We are officially done with the idea that every new year has to look like the ones before it.

No more resolutions that disappear by week two.
No more “new year, new me” pressure.
No more chasing what looks good online instead of what actually feels good to wake up to.

2026 isn’t about reinventing yourself — it’s about aligning with yourself.

Because intention builds momentum.
Intention builds alignment.
And intention builds a business and a life that actually fits the human inside of it.

This is the year we stop running in circles and start walking — steadily, confidently — in the right direction.

There’s a lot of noise out there telling us to hustle harder:

➡️ Sell more
➡️ Post more
➡️ Scale faster

But here’s the truth most people avoid:

Speed means nothing if you’re running in the wrong direction.

Success that demands burnout isn’t success — it’s survival.

You deserve more than surviving your own dreams.

We don’t talk enough about this — your business should grow with you… or it starts to feel like a cage.

Maybe you’ve outgrown old offers.
Maybe you’re ready to go deeper, not wider.
Maybe your purpose has shifted — and it’s time your work reflects it.

2026 is not the year to shrink yourself to fit outdated goals.
It’s the year you rise into what’s next.

Busy is not the same as building.

And if everything is a priority… nothing is.

So here are three grounding questions to build your 2026 with clarity and confidence:

1️⃣ What do I want to be known for this year?
2️⃣ What am I building that lasts beyond this year?
3️⃣ What am I committed to showing up for every single week?

Weekly consistency builds momentum.
Momentum builds confidence.
Confidence fuels growth that lasts.

Intentional growth includes:

✅ Systems that save your sanity
✅ Offers that create revenue and impact
✅ Processes that give you breathing room
✅ Visibility that builds connection, not noise

If 2025 was the year of figuring it out…
2026 is the year of building it out.

Not perfectly.
Not constantly.
Not alone.

Real talk?
Women entrepreneurs have been building in isolation for far too long.

When we build inside community, things shift:

✨ Clarity becomes natural
✨ Support becomes consistent
✨ Confidence becomes lived — not performed
✨ Growth feels aligned instead of forced

That’s why I created The Patch, our global membership for women building bold things with purpose and community beside them.

If you’re ready for alignment, momentum, and meaningful expansion in 2026 — this is where it happens.

👉 Join us at: dandelioninc.com/patch

Let this be the year you:

🔹 Move with intention
🔹 Build what matters
🔹 Stop waiting for permission
🔹 Step into the work you’re meant to do next

You don’t need hype.
You don’t need to change who you are.
You just need clarity — and support.

Because progress isn’t about perfection.
It’s about showing up — messy and brave — one seed at a time.

Here’s to the year we build intentionally… together. 🌱

Keep Going—with Support

If this resonated, join me inside The Patch—the Dandelion-Inc membership where community, accountability, and honest momentum meet. Explore what’s inside: dandelion-inc.com

Sponsored by Inperium — a unified network helping nonprofit and human service organizations reduce costs, increase efficiency, and scale impact while staying true to their mission. Learn more at inperium.org

Some people believe hardship should be the rite of passage. “I suffered, so you should too.” Today’s guest, Wendy Meadows, chose the opposite: learn, evolve, and then make the path easier for the next woman.

Wendy spent years as a family law litigator before realizing the role no longer aligned with who she is. She turned off the litigation spigot, built a solo practice, and shifted to family law mediation—where curiosity, calm leadership, and practical systems do what conflict rarely can: create durable solutions.

• Pain doesn’t have to be a template.

• Real leadership looks like shortening the learning curve for others.

• Wendy’s lens: use your story to open doors, not gatekeep them.

• Mediation lets families design outcomes privately and humanely.

• It fits Wendy’s strengths: listening, clarity, and future-focused agreements.

• Key shift: from “win/lose” to interest-based problem solving.

• Reputation and relationships beat aggressive advertising.

• “Top of mind” marketing: consistent presence on LinkedIn and Facebook, clear messaging about mediation services.

• Make the ask: tell colleagues you now mediate; referrals follow clarity.

Wendy now coaches burned-out lawyer moms and attorneys who want to go solo. Her coaching centers on:

• Defining the work you actually want to do

• Simplifying operations (intake, billing, client experience)

• Saying no to misaligned matters and yes to sustainable revenue

SEO cues: burnout for lawyers, coaching for attorneys, leave big law, attorney work–life balance

Wendy’s Pause Time Playbook is a simple daily practice:

1. Set your compass each morning (who you’ll be, what matters).

2. Rehearse high-stakes moments before they happen.

3. Reflect at day’s end to lock in learning and confidence.

Pen-to-paper intention turns reaction into leadership.

• Get honest about alignment. If the role no longer fits, explore alternatives like mediation or a limited-scope practice.

• Tell people what you do now. Clear, repeated messaging builds referral paths.

• Systemize once, benefit daily. Intake, payment, templates, and checklists save hours.

• Journal with purpose. Decide who you’ll be before the hard moment arrives.

Hear the full conversation with Wendy Meadows on The Seed to learn how she left litigation, built a values-aligned practice, and helps other attorneys do the same.

Keep Going—with Support

If this resonated, join me inside The Patch—the Dandelion-Inc membership where community, accountability, and honest momentum meet. Explore what’s inside: dandelion-inc.com

Sponsored by Inperium — a unified network helping nonprofit and human service organizations reduce costs, increase efficiency, and scale impact while staying true to their mission. Learn more at inperium.org

Every December, we choose a word for the year ahead. A word that feels hopeful. Inspired. Safe. This year, I chose a word I wasn’t ready for: Push.

I thought pushing meant doing more.
Instead, it meant becoming more.

Push asked me to stretch emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and professionally in ways I could not have planned for. It forced me to step into rooms that made me question if I belonged there. It demanded courage I wasn’t sure I had.

And it changed me.

I said yes to public speaking when every cell in my body wanted to run. I stood on a stage at the university I graduated from — a full-circle moment of stepping back into a place that shaped me, now as a woman rewriting her story in real time.

I flew to Poland alone to teach leadership and civic engagement. Airports, foreign languages, navigating unfamiliar places. Old me would have declined. This year, I went anyway. And I returned with proof that I can do hard things — because I just did.

I always dreamed of creating space for women that was deeper than networking — a space where collaboration, connection, and genuine support scale lives and businesses.

That is what The Patch became. A movement. A place where women rise together.

And I wrote the book I’ve talked about writing for years. Not in theory. Not with pretty Instagram quotes. I wrote it. For real.

Push knocked down the doors I needed to walk through.

2026 isn’t my year to hustle harder.

It’s my year to focus.

Focus means:
• No more scattering my energy
• No more saying yes to everything
• No more urgency driving decisions
• No more sprinting without direction

Focus means:
• Clarity
• Precision
• Depth
• Sustainable growth

Push built the foundation.
Focus builds the future.

The Patch Community is where focused women build.
Where accountability becomes standard.
Where collaboration accelerates growth.
Where momentum doesn’t stall halfway through the year.

And in 2026, we gather again:

The Women Rising Summit — September 25, 2026
This isn’t an event to attend.
It’s an experience to feel.
A catalyst. A shift. A spark.

Get in the room with us.

Listen to the full episode here: [Insert link]
Join The Patch: dandelion-inc.com/patch

If something is stirring in you while reading this — pay attention.
You didn’t build everything you’ve built to stay small.

Let’s grow with focus, depth, and intention.

Together.

Keep Going—with Support

If this resonated, join me inside The Patch—the Dandelion-Inc membership where community, accountability, and honest momentum meet. Explore what’s inside: dandelion-inc.com

Sponsored by Inperium — a unified network helping nonprofit and human service organizations reduce costs, increase efficiency, and scale impact while staying true to their mission. Learn more at inperium.org

Some lessons you learn from books. Others you learn sitting in front of your laptop after a launch belly-flops, wondering what just happened. This year handed me a handful of those lessons—the kind that sting first and serve later.

Here are the five shifts that changed everything for me in 2025. Use what serves you. Leave what doesn’t. But whatever you do, don’t quit. Treat it as data.

1) Clarity Is Leadership (Not a Task You Outsource)

It’s tempting to think a coach, designer, VA, or tool can fix fuzzy strategy. They can help—but they can’t own your vision. If you can’t explain your offer in one sentence and why it matters in one breath, go back to the drawing board and get closer to your customer. Have real conversations. Validate needs. Then build.

Quick prompt:
Who do I serve, what outcome do I create, and why does it matter now

2) Consistency Compounds (Even When It’s Quiet)

I ran a 60-day daily content challenge. It didn’t go viral. But my messaging sharpened, recall increased, and more people said, “I see you everywhere.” Consistency isn’t flashy; it’s trust over time.

Try this:
Pick one channel and one format. Ship three times a week for eight weeks. Measure clarity and conversion, not likes.

3) Community Is a Strategy, Not a Side Effect

Business doesn’t grow in isolation. When I built The Patch, everything improved—retention, results, and the energy to keep going. We learn from experts, yes, but we also learn from each other.

Design it in:
Create recurring touchpoints (office hours, hot seats, co-working) so connection is part of your model, not a bonus.

4) Systems Save Your Sanity (And Your Schedule)

We systemized launches, content, onboarding, client ops, and podcast production. Every hour invested in a workflow returned ten. Freedom isn’t just time—it’s repeatability.

Start small:
Document one repeat task this week: steps, owner, assets, timeline. Run it twice. Improve it. Name it.

5) Rest Is Strategy

Exhaustion is not a badge of honor. My best ideas rarely arrive on Zoom; they show up on runs, in the kitchen, or when I finally stop. Rest restores judgment, creativity, and staying power.

Protect it:
Block recovery time on your calendar like a client meeting. Honor it. Your future self will thank you.

A Simple Reflection to Close the Year

Reverse-engineer your biggest 2025 lesson:

• What was your hardest moment this year
• What did it force you to confront
• What lesson will you carry into 2026 so you don’t repeat it
• Turn failure into data. Turn data into wisdom.

Keep Going—with Support

If this resonated, join me inside The Patch—the Dandelion-Inc membership where community, accountability, and honest momentum meet. Explore what’s inside: dandelion-inc.com

Sponsored by Inperium — a unified network helping nonprofit and human service organizations reduce costs, increase efficiency, and scale impact while staying true to their mission. Learn more at inperium.org

There’s a moment many entrepreneurs don’t talk about. The moment when you put a lead magnet into the world — a beautiful guide, checklist, quiz, or webinar — and it feels like no one is there to receive it.

You’re working hard behind the scenes, hoping your offer will make a difference, but the response feels quiet. Too quiet.

On this week’s episode of The Seed, list-building expert Jennie Wright is here to transform the way we think about growing an audience. Because list building isn’t about numbers. It’s about people.

Why Traditional List Building Feels So Lonely

Many entrepreneurs sit behind the safety of step-by-step guides and long-form nurturing funnels — and wonder why connection is missing.

Jenny explains it clearly:
We’ve turned list building into a transaction instead of a relationship.

When the process shifts from:
“How do I get more emails?”
to
“How do I help someone feel seen?”
your list doesn’t just grow — it thrives.

Connection Is the New Strategy

Jenny has helped hundreds of business owners rapidly expand their reach using:
• Virtual summits that multiply visibility through collaboration
• Community-driven engagement that builds trust
• Micro-audiences who convert better than massive ones
• A non-transactional approach that feels good for everyone involved

Here’s the truth:
People take action when they feel like you care about them first.

The Power of Collaboration

One speaker. One email. One share.
Suddenly your message reaches thousands instead of dozens.

Jenny reminds us that major momentum doesn’t come from going viral — it comes from going together.

That’s how list building becomes:
• Faster
• More aligned
• More sustainable

Your Community Is Waiting

The scariest part of growing a list isn’t the technology or the content.
It’s the vulnerability of showing up.

You don’t have to do it alone.

Listen to the full conversation with Jenny Wright here.

Ready to grow WITH support?

Join us inside The Patch — the membership that combines community, accountability, and meaningful growth.
Explore everything we offer: www.dandelion-inc.com

Sponsored by Inperium — a unified network helping nonprofit and human service organizations reduce costs, increase efficiency, and scale impact while staying true to their mission. Learn more at inperium.org

There’s a moment in every entrepreneur’s journey when doubt becomes louder than the dream. Maybe progress slows, or the outside validation doesn’t come as quickly as you hoped. Suddenly, you start telling yourself you aren’t ready. That you need more expertise, more experience, more confidence before you can lead.

Patty Aubrey knows that internal dialogue well.

Before she helped transform Chicken Soup for the Soul into a global powerhouse, she was the woman behind the scenes—managing the moving parts, building the structure, and keeping everything running. She wasn’t introduced as the face of the brand. She wasn’t handed a seat at the leadership table. She earned it.

Her message is simple and needed:

Stop shrinking. Step up. You’re already qualified to lead.

Patty has been at the forefront of one of the most recognizable publishing brands in the world. Her leadership helped scale Chicken Soup for the Soul into a billion-dollar enterprise with books, media, products, and a global audience.

But her rise wasn’t linear. It wasn’t glamorous. And it certainly wasn’t perfect.

Which is exactly why she’s so relatable—and so powerful.

In our conversation on The Seed, Patty pulls back the curtain on:

What keeps women from stepping fully into leadership:

• Waiting to feel more ready or more legitimate

• Downplaying success to maintain likability

• Allowing others to take the credit

• Believing someone else knows better

What accelerates confidence and visibility:

• Sharing the unpolished parts of your story

• Speaking up even when your voice shakes

• Taking credit for the work you actually do

• Understanding the value you already bring

Patty’s leadership didn’t change when she stepped forward.
What changed was who finally saw it.

When women hold back:

• Innovation slows

• Teams lose direction

• Impact stays small

• The wrong voices lead the room

Your silence has a cost.
Your voice has a purpose.

And as Patty reminds us:
Belief is not optional if you want big things to happen.

What is a story you’ve been telling yourself that keeps you small?

Now rewrite it.

The world doesn’t need a polished version of you.
It needs the real one—the one who is still figuring it out and moving anyway.

Hear Patty’s full story and leadership strategies here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-seed-growing-your-business/id1500087271

This conversation is a must-listen if you’re building something meaningful and you want to lead with both humility and undeniable authority.

If this resonated with you, join us inside The Patch. We are building businesses and legacies together—one honest step at a time.

Sponsored by Inperium — where strong leaders and strong communities grow together. Learn more at inperium.org

If you’ve ever launched something with total excitement… only to hear crickets… you are so not alone. Every entrepreneur, creator, and business owner has been in that moment:

• Was it the message?
• The timing?
• The ever-changing, always-confusing algorithm?

Here’s the thing:
Your message deserves to be heard — and not just by the people already in your bubble.

That’s why this week on The Seed, I sat down with Christina Lenkowski, known as The Podcast Pitch Pro. Christina has helped her clients land more than 1,000 podcast guest appearances — all without paid ads or exhausting content creation.

We talked about why visibility can’t be optional anymore — and why podcast guesting might be the smartest, simplest growth strategy for your brand.

🌱 The Three Pillars of Visibility Marketing

1️⃣ Owned Media
Your platforms: website, podcast, newsletter, social media

2️⃣ Paid Media
Ads, sponsorships, boosted posts

3️⃣ Earned Media (The Magic One)
Guest interviews, media features, speaking opportunities
→ Where trust is built and new audiences discover you

So many entrepreneurs focus only on the first two — and then wonder why growth feels slow.

When you show up on a podcast:

✔ You gain credibility by being featured
✔ You build trust through long-form conversation
✔ You reach brand-new audiences waiting for your expertise
✔ You reduce burnout from constant posting

And if you’re introverted?
Christina insists that podcasts are your stage — intimate, thoughtful, powerful.

✨ The Lighthouse Mindset

• We also dove into how visibility supports confidence.
• Everytime you show up, you shine a light.
• Everytime you share your story, you make it easier for the right people to find you.
• You become the lighthouse — steady, strong, unmissable.

Take the First Step

Ready to grow your visibility (and your confidence)?

Start with Christina’s quiz to discover your publicity path:
➡️ podcastpublicityquiz.com

Connect with Christina on Instagram:
➡️ @publicityxchristina

And if you loved this episode, make sure you subscribe, share it with a friend, and join us inside The Patch — where business growth is never a solo sport.

Sponsored by Imperium — empowering nonprofits and health & human service organizations with the operational support they need to stay mission-focused. Learn more at imperium.org

🎙️ I share the whole behind-the-scenes story on this week’s episode of The Seed. No filters. No hiding. Just truth.

If this planted something in you, come deeper. Join me inside The Patch—a community for builders, believers, and brave women growing in real time.

Progress isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing up—messy and brave—one seed at a time.

Sponsored by Imperium — empowering nonprofits and health & human service organizations with the operational support they need to stay mission-focused. Learn more at inperium.org