I Didn’t Have Time to Girlboss — So I Built a Multi-7-Figure Business Anyway

I Didn’t Have Time to Girlboss — So I Built a Multi-7-Figure Business Anyway

When I walked out of the law firm for the last time on Friday, August 19, 2016, I was convinced I was about to build a thriving online health coaching business.

Spoiler: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

I did everything the gurus said to do. I signed up for every webinar. I followed every “expert” with a Canva quote graphic and a promise of passive income. And because it was 2016, I threw myself headfirst into the girlboss movement — femmepire mug in hand, ready to build independent wealth online.

Back then, there was a right way to do things. At least, that’s what everyone said.

And then life had other plans.

When the “Rules” Stopped Applying to Me

Shortly after I started my business, I had brain surgery followed by a year-long recovery that demanded everything I had.

The moment I started to feel like myself again, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia.

Overnight, I went from building my business by the book to spending my days inside hospital rooms, negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to get my dad hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of experimental drugs — for free — just to keep him alive. (They said yes.)

I didn’t have the luxury of doing things the way the online business world said they had to be done. I had limited time, limited energy, and zero bandwidth for three-tiered coaching programs or in-person conferences.

So I built differently. Quietly. Slowly. On my own terms.

What I Built (and How I Built It)

While sitting in chemo rooms with puffy eyes, I built a multi-7-figure digital products business.

I built it the way everyone said you couldn’t.

I didn’t go to the big industry conferences. I didn’t have a buzzy niche — I sold legal templates, which, trust me, is not the kind of thing that makes cool kids come knocking. I didn’t have a massive network or a big-name mentor.

What I had was a business model that worked for my life, not against it.

And honestly? I think that’s why it worked.

The Online Business World Has Changed

Nearly ten years later, the industry looks really different.

The old rules, the ones that said you had to do webinars, build out three coaching tiers, and hustle on every social media platform — are being dismantled. New models are emerging. More ways of building exist now than ever before.

You don’t have to run webinars. You don’t have to be on Instagram. You don’t have to build a personal brand the way someone told you to in 2017.

That freedom is genuinely exciting.

But I also hear from so many entrepreneurs who feel completely overwhelmed by it. If there’s no single “right” way anymore, how do you know where to start? Who do you trust? What should you actually focus on?

Those are fair questions and they’re exactly what a new free event is designed to help answer.

The Girlboss Apology Tour

My friend Tarzan Kay — an incredible copywriter and someone I’ve known and trusted for four years — recently invited me to be part of something called The Girlboss Apology Tour: a free, 3-day virtual summit with coaches, creatives, and entrepreneurs sharing the real story of what building a business has cost them, what they’d do differently, and where the industry is headed.

When she first asked me, I said: “I’m in — but I’m not sure I’m sorry.”

Her response reframed it perfectly: “That’s not what this is about. We’re here to share mistakes from a place of curiosity, not shame. To help the next generation.”

I love that framing. I’ve made plenty of decisions I’d make differently today. But I did what I could with what I had when I had it. That’s all any of us can do.

The summit features 14 speakers and three live events where Tarzan brings people together to talk honestly about where we’ve been, what we might want to leave behind, and what we actually want to build going forward.

If you’re at a place in your business where you’re questioning the old playbook — or trying to figure out your own path without following someone else’s — this is worth your time.

 Links You’ll Love

 Learn how to build an email list full of buyers, create a digital product that sells while you sleep, and live more of a life you love while doing it in my book, When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy. GRAB A COPY→ Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble

 ON YOUR TERMS®️

Q1 Check-In + Q2 Plans!

Most of us do one of two things at the end of a quarter: obsess over the numbers or talk about burnout. Rarely both.

This week’s episode walks you through a check-in that covers your stats and your vibes — plus I’m sharing my own Q1 gap year update: what’s working, what’s not, and what I’m changing.

LISTEN→ The End-of-Quarter Habit That Will Change How You Run Your Business

[Listen on: Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Substack]