Stephanie Pellett is my work wife.

Working with one’s best friend comes with its own unique perks and challenges, but this post speaks not only to my love of Stephanie as a person, but as a professional and what her unique brand of support has meant for my business.

We are deeply compatible. In every way I dream, she grounds. Where I falter or fumble, she dreams.

I feel humbled and inspired to witness how she has done this for me and countless other founders. I find we founders thrive on an alternating diet of Big Visions That Will Change the World and Impostor Syndrome Dear Lord I Am Not Qualified to Change the World.

Stephanie Pellett expertly holds space for the magic in the middle place of that tension.

LATEST THOUGHT EXPERIMENT:

The phenomenon that occurs when you pick a ‘word of the year’. Stephanie and I, and most of our circle of friends, consistently pick one.

Turns out our words inevitably stir up the waters of whatever the opposite of that word is. They inspire approximately 8,974 lessons that help nudge us towards alignment with the word we’ve chosen.

My word last year: “harmony”. Thanks to my choice, 2018 is filed under: a yearlong audit of where patterns, thoughts, behaviours, roles and relationships were singing out of tune.

MY PERSONAL BELIEF:

Same goes for what we name our businesses. Names are their own medicine and businesses are ‘alive’ in the sense that they carry the energy of what we invest in them.

I called my business “Nurture”.

I can say, with the worldly sigh of a weathered old explorer putting a spyglass to his wrinkled eye; choosing that name has unleashed slow drips, impenetrable fog and full-on gale storms of lessons conveniently pointing to the spaces where nurturing is still a stranger. Built within the fabric of the Nurture sails, however, is to take these spaces and creatively bring attention, intention and devotion to what’s stormy.

Here’s a shortlist of three things that “Nurture Nurture”, if you will. A person, a product, and a system in my business toolkit that are the equivalent of having the kind of crew and ballast to weather anything.

1. HoneyBook, my go-to CRM

2. Stephanie Pellett, my ‘work wife’

3. Asana & my ‘patented’ Corkboard MethodTM

#2 – STEPHANIE PELLETT

THE STORM:

I still cackle like a sea witch anytime I consider that I used to function without Stephanie Pellett.

SOMEHOW, I:

• cooked, cleaned, facilitated and held space at three retreats on my own before she came along.
• plonked down exhausted at the end of each day running entirely on adrenaline and what remained of my quickly dwindling personal savings account.
• hungrily engaged with every single person who even cocked an eyebrow about Nurture. I thought they were the key to my success.
• set aside other priorities and devoted my time to ‘coffee dates that might change something’. Most didn’t.
• quite literally spent (gulp) ALL of my own money to support my vision with a financial model (and mindset) that had no space for profit.
• employed a retreat on-boarding process that looked like the cross-stitch kits I attempted when I was 12. You know the kind. Homey scene on the front. Tangled mess of chaotic, coloured threads at the back like a nest for a stress egret to lay worry eggs.

THE BALLAST:

STEPHANIE PELLETT IS:

What every solo founder needs but doesn’t think to provide themselves – a co-founder who isn’t actually a co-founder.

HOW SHE SHOWS UP:

She speaks to your inner compass.

Her canny observations and litmus-like ability to discern what tangible actions, tools and mindsets would move the needle on your business are extraordinary.

She meaningfully understands the spirit and intention behind your brand and your heart behind it and provides the behind-the-scenes support you need to move forward in a way that is both successful and impactful.

THE DIFFERENCE SHE MAKES:

Thanks to her wisdom and guidance, you can now turn over my on-boarding cross-stitch and frame the back end, it’s so smooth and beautiful and evocative of every value I hold for Nurture.

Oh, and I went from struggling to sell spots to selling out my retreats and dinners with waitlists.

HOW TO WORK WITH STEPHANIE:

Check out her group program The Foundery.

Gain agency over your inbox with her online Inbox Zero course.

Listen to her wisdom via her podcast Life in Limbo. Here’s the episode we did together.

Hire her for her Launch or Strategy Sessions packages.

Her business and personal newsletters and blog posts are also full of fun info and a pleasurable oasis in my own inbox whenever they land.

STEPHANIE PELLETT, FOR ME, IS (AVEC ZERO CHILL):

That glimpse of solid land after months (sigh. years.) spent at sea.

My dreams for Nurture are not only more reasonable, in the grounded sense, but also more reachable, thanks to her contributions.

Here we are, pictured in what felt hilariously like a ‘business engagement shoot’ at our latest Nurture retreat, captured by the lovely Katie Benfey.