For 12 years, I built a large business with the direct sales company, BODi (formerly Beachbody, ya know, Tony, Chalene, Shaun T. Autumn…) and since I can let my guard down here, there was always an unspoken pressure to have a great before-and-after photo. Nobody said it directly, but if you’ve spent any amount of time in the wellness space, you know it’s there: “be a product of the product.”

I built my first million-dollar business in that world. I coached in that world. I taught habits, consistency, business strategy, and healthy living in that world, and somewhere along the way, I started treating my own body like another project to optimize.

If something wasn’t working, I looked for a strategy, another meal plan, less carbs, calorie deficit, or a cleanse!

• If I wasn’t getting results, I worked harder.

• If I was tired, I pushed through.

• If I was stressed, I told myself I’d rest after the next launch, the next event, the next deadline, the next goal.

Compound that pressure over 12 years with a wellness culture that rewarded discipline, hustle, and visible results, and I became very good at pushing through signals that should have made me stop.

There was always a reason to keep going. What I didn’t realize was that stress doesn’t care how good your intentions are. Your body keeps score, and after years of running hard, building businesses, leading teams, navigating life, grief, pressure, responsibility, and all the things women tend to carry, my body eventually started waving red flags.

At first the signs were easy to ignore.

• A little more fatigue.

• A little brain fog.

• Some inflammation.

• Weight that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

• Skin issues I couldn’t quite explain.

I kept assuming there had to be a better strategy.

A better supplement.

A better plan.

A better answer.

Then I received a life-changing diagnosis that forced me to stop looking at weight loss altogether and start paying attention to something much bigger.

A couple of months ago, my functional health practitioner looked at me and said: “If we don’t get control of this inflammation, your symptoms will absolutely worsen and quickly.”

That conversation changed everything because suddenly this wasn’t about looking better. It wasn’t about fitting into a certain size or about anti-aging. And there was no business strategy.

It was about healing.

For the first time in a very long time, I stopped asking, “How do I lose weight? and started asking, “What does my body really need?” The answer wasn’t sexy. It wasn’t fast, and it definitely wasn’t social-media friendly.

Healing is an inside job

I haven’t shared much of my journey because there’s not much to share. It’s boring, unsexy, not trending, and there’s no marketing angle. It’s for the most part just hard work. But it’s work that’s working.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Targeted supplementation based on what my body actually needed. Aside from one supplement, which I swear by for brain health(yes I will shamelessly plug this all day everyday), it is completely personalized for my unique needs.

• Regulating blood sugar.

• Nutritional overhaul (shared below).

• Prioritizing sleep after years of functioning on far less than I should have.

It also looks like:

• Daily walks.

• Sunlight.

• Stress management.

• Laughing more.

• Praying more.

• Creating space.

Most importantly, it also meant changing my relationship with work. This has been my greatest challenge. Leaving the hustle culture for a slower pace isn’t easy for the ambitious.

I started to weigh my gifts, my current offerings, what gives me energy and joy. I also looked at the ROI on time investment and energy investment. I started to protect my energy, spending less time on social media platforms and more intentional time in my emails. Turns out it was one of the wisest decisions of my career.

For years, I wore productivity like a badge of honor. I convinced myself that being busy meant being successful, that pushing harder was somehow noble, that rest was something you earned.

Work with Me

Now my work looks different.

• It’s quieter.

• More intentional.

• More focused on meaningful projects and private clients.

• Less noise.

• Less urgency.

• Less proving.

• More creating.

• More writing.

• More listening.

• More speaking.

• More space to actually think.

The interesting thing is that when I stopped obsessing over weight loss and started focusing on healing, my body began responding.

• The inflammation started coming down.

• My skin started calming down.

• The brain fog lifted.

• My energy improved.

• I started recognizing flare-ups before they became major problems.

And yes, the weight started coming off too. I’m down 11 pounds, naturally. Not through an injection (which was discouraged due to my overactive autoimmune activity. It’s also the reason I believe any injectable should be a decision made with a medical professional, not an influencer.)

But if that’s the only takeaway from this story, then you’ve missed the point because the weight loss isn’t the victory. It’s that I feel like myself again, thinking clearly and laughing more. I understand my body more now than I did a year ago when I was obsessing over results.

One of the reasons I hesitated to share any of this publicly is that social media has a way of making normal healing feel embarrassing because everything in our feeds makes transformation seem fast.

Meanwhile, real healing often looks slow, and it’s somewhat painful.

Prime example, this is the meal plan I have been following for the past couple months. There’s been days, I wanted to throw in the towel, but my entire mindset around health has shifted from an after picture to “How do I want to feel, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually?” because they all work together; health isn’t a stand-alone.

I am not proud to admit this, but social media had me convinced that I should be embarrassed that this transformation was taking this long.

The truth is, your body needs safety before it needs strategy. This autoimmune condition and I are going to be together for the rest of my life, so I may as well experience the blessings of it instead of the burdens. 11 pounds has taken me 3 months to shed*.

_{*The first picture was taken shortly before my diagnosis in March 2026 the second is in June 2026.}

For years, I treated my body like a business strategy. Now I’m finally learning to treat it like the body that I am gifted for the rest of my life.

Rooting for you,

Katy

“Katy, do you realize that colleges are teaching jobs right now that will be completely obsolete in four years.” The conversation about Ai has been a central one in our home especially as my son is 2 years away from heading off to college.

My husband works in IT. He spends his days around websites, coding, branding, and emerging technology. He sees shifts happening before most people even know they’re coming. I work in marketing, branding, and business strategy. I see it all over social media platforms.

And while everyone seems to be debating whether AI is good or bad, I think we’re asking the wrong question. Honestly, I don’t think the biggest threat of AI is job loss.

I think it’s overwhelm.

Because we’re moving into a world where everyone can access:

• content ideas

• launch plans

• sales copy

• business advice

• marketing strategies

The question isn’t whether we’ll have enough information. The question is:

Will we know what to do with all the information?

Information Is No Longer Scarce

Today, AI can give you:

• 100 content ideas

• An entire launch plan

• Email sequences

• Marketing strategies

• Customer follow-up scripts

• Sales copy

• Graphics

• Hooks

• Captions

What used to take weeks can now happen over a cup of coffee. Wild, right? SO how do you keep up? The truth is… you don’t keep up. You become an expert at being an irreplaceable human.

Employers are forecasting major workforce changes over the next five years, while human-centered skills like creativity, adaptability, leadership, and problem-solving are becoming increasingly valuable.

In other words... the future belongs to people who can sift through endless AI-generated options, recognize what actually matters, and make decisions with confidence and discernment.

Are You Drowning in Information but Still Struggling to Move Forward?

The women I talk to aren’t struggling because they don’t have enough information. They’re struggling because they have too much.

Too many ideas. Too many tabs open. Too many courses purchased. Too many AI-generated plans. Too many opportunities. Too many opinions. Too many things competing for their attention.

And when everything feels important, it’s hard to know what deserves your focus. That’s when people start spinning their wheels. They stay busy, but they don’t feel like they’re making progress.

The real challenge isn’t “information,” it’s lack of:

• Clarity

• Prioritization

• Discernment

And eventually that leads to:

• Decision fatigue

• Overwhelm

• Inaction

We have more access to knowledge than any generation in history. Yet so many people feel more stuck than ever. Why?

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The Pattern Impossible to Unsee

Over the last year, I’ve worked with entrepreneurs, direct sellers, authors, coaches, and business owners in all different seasons of life. While their businesses, goals, and challenges may look different on the surface, I’ve noticed a common pattern.

In my 4 years of scaling in through both the direct sales industry and my own business, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. More information and endless access to all of it has actually created an informational paralysis of sorts.

My clients come to me often carrying so many possibilities that it becomes difficult to see clearly. Instead of creating momentum, they find themselves stuck in a cycle of overthinking, second-guessing, and constantly shifting directions.

My mentorship has shifted to meet the needs of each of my clients. Most entrepreneurs already have access to more information than they could ever use. What they need is someone who can help them step back, sort through the noise, and identify what actually matters.

Learn More Here!

The work I do is helping people organize the chaos. It’s helping them uncover blind spots, connect the dots between their ideas and their goals, and create a plan that fits their real life instead of someone else’s blueprint. When that clarity starts to emerge, decisions become easier, confidence grows, and progress finally feels possible again.

Ai Can’t Scale for you

AI can write captions, generate content, create launch plans, and give you endless ideas. The people who thrive won’t be the ones with the best prompts they’ll be the ones who can think clearly, discern what matters, simplify the noise, and make confident decisions.

Need Help Organizing the Chaos?

Are you struggling because you need more information, or because you’re unsure what deserves your attention? If you’re sitting on dozens of ideas, unfinished projects, content plans, and opportunities and don’t know where to focus next, that’s exactly the work I help with. Together, we’ll identify what matters, eliminate what doesn’t, and create a plan that fits the season you’re actually in.

Let's Work Together!

Because the goal isn’t to do more. The goal is to do the work that matters most.

Always rooting for you,

Katy

Admittedly, I have been building an online presence since the “influencer dark ages,” when posts were shared with friends and followers before the algorithm had any real say in how to push out content.

I was a “influencer” long before influencers had a name. But something over the past few months has been impossible to ignore. The fatigue is real, and influencers are deeply feeling it.

In 2020, the shift began as companies started to see the monetary benefit of having social media “influencer,” (especially gen z) share their products. Influencers who were sharing products they loved began to see an opportunity in sharing brands that gave them deals. Content creation has become a big business and has shifted the landscape entirely. If I had to guess, your scroll is inundated with products, sales campaigns, and marketing efforts from creators who have 100 followers to those who have over one million.

But the truth is, people aren’t consuming like they used to and they aren’t purchasing like they used to. They discern. They pause. They ask the questions, “Is this real?” “Can this be trusted?”

And this is where I think creators who have a vested interest in serving well, and sharing the products they love have a unique opportunity to shine. But I should warn you: we’re playing the long game. Because trust is built over time.

Last week in my article “How to use Ai without Sounding Like Everyone Else,”

Read it Here.

I shared that the brands that will last through this massive shift in social media consumption will be those built for human connection through lived experience, values and perspective.

For many of us using social media to create content there seems to be a deep tension between what is sustainable and what is possible. Somewhere along the way the word “consistent” became synonymous with “constant.”

• Constant visbility

• Constant output

• Constant accessibility

• Constant proving

And that constant churning raised the question, “Is the time I am putting into this worth the effort?” In business we call this the ROI: return on investment. Time is an investment. If the time you’re putting into your work isn’t worth the investment, then it raises the question, how can I build a business in less time OR how can I increase the ROI.

I created a list of questions for my private clients (many are influencers in the context of NWM and direct selling). Together we are working to actively combat what has been called “influencer fatigue” together not by creating more “consistent content” but through structured boundaries, a clear message, and undeniable trust factor.

Here are a few of the questions I ask my clients.

Are people connected to you? Or are they conditioned to. your visibility?

If you disappeared for a month, would people still have a touch point with you? Emails? Writings? Messenger? Would they still recommend you even if you weren’t “consistently” showing up. And would they feel comfortable reaching out to you?

Have you developed a recognizable voice?

If people removed your username, would people still know it’s you. Do you have a signature style of writing or a sign off in your content. Do you have a unique spin on how you show up that impacts the way people feel about you?

What part of your life exists outside of your content?

What do you love that doesn’t have to be content? Because if you’re experiencing life moments while simultaneously asking, “Would this perform well?” “What should this caption be?” or “Should I post this?” It' gets exhausting. It might be radical to say but:

Not everything you do needs to be content.

Listen to Episode 379 Here!

Does your current pace support the business you want to lead?

This is one worth journaling because if you don’t feel that you can continue to always be on I encourage you to find a new pace that you can sustain. What does your work day look like? How much time do you want to build online? What would a “live” business look like?

What is the content goal you are working toward?

Is the goal more visibility? Or is it more connection? Is it a healthier rhythm or more content? Is it building trust with a very select type of clientele or is it is reaching the masses and hoping someone might be interested in your offerings. There isn’t a right or wrong answer, but knowing what you are working towards changes the way you show up to work.

When you are building a brand that is built to last, it should evolve with you, and as you evolve sometimes your offerings, values, perspective and life experiences evolve as well.

Let your brand evolve even if it means that it no longer fits the definition of success you once chased.

It wasn’t scalability.

It wasn’t success.

It wasn’t even leadership.

It was a deep longing for connection.

Even vulnerably, each keynote speaker and panelist shared their own experiencing with feeling disconnected in a world that has never been more accessible or more connected. It’s a theme impossible to ignore.

There’s this weird tension that’s happening online right now (especially for those who create their marketing from personal branding). Content is getting faster, more polished, cleaner, and even though on the surface it’s checking off all the boxes… (entertaining, value added, curiosity driven), there’s something missing.

Share Katy Ursta

I don’t think that most creators note it, but there’s definitely something happening. Ai is evolving faster than ever, and while it should be a tool creators, direct sellers, coaches, writers, and marketers use., I also think some of us are quietly picking up on the invisible line that’s drawn between what our audience wants to hear and what we want to share.

We didn’t even realize it, but somehow we stopped using Ai to support our voice and allowed it to start replacing it.

In other words, Ai stopped playing the role of editor and tried to become the writer.

And that’s what’s interesting about the marketing landscape and Ai right now. There’s a lack of originality being replaced by virality. But under the surface, people are waking up. They are feeling the disconnect. They are beginning to question what they are consuming, and more importantly what they are creating.

Today on an episode of the Direct Sales Done Right Podcast, I began to unpack the question, “Are you outsourcing original thought?” Because even if your content sounds “smarter” and appears “more polished” if it loses the “you factor” is it worth it? What is that costing you in the long term?

🎙️Listen to ep. 379

When you begin to use Ai as your editor instead of the writer, you realize your voice sharpens again, your clarity, edge, and perspective start to come back.

Because if the internet becomes saturated and regurgitated content, your brand falls into the white noise category, and that’s not how to build a brand that will last.

My biggest takeaway, being in a room of hundreds of women with access to all the information they need to build a business are starting to see the ONE thing they are missing: connection.

A brand built to last is one that’s built for human connection through lived experience, values, and perspective. Let your brand evolve as you do (because you will) even when that means that not everyone is going to come with you.

You can only create performance based content for so long until it starts to feel empty too. That’s why the future of branding belongs to storytellers who are willing to become more of themselves even if it means they risk not being as well optimized as others.

I am here for the long haul, so I might as well build a brand that will last. How about you?

Rooting for you,

Katy

Not because I intentionally rebranded.
Not because I pivoted my business.
Not because I was trying to grow a new audience.

But because I got sick.

After receiving a recent diagnosis, I did what most people do when they’re scared:

I went searching for answers online, specifically Instagram. A few keyword searches later, my entire feed shifted. Suddenly every scroll was about autoimmune diseases, chronic conditions, and ads for every supplement that were an “absolute must” for my disease.

Share Katy Ursta

Every reel felt heavy. Every story felt like a prediction. Every post seemed to tell me who I was about to become.

And that’s when it hit me. I started to notice something unsettling:

The app was impacting my mental health, my mindset, and it was feeding me more of what I was consuming without any relief. That’s how the outlet works.

Not because social media is inherently evil.
Not because creators are doing anything wrong.

But because when you consume content long enough without discernment, eventually you stop hearing your own voice. I was seeing content creators speaking of my own diagnosis, but it was also impacting my personal prognosis. I started to realize it wasn’t just the loop of consumption but the loop of creating.

And I think a lot of ambitious women are there right now.

Quietly exhausted.
Chronically visible.
Constantly producing.
Performing success while feeling disconnected from themselves.

Somewhere along the way, many of us started believing that success requires constant visibility.

Post more.
Show up more.
Share more.
Document more.
Stay relevant.
Stay consistent.
Stay online.

But what if the reason so many women are burning out isn’t because they’re lazy? It’s because they were never designed to live in a constant state of performance.

I started asking myself questions I hadn’t slowed down long enough to ask before:

Why am I even using this platform? Is it actually getting me the results that I want?

Who am I posting for and how is it different than other creators?

And perhaps the hardest one:

If I stopped posting tomorrow… would anything meaningful still remain?

That question changes everything.

An audience watches you.
A brand stays with you.
An audience is often built on visibility.
A brand is built on trust.

And a brand...a strong one?
It evolves with you because you’re intentionally building a community.

I think that’s why so many people feel disconnected right now.

Ep. 378 Direct Sales Done Right Podcast

They spent years learning how to “stay visible & relevant” … but never learned how to stay connected to themselves, and at our core, we are designed to evolve.

I spent years mentoring women to build a brand, but recently it’s become evident that building a brand is becoming synonomous with building an audience.

We’re consuming more content than ever while feeling less certain of our own voice. We’re watching people teach “balance” while clearly running on fumes. We’re seeing curated lifestyles sold as “the good life”.

We’re confusing exposure with connection.
Visibility with impact.
Followers with trust.

And eventually the pressure becomes exhausting.

Because if everything becomes content…
you stop living and start performing.

Over the past few months, I’ve quietly returned to parts of myself I abandoned while trying to “build” up my following, when things started to feel like an echo chamber I was formeding with meticulous key words. My quiet return includes:

• Reading books without posting them.

• Watching sunsets without photographing them.

• Laughing with my family without thinking about whether it’s “share-worthy.”

Tiny things.
Human things.
Normal things.

And maybe that sounds small, but for women who have spent years attaching productivity to worth… it feels freeing.

I don’t think the answer is abandoning ambition, or even quitting social platforms.

I am deeply invested in building a business with my health intact.
I am richly focused on teaching storytelling in a way that naturally cultivates community.
And I love helping women build something meaningful that matters to them.

But I no longer believe the healthiest businesses are built by women who are chronically dysregulated while trying to appear endlessly inspirational online. I think the future belongs to people who know how to build trust.

Ep. 378 of Direct Sales Done Right

Algorithms shift.
Reach fluctuates.
Industries evolve.

But your voice?
Your values?
Your integrity?
Your ability to make people feel seen?

That’s what needs to stay intact. Amen, friend? We need more of that.

And maybe that’s the real question worth asking ourselves right now:

If social media slowed down tomorrow or your company disappeared… would you still know how to build?

Would people still trust you?
Would your customers still stay?
Would relationships still exist outside of posting?

Or has visibility quietly become the strategy itself?

I don’t have every answer yet, but I do know this: this season of my life is changing the way I look at work, success, nervous system health, visibility, and even leadership itself.

And I can’t unlearn what I know now.

Rooting always for you,

Katy

I tucked it under their blankies and their going-home outfits (which both ended up being too big). It was under all the “necessary postpartum must haves” and also a bottle of chilled champagne....

And long after the family and friends went home for the night and I lay there, in my hospital bed, first with Nick and then a few years later with Dom, overwhelmed with joy and fear and gratitude and pain...

And maybe a Dixie cup of champagne.

I quietly read my son’s this book.
I cried.
Maybe it was the hormones.
Maybe it was the fear.
Maybe it was the gratitude but I think then...

It was the simple thought that this tiny human, this small bundle, one day would grow and I was responsible.

I prayed that night, “God please don’t let him grow too fast....”
The days often feel so long, but the years, they’re going fast, aren’t they?
A few months after Dom was born, Mike and I received the news that I had cancer.
It was Stage 4 and they would need to begin treatment immediately.

There wasn’t much time to process our new normal, and shortly before treatment one night, I found myself on Nick’s bed, kinda numb, tucking him in for the night, Mike holding Dom.

And again, I quietly read the book.
I cried.
This time among all the words, and the pages of the story were my quiet prayers and tears... “God please let me be here to watch them grow up.”

Tonight, my son, who is growing so fast, but still young enough to snuggle his mommy....picked out this book.

I don’t know why.
It was tucked on the bottom of the shelf, forgotten. Hidden away.

But he took that book out with his big smile and said, “Mommy are you going to cry if we read this?”
How could he remember that?

I responded, “Always...”
And as I read the words and cried...
I prayed, “Thank you God for the gift of watching them grow up. Thank you for the messy moments and the hard moments. Thank you for this moment with Dom’s arms around me.”

Seasons of motherhood are hard.
Seasons of motherhood are messy and complicated and sometimes downright exhausting...
But no moment is guaranteed.

The simple truth is...
I am here.
I get to be their mom.
I am watching them grow.
And above all...

I get to love them forever, my babies they will always be.

Rooting for you,
Katy

But it was more than that.

Extreme exhaustion and dependency of caffeine, sleeping during the day just to function, a body that couldn’t recover quickly from intense workouts, rapid weight gain and insomnia. On top of that, my vision started changing, leaving me spending most days with one eye closed due to intense, relentless double vision. My body felt inflamed, unfamiliar, disconnected.

And underneath all of it was a truth I did not want to admit: I could not keep working the way I had been working. My body was under extreme stress, and the more I tried to heal, the worse it seems to get.

What’s wild is that from the outside, my life probably looked successful. I had achieved a top rank within my network marketing company. I was working with a filled cohort of social media clients and was getting inquiries about 1:1 coaching. I was showing up consistently, I was working hard, and rebuilding after a season of loss.

In other words: I was “living the dream.”

Leading.
Creating.
Showing up.
Teaching.
Working.

But internally? My nervous system was running on fumes.

What I didn’t know then that I know now is that my body couldn’t run anymore. It was screaming that it needed rest, but I was ignoring all the signals until finally it broke. I remember thinking…

Just one more post.
Just one more sale.
Just one more call.

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And I think a lot of women are living there right now. Especially ambitious women. Women who hold everything together. Women everyone depends on. Women who are capable, productive, reliable, driven, disciplined, “fine.” Women who fear ever letting anyone down.

Women who do it all.

Until one day their body says: “We can’t keep doing this.”

2025 was a hard year for me professionally. I started over in a new direct sales company after 12 years with my previous one. I was forced to close the doors of a business I loved, and with that came the end of a business partnership & friendship that shaped a huge chapter of my life. Financially and emotionally, it felt like rebuilding from scratch. And whether I admitted it or not, I carried enormous pressure & guilt into this year.

READ About My Auto-Immune Here

Pressure to recover financially.
Pressure to prove I could do it again.
Pressure to rebuild faster.
Pressure to not fall behind.
Pressure to make up for what had been lost.
Pressure that going against the grain and not following industry leaders was the right decision.

The thing about pressure that no one really talks about is that eventually your body starts speaking the language your mind keeps trying to override.

Mine did.

After months of scans, bloodwork, MRIs, appointments, specialists, and uncertainty, I received a life-changing autoimmune diagnosis. Oddly enough, before I even knew what was happening, someone had handed me a book called When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Maté. At the time, I remember thinking:

“That’s interesting.”
“That makes sense., but this doesn’t apply to me.”
“I can see how stress impacts the body.”

But I still thought:

“I already had my health battle.”
”I don’t have any ‘trauma’.”
”I know how to take care of myself.”

But health is tricky like that. You assume it’ll always be there that you’ll always have it… until illness knocks on your door and demands your attention.

The deeper I got into the book, the more I realized something that I think many ambitious women quietly normalize: We praise ourselves for surviving things our body never agreed to carry.

We wear busy like a badge of honor.
We appreciate the applause we receive for our effort.
We normalize exhaustion.
We celebrate over-functioning.
We reward productivity while ignoring depletion.
We disconnect from our own body and call it discipline.

Yet all the while… the body keeps score.

I think one of the biggest lies many high-achieving women believe is this: “If I can just become more disciplined, I can finally handle all of it… and then I’ll take a breath.”

But what if the real problem isn’t discipline? What if the real problem is that the pace itself isn’t sustainable? That realization is changing me. Not because I suddenly became anti-work or anti-ambition. I’m not.

I still love building.
I still love creating.
I still love mentoring women.
I still love business.

But I no longer believe success should cost us ourselves. For years, I subscribed to the mindset: “Short-term sacrifice for long-term gain.”

Push harder now.
Rest later.
Caffeine and a dream.
One more launch.
One more goal.
One more season of overextending.

The problem is… for many women, “one more season” quietly becomes an entire way of life. And eventually, the nervous system stops cooperating. What I’ve learned is that sometimes hustle isn’t in our schedule or our workload.

It’s in our mind.

It’s the inability to fully rest.
The constant mental tabs open.
The pressure we carry internally.
The fear of slowing down.
The guilt when we stop producing.
The belief that our worth lives inside our output.

And if I’m honest, I think a lot of women who “do it all” are quietly reaching a breaking point. Not because they’re weak, but because they’ve been strong for too long. The older I get, the more carefully I define success. Because I used to think success looked glamorous. That’s what was modeled to me. More of the “good life.”

More money.
More momentum.
More visibility.
More achievement.

And while financial freedom absolutely matters, my definition of success has changed dramatically over the last year. Success to me now looks like:

A healthy nervous system.
A peaceful home.
A strong marriage.
Being present with my kids.
White space in my life.
Work I genuinely enjoy.
The ability to love people well without feeling consumed by pressure.

Success is being healthy enough to enjoy the life I’m building.

I don’t want a business that consumes my peace.
I don’t want constant urgency.
I don’t want frantic energy.
I don’t want my body paying the price for my ambition.

I think a lot of women are waking up to this right now. Especially women in direct sales, entrepreneurship, and online business.

The marketing landscape is changing. Social media is changing. Consumer trust is changing. Discernment for value driven leadership is changing. The way women want to work is changing.

So that leaves me with a question for you: What does healthy ambition look like for you? Because answering that question will force us to get honest.

Honest about what our body is carrying.
Honest about what our nervous system can sustain.
Honest about where hustle became identity.
Honest about what no longer fits.

When I had the courage to ask myself that question, it radically changed my life.

It’s meant stepping back from constant stimulation.

Writing more.
Creating slower.
Protecting my peace fiercely.
Choosing depth over performance.
Removing the pressure I put on myself to perform to someone else’s standard.

Even with a life-changing diagnosis, navigating medical appointments, new routines, and working with a functional health doctor… I am finding myself finally coming home to who I have always been.

Like: “Yes, there you are. I was waiting for you.”

Not because life is perfect.
Not because the diagnosis magically changed everything.
Not because I suddenly have all the answers.

But because I finally stopped trying to perform for others.

So if your body has been whispering lately…
if your nervous system feels exhausted…
if your definition of success is changing…
if the life you built no longer feels sustainable…

Maybe this season isn’t asking you to push harder. Maybe it’s asking you to build differently. And maybe your body isn’t betraying you after all. Maybe it’s just reminding you of who you’ve been all along.

Always rooting for you,
Katy

Not the kind you brush off.

Not the kind that’s just a little inconvenient.

The kind that full out stops you.

And sends you down the winding road of testing, more testing, and waiting.

I received a life changing diagnosis on March 7, 2026, a diagnosis that all but wrecked me. It’s funny how life works like that, isn’t it? One minutue, you’re standing on a stage speaking to over 2,000 people on the topic of “vision.” The next you’re sitting in a waiting room counting down the minutes for the opthamology appointment you’ve been waiting months to get to the root of your own “vision” issues. Irony is funny like that. I like to think God has a sense of humor like that.

Since then, my body has been healing from what I am told is an autoimmune flare that began months ago. Part of that flare was double vision, and while it has been improving, it isn’t completely healed.

Frustrating? Yes.

Hopeful? Absolutely.

12 years ago I survived stage 4 cancer. I have remained cancer free for years with no evidence of any disease, but with that has come an understanding, a partnership almost with my body and a deep belief that our bodies are miracles, designed for complete healing.

I’ve learned that our bodies are every single day fighting battles we don’t even know about, wired to heal.

But what hasn’t been lost on mea is this:

While my physical vision has been impacted, so has my life vision and what it means to:

• work well

• rest well

• serve well

• love well

• forgive well

And maybe most of all what it means it build a business one faith-filled step at at time.

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With radical honest, my faith throughout this past year has deeply been challenged. Because when I didn’t hear Him or sense His presence, I thought I was left to figure it out on my own, to control it, to fix it, to adjust the plan, to move faster, to push harder, to do more to figure it out on my own.

And every single time throughout the last year, I was gently reminded.

• His way is greater.

• His timing is better.

• His plan doesn’t need my panic.

I don’t fear hard work, but I’ve realized something through this experience: that’s atually never been the fear. The fear has always been, if I stop chasing and proving will I be worthy?

That’s where I’ve lived. In the doing. Where achieving more feels like approval. Where building something “successful” whispered the lie of “A little more and then you’ll be worthy”. But more was never enough, and it is never going to be enough.

And so it is, in a way I never would’ve chosen… God slowed me down, and has started rebuilding my beliefs in success, worthiness, and work.

He’s begun too to heal my vision.

Yes, physically.

But even more than that…spiritually.

He’s been healing years of false beliefs I carried about success, worth, and acceptance.

He’s been slowing me down long enough to actually “see” what matters.

He’s a good father like that.

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I’ve wrestled deeply with my faith more this year than I have in a long time.

But I’ve also prayed through it.

Held onto it.

Clung to.

And I’ve come back to this beautiful reminder more than once in the book of Mark. Funny sometimes the way scripture can be read one way for years and then you see it more clearly when you read it again.

Yes, Jesus healed a blind man, but not completely, not at first. And even when I read it, the blind man was ok with partial healing, but that’s not our God. His purpose is always fulfilled, and in this man’s case the purpose was to show the man complete restoration of his vision so that His greater purpose could be fulfilled.

“Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:26).

Jesus did not partially heal the man. He completely healed Him. The man was ok with partial healing, but Jesus knew there was more work to be done through him.

So no…I do not have all the answers yet. I am not not completely healed but I am holding onto to hope.

And I do have growing trust that clarity doesn’t always come at once. We have to sometimes hold out for complete understanding, deeper work, and much like the man…hold on to hope.

If you’re like me in a season where things feel unclear: physically, emotionally, spiritually, or financially..

You’re not broken,

You’re not behind.

You might just be in the middle of having your vision completely restored.

Hold out, healing is coming.

Restoration is coming.

Rooting for you,

Katy

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You know the kind…the one that promises to fix everything overnight. I watched the videos, saw the before-and-afters, listened to the explanation, and thought… “okay, maybe this is the one that will do the work.”

But it didn’t stop there.

I was upsold on the blush…then the brushes, and of course, I needed the bronzer too.

By the time I checked out, I had a full cart and a sense that I had just made a really good decision. Until I realized a few things.

It was on autoship, which was impossible to cancel. The product wasn’t great and my undereye problem was still…well…a problem.

And later that same week… the same influencer was promoting an entirely different brand.

And just like that, I felt it.

Yes, I swiped my card.

Yes, I made the decision.

Yes, I was the problem….

But I still felt… duped.

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And here’s the thing. It’s not just me. And it’s not just you.

It’s impacting how people buy, how they sell, how they consume, and ultimately… what they choose to be a part of.

Not just in beauty.
Not just online.
Not just in direct sales.

It’s happening in leadership.

In companies.
Across entire organizations.

We are in a massive trust recession.

For a long time, the formula for marketing felt simple. Work hard, be consistent, follow the system, stay loyal, and eventually it would pay off. That belief carried people through long hours, uncomfortable seasons, and a lot of “just push through” moments.

But over time, something started to break.

• Consumers began to question what they were being sold.

• Up and coming leaders began to question sponsors.

• Teams stopped blindly buying into a process.

• Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook became saturated

In direct sales especially, people started noticing the gap between what was promised and what was actually being experienced. What we’re seeing now isn’t a lack of “desire for success.” It’s a lack of trust in the systems that claim to provide it.

This isn’t just one company’s problem…it’s a massive industry issue. In corporate, it looks like employees quietly disengaging. High performers are still showing up, but they’re no longer emotionally invested. They’re doing the work, but they’re questioning the purpose behind it.

In direct sales, it shows up differently, but the responsibility is the same. Teams plateau. Leaders move from company to company. And the people you’re leading start asking questions they didn’t ask before.

Questions like:

• Do I actually believe in the leadership here?

• Is there a real path forward… or am I just really comfortable?

• For direct sellers, it often sounds like:

• Is the compensation plan clear enough that I can confidently build with it?

• Do I trust the company I’m building with long term?

• If I were starting over today, would I choose this again?

The moment people start asking better questions is the moment everything starts to shift. And as a leader, you don’t get to ignore these questions. You’re either creating clarity around them… or contributing to the confusion.

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But it doesn’t stop there. Because while direct sellers are asking better questions… customers are pausing & discerning before every purchase.

• They’re not asking about your comp plan.

• They’re not asking about your rank.

• They’re not even asking about your strategy.

They’re asking something much more human. They’re asking: Can I trust you? And do you care enough about me to actually help me?

Check out the Direct Sales Done Right Podcast for more on “trust recession.”

Let’s Also Address the Elephant in the Room: Hustle Culture.

The hustle culture that once defined both corporate and direct sales is starting to lose its grip. For years, the message was that success required constant effort, consistency, late nights, early mornings, caffeine and a dream, and a willingness to sacrifice everything for the end result. And while hard work will always matter, people are beginning to question the cost. What does “short-term sacrifice for long-term gain” actually mean? Because for many, it started to feel like there was no end to the sacrifice. Women especially are realizing that a business or career that only works when everything in life is perfectly aligned isn’t sustainable.

They don’t want a business that only works on their best days. They want something that fits into real life. They want margin. Time with their families. They are demanding community, collaboration, and connection.

And that brings us back to the trust recession.

Marketing is shifting. Influencers are noticing the decline in sales as the pressure to create more content than ever before is consuming them.

But instead of adjusting how they build, or where they build, many assume their response is to do more:

More content.
More hours.
More effort.

But this next era doesn’t reward more.

It rewards community, connection, collaboration, and confidence in your offering without overwhelming your audience.

If you’re feeling stuck right now, it’s worth asking yourself a few honest questions:

• Do I trust the company or leadership I’m aligned with long term?

• Is my income tied to real value, or just structure and pressure?

• Does my work actually fit my real life… or just my best days?

• Am I cultivating a community on my platform—not just a place to share my offerings?

• Do I believe that what I offer will genuinely help someone?

• Am I finding joy in who I am becoming… not just the work that I am doing?

Take a second with those because the answers will tell you more about how you want to work than any strategy ever will.

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Candidly I need to share that many direct sales companies won’t survive this shift. Many are already folding. The direct sales industry is changing rapidly.

Some leaders won’t adapt.
Many companies won’t adapt.
And some people will walk away entirely.

But the ones who thrive will choose to build with community, collaboration, and connection as the foundation.

This next era of direct sales leadership isn’t about doing more. It’s about building something people can actually trust again. And that? That is direct sales done right.

Rooting for you and the industry that forever changed my life,

Katy

First, let me paint the picture for you. I was a middle school teacher who just got tired of fighting over finances with my husband. I was introduced to the direct sales model in early 2011 with no understanding of network marketing other than I liked the products and thought...wouldn’t it be nice to get a little extra cash to pay for the groceries.

I want to be clear. This page will never be an anti-MLM or roast on the industry that blessed our family. Far from, I authored a best-selling book Direct Sales Done Right only because the experiences of doing and seeing so many things wrong in the industry gave me a desire to do things right (not perfect).

But direct sales can be a slippery slope. A little extra cash, can turn into a little more cash, and a little more and then BAM turned into a six figure income, a “freedom” that felt like you cannot slow down.

For me, it also turned into shifted priorities, a persistent never ending self-pressure to perform, a constant desire for more. An endless (and expensive) pursuit for personal growth and dreaming bigger.

I started asking a question that felt almost rebellious at the time:

What do I actually want?

Because what I was building… and how I was building it…didn’t always align.

When I began my own career of mentoring others in the industry, I realized this wasn’t just one company. It wasn’t just personality types. There was a deeper trend running through the industry a system that rewards performers for continuing to perform… often at the expense of everything else.

I started vocally speaking up against the narrative of “caffeine and a dream”, “hustle harder”, “sleep when I am dead” and “short term sacrifices for long term gains.” I started looking at all the carrots my clients were chasingand asking, “Why does it matter for you?”

I felt a personal responsibility to push back when asking “Why does that goal matter to you?” I started to take it upon myself to help carve a path for goals not just helping my clients proclaim them. I started teaching women how to actually define success for herself, because vision boards without meaning are a sure fire one way ticket to burnout. I created a framework around the mile marker mindset and helped thousands of women begin to redefine success for herself outside of the industry standards.

But the pressure to perform without rest isn’t a one time battle. It’s a war. A war that was asking me to slow down, to realign my priorities, to define success on my terms, and to finally stop chasing approval from people who were never going to approve.

My body was keeping score. Because I am a woman who lived through the fallout of years of striving. Years of trying to meet expectations I didn’t even set for myself. Years of an industry that I now know is dependent on the wellness of their marketers.

Then in late 2025, the fallout took it’s toll. Extreme adrenal fatigue. Sudden weight gain. Thyroid issues. And in March of this year, a diagnosis my husband and I never saw coming.

The body keeps score. And here’s the part I’m still processing…

I’ve also watched my body begin to heal in ways that have surprised even my doctors.

Not overnight. Not perfectly. But steadily.

And I can’t help but believe it’s connected to truths I’ve been speaking for years… long before they were trending:

Our health is our greatest form of wealth.
Movement is a gift, not a guarantee.
The body keeps score.

My body has been fighting a battle I didn’t even know existed.

And that realization alone… feels like a miracle.

Rooting so hard for you,

Katy

“Katy, stop talking about substack already, and just click publish.” My husband looked at me after the most trying year of our lives. He knew I was exhausted. He knew that I was forcing, and he knew after 14 years of building platforms one way, my gifts were being swallowed up by the algorithm.

I had mentioned substack to my husband, seeing some of my peers begin to use the platform, and what I loved most about following them on the platform, is that it felt like they had removed the filters, the pressure of the algorithm and just told the truth. They let their words flow, imperfectly and unpolished. It just felt like a place where the guard can come down a bit, ya know? Where grammar errors happen, and so does realness.

It felt like honesty.

So that’s what landed me on this platform.

Before the Stack Came Story

I have been in the online marketing space for over 14 years, and somewhere along the way, I mastered storytelling. Truth be told I think it’s because I started as a middle school reading teacher…a foundational career with the most brutally honest audience of 12-13 year olds. My daily challenge was to get them to fall in love with reading. I accepted the challenge, sometimes I failed at the challenge but every once in awhile I really locked it in. From the experience, I figured out a framework…not like a trending one but a truthful one rooted in storytelling. I learned that when a student could connect to a character on an emotional level, they became invested in the results. So when I transitioned from the classroom into the online marketing space I realized the framework wasn’t just helpful, it was critical in marketing.

The framework works. I went on to teach hundreds of women in direct sales the framework that helped me scale in the industry as well as in my first business outside of the network marketing industry. It’s the very framework that years later is my go-to strategy because it’s not a trend; it is humans connecting to humans.

Business Strategy(ish)

I’ve learned over the past 14 years that the greatest form of wealth is our health, so while I provide business strategy, tips, advice and all things story strategy, especially through my podcast- direct sales done right. I also know that building a business involves a lot of mindset work, alignment, realignment and a lot of faith-filled steps. I try my best to incorporate my faith into my work, although if I can be radically honest (which is also what brought me to the stack) my faith has been rocked over the past year. So while I can lock in on all things business strategy, I also give space for the reality that building a business involves hard work, but it should never come at the cost of our health. A lesson that this past year has taught me well.

Lifestyle, Wellness, and Navigating a New Diagnosis

When my sons were 3 and 3 months old I battled stage 4 cancer. I have been in remission for close to 12 years. The lessons cancer taught me have been nothing short of God’s goodness at play in all of it. So much good came from the battle. Lessons I am applying today as I recently learned of a new health diagnosis that I am beginning to work through. This time, although not cancer, the path ahead isn’t as clear. There’s a lot of testing, specialists, learning how my own body deals with symptoms, stress and fatigue. Through all of it, I believe that God has been equipping me to share this experience with others, to show what it looks like to trust Him as an entrepreneur and also to share the experience of working well, trusting well, and living well so that we can step into our unique calling for our lives. It’s been a humbling experience to go from “girl bossing, hustling, and glorifying the grind” to leaning on him to provide as I give myself space to heal. But can you imagine when I unlock this belief that leaning on faith, God’s unique gifts for us, and a framework for how to build with intention, the blessing it can have on other entrepreneurs.

1:1 Coaching

For those who seek a more personalized coaching experience, there will be opportunities to work with me 1:1. My personalized approach to mentorship allows me to uniquely customize a program for each of my clients. For some clients, they are preparing to launch beyond direct sales, while others are looking to scale to the 6 and 7 figure mark in the industry.

I have been given a unique gift to see the gifts in others and help them bring them to the surface while elevating their own messaging. With 14 years of direct selling experience and scaling my ow business beyond that, I am here to offer you guidance, not only one that is rooted in professional experience, but also in a deep understanding that when you break past your own limiting beliefs, you are taking one more faith filled step into your unique calling.

It’s my hope that here you feel seen. I don’t want this to be just a newsletter but a community, a resource and a space for you in your journey as an entrepreneur who knows that life is always going to life. It’s not supposed to be easy, but who you become through the process matters far more than the final destination. Through all the roadblocks and plot twists, know this…you never have to do it alone. I look forward to taking one faith filled step at a time with you as we continue to drive towards daylight.

Rooting for you,

Katy