#86: 5 Lessons From 48 Business Owners About What’s Actually Working in 2026

In this episode I share something vulnerable: that my email list has not been growing. In fact, it has been shrinking. I'll walk you through exactly what has gone wrong and the strategy I'm using to turn it around.I’m sharing the real numbers and feelings behind noticing that my list had shrunk, why it actually made sense after running a summit, and why unsubscribes are not always a problem to fix. But I’m also getting honest about where I hadn’t been paying enough attention, and the systems and strategies I’m putting in place now to grow my list in a way that leads to real sales, not just vanity metrics.🎧 Tune in to hear:Why my email list shrank, and the unsubscribe reality I acceptWhy list growth can become a vanity metric if you’re not also looking at salesWhy I built an AI-powered dashboard to help me track list growth and unsubscribesWhat to do after spikes to make list growth actually sticks💭 [02:12] - "Whenever you do anything that brings in a nice chunk of people, you are always going to have a little bit of a increased exodus of some of those people afterwards. And it really is nothing to worry about."💭 [07:09] -  "If I can't see it, I can't fix it. If I'm not seeing that things are shrinking, I can't do anything about it and be more intentional."💭 [14:47] - "Don't spiral about people unsubscribing after an influx because it's normal, but build those systems systems in place. Put those welcome emails in place, put the right fit offers in place to help improve the chances of those people becoming clients over time."🔗 Links Mentioned:Upcoming AI/Claude resources (including the Claude Brand Workshop)Free Claude workflow training (replay inside the Skool group, limited time) New AI Bot Shop (including the Welcome Sequence Builder) Quietly Ambitious Skool CommunityStart your own Skool community (affiliate link) The Extra 10K Experiment Soulful Sales Summit Soulful Sales Society (activate your free trial)QUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

It is very easy to feel alone when something goes wrong in your business - a refund request that feels personal, a client who turns on you, a payment that fails and goes quiet, or something bigger that knocks the wind out of you. But these things happen to all of us, and talking honestly about them is one of the most helpful things we can do.This one is a Weird Hermits mastermind roundtable on the less glamorous side of running an online business. We get into the hardest client situations we have navigated, our different refund policies and the philosophies behind them, how we handle failed payments and payment plan ghosters, the contracts and terms that have saved us, and the mindset shifts that help us stay regulated when things go sideways.With Kate Kordsmeier, Destini Copp, Jordan Gill, Faith Mariah, Liz Stapleton and Ruth Poundwhite.🎁 Click here for a free bundle of goodies from the Weird Hermits 🎁 🎧 Tune in to hear:The hardest client situations each of us has navigated (including one that shocked us all to hear)How each of us approaches refund policies, and why there is no one right answerPayment plans, failed payments, and the conversation most people avoidWhy contracts, terms, and clear checkout language matter more than you thinkMindset shifts for the moments that feel huge but look smaller in hindsight💭 [09:00] "Sometimes in the moment, these things are so huge and so difficult and we don't know how to deal with it, or how to take this what feels like an attack on us. And then it's no big deal when you look back. We can laugh about it. It's all part of the journey." - Ruth💭 [41:06] "Sometimes giving refunds has been a way of closing things out that actually feels good. It doesn't always have to feel like your boundaries are being pushed over. It can feel like this is a relationship that needs to end." - Faith💭 [43:23] "At a certain point, the energetic leak and how negative and scarce it made my mindset was just like - this is not worth it. I gotta just walk away." - KateQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

In this second conversation on Claude (you can listen to the first one here, in any order) the Weird Hermits mastermind dive deeper into what Claude skills actually are, share more use cases (dynamic sales pages that update themselves, testing your own GPTs and skills, SEO workflows, dispatching tasks from your phone while watching TV), explain the difference between Claude Chat, Cowork and Code, and end with a genius little exercise: take this transcript (linked from the show notes), feed it into Claude, and ask it which of these ideas would work for YOUR business.With Destini Copp, Liz Stapleton, Monica Froese, Kate Kordsmeier, Jodi Bourne, Steph Blake and Ruth Poundwhite.Click here for a bundle of FREE AI goodies from the Weird Hermits mastermind members 🤖🎧 Tune in to hear:How we use Claude to publish blog posts, emails, social content and even self-updating pagesThe systems we’ve created that Claude can run without usAn explanation of what Claude skills actually are (and why they beat custom GPTs)The difference between Claude Chat, Cowork and Code - and when to use eachUsing Claude for cognitive load, not just efficiency - the smallest use cases that save your brain💭 [17:53] "It's helping us do things not just faster, but better. I'm not just interested in efficiency for efficiency's sake." - Kate💭 [25:32] "People don't understand this - it is actually running your business for you. That is the piece I think so many people miss." - Steph💭 [47:11] - "I'm a capable human. There's a lot of stuff I could figure out myself. Am I overwhelmed a lot of the time? Yes. Do really small things sometimes seem absolutely huge to me? Yes, all the time. So using AI for that side of things is really, really helpful.” - RuthQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

I have been having the most exciting conversations behind the scenes lately with my mastermind about what Claude is capable of. So many of us have made the switch from ChatGPT to Claude and are honestly doing mind blowing things with it. So I thought to myself, why are we keeping this private? I invited some of my mastermind buddies onto the podcast to talk about exactly what is going on and the exciting ways we are using Claude.In this discussion we talk about what’s different about Claude vs ChatGPT, Claude skills and what they can do, use cases for Claude Cowork (like organising files, editing graphics, creating sales pages, SEO audits & more), plus honest limitations and things that are still a work in progress - because nobody can keep up with how fast this is all moving.With Destini Copp, Monica Froese, Kate Kordsmeier, Jodi Bourne and Ruth Poundwhite. Click here for a bundle of FREE AI goodies from the Weird Hermits mastermind members 🤖🎧 Tune in to hear: Claude vs ChatGPT differences  Using skills to automate workflows  Cowork for real-time task execution  Building sales pages & assets fast  Limitations and learning as you go💭 [03:00] - “You don't have to do it all when it comes to AI, but think of something that would genuinely take some work off your plate and start with that.”💭 [10:20] - “When I am working on a marketing campaign with Claude, it asks me so many questions upfront that the response is actually legitimate and something I can execute on, and it gives me way better ideas.”💭 [35:18] - “I try to challenge myself now when I have to accomplish something. What is the anything I have to do, and do I really have to be the one to do it?”Links:Click here for a bundle of FREE AI goodies from the Weird Hermits mastermind members 🤖Ruth’s AI Support TeamMonica’s community - Empowered AI Collective™ (aff link)Kate’s Scale Smart with AI (aff link)Destini’s growth bottleneck quizJodi’s AI servicesThe Claude FB group Jodi mentionedQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

What if you didn't need to write new launch emails every time you relaunch an offer? What if the emails you already have, with a little bit of AI assisted tweaking, could actually perform better than anything you would write from scratch? That is what this episode is all about: saving time and energy each time you relaunch your offer.In this episode, I’m sharing how I actually use AI to refine and improve my existing launch emails rather than constantly starting from scratch. This is about making your launches more sustainable, especially if your energy or capacity fluctuates, while still keeping your voice and heart at the centre of your messaging.I also walk you through simple, practical ways to analyse what’s already working, tweak what’s not, and build a repeatable process that gets better over time. This isn’t about replacing your creativity - it’s about supporting it, so you can sell more with less effort and more ease.🎧 Tune in to hear: Using AI to improve existing emails  Auditing calls to action and messaging  Spotting gaps and missed objections  Refining subject lines and performance  Selling sustainably without starting over💭 [02:03] - “I repurpose content rather than starting from scratch, and I schedule it all in advance so that it is selling for me, without me actively being visible while I'm launching. So in times of bad health, bad mental health, laid-back launching has been really important to the way I run my business.”💭 [14:00] - “Rinsing and repeating is really beneficial for you as a business owner to improve your messaging, to improve the way that you write your emails and the way you sell in your emails.”💭 [14:20] - “Don't let AI do all the writing for you. It's really, really important that your voice and personality are still in there, which is where training AI comes in handy as well.”Links:Join the $7 trial of the Soulful Sales Society Membership for the Laidback Launching Get It Done Week AND access to the AI Sales Email ToolkitQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

As someone with limited energy and a brain that can so easily get stuck in overthinking and self-doubt, AI has genuinely changed the way I run my business. In this episode, I'm sharing five ways that I use AI to build more support behind the scenes so that selling and showing up feels lighter and more sustainable.I’m sharing how I actually use AI in a real, grounded way. I don't use it to replace me; it's a tool that can support me. For me, it’s about having something to help me get started when I feel stuck, reduce decision fatigue, and take action without overthinking everything. I talk about how I’ve built AI into my business in a way that supports my capacity and helps me keep momentum, even on low-energy days.I also explore how AI can help you reflect, spot patterns, and even support you through those inevitable moments of self-doubt. This isn’t about doing more - it’s about doing what matters, with the right kind of support behind you.🎧 Tune in to hear: Getting past blank page syndrome  Reducing decision fatigue with AI  Building imperfect sales momentum  Using AI to uncover insights and patterns  Supporting yourself through self-doubt💭 [04:37] - "The truth is that AI has been a godsend to me as someone with a lower capacity to run my business than I have ever had before."💭 [10:58] - "As business owners, it is exhausting having to make all of the decisions by ourselves, and AI has been so, so helpful for me with reducing that decision fatigue and helping me take faster action, which in turn helps me to test different ideas and get the real data back to see what is working."💭 [21:43] - "The point is that you use it in any way that helps you get unstuck, stops you spiralling, and helps you either let it go or get moving again and building that momentum again."Links:AI Support TeamAligned AI Summit ReplaysSoulful Sales Society MembershipQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

I have just wrapped up the fourth annual Soulful Sales Summit where I spent time with 48 business owners talking about what's actually working and selling for them in 2026. And honestly, what they shared was both reassuring and surprising! So in this episode, I'm breaking down the five biggest lessons I've learned from my speakers, the shifts I'm noticing, and what they mean for those of us who want to sell in a more sustainable and human way in 2026.What really stood out to me is that despite how fast things are changing, so much of what’s working isn’t actually new. It’s about coming back to the basics, but with more intention, more humanity, and more alignment. I found myself feeling grounded in what I’ve always believed about selling, while also noticing some powerful shifts in how we apply those principles right now.In this episode, I’m sharing the patterns I’m seeing across so many different businesses, and how you can take these lessons and make them your own. Because ultimately, it’s not about reinventing everything - it’s about finding what works for you and leaning into that in a way that feels sustainable.🎧 Tune in to hear: Why “boring” strategies still work  Human connection in the AI era  Imperfect visibility as a strength  Implementation over information  Using tech to support your capacity 💭 [06:30] - "The flip side to that is really focusing on what feels good, speaking to desire, speaking to community, to our shared values, acting from that place and speaking from that place in our content."💭 [15:15] - "But in the day-to-day running of my business, I feel really great about the way I am utilising tech and AI to protect my capacity and to help me with the behind-the-scenes stuff so that I don't always have to hold it all."💭 [17:24] - "Think about what boring stuff is helpful for you to keep up with or to outsource to tech so you can keep on showing up. Where can you be more vocal about your values? Where can you show up less perfectly and focus on that human connection? Where can you add an implementation focus?"Links:“Attract the Best, Repel the Rest” offer on creating a values statement (affiliate link)Soulful Sales Summit ReplaysAligned AI Summit ReplaysEpisode #83: Why Selling Feels Different in 2026 (And What Actually Works Now)Soulful Sales Society MembershipQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

 There is so much pressure online to find the one perfect offer and go all in on it. But the truth is there are many ways to build a sustainable business that works, and this episode will help you trust the path that fits you best.In this episode, I’m exploring the real decision behind choosing between one signature offer or multiple offers - and why it’s not as black and white as it’s often made out to be. I share my honest thoughts on what actually works in practice, and why so many of us end up questioning ourselves even after we’ve chosen a path.I also talk about how to create an offer ecosystem that supports both your energy and your income, without falling into the trap of undercharging or overcomplicating things. Most importantly, this is about giving yourself permission to build your business in a way that truly works for you.🎧 Tune in to hear:One offer vs multiple offers mindsetWhy testing offers mattersThe problem with low-ticket overloadCreating a sustainable offer ecosystemChoosing what works for your brain💭 [03:22] - "It's really important, actually, to have offers that don't do well. Well, it's not necessarily important that they don't do well, but it's important to test multiple offers. That is how we figure out what our audience wants."💭 [04:59] - "We all have different brains. We all have different ways that we prefer to work with our clients. Some of us have the right kind of brain to focus on one offer and sell it for years and years, like Denise Duffield-Thomas... But there's a lot of people in my world with ADHD or different ways of thinking, that means we want to be creative, we want to play, we want to get distracted sometimes."💭 [07:37] - "It is very, very hard to make a sustainable income if that is the only kind of price point you have for your offers and you're churning out those kinds of low-ticket offers."Links: The Soulful Sales SocietyQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

Your sales should not have to depend on you feeling energetic, being super visible, and being seen everywhere on the internet. So today we're talking about why setting up a funnel might actually be one of the kindest things you can build in your business.And if the word funnel makes you feel a certain kind of way, then hopefully this episode is gonna change your perspective.Psst… join the Soulful Sales Society for just $7 until March 17 to actually build the next step in your funnel.In this episode, I’m reclaiming the idea of the funnel and showing you why it doesn’t have to feel pushy, complicated, or “bro marketer.” At its core, a funnel is simply a path that helps the right people find the support they need when they’re ready for it — without your sales depending entirely on how visible or energetic you feel on any given day.I’m also breaking down how surprisingly simple a soulful funnel can be. You don’t need to build everything at once or create something complicated — just focus on the next step that helps guide people from discovering your work to becoming a buyer, in a way that feels supportive for both you and them. 🎧 Tune in to hear:Why funnels can support your energy and capacityReframing funnels as a simple path for buyersThe three core stages: traffic, trust, salesCreating a minimum viable funnel step by stepTurning new subscribers into buyers sooner💭 [02:04] - "Setting up evergreen systems and funnels behind the scenes in our business gives us breathing room. It means that we don't need to be constantly on. It bridges the gap between the natural ebbs and flows of our energy and the ebbs and flows of our sales."💭 [07:39] - "We are just giving people options. And when people come into a funnel, let's say that they found a freebie about a specific topic and they're signing up for it, it's probably because they want help with that specific topic. And if there's something that we can help them with that is a paid offer, it is in our interests and our customers' interests for us to show them that thing as quickly as possible, which is why I love Tripwire and I want to encourage more people to do it."💭 [12:10] - "Giving yourself a chance to turn free subscribers into buyers more quickly increases the sales you will make in your business in the long term."Links:Click here to join the freebie to buyer tripwire challenge for $7 in the Soulful Sales SocietyQUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.

If selling your offers has felt a little bit different lately, you are not imagining it. AI has changed the online space, content is everywhere, and buyers are more discerning about where they spend their money, but I promise you, it is not all doom and gloom. And the good news is that you don't need to be creating brand new offers.You just need to be making smart tweaks that help them sell in 2026.Which is what I'm about to share in this episode. And if you want the full story, make sure you go and get your free ticket to the Soulful Sales Summit.🎧 Tune in to hear: Why selling feels different right now The danger of believing the “sales are down” narrative How AI has changed buyer behaviour The power of clear, tangible offer outcomes Small tweaks that help offers sell in 2026💭 [00:12] - "If selling your offers has felt a little bit different lately, you are not imagining it. AI has changed the online space, content is everywhere, and buyers are more discerning about where they spend their money."💭 [02:40] - "If you ever find that being in certain circles where people are presenting changes as all doom and gloom and all of that is affecting how you show up, affecting your confidence, affecting your drive and motivation, then mute and unfollow and get yourself some new inspiration if you need it."💭 [05:33] - "We don't know what we can trust, and it is noisy. And when there's more noise and we can't trust in content as much, people are becoming more discerning, especially about what they are buying. They are slower to trust, they are slower to buy. They might need more information, they might need more connection with us before they decide that something is right for them."Links: Click here to get your free ticket to the Soulful Sales Summit.QUICK LINKS:👋 Join the free Quietly Ambitious community on Skool - for heart-led business owners who want to sell without the hustle-bro energy, with soulful AI support.✨ Start your free trial of The Soulful Sales Society - where heart-led offer creators build a sales ecosystem that keeps selling, even when they can't show up. Monthly challenges, live coaching, AI tools, and a community building sustainable sales together.🤖 Browse the Bot Shop - AI tools for course creators and coaches. From writing welcome sequences to planning flash sales to building your own AI tools. Works with Claude and ChatGPT.