Hi hi hi Reader,
Last week I celebrated 11 years in business π₯³π₯³π₯³π₯³π₯³
ELEVEN YEARS.
How it all started...
I started this business as a lil' delusional 22 year old college dropout, quitting school and my "big girl job" in the same month.
And by "big girl job" I mean a job with benefits, health insurance, and holiday bonus checks. I didn't really get to experience any of that though because I only last 6 weeks in the office lmao
My boss wanted to train me in all departments so I could easily cover everyone's vacations, and I was smart + picked up things quickly. That week, I was shadowing the bookkeeper. She was showing me spreadsheets, and numbers and how to balance things out.
In my head I said "I'm never coming back here again." (bookkeeping was the FIRST thing I outsourced, I hate it with a passion. I'm SO GRATEFUL for people that love it because people like me need people like you).
That night I texted my boss like I was breaking up with him, saying the infamous line of "it's not fair to you, and it's not fair to me." followed up by "I'm never coming back again. I'm out."
Dropping out of school wasn't that dramatic though, I just stopped logging in to my online classes.
At the time, (after changing my major 5x), I was specializing in Website Development, and we were learning HTML table layouts, which were already 5 years outdated at the time.
In both of these situations, I just remember thinking "I'M SMARTER THEN THIS" -- and had this undeniable urge to bet on me.
So I did.
I answered an ad on Craigslist 2 weeks later & landed a paid internship at a local marketing agency, which was run by 2 guys, 4 years older then me, hanging out in a house turned "office building" north of the city of Buffalo. The one owner was a WordPress developer, and he became a mentor of mine for YEARS.
Dude taught me everything he knew, and encouraged me to keep being curious about solving internet problems.
He also was the one that introduced me to SEO (and I hated it lololol).
That summer, as I was interning, while also bartending to make financial ends meet, I *just* KNEW I had to start my own business.
So my lil' ass walked into city hall the afternoon of July 9, 2015 and got a DBA for "Mariah Magazine".
Mariah Magazine is/was not my legal name. It was my MySpace name when I was 14 years old lololol
But my polish real last name (now my maiden name), was too hard to pronounce so EVERYONE in school just called me Mariah Magazine. So when it came time to name my business "Mariah Magazine" felt like the obvious choice.
The biggest lesson my business has taught me
11 years is a long time. It's LITERALLY 1/3 of my life. Building THIS brand & THIS business.
I've learned a fuck ton; about myself, about the internet, about websites, about tech, about marketing, about relationships, about clients, about money, about the search landscape, etc.
(Side note: No one tells you that when you start a business, it's the biggest personal development journey you didn't realize you signed up for. Thank heavens I was delulu lololol)
But the BIGGEST lesson I've learned so far is that I HAVE TO KEEP BETTING ON ME.
- No one is coming to save me.
- No one is going to figure out my problems for me.
- No one else has MY answers.
- No one else knows the "best way" for ME to market MY business.
- No one can tell me which "offer suite" will make sense long-term.
- No one will force me to keep going.
And no one can be my boss lolololol
I have to figure this out myself. For me. Yes, I can hire support or coaches or experts or consultants, but I have to run their advice & best practices through MY LENS.
I have to stay curious and stay open to failing, over & over & over again. Because without the willingness to "fail" there is no experimentation.
Without experimentation, there is no "figuring out what works for ME" specifically.
I'm not following a roadmap. I'm making this shit up as I go. I'm building a business that's UNIQUE TO ME.
And because of that?
After 11 years, I'm STILL obsessed with the online space.
Obsessed with experimenting, testing, tweaking, and creating the exact career I always craved but never knew was possible.
Running a business and wearing the amount of hats required to be a successful one-woman show is not easy. But it's the "hard" I'm willing to choose.
Why am I sharing this?
Because if you're like me, trying to build a business that's UNIQUE to you, your lifestyle, your strengths, and your zone of genius, KEEP FUCKING GOING.
Even if you gotta figure out supplemental income. THAT'S OKAY.
Even if you gotta start over or take a season off. THAT'S OKAY.
Even if shit feels quiet, and it feels like no one is listening. THAT'S NORMAL.
The path is not linear. Most people don't "go viral".
Success usually takes at least 5x longer then you think it will.
- It took me 4 years of building the business before I made enough money, consistently, to feel comfortable moving out of my parents house and supporting myself alone.
- It took me 8 years of YouTube for it to "take off"
- It took me 9 years to have my first $100k year
Most people are not an overnight success, idgaf what the TikTok/Instagram girlies & LinkedIn bros say.
But if you're in it, and you're committed, and you feel LIT THE FUCK UP BY THIS IDEA OF CREATING SOMETHING UNIQUE TO YOU, let it unfold.
Experiment. Try new things. STAY CURIOUS.
And let go of the idea that it has to "look" a certain way. Follow the breadcrumbs, and see where it leads you.
When I first started, I thought I was gonna have a website design & development agency...
I had ZERO idea that I was actually going to be a consultant, educator, and content creator.
I had ZERO idea that I would be sponsored by big brands like Adobe.
I had ZERO idea that I would be on a monthly retainer with Semrush to help them develop their educational courses.
AND I HAVE ZERO IDEA WHAT THE NEXT 5+ YEARS ARE GONNA LOOK LIKE.
But I'm excited for the opportunity to find out, and enjoy the journey along the way.
What about you?
If you knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that all the answers you need for your business are INSIDE OF YOU, would you be willing to do the work to decode & uncover them? Even if it took longer then you want?
Would you launch the thing?
Would you take a chance on that idea?
Would you try the new marketing experiment?
Would you allow yourself to figure it out, even if your path doesn't look"typical"?
Would you be willing to slow down enough to notice the breadcrumbs?
Would you release the grip you have on a made up timeline based on someone else's journey or "rules"?
Would you HAVE MORE FUN?
NEWSLETTER SPONSOR -- This newsletter is sponsored by Carolyn Leasure β Website Redesign Expert, founder of Maypop Creative Studio.
You know your website needs work. But where do you even start?
The list of things you need to figure out first keeps growing β copy, photos, brand direction, what you even want to say β so you're waiting to be prepared enough to make it worth spending the money.
Ready to get your site together THIS SUMMER before the busyness of fall hits?
In this 5-day free Slack challenge, Website Redesign Expert Carolyn Leasure will guide you to gather the key things you actually need to make your site work.
This is the prep that comes BEFORE templates, designers, and copywriting. And the best part: none of it requires technical skills. Just dedicated time and a clear plan.
So let's do it together in one rockstar week. One focused task per day, without tossing your laptop into the abyss.β
β
|
β
Action step for this week:
Set a timer for 10 minutes, and relfect on this question...
What does "success" mean TO YOU?
Not your mom, your cousin, your BFF or strangers on the internet.
To you. Personally. In this season of life that you're in RIGHT NOW.
My version of success means slow mornings, work I'm excited about, creating content & solutions that are genuinely helpful as fuck, and the space to experiment.
What about you?
WHAT DO YOU WANT OUT OF THIS ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE?
Let it be unique to you.
Let it be messy.
Let it be different and disconboblated.
Why? Because the world moves quick.
Let's take a hot second to come back to ourselves, and reflect. Because that's the ONLY WAY you're gonna quiet down enough to hear the whispers of your soul.
β