Some things I'm thinking about right now.

Behind The Scenes look at my brain & business as I take a breath this month.

It’s been a minute since I shared a little peek behind the curtain of life and business. If you’re new here, welcome. From time to time, I tend to spill a few secrets: revenue, love life, the odd existential crisis.

I have to say, it’s nice to pause for a moment after some longer meatier posts.

So if personal musings are your thing, keep reading. If not, skip this one and I’ll be back soon with something more structured.

---

1/ How the launch of Authority Club went

I may do a separate post about this, but in short, really well!

I’ve spent the last four weeks bringing in new members, and we had the kick off session last night. It’s been my biggest to date (in terms of members and revenue) but more than that, it’s been rewarding because of what it represents: years of thinking and client work, brought into one ‘home’. I’ve been busy enrolling people, yes — but also piecing together years’ worth of resources...past trainings, frameworks etc. into one space and turning it into a clear structure for people to work through both live and asynchronously. After being capped at 1-1 work for a while, it’s amazing to have a spacious container to welcome more authority-led business owners in and provide support to.

Last night I introduced a mega spreadsheet for members, and guided them on how to ‘map their Authority’; getting a self-assessment of where their business is at, and getting a “%” out of 100. This “%” they can work on increasing in the year ahead.

Had some nice messages from members afterwards:

(P.S If you wanted to join and missed this first session, it is not too late, as it’s not a cohort-based-course, you can join us still and catch up. Here’s the full details & application link.)

---

2/ Monday Mornings is six months old

In November, I started a side project, of sorts.

Monday Mornings: a newsletter dedicated to understanding the macro workforce shift, what I’ve coined, the shift to mass entrepreneurism.

Whilst the thinking Monday Mornings dates years back, edition one came out six months ago. Today, twelve (very chunky) posts later, I am taking stock by sending out a reader survey. The survey helps me reflect on where Monday Mornings best plays: in the newsletter world, in readers’ lives, and in my own ‘body of work’.

So if you’ve been reading those emails too, pretty please fill this in? 🙏

---

3/Last week’s email

Last week’s newsletter went straight to spam for a lot of people — so resharing here:

Hopeful it ending up in spam wasn’t due to writing about Substack otherwise this one is also doomed because of my next point…

---

4/ The parallel rise and fall of Substack

Substack seems to be growing in popularity daily. Big players are arriving, and the features continue to evolve.

Except many seasoned newsletter people have questions (lots of chatter in the newsletter community I’m in) where many eyebrows have been raised in terms of the some of the changes. Overall, I’d say: treat Substack like another top-of-funnel, social media channel, not just your core email list.

We’re still building on rented land, folks.

Case in point, very publicly in the past week, Lucy Werner’s top business publication Hype Yourself lost all past issues, subscribers… all of it gone. After playing around with the navigation bar Lucy hit encountered a very nasty bug.

From Lucys subscriber chat

---

5/ How much I loved my Revolut card in New York

I got the Revolut Ultra account and it’s been great. But it wasn’t until my NYC trip last week I felt really grateful for all the perks.

Including airport lounge access (it was my first time in one and was nicely surprised to learn about the free food and open bar). I then used various WeWork buildings for private calls across the city, access charging points, bathroom breaks and a bit of networking. I then used ClassPass for fitness, hitting up Bar Method and CycleBar. Used the travel insurance. The Financial Times subscription. Many many more perks inside. You get the picture, it’s a card with perks!

(I get a small kickback if you sign up — but I’ve been singing its praises regardless.)

---

6/ I need more hobbies

I’m doing regular improv comedy classes again (great), and on Saturday I tried a pole dancing class (which I loved).

And I’m seeking new creative and/or active hobbies, away from the screen, so if you have any suggestions, I am all ears.

And in the meantime I’m back on a nutrition/health kick with the help of some experts, after falling off the bandwagon a bit. I’ve enlisted the help of the wonderful Tsiory Kabath and Louis (tell them if I seuont you sign up!) and giving this area of life real focus always brings dividends. Health is wealth, ammiright?

BTW, are we connected on LinkedIn yet? Or Instagram (a little more personal than pure work, as a heads up). If you drop in, tell me you came from here!

7/ Beige Beliefs

You know when a creator shares their ‘hot take’ but you’ve heard that hot take on literally every other similar account?

Like ‘Lattes and avocado toast aren’t why you’re poor’. Yeah… let’s retire that one.

If you want to think deeply about your beliefs, and share them to raise your credibility, here’s a few thought-starters:

• What are the “rules” in your industry that you actively break?

• What’s something everyone’s praising but you secretly think is a distraction?

• What advice would you never give your clients, even though it’s popular?

P.S this is something I support you to identify and then share inside Authority Club!

---

There’s plenty more swirling in my brain but you certainly don’t need them all!

I’ll be back in two weeks with something a little meatier. Until then, I’d love to hear your thoughts — or hobby recommendations!

And if you’re an independent consultant or coach and want to explore joining Authority Club to grow your practice in the year ahead alongside a smart peer group:

Thanks for reading as alway, and until next time!

Ellen Donnelly, Founder & Chief Coach, The Ask.