I owe you an explanation

A little note before we begin…

If you’ve just found your way to my Substack, welcome! If you’re having a moment of déjà vu, no, you’re not seeing things.

The behind-the-scenes reality check

There’s one thing that’s annoyed me about launching this Substack: I don’t have a bank of content sitting here yet. So when I point people this way, I’m painfully aware they land on a page that’s giving… crickets (not the vibe I was going for tbh)

So I’ve decided to fix that the honest way. Over the next week or so I’m uploading some of my favourite editions of A Letter to My Readers. It’s my monthly series where I basically use this newsletter as free therapy and take you behind the scenes of the highs, the lows, the wins and the losses of working for myself.

If you’ve never read these, you’re about to see them pop up (enjoy!) If you’ve read them before, then no, you’re not going mad, they’re repeat editions. I just want to bulk this place out a little so it feels like the home it’s going to be.

Right, let’s get on with it. 🖤

I owe you an explanation

I know what you’re thinking. It’s been a while. I’ve missed the last one, maybe even two editions of this letter. And honestly? I owe you an explanation.

So, where tf have I been?!

Spiraling. That’s the honest answer. Truly, genuinely SPIRALING. Let me tell you, nothing will make you realise you’ve made a grave error in how you’ve built your business quite like a few relentlessly busy weeks...

Let me take you back.

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to the US for a pretty huge trip. The first week was New York for Social Media Week. And for once, I was there purely as a guest, not working, not speaking, just absorbing. One of my goals this year was to actually attend conferences as a paying guest (vs a speaker), so I could learn and meet people without being pulled in a hundred directions. So that’s exactly what I did. Three days of the festival, plus some time meeting brand partners I’d only ever spoken to over email. (Finally!!)

The week after that, I attended YouTube’s Creator Summit. If you’ve been on this list for a while, you’ll know this one is a big deal. They host it every other year and invite hundreds of their top creators, we’re talking people with tens of millions of subscribers (and then there was little old me lol). Over three days we got to meet Oprah (yes, THE Oprah!), hear from YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, and got to spend time directly interviewing their teams to find out what’s coming next for the platform. More on that soon, keep an eye on my YouTube channel because there’s a big video dropping on Sunday that you won’t want to miss, especially if you’re a YouTuber 👀

On paper, that all sounds incredible. And it was… So what’s the problem? The problem is that I was working the ENTIRE time...

I didn’t take either trip as annual leave because technically they’re both work. So the only days I actually switched off were the travel days, and before you ask, no, I do not do airplane Wi-Fi. The plane is the one place I refuse to be reachable & I refuse to ruin it by connecting with the outside world!

But here’s what got to me. Being surrounded by creators with teams of 25+ people, running multiple channels, making multiple millions a year, yet none of them were frantically checking Slack. None of them were sneaking back to their hotel room to get an hour of work in. None of them were waking up at the crack of dawn just to stay on top of things. They’d all built businesses that could survive without them. And I was there doing the complete opposite, one of the smallest creators in the room, and yet completely tethered to my phone and laptop, struggling to keep up.

When I got home, I was stressed, behind, and overwhelmed. My business simply does not run without me. And that’s... on me.

To make things harder, I came home to some sad news about a family member. The kind of news that deserved time and space to process. In the past, I would have cleared my schedule, or at least been flexible enough to give myself that grace. But I felt like I couldn’t.

So. Here we are.

Here’s the plan to turn it around:

1. Audit everything.

I’m going through every single thing I and my team spend time on (thank god for timesheets!!) and cutting at least 20% of our day to day tasks. Because realistically, only about 20% of the work we do actually moves the needle. The rest is noise.

2. Get ruthless with my goals.

I review my goals regularly, but this time I’m being properly critical. Anything that doesn’t actually serve me long term is getting cut. And anything that’s left needs to stop requiring my constant input to exist. (Non-negotiable.)

3. Finally sort out my AI workflows.

I’ve been putting this off forever, which is ironic given that it’s literally the thing that would give me more time (!). I’m blocking out a full day, getting deep into it, for myself and for my team. We already use AI tools, but we’re nowhere near using them to their full potential (e.g. Claude Co-Work). That changes now. (And yes, there will be a video on this once I’ve actually figured it out...)

4. Stop growing for the sake of growing.

I’ve set such big goals for myself that I’ve fallen straight back into hustle culture without even noticing. Working 12 hour days, convincing myself everything needs to happen right now. It doesn’t!! I don’t have to grow my agency at this pace. I can slow down and still succeed, and have a better quality of life in the process. I’m making myself remember that.

So that’s where I’ve been. Spiraling... but now with a plan 😅

Speak soon 🖤

Jade