Just kidding. I’m not sorry.
Here’s the thing:
I usually send my newsletters on Fridays. Sometimes I send them on Saturdays. Today, it’s a Sunday afternoon.
The truth is, I’ve been busy living life.
Last week, I found myself in the lush green hills of Ireland, soaking in the rich history and vibrant culture. I spent the week at a device-free personal development retreat with my long-time coach and mentor, Philip McKernan. I can’t possibly express the value of stepping away from the business for a week and reflecting on my journey over the past couple of years.
Fresh off my Irish adventure, I jetted straight to Main Street Summit for another speaking engagement. It was my first time in Columbia, Missouri, and I must say it was a fantastic experience. I connected with a ton of amazing people and got to spend some time with my wife and some of my best friends.
In all of the whirlwind travel, the unthinkable happened. I skipped my weekly newsletter.
Now, if you’ve been following the “rules” of content creation and audience building, you might be shaking your head right now. “Mike, Mike, Mike,” I can hear the gurus chanting, “Consistency is key! Never break your posting schedule!”
And you know what? They’re not entirely wrong. Systems and structures can be incredibly powerful tools in building a business or a brand. But here’s the thing I’ve learned after years in the entrepreneurial trenches: the most important system is the one that works for you.
Let’s rewind a couple of weeks.
Here’s something crazy: I had a mini-panic attack on the way to the airport to fly to Dublin.
Now, I know that’s a pretty vulnerable thing to share. There is a lot of pressure to show the world that we always have it together.
The truth is, I was freaking out about my monster to-do list. I had convinced myself that this retreat and follow-on speaking tour couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Let’s back up even further. A year and a half ago, I committed to playing full-out.
The truth is, I had been coasting for a long time, since well before I sold my first company. I could feel it deep inside. There was a message – a mission – that was yearning to be brought into the world. I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
So, I stepped into the world of building a personal brand and becoming a content creator.
It was wildly uncomfortable at first.
Speaking your truth usually is.
One of my favorite questions is, “Where am I not free?”
Let me tell you, putting content into the world will show you all of those places. Fear of judgment, imposter syndrome, and every insecurity get magnified under the lens of the public eye.
But despite the challenges, something remarkable happened.
I started to enjoy it.
The artistic, creative part of me that had been silently suppressed for many years started to blossom and grow.
It felt amazing. It was working.
But somewhere along the way, it started to feel like a grind.
When I hang out with my other creator friends, we always joke that content never sleeps.
You are only as good as your last post. In the kingdom of the almighty algorithm, you’ve got to feed the beast.
Then there are all the posts – you know the ones I’m talking about – “How I grew my audience from 0 to 2.3M in the first year!”
I started to feel like I wasn’t moving fast enough. I wasn’t growing fast enough.
I was doing the work, but somehow I was behind.
Even though I knew better, I started to put pressure on myself. Create more. Write more. Share more.
Move faster.
I felt like I was living someone else’s life, following someone else’s rules. The worst part? I was losing touch with the very thing that made my voice unique in the first place – my joy.
It took me stepping away from the grind to remember something I’ve known for a long time (and had to relearn many times along the way).
True success isn’t about rigidly adhering to someone else’s playbook. It’s about writing your own.
It took stepping away to remember who I am.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not advocating for throwing all systems out the window. Far from it. The key is to learn from others, absolutely, but then adapt and mold those lessons to fit your unique style, goals, and yes, even your quirks.
Take my recent trip to Ireland, for instance. Could I have stayed home and churned out more content? Sure. But that week of exploration, of disconnecting from the entrepreneurial hustle, filled my creative well in a way that no “productivity hack” ever could.
Or consider how I approach speaking engagements like the one at Main Street Summit. I don’t follow a strict script or try to emulate other speakers. Instead, I share my real experiences – the wins, the losses, the embarrassing mistakes – because that’s what resonates with people.
That’s what’s truly valuable.
That’s why I’m sharing this story with you today. It would be a lot easier to tell you I’ve got it all figured out. But I don’t. I’m learning every day.
Being a founder is messy. It’s not linear. Sometimes, we can lose ourselves along the way.
So here’s what I want you to take away from this: Give yourself permission.
Permission to break the “rules” sometimes. Permission to step away and recharge. Permission to inject your unique flavor into everything you do. Permission to take a day off and binge Netflix.
Your audience, your customers, your team – they’re not looking for another cookie-cutter entrepreneur spouting the same old advice. They’re looking for you. Your insights. Your experiences. Your authentic self.
Building a business, a brand, a life you love – it’s not about perfection. It’s about progress. It’s about finding a rhythm that works for you, even if that rhythm sometimes means taking a spontaneous trip to Ireland or delivering a newsletter a bit later than usual.
Remember, the most successful entrepreneurs aren’t the ones who followed the rules perfectly.
They’re the ones who had the courage to write their own.
So, take those systems, those “proven” methods, and use them as a starting point. Then, inject your authenticity. Mold them to fit your life, your goals, your vision. Because at the end of the day, you’re not building just any business. You’re building your business.
And trust me, that’s where the real magic happens.
Here’s to breaking a few rules and finding your own path,
Mike
