Today's Lineup:

•  My boy’s engaged, and I regret every minute of THIS 💍
•  The hook style that doubled my open rates 📩
•  If your memory also can’t be trusted, I have the gadget for you. 🎤

---

This weekend, my stepson Cade walked me over to the spot where he was going to propose so he could practice.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the grass. Talked me through what he was going to say to his high school sweetheart, Sydney. Asked me what I thought.

Cade was four when he came into my life. He turns 24 tomorrow.

For most of those twenty years, I worried about my place in his world.

I didn't want to overstep.
Didn't want to give too much advice.
Didn't want to take up room that belonged to his mom, who has been generous with me from the very beginning, so none of this was ever about her.

It was all me. Replaying conversations in the car… Why did I say that?!
Should I have stayed out of it?

I’m sure I drove that kid crazy with how carefully I moved around him.

Standing there on Saturday, holding his hand, getting to be a part of the practice run, I thought about all those years of second-guessing myself.

None of it built this.

This got built by showing up. Twenty years of carpools and watching wrestling matches and just being there.

The worry was a tax I paid on top, and I paid it for two decades, and it bought me nothing.

I would love to have that time back.

So here's the turn, and stay with me.

That angst you're putting yourself through about your business, wondering if you're saying the right thing, making the right call, whether it's all going to work out…

It’s not building your business. Your work is building your business. Your showing up is.

You get to care enormously and still put the second-guessing down.

Be present. Take it in. The worry isn’t helping, and, from a girl who learned it a little late, it’s time you don’t get back.

The Subject Line Test That Almost Doubled My Opens 📬

---

One thing about my team? We love an A/B test. Meaning two different subject lines delivered to the same audience, tested on a 50/50 split.

Subject Line A: “Being the B word has been my best business decision”
Subject Line B: “The high-profile collaboration I just turned down”

Subject Line B got nearly twice the opens! Same email inside. Nothing changed but the first six words she saw. Here's what I'm taking from it. 👇

📖 Don't hand her the ending. Subject line A told her my conclusion. There's nothing left to find out, so there's no reason to click. Subject line B starts a story and stops. She has to open it to learn who I said no to.

🔍 Specific is what makes the hook catch. “A high-profile collaboration” is a real thing that happened on a real day. “My best business decision” could be anything, so it's about nothing. Curiosity needs an edge to grab.

⚖️ The gap has to close inside the email. That lift is a loan against your next send. If she opens and the story isn't actually there, you bought one open and lost the next five. Open loops are a promise, not a trick.

📍 This isn't just email. The same psychology runs your podcast titles and slide #1 of every carousel. Use this skill anywhere you need a strong hook.

Look at the last five subject lines you sent. Count how many gave them the answer before they opened. Rewrite one so it stops a beat earlier, and use it this week.

I Bought a Gadget Because My Memory Is Not My Friend 🧠

---

Here's a thing about me: I have the best conversations, and then I remember approximately none of them.

Someone says something at dinner that I know belongs in this newsletter. I think, oh, I'll remember that.

Dear reader, I do not remember that. It is fully gone by the time I'm in the car. 🫠

For years my system was talking to myself in voice memos at red lights like a woman coming undone.

So I bought Pocket. It's a little card-sized thing that magnets onto the back of my phone and just lives there.

One tap and it's recording.

No unlocking, no opening an app, no me staring at my screen while someone is telling me something good.

Later I get the transcript and a summary, and the story actually makes it to you instead of dying somewhere between the restaurant and my driveway.

Oh, and I will always tell the group when it's on. I'm not out here bugging my own girls' night. 😅

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

Until then, decide you’re going to enjoy this, tease your reader just a little, and swap the Notes app for a recorder that’s always on-hand. (It’s life-changing.)

Amy

P.S. “The soft girl era is keeping women broke.” My podcast guest said this to my face, and then she explained it, and now I can't unhear it. You’ve got to hear this 🎧

P.P.S. Attention all Multi-Six-Figure Female Founders! 📣Think about your best month this year. Now your worst one. Same you. Same business. That gap isn't random. And it isn't a revenue problem. I'm showing you what's actually causing it, live, next Monday. Go here to get the deets. →