Hi Reader,

With all the rain we got over about a solid week, –when the sunshine finally came out our grass POPPED up out of nowhere practically overnight!

My husband mowed one half of our yard on Monday, and yesterday I mowed the other half in Luna's fenced yard. It took about an hour. I made that first pass around the fence line, getting as close as I could with the mower. I had my AirPods in to literally plug my ears & block out some of the loud noise of the motor, and had the noise cancellation on so I could hear my music at a normal volume on top of the motor. Luna was in the backyard with me and would get up & watch every time I passed her where she lay waiting.

–And I realized something: I was genuinely enjoying myself!

I don't "love" to mow necessarily, but I do love the result & I love being unbothered by ANYone while I'm doing it. My phone is in the yard with me, but not "on me" because my 'work pants' don't have pockets. My watch can call for help in an emergency, and it's tracking my activity for me. It was a sunny 75ºF with a breeze and I was mowing in the shade mostly. My AirPods are playing fun, upbeat music that makes me smile for no reason at all, and I'm just free to think & let my brain wander. Every season, I rediscover this when I mow for the first time, since the previous end of summer when we officially put the mower away for fall & winter.

So here's my takeaways from those wandering thoughts:

Our grass popped up seemingly overnight because it got the food (rain & sunshine) it needed to help it grow, so it didn't literally just grow 6in taller in 8-12 hours, –it had been growing the whole time, but slowly in increments that we weren't noticing until all of a sudden we realized it was time to mow.

That relates to what we're building in our businesses! We put in all this effort to build our businesses, giving it the "food" it needs to grow and most of that time it feels like it's going NOwhere excruciatingly slowly, ––until one day ya wake up & it's time to mow it down. Maybe it's growing too fast, or maybe it was growing in a direction you didn't want to go, or maybe you realized it was growing at all & you're just gratefully going "holy shit, FINALLY!" 🤩🙌

Only then, do you realize what that phrase means, "overnight success." Our grass had overnight success too, but only because we just noticed it when we noticed it, ––it was growing the whole time! 🤭

The same thing is happening to every "overnight success" you've ever heard of too. VERY rarely are they actually 'blowing/growing up' overnight with no effort beforehand –the rest of us grow slowly over time until someone notices & calls it an "overnight" growth/success. 🪴 Just (plant) food for thought. 😉

Here's some quick updates!

⚡️NEW: Ultimate Client Portal System

I've been adding/updating the course & this morning I just added a new lesson on how to use AI + your client's Content Guide form submission info to generate content for you. There's an example tutorial that shows you how I loosely do this myself with Claude, and a Google Doc with the copy/pasted content Claude generated for me while making that tutorial for a fictitious client/business.

Current students: Jump straight into the new lesson here →

Don't have it yet? Start binging now →

⏯️ Replay: May Q&A with Paige Brunton & I

If you missed the live –I know 6a is early for West-Coasters in the US– you can catch the replay here in her student Facebook group. It was a really fun 'episode' about 90min long and we covered a LOT of ground with some really great questions!

📣 Clarification – Book VIP Days on Autopilot

Just wanted to clarify that last week I asked if anyone was interested in learning how I have my VIP Day service book-able on autopilot and I think I confused a couple of you. 🤭 Oopsie! What I meant was –but didn't have space to explain in that small box– that I'm thinking about teaching you how to recreate my setup but before I actually consider that & what method (course, lesson, workshop, live or pre-recorded), etc –is anyone even interested?

So far 10 of you have expressed interest for that, so just curious if anyone else wants to learn! If so, click the link below – it won't "do" anything but open your default email app & pre-populate an email that says "YAS! I'm interested" so you can quickly hit send IF ya want, but you don't have to send anything. A simple click on the link itself will work as your vote.

If there's enough people interested, I'll figure out what the best delivery method would be to teach you what I'm doing, and let ya know when it's ready! I'm thinking it might need to be a live workshop so we have time for Q&A afterward, but we'll see!

This is a question I've been seeing A LOT lately, since I've been talking a lot about software this year. It's a totally valid question because I haven't actually addressed the differences between these tools, which probably aren't obvious –especially if you're a newer business owner or are used to doing things offline/off a computer.

​CRM vs Client Portal vs PM Tool: Ultimate Guide​ Learn the differences between CRMs, client portals, and project management tools so you can choose the right tech stack for your design business. Find Out Now

Gems, news & fun stuff for the week:

⏯️ Last week's post I've tried 20+ of project/task management tools over the years, some that I also made into a Client Portal –before finding Kitchen.co* and realizing Notion* is not a task management tool. ​This unpopular opinion video explains why I'm not using Notion for tasks anymore. 😬

⏯️ Why she QUIT ​Vanessa Lau grew her new YouTube channel to 700,000+ subscribers & her business up to $8 MILLION... and quit. Here's what she learned in 40min. How she lost her own identity while growing a business that became a beast she didn't even like! 🤯

⏯️ GREAT Storytelling If you struggle with messaging & being yourself –the new SuprOrdinary YT channel is a MUST. Production is Netflix-quality, sure, but this new channel has climbed to 60k subscribers in just 3-months for a reason: GREAT storytelling!

🤩 Dubsado v3.0 – WAISTLIST! Current Dubs users: the waitlist for early access to the brand new, redesigned UI is LIVE! You can join the waitlist here:https://www.dubsado.com/three-point-o?r=WjA8x​ We've been waiting for *actual* years for this change!! IYKYK

⭐️ Breely Created by the founder of Acuity (now Squarespace Scheduling), this little tool is HIPAA compliant, and has a LOT of built-in features while feeling less overwhelming than Acuity ––all for free, or $7/mo. 🤯 ​Try it for free* ​ See what it can do 👇🏼

📑 May Sale → CLC Foundry™️ The annual spring sale started MONDAY and runs through next Monday, the 19th. Templates are not on sale individually but they they are included with your Foundry membership, 50-70% off! Annual Members ($650) - includes 4 contracts of your choice (up to $1900 value) Quarterly Members ($195) - includes 1 contract of your choice (up to $475 value) NEW Lifetime Access License to the Creative Law Foundry™ for $1497 - includes ALL Templates + Education! ​ Join the Foundry*

As usual, that's enough for now. 😁
​See ya next time!

Katelyn Web Designer & Educator ​Thrivin' on coffee, community, cursing & carefully laid plans!