Ready vs. willing

I acted before I was ready and things turned out great.

A note I wrote to myself before kicking off the very first Sprint Month call.

If you know me (we’re friends now, right?) you know that I pride myself on taking a “throw it out there and see what happens” approach to business. Some call it fucking around and finding out, others more tastefully refer to it as the experimental approach. I like to think of it as acting on a strategic whim; a little gut, a little data and a lot of gusto, because we famously get one shot at life so why not have some fun?

Last month I channeled this enthusiastic vibe while launching a new offer called The Portfolio Career OS Sprint Month. I’ve always possessed a slightly deranged bias towards action but this launch was fast, even for me:

• The idea was sparked from a convo I had on April 30

• I whipped up a waitlist page on May 7 and had 65 sign ups overnight

• I made the decision to go ahead on May 9

• I opened the cart on May 19

• I closed the cart on May 28

• I sold 32 places and went live on June 1

• It took 32 days from idea to kickoff

This whirlwind of rapid ideation, validation and action doubled my monthly wine bill and almost sent me into a full blown meltdown, in part due to the fact that last month’s to-do list also contained kicking off a new partnership, onboarding three new mentoring clients, finalising a massive deliverable, negotiating a lengthy deal, painstakingly finessing each weekly newsletter, posting online and…oh you know…maintaining some semblance of a balanced life. Side note: I just filed a missing person’s report for my sanity. If someone sees her please let me know?

All jokes aside, the last few weeks have been full to the brim but I’m grateful for not freaking out when I got a clear market signal to go ahead with Sprint Month, and for not telling myself that a) I didn’t have enough time, b) I needed to do more prep and c) I’m not capable of pulling it all off.

I’m grateful that I was willing, despite not feeling ready.

I’m grateful because my fervent activity has led to meeting 32 new friends from 9 countries who are building portfolio careers and doing life differently. My ‘do it even though I feel out of my depth’ attitude has generated my second highest sales month of the year. It’s given me the chance to deepen my impact. It’s generated proof that I am capable, I am strong and I can do stuff that’s hard.

So let me ask you this…

Have you been sitting on, mulling over or tinkering with something for far too long? Have you used ‘I’m not ready’ as a way to suspend you in hesitation? Are you sitting on a product? A post? An idea? A creative pursuit? A hard decision? A new direction?

If the answer is yes, then please know this to be true:

You don’t need to feel 100% prepared, just open. You don’t need to exude confidence, just hope. You don’t need to feel ready, just willing. Willing to trust yourself. Willing to take a risk. Willing to step up and step out and step forward when the thing you once dreamed of creating, to your greatest surprise, comes off.

And if you’re still deep in doubt, pen a little note with the reminder that you are capable. You are strong. You can do stuff that’s hard.

Ready or not, here we come.

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The Sprint Month back story plus a little pep talk for you:

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🫶🏼 When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help:

• Free Training: Stabilise, Systemise and Scale Your Portfolio Career in 2025: learn the inbound and outbound acquisition strategies to generate a consistent flow of leads and grow your income, and the workflows to that will help you increase capacity beyond your time.

• The Portfolio Career Operating System: a fully fledged system for people who do multiple things and want to do them well.

• Portfolio Career Mentoring: 1-1 sessions to help you get started and build a career that sits at the intersection of freedom, creative fulfilment, meaning and money.

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