A smaller group allowed everyone to take up a bit more space and go a little deeper; while a single thread seemed to tie us all together throughout the hour. That being how easily a single outside opinion can shake a decision we've already made peace with.

We kept circling back to accountability, to trusting our own calls, and to the simple relief of hearing that nobody has this fully figured out.

For early clients, a simple invitation beats a funnel.

A good chunk of the room's energy went into one question this week: when time is tight, where does the best return actually come from?

The strong consensus? Direct outreach. Newsletters, blogs and posts sit higher up the funnel, and they cost you hours to produce. A simple invitation to a 30 minute call puts you much closer to a yes.

● Name the goal first, the actions follow. If the goal is booked calls, the steps will look very different from building a marketing funnel.

● A strong referral network can carry more than a content engine in the early phase. Content still has a role; its role just depends on what phase you're in.

Above and below the line.

I was recently gifted a session by an executive operations coach who taught me a framework I've been turning over ever since: the ladder of accountability.

Below the line sits victim-style behaviours and above the line is where the useful work happens, especially for entrepreneurs:

What landed for me is how comfortable it is to slip into below the line behaviours when I'm stretched thin. It leaves me particularly vulnerable to outsourced opinions on my ideas or work, which ties nicely into the topic below. But the ladder of accountability now offers me language for catching it when it happens and stopping it in its tracks.

How one comment can unpick that solid decision.

What struck me most this week was how fast we reverse our own thinking off the back of one piece of contrary data.

Someone in the room had wished to reach out to a handful of people about a non-financial collaboration, only to have an entrepreneurial friend insist that things only work if there’s money on the table. The doubt settled over her instantly.

I recognised it immediately. Just the day before I'd written, unsent, re-written and unsent the same email until I finally scheduled it for 6am the next morning only to pull it once again because of doubt.

After a lot of self analysis, here's where we landed:

● The feedback that rattles us often comes from people without the full context needed to give such feedback.

● Very few people know the intricacies of what we’re actually navigating, so be careful where you seek advice and do your best to only take what’s needed from unsolicited advice.

● Finally; backing a decision that aligns with our own values and capacity isn't stubbornness. It's likely the thing that will see it get done with some longevity and passion behind it too.

What we're each doing in the next week or two

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