Today’s Lineup:

• Trusting the expert, even if you go kicking and screaming 🤷🏻‍♀️
• My biggest regret from Black Friday 2025 💳
• Antique… custom… and available on the Internet 🙌

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Far be it from me to question Shea McGee’s fabric choices.

But the one she chose for our sofa? 😳 BOLD. 

I was in Salt Lake City last week with Shea and her team, surrounded by fabrics, tile, and swatches for the home we’re building in the woods in Leiper’s Fork. 🌲 (Keep scrolling for pics!)

My first instinct was to steer us back to safety. Beige. Light wood. The palette I’ve lived in for years.

But I hired Studio McGee specifically to override that instinct.

I know how I want this home to feel.

I want you to walk in and not know where to look first. Surprises in a few corners. Colors and textures my personality would never choose on its own.

But I don’t know what’s possible.

And if I try to get there my way, I’ll end up with a slightly nicer version of what I already have.

So I invested in a team whose results I’d seen with my own eyes, and I asked them to take me somewhere I could never get to alone.

My visceral “WOAH” at a couch cushion? That was proof it was working. 😅

Here’s a peek. You might not think it’s bold… but for a ‘beige girl’ it certainly is!

And now, here’s the business application you knew was coming.

You’re smart. You know what you want. You’re making bold-ish moves.

And you’re still inside your comfort zone.

Right on the edge of it, sure. But inside. That’s human nature.

We stretch toward the edge of what we already know and call it bold. 🥴

The price increase that still feels safe. The launch that looks a lot like last year’s. The hire you keep putting off until things calm down.

This way of approaching 2027 will take you somewhere that looks a lot like 2026. 🫣

It takes someone on the outside, someone who has already made bigger, bolder moves than you have, to show you what’s possible. 

The business equivalent of introducing chevron when your offers have felt mahogany, at most.

Q4 is here… and these next three months are where 2027 gets made.

So I’ll leave you with this: when you look back at this year, where did you play it safe and call it bold?

Black Friday Starts Now (Seriously) 😳

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70% of shopping searches that include “Black Friday” happen in October and the days leading up to it, according to Google.

In other words, by the time Black Friday shows up, most people have already decided where they’re spending. 🛍️

So we’re planning ours now. In September.

Last year we got a lot of Black Friday right. We took something we’d already built, priced it for the season, and added a small bonus.

We shut the promo off the Wednesday before Black Friday on purpose. Ad costs spike that week, and I wanted my team home for the holiday, not working through it.

The one thing I’d take back? We started late. 🤦🏻‍♀️The promo worked. With more runway, it would have worked better.

If you want a quick cash injection, plan and prep your Black Friday promo now. Here’s what to do this week:

1️⃣ Choose one offer you already have. Nothing new to build.

2️⃣ Decide how you’ll package it for the holidays. A discount is the simplest. You can also bundle it with something that supports it, or add a live element on top.

3️⃣ Put two dates on the calendar: the day your promo opens, then back up to the day you’ll start talking about it. Leave a few weeks between them.

Rough is fine. Late is what costs you.

What I’m Loving Right Now 💎 👖 🎪

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This is my favorite part of the newsletter. It feels like we’re sitting at my coffee table and I get to tell you everything I’m into. The only thing missing is you telling me what you’re into. So hit reply anytime and give me a little snippet. I love hearing from you.

Right now? I’m all in on vintage.

Vintage Jewelry 💍
My son gets married next year, and I’m already daydreaming about future grandbabies, so I’m officially building a collection worth passing down. That’s how I found Vintage Gold Caviar. She runs a multi-million dollar business in a totally different space, and this is her side gig. I’m obsessed. I’ve already bought two pieces from her on Instagram, and they’re perfection.

Vintage Levi’s 👖
I haven’t found The Pair yet, but I’m on the hunt. And I found my secret weapon: With Love, Lenny. They take upcycled vintage Levi’s and tailor them to your exact measurements. You can do a fitting in person in LA or virtually from your couch. Vintage denim, custom-fit? Yes, please. 

Vintage Home🪞
When Studio McGee walked me through the house room by room, so much of it was vintage. So in October, I’m meeting my designers in Texas at Round Top to hunt for the perfect pieces. This antique extravaganza is a vibe! I can’t sleep. It feels like Christmas Eve. I’ll take tons of pictures and video so you can come along.

So tell me, what are you loving right now? Hit reply and let me know. Extra credit if you link me to some fun stuff to explore.

Nice chat! Let’s do it again next week.

Until then, trust the expert to venture into the unfamiliar and extraordinary, plan Black Friday rather than knee-jerking in November, and send me all your favorite vintage IG accounts. I need all the inspo!

Amy

P.S. You type ~40 words/minute. You speak at 150. So every email and Slack reply is taking you four times longer than it should. On this week’s podcast, I’m sharing the four tools my team can’t work without right now, including the two-minute setup that gets that time back. [Listen here 🎧]