Real voicenote I sent a friend today

I got this email from a new friend today, shes also just started a snail mail subscription

She responded to this reel I posted and sent me this message :

''Girl, you must be in my brain, lol…SO incredibly disheartened by this whole social media algorithm situation. TikTok has been miscategorizing my content this past 2 months and I’m guessing insta has as well. TikTok has labeled my stuff with Amazon kdp, some artists name, label printing, post office, you name it. It’s exasperating because you can’t fix it, your content is just at the mercy of the algorithm AI gods, ugh 😭 Anyway, I’m at a loss at this point. I’ve turned my focus to old school, in person, human to human contact to try to spread the word...it’s the only thing I feel like I can control.🙃 Anyway, I hope you’re doing well! You’ve grown your followers about 5 times more than me, so you’re doing something right! Keep on going! 💗''

I sent her these voicenotes back (yes, I voicenote most of my friends as I have a baby and a cat and messy hair that is never brushed due to limited time O_O)

My reply:

Here is my voicenote extracted exactly how I sent it. I was going to polish it up, but I thought... F**k it, this is the real stuff I send friends, and I hope it helps you too.

Hey Gxxx. Um I just wanted to send you a voice note. My baby's finally asleep. Um, and I just want you to know that you aren't alone in your frustration and your self-doubt. I think today I'm feeling it. I think I'm truly feeling it today. Um, and you kind of wonder, like, is it a sign? Is it a sign that I should give up, right? But I didn't want to add self-professed fortune teller to my long list of hobbies, so I tell myself these thoughts. I'll share them with you, and I hope they help.

Number one is I think I tell myself it's only been what? 2 months? And like anything we start in life. Um it's not going to necessarily be easy. Right? 95% of the time it's going to be hard work. There are people that go viral, and they launch, and they do very well, and you know I'm really happy for them. It's proof that it can happen. But what about the 95% of us? And I asked myself, okay, I'm the 95%. What is a realistic target, right? What is a realistic thought process to have?

Because beating yourself up and telling yourself, " Oh, I can't go viral. I can't do what those other people are doing is really not giving yourself grace. Cos you are trying your best. I see you. I see you Gxxx. I see you trying your best. And it's like, this is what I tell myself. Number one, I say to myself. I started this because I enjoy it and I wanted to learn new skills. So I'm going to give myself a solid year. Or at least 6 months, give yourself six months of giving it a good go. Before reassessing and saying, okay, is this a learning curve for me? And number one is I say, I give, I take the pressure off, and I say, alright, I'll reconsider in 6 months. And we'll see where we are in 6 months.

Number two, I also tell myself, okay, if I know I'm going to give up in 6 months- give up or pivot- what skills can I learn in these 6 months? So at least it wasn't a waste of time, right? What can I pack into these six months in learning? Do I learn how to do nice reels? What can I learn? Can I learn about Facebook ads? What can I learn? So, this whole experiment and I call it an experiment isn't a waste of my time. I can chalk this down to experience. So, I guess I don't know if it'll help you but yourself, okay, how long are you going to give it before you pivot or reassess? Number two, if you were to pivot in 6 months, what would be one skill you're really glad that you learned? And then learn that skill, so at least you have gained some experience and knowledge out of it

And number three, right? I really think cumulative actions matter, and it's kind of like the small, consistent actions that feel like they don't matter. And when you're in doubt, just take action. Like, I think today I felt like shit, to be honest. I was like, you know, am I, am I down the wrong path here? And I'm like, well, I'm not sure if I am, but I'm going to give it 6 solid months. Why don't I work on my snail mail and do something small to move myself forward? So, rather than get up all in my feels, I do one more thing to move myself forward because I know in six months I'm going to reassess, right? So, let me give it a good go and really try to try to learn something new. Should I try to post another reel, take another shot of the product, a different angle, brainstorm, and do anything you think will help? I think , comment on another post, connect. I mean, you've done something here where you're connecting with me, which is great. Every little step counts. So, you connecting with me today is already one thing. You can tick that off your list ! :)

And finally, and I'm sorry if I'm rambling. Finally, this is the part, and this is the chapter where people give up. This is the hardest part, right? This is where the majority of the people realize the excitement's over. I'm going to give up. And I tell myself I'm going to work through it for six months or one year. Let me do the work. Let me push through the pain. Like there was a saying. It said if you knew that you were going to fail consistently, if you were going to have 20 consecutive failures and then a final success, how quickly would you have those failures? So, I'm telling myself, let me keep failing. Let me continue to fail. Let me have another flop reel. Let me have another non-engaged post. Let me have another cancellation. Yeah, like, I mean, I've had somebody cancel today. They gave me great feedback. They were like, it's amazing. But I don't have enough money for next month so I'm going to cancel. And that felt really shitty because I'm like, well, it's the cost of a coffee . Um, but you know, we can't control what people spend, and we truly don't know their financial situation. So, I'm kind of in my feels at the moment about whether people are able to see the value, you know. Um, so that's where I'm at. I'm at, like, I'm feeling down, but I'm like, the only way I'm going to get through this is to grow through it and, like, keep tweaking my sales page, keep doing small things that are going to move it forward. You know what I mean? Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Just want to let you know, I see you, I can see that you're trying your best, your stickers look so beautiful, and you're doing a great job.

Okay, I want to add this other voicenote before I forget, Gxxx. So another thing also that we must not forget is, why did you start this? And for me, it's really annoying because I'm really, really, really enjoying this whole process so I really want this to work, and it's annoying because I'm loving it so much. Today I was like cutting stuff, designing stuff, writing stuff, and I'm like, man, I am really enjoying this, and that's why we started it, right?. So don't forget that. And number two, don't forget the people that currently support you, the existing subscribers you have. You need to also think about keeping them happy and also how grateful you are that they see your value, rather than, sometimes we worry about what we don't have and we don't appreciate what we do have. So take a moment to really appreciate the existing subscribers who trust you, have spent money paying for your subscription, and just savor that. And the more you're grateful for something, the more, you know, the bigger it grows.

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Well there you have it, a real voicenote transcribed word for word which I sent today :)

I hope you know, if you are in the toughest part of building something new too, you aren't alone, and it WILL get better. You gotta have faith in yourself and the process

Thanks for being part of this new journey.

Before you go - What's something you are finding tough at the moment?

Hit reply and tell me. I read every single email :)

Thanks for reading

Aisha Preece from Outandbeyond.com

PS: If you DO want to sign up to my August snail mail, this month's theme is called ' The Art of Winning'. It's got some really cool stuff that will help you get into a better headspace to go after your goals and how to find happiness with the now and present :)

Join August's snail mail here!

PPS: I share my bare minimum low-effort strategy to grow my businesses on my Instagram stories — if you want more behind-the-scenes like this, come hang out: @aishapreece

PPPS: I organized a girls' weekend at the beach with my running group, best thing ever!

my little helper, which I missed on the girls weekend

some feedback from Uk subscriber that just got her mail

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