊

I mean here here. The bit where our daughter is completely ignoring me as she lives her own life in London (🙄), and my husband & I are fully nomadic.

Last week Rio, today Salvador, tomorrow Chapada Diamantina. Just two people, a couple of carry-ons, and a rough plan that’s started here in Brazil and winds through Colombia, Central America, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, potentially Hawaii for Christmas, and whatever comes after that.

It’s completely terrifying and amazingly brilliant in roughly equal measure.

Now, in the interest of full transparency, this isn’t my first rodeo. My husband & I packed up everything we owned & scooped up our then 4 year old, almost 16 years ago to head out into the great unknown. (Inspired, no less, by Tim Ferris and …

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In this episode, I’m joined by naturopath, long-time nomad, and founder of Power Aging Women, Judy Seeger, who at 68 is living proof that strength, mobility, and energy don’t have to fade with age.

We talk honestly about the stuff many of us are quietly worried about — metabolic health, weight gain, hormones, sleep, brain health, fatigue, supplements, and how to stay well when you’re constantly on the move. It’s a grounded conversation about the small habits that help you stay strong, energised, and able to keep exploring the world.

If you want your next 10–20 years to feel strong, mobile, and free, this conversation will give you a lot to think about, and even more to do.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why movement and strength matter more than diet alone after 50, and why walking isn’t enough

• The link between muscle, oxygen, brain health, and mobility as we age

• Practical ways to stay strong, mobile, and energised while travelling

• How hormones, liver health, alcohol, and detoxing affect energy, weight, and migraines

• Simple, realistic strategies for sleep, jet lag, and recovery on the road

• Judy’s no-nonsense essentials for healthy aging: supplements, routines, and mindset

Key Takeaway

Healthy aging after 50 doesn’t require complicated routines or endless health rules. A few consistent habits make the biggest difference.

Move daily. Build strength. Eat simply and earlier. Sleep with intention. Support your body instead of fighting it. And most importantly, decide that you are worth prioritising in this season of life.

Time-Stamped Guide

• 00:00 Welcome + why this conversation matters for 50+ nomads

• 02:30 What “power aging” really means (and why Judy shifted from longevity)

• 04:30 Why fear of pain and discomfort holds women back from movement

• 06:10 Strength training on the road: resistance bands, routines, and mindset

• 08:30 The link between quad strength, oxygen, and brain health

• 10:30 What a naturopath actually does (and why lifestyle matters most)

• 13:00 Why inactivity is as damaging as smoking — and what to do instead

• 16:00 Food timing, metabolism, and eating for energy after 50

• 20:20 Hormones, alcohol, detoxing, and why the liver matters

• 23:30 Saunas, sweating, dry brushing, and toxin release

• 27:30 Migraines, circulation, and simple hot/cold techniques

• 31:00 Sleep routines, eye masks, light exposure, and nomad realities

• 35:40 Beating jet lag with food, sunlight, and timing

• 40:30 Minimal supplements for travellers (what’s essential, what’s not)

• 51:00 Mindset, community, and the promise women must make to themselves

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Power Aging Women — Judy’s platform, podcast, and programs
  👉

• Your Brain After 50: The Signals & Changes Women Shouldn't Ignore on Thursday,
  March 12th, 12pm EST (New York Time)

• Free guide: 7 Must-Haves for Healthy Aging

Join the Conversation

What’s one habit from this episode you’re willing to commit to this week — more movement, better sleep, eating earlier, or simply putting yourself first?

Share your takeaway in the comments and let’s keep this conversation going.

Important Health Disclaimer

This podcast episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The views shared are based on personal experience and professional background but should not replace consultation with your GP, specialist, or qualified healthcare provider. Always seek professional advice before making changes to your diet, exercise routine, supplements, or medical treatment, especially if you have existing health conditions or are taking prescribed medication.

There’s an Aperol Spritz on the table, a plate of chicken and broccoli rice in front of me, the Atlantic Ocean doing its thing on the beach, and my phone is propped up against the salt shaker while I send voice notes to friends back home.

3 weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed this moment was possible. Not the being in Rio part, I’ve been planning that for months.

The sitting here on my own, feeling completely comfortable, completely safe, and completely at home part. That’s the bit that would have made me laugh.

Because as per my last post, I was pretty nervous knowing my dream was about to become reality.

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Today is my last day in this lovely little apartment on the outskirts of London that I’ve called home for the last few weeks.

When I get up shortly, it’ll be the last time gorgeous little Nala (the Shih Tzu we’ve been looking after) will leap onto my bed and lick my nose.

And last Thursday, before she went off to Paris to celebrate a friend’s 21st, was the last time I hugged my 19-year-old daughter for the next few months.

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I’ve been blown away with the depth of experience people have. The creativity, talent, ideas and products already created waiting to be presented to the world!

Almost everyone I’ve spoken to is sitting on a super successful business waiting to happen.

But across all my calls, there is one thing that’s really stood out, and that’s the lack of understanding (and action) around building an audience.

The most important part of growing your online business seems to be the very thing most people shy away from and yet it’s the very foundation upon which your success will be built.

Let me give you an example.

Imagine you open a beautiful shop. You’ve sourced the perfect products, designed the space with care, priced everything thoughtfully, but you’ve built it on a Welsh mountainside, where 5 people walk past each year (if you’re lucky).

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Wouldn’t it be brilliant if 2026 was the year you actually built your freedom-funding micro hustle?

Not the year you thought about it. Not the year you researched it endlessly. Not the year you bought another course and never opened it.

The year you did it.

The year you went from zero to a genuine income stream. Something small enough to manage alongside your life, but real enough to matter. Something that proves to you (and everyone who’s been quietly sceptical) that this whole online income thing isn’t just for twenty-somethings with tech degrees.

I recently recorded a podcast about the four micro hustles I’m building this year, and my goals are actually much bigger than $2,000 a month. But that’s because I’ve been doing this for 15+ years. I’ve built the audience. I’ve made the mistakes. I know what works (and what doesn’t).

If you’re just starting out, $2,000 to $3,000 a month by the end of the year is 100% achievable, and it will change everything. It’s enough to cover your travel fund, your mortgage top-up, your “I don’t have to panic about money” cushion, and unless you’re looking to buy an electric Lamborghini, pretty much anything else you can think of.

Sound exciting?

Let me show you exactly how it works.

Meet Jane

Jane isn't real (I’ve made her up for the purposes of this article). But she could be you. Tired of where she is, ready for something different.

Jane is 54. She’s worked in HR for decades, she’s good at her job, and she’s thoroughly fed up with it.

What she loves, (what she’s always loved), is her garden. Specifically, she’s obsessed with growing things in small spaces. Her own garden is a tiny courtyard that she’s transformed into an absolute jungle of containers, raised beds, and vertical planters.

Friends constantly ask her how she does it. She’s the person everyone texts when their tomatoes look sad.

Jane has zero online audience. No email list. No following. No idea where to begin.

But she’s got time in the evenings, curiosity, and one thing that matters more than anything else: she’s willing to try something new and show up consistently.

Here’s how Jane’s year unfolds.

Months 1–3: The Foundation (Building Her First 200 Subscribers)

Jane starts a Substack publication called “Small Space, Big Harvest”.

In month one, she commits to one long form article a week and a daily note with quick tips and photos from her garden.

She writes about things she already knows: companion planting in pots, which vegetables actually thrive in containers, how to make the most of a north-facing courtyard.

She focuses on being useful rather than perfect.

Jane also starts engaging with other gardening writers on Substack. She leaves thoughtful comments. She recommends & restacks notes & publications she genuinely enjoys. She replies to every single person who comments on her posts.

By the end of month one, she has 47 subscribers (🥳). Mostly friends and family, plus a handful of strangers who found her through the Substack network.

By the end of month two, she’s at 89 subscribers. Her post about “5 Vegetables That Thrive in the Shade” got shared a few times and brought in a wave of new people.

By the end of month three, she’s crossed 180 subscribers.

Total revenue: $0

And that’s fine. Jane isn’t trying to monetise yet. She’s building something more valuable: trust, consistency, and clarity about what resonates.

And here’s what she’s noticing. Her posts about growing vegetables in containers get far more engagement than anything else. She's found her angle.

Months 4–6: The First Product (Testing the Waters)

With 180 subscribers and a clear sense of what people want help with, Jane decides to create something small.

She spends a few weekends building a workbook in Canva: The Container Vegetable Planner: A Month-by-Month Growing Guide.

It’s a practical, usable workbook, with planning pages, planting calendars, spacing guides, and checklists. The kind of thing her audience can use, not just read once and forget.

She prices it at $9 and sells it through Gumroad.

Jane mentions it casually in her newsletter. No hard sell, or countdown timers, just “I made this thing, here’s why I think it’ll help you, here’s the link if you want it.”

In month four, she sells 4 copies. In month five, 7 copies. In month six, 11 copies.

Revenue months 4–6: $198

Meanwhile, she’s still posting weekly articles and daily notes. Her subscriber count continues to climb and she ends month six at around 420 subscribers.

Jane now has proof. People will pay her for her knowledge. $198 might not sound like much, but the confidence it gives her is worth far more.

She also has something else: feedback. Buyers are emailing her to say how much they love the planner. One person asks if she does workshops. Another asks if she’ll ever create something on vertical gardening.

Jane is taking notes.

Months 7–9: Expanding the Offer (Workshops and Guest Appearances)

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After 15+ years online and building everything from newsletters to digital courses, coaching businesses and seven-figure e-commerce brands, I’ve become very intentional about how I work, especially at this stage of life.

These are business models that travel well, don’t demand 24/7 intensity, and layer together to fund a freedom-filled, travel-led life after 50, without burning you out or trapping you behind a laptop.

If you’re multi-passionate, starting over, or simply want income that supports your life instead of consuming it, this episode will help you see how micro hustles can connect rather than compete.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• What I really mean by micro hustles (and why they are proper businesses, not hobbies)

• Why starting with subscribers, not products, is the smartest move after 50

• How to layer income slowly and intentionally instead of doing everything at once

• Why small, focused digital products outperform big “life-changing” courses now

• How cohorts, group coaching, and text-based support create momentum without burnout

• Why physical products can be powerful if you don’t want to be the brand

• How all four models work together under one clear audience and outcome

Key Takeaway

Start with one micro hustle, get it working, then add the next when the timing feels right. Don’t try to do everything at once!

Time-Stamped Guide

• 00:00 Welcome + recording from London

• 00:02 Why I now choose businesses that travel well and don’t demand 24/7 intensity

• 00:04 What I actually mean by a micro hustle (and what it isn’t)

• 00:06 Why focus first, then diversify (and the quote I still remember years later)

Micro Hustle #1: Newsletter & Subscribers

• 00:06 Why everything starts with subscribers

• 00:07 How Substack makes audience-building simpler

• 00:08 Paid newsletters as early confidence and momentum

• 00:09 How writing helps you clarify who your audience really is

• 00:12 Subscribers first, products second

Micro Hustle #2: Mini Products, Courses & Cohorts

• 00:12 Why big transformational courses are losing effectiveness

• 00:13 One problem, one solution, one clear outcome

• 00:14 Examples of small, useful digital products that still sell

• 00:16 Why cohorts work so well (and how they’ve evolved)

• 00:18 How newsletters naturally lead into products and cohorts

Micro Hustle #3: Group Coaching, Community & Text-Based Support

• 00:19 Why group coaching beats one-to-one for energy and scale

• 00:20 How simple paid coaching offers can work early on

• 00:21 Text-based coaching via email, WhatsApp or voice notes

• 00:22 Layering coaching after cohorts for ongoing support

• 00:23 Why I’m using this model myself this year

Micro Hustle #4: Physical Products & E-commerce

• 00:24 Why I’m launching This Big World on Amazon

• 00:24 The realities of Amazon FBA vs easier entry points like Etsy

• 00:25 Print-on-demand as a lower-risk way to start

• 00:26 Who This Big World is for and why I built it

• 00:27 How the travel challenge cards work in real life

• 00:29 Why physical products suit people who don’t want to be the brand

Bringing It All Together

• 00:30 How all four micro hustles connect under one umbrella

• 00:31 Why this isn’t scattered, it’s layered

• 00:31 Where to start if you’re just beginning

• 00:32 Final thoughts on building income that adapts and travels

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• My recent article: Why London Is the Greatest City on the Planet

• The article I reference on creators building multiple streams of income

• My Substack newsletter: The 50+ Nomad

• This Big World travel challenge cards (Amazon launch)

• Previous podcast episode on Etsy + print-on-demand jigsaw business

Join the Conversation

Which of the four micro hustles appeals to you most right now?

Share where you’re starting, or what you’re layering next, and what one small step you’re committing to this week.

And as always…
Make it happen.

Are you a fun-loving, spontaneous adventurer?

If so, my new brand This Big World is designed for you!

If you love saying yes to random adventures, my first product - ‘This Big Travel Challenge Cards’ - will spice up any trip (or any Tuesday, to be honest).

50 scratch-off adventure prompts that turn moments into memories you’ll remember forever! Order a dish you can’t pronounce. Explore streets starting with your initial. Find hidden spots that tourists miss.

Whether you’re in Bangkok or your own backyard, each challenge takes 30 minutes to a few hours max. Perfect for adding spontaneous fun without derailing your plans. Grab a pack and scratch one off this weekend!

👉 Get Your Cards Now

Bonus: one pack also contains a $5,000 Golden Ticket travel credit voucher! Willy Wonka vibes. Very real prize!

Londinium, the big smoke, the square mile, the great wen. I wasn’t born here. My biological father reckons he was born within the sound of Bow bells, which would make him an official cockney, (up the apple & pears son), but I was born in the rather leafy historic, cathedral city of Chichester close to the south coast some hour & a half from London by train.

Other than the odd visit as a child my first real memories of London are when I moved here in my early 20s to work as the Deputy General Manager at the Apollo Victoria, which was playing Starlight Express at the time (a 13 year run). I’d been to the same venue to see the same show when I was 14 so it was pretty cool some 10 years later to be managing the place.

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“Digital products are dead!”

So this is the latest message doing the rounds.

• The gold rush is over.

• The bubble has burst.

• Pack up your courses and go home.

Apparently this has been so confirmed by OG digital course creator, Amy Porterfields recent decision to close her Digital Course Academy. In fact she’s copping quite a bit of backlash over it.

Why? I’m unsure, because if you ask me, Amy hasn’t been dishonest. She isn’t ‘gaming the system’. What she’s done is super smart. She’s evolved.

Her pivot to working directly with established business owners is exactly the kind of smart adaptation we should all be paying attention to. She read the room and adjusted. That’s not pulling the wool over people’s eyes. That’s strategy.

I have to admit since getting back into the content creator game early 2025, selling traditional courses has been much harder than when I was first online 15 years ago. The old playbook that worked for me is sputtering a little. But that doesn’t mean digital products are dea…

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Then Dereks upcoming cohort is the perfect next step for you! Over 6 live sessions he’ll break down the steps he’s taken to not only grow his writing business, but to turn it into a money machine!

He’ll walk you through how to write articles that grow subscribers, post notes that get noticed and turn your publication into a subscriber magnet. All with live coaching and plug and play templates so you’re not starting from a blank screen!

If this conversation lit a fire and you’re ready to stop guessing and start growing, it starts Monday! (12th). Click below for more details.

👉 Substack Growth Map

You may think that building a writing business means being naturally gifted, starting early, or somehow outsmarting the algorithm.

Derek Hughes is proof that belief is a myth!

In this episode, Derek shares how he started writing online with no audience, no background as a writer, and no real plan beyond getting his thoughts out of his head.

Three years later, that experiment has grown into a successful writing business that’s allowed him to step back from full-time work.

He tells us about the early months of writing to almost no one, the moment he nearly quit, the shock of losing income overnight when platforms changed, and why building and owning an email list became the foundation of everything that followed.

This episode is about backing yourself before there’s evidence, staying in the game when nothing seems to be working, and trusting that consistent effort compounds in ways you can’t see at the start.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your ideas, your experience, or your voice are enough, this conversation will leave you feeling fired up to get started (or keep going) and far more confident about what’s possible.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why most writers quit right before things start working

• How focusing on inputs (not likes or views) changed everything for Derek

• What actually made his writing “irresistible” — and it’s not talent

• The reality of platform risk (Medium, Google, Substack) and how to protect yourself

• Why your email list is your greatest business asset

• How Derek made his first £1,700 from a simple digital product with just 500 subscribers

• Why cohorts and live teaching are becoming more powerful than static courses

• Why experience, age, and lived perspective are advantages, not obstacles

Key Takeaway

“If you focus on the inputs you can control and stay consistent long enough, something is going to happen.” - Derek Hughes

👉 Ready To Grow? Start Here

Time-Stamped Guide

00:00 – Welcome + meeting Derek
01:22 – Starting from zero and feeling invisible
03:38 – Posting into the void and nearly quitting
06:35 – Testing topics and finding what resonates
08:35 – The seven-month danger zone most people never survive
11:44 – Shifting from outcomes to inputs
14:10 – Why perfection doesn’t equal performance
19:50 – Medium success, then the algorithm crash
22:58 – Why Substack became the focus
26:55 – Building (and owning) an email list
33:20 – Derek’s first digital product and early income
35:12 – Simple products vs live cohorts
39:23 – Inside the Substack Growth cohort
43:00 – Reducing his day job and redesigning work
46:00 – Why age and experience are a superpower

Resources Mentioned

• The Irresistible Writer on Substack

• Derek’s Substack Growth cohort (starting 12 January)

• Email marketing platform Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

• Writing influences: Nicolas Cole, Tim Denning

Join the Conversation

Are you putting the work and feeling like you’re posting to the void? What needs to happen for you to keep going and push through??

If you’re building a writing business (or any business or side hustle for that matter), this episode is a powerful reminder that tenacity and consistency are the name of the game!

Harness your self belief, stay consistent and prepare yourself to stay in the game longer than you feel comfortable. Keep swinging my friend, eventually something will land!

Share your biggest takeaway or question from this conversation and whether it’s given you what you need to keep showing up, trust the process, and build something that lasts, and be sure to sign up to Derek’s cohort program starting on Monday 12th.

Make 2026 the year you do!

👉 Substack Growth Map

A comment, a failure, an email, or a criticism that stuck with you longer than it should have.

In this New Year episode of The 50+ Nomad Podcast, I’m sharing a very personal story about something I didn’t realise was still shaping my behaviour. A confidence knock from nearly a decade ago that’s sneakily stopped me from fully backing myself and the work I create.

I talk openly about launching my new travel challenge cards, having a proper wobble, and the realisation that I’ve become excellent at creating… but hesitant when it comes to standing behind what I make and asking for the sale.

This episode is about the fears we disguise as preferences, burnout, or “that’s just not my thing anymore”, and how easy it is to let old stories dictate how big we play today.

I also talk about why “playing small doesn’t serve the world” — a line from Marianne Williamson’s poem — and what needs to happen if 2026 is going to be different.

I promise I don’t go too woo-woo on you. This is a practical, grounded conversation about awareness and action.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How a single moment from years ago can quietly shape your confidence today

• Why perfectionism and “I don’t like selling” are often fear in disguise

• The difference between creating and truly standing behind your work

• Why community-building is a superpower, and what happens when you stop using it

• The five-step framework I’m using to move through fear instead of dancing around it

• How to take uncomfortable action without leaping off a cliff

Key Takeaway

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.”

— Marianne Williamson

Time-Stamped Guide

• 00:00 Welcome to 2026 + why this episode matters

• 01:05 Playing small, Marianne Williamson, and permission to shine

• 03:10 The real question for this year: what are we going to do about fear?

• 04:00 Launching the travel challenge cards and the wobble that followed

• 06:24 When the gremlins arrive: fear of selling and being seen

• 07:31 A pattern revealed: creating but never fully backing myself

• 09:00 Looking back to when I used to just do the thing

• 10:21 Teaching in public, pressure, and the email that changed everything

• 12:29 The confidence knock I never fully moved past

• 14:49 Introducing the idea of your “10-year hangover”

• 16:49 Step 1: Naming the real fear beneath the story

• 18:33 Step 2: Tracing fear back to where it started

• 20:01 Step 3: Separating identity from the situation

• 21:37 Step 4: One uncomfortable action this week

• 23:22 Step 5: Expect discomfort and do it anyway

• 25:00 Drawing a line under the old story

• 26:09 Monthly Freedom Challenge

Resources Mentioned

• Marianne Williamson — Our Deepest Fear poem (referenced throughout the episode)

• Amy Porterfield — “Share your scars, not your wounds”

• Brené Brown — On doing the uncomfortable inner work and separating identity from outcomes

• The 50+ Nomad Club — Monthly Freedom Challenge and private community

• This Big World Travel Challenge Cards — 50 scratch-off travel prompts + free 12-month Club membership bonus

Join the Conversation

I’d love you to reflect on this:

• What’s your 10-year hangover — or 5-year, or last-month hangover?

• What’s the one thing fear has been keeping you from?

• What uncomfortable action are you committing to this week?

Share your thoughts in the comments, I’m reading, responding & cheering you on.

So, how’s 2025 been for you?

It’s a crazy world out there, right?

Everything feels more expensive. Governments feel less predictable. Technology is moving at a pace that’s hard to keep up with, and AI is starting to reshape how we all work and live (probably more than we’re all prepared for).

The world feels louder, more opinionated, and a bit harder to read than it did not so long ago.

In conversations with friends and family over Christmas, the same themes kept popping up. A sense of disempowerment, uncertainty, and frustration, with way too much time lost to headlines, doom-scrolling, and endless debates about governments, immigration, the economy, and where it’s all going next.

And yet…

Here in London, the energy has been fantastic! Shopping streets have been packed, the pubs are full, there’s even been queues to get in the tube stations (not so fantastic). There are more pop-up events, more parties, more noise, more spending, and more of everything.

It feels that on the one hand, we’r…

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Once upon a time there was a reasonably clever (and fairly successful) online solopreneur who genuinely thought she had everything figured out. (Aka, yours truly ☺️)

She followed the usual advice with monk-like dedication.

• Be consistent.

• Show up every day.

• Focus on one thing.

She did all of it, for years.

But she ignored the most important rule of them all (the one true rule that completely protects an online business), and quietly hoped the algorithms would take care of her.

Hope, as it turns out, is a terrible business strategy.

For a good 4 years, everything trended upwards.

Traffic climbed, income grew, content was working, and she started to think, “I’ve cracked this.”

Then one morning the internet gods woke up on the wrong side of the bed, changed the SEO rules (as they like to do), and wiped out almost everything she’d built.

Overnight.

• 100k+ monthly views - Gone

• 5 figure monthly income - Gone

• Long term sponsorship deals - Cancelled

The upward traject…

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