THE BEHIND THE BRAND NEWSLETTER WILL RETURN ON 1/14

Bleep bleep blop.

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled content to bring you the quiet reset.

The time of year when the days are short, the calendar is full—and as an entrepreneur, you're not only reflecting on what you've been working on all year, but also looking forward to what's next.

Shopping for planners, a calendar for the following year, and setting goals for your brand and business. Whether that's your revenue goal, a website rebuild, or a new offer you want to launch.

It's one of my favorite times of the year to create content about vision and strategy. But I'm challenging myself to do things a little differently this time around.

Here's how the season was about to go…

I was about to take off two weeks for Christmas.

Just to fill that time by launching a whole lineup of digital products.

And still expecting myself to work on my website.

And turn out a newsletter each week.

But I would be "out of office."

Guess what happened?

The calendar started filling up. And now my break was feeling less like a break and more like a sprint. Not the "quiet reset" I had intended it to be.

So when it comes to creating a strategy for 2026, I'm adopting a "show, don't tell" policy. I'll be sharing what I'm working on and tips along the way. But I'm dropping the expectation I have on myself to productize it (at least not right away).

Because yeah, I have last year's versions and it wouldn't take that much to update them and blah blah blah. Nope.

That means I'm ditching my content plan. My expectations. In favor of letting myself focus on less.

And not gonna lie, a weight lifted off my shoulders when I wrote that.

What this means for you

For the next five weeks, this newsletter is going to look different.

Instead of the usual Behind The Brand format (Brand Highlight, Sticky Note Strategies, Behind The Screen), you'll get something simpler:

The Quiet Reset—where I document what I'm actually working on for 2026.

The planners I'm testing. The strategy frameworks I'm using. I'm creating resources for myself as I build next year's plan.

One focused section instead of three. No polished templates or step-by-step guides (yet). Just the real, messy work of strategic planning that fits your actual life.

The usual Behind The Brand newsletter format returns January 15th—the same week I'm launching my completely rebuilt website. (Coincidence? Absolutely not.)

Until then, I'm giving myself permission to show instead of tell. To work on my own brand strategy without the pressure to package it perfectly.

And I'm inviting you to do the same.

Take the next five weeks to reflect without the pressure

Create strategically instead of reactively. Let yourself have the time and space to go deep, reflect, and plan for what's next.

I'll be sharing what I'm working on each week—not as a blueprint you have to follow, but as an example of what strategic planning can look like when you give yourself permission to do less and go deeper.

And since this is kind of week 0, in the sense that I haven't really started my quiet reset yet, I'm currently shopping and getting what I will need. I figured, why not start with a decision I just made that taught me something important about how brands actually convince people to buy?

The strategy behind why Laurel Denise sold me on their planner

What makes someone wait on your website—counting down till they can check out?

What makes someone wait for the exact color they want and enter their card number in fear that it could go out of stock again?

What makes someone convert from one product they've been using for years to another?

If you've been in the online business world for more than five minutes, you've heard the words "oversaturated market."

December—in the annual planner and calendar world—is the perfect example of an oversaturated market. There are about 1 million and ten options.

My POV: When you find a planner and a strategy that works for your brain, it can change your life.

While I'm all about digital planning on Notion for projects, I like to keep the day-to-day on paper.

I'm also feeling a little intimidated by the whole planning-a-wedding-and-remodeling-our-house-and-being-a-solopreneur thing that 2026 holds. So the vessels that I organize my brain in are more important to me than ever.

I did a lot of research. But the Laurel Denise company sold me on not one, but two planners (one for my personal daily, and the other for our family planner) for two simple reasons:

1. They solved a specific need by doing something different

It's nothing all that dramatic, just a personal preference more than anything.

My current planner has more space than I want to take up—I can make lists that are too long. It also has time stamps, which worked great when I was time blocking on paper. But now that I'm not? I don't need them.

This planner has less space to fill, so I'll create more manageable to-do lists. It doesn't have time labels—but I could add them in if I wanted to.

Specific needs and wants filled. Providing a different layout than their competition.

Not everyone will love it. But the right people will.

2. They showed me instead of telling me

I'm sensing a big shift in the way that brands of all kinds will market themselves in 2026.

For a minute there, the online world was shifting away from adding value in fear of over-educating for free. But I think that shift is bouncing back in a different way—and now more than ever, delivering value through showing over telling and documenting processes.

I am someone who has an interesting purchasing process. I actually like being ad targeted because I'm a researcher for most purchases. And the entrepreneur in me kind of likes you to have to work for it. I want you to convince me a little.

And the Laurel Denise ads convinced me—by literally just showing me what was inside.

Examples of it not just blank. But filled out. And not just filled out in a pretty Pinterest way for looks sake—but filled out by multiple people who work for the company.

Some decorated and colorful with stickers and colors. Others simple and just pen.

They didn't have to sell me in that sense—they just had to show me how it solved my problems.

Could selling and marketing your brand be that simple?

​

What to do this week - Prepping for The Quiet Reset

Consider this your remdiner to:

• Order any supplies like planners and calendars that you need for 2026

​

And your permission slip to:

• Take some extra time as we transition into the new year to create an intentional strategy for your brand & the life that it will support. Starting with actual time off during the Holidays.

Questions to sit with during your own quiet reset

How can showing > telling be incorporated into your brand's content strategy for the year ahead?

What would it look like to document your process rather than package it perfectly?

How can you create time and space for your own quiet reset over the next 5 weeks? Not to necissarily sell or create, but instead to lean in to the season, reflect, and plan?

What did you think of the first issue of The Quiet Reset? Hit reply and let me know.