In the personal finance space, people will often reference the snowball or snowflake effect. How small efforts will compound over time and make a big difference towards the results that you’re working towards. Building an online brand or business works the same way and I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on this concept at the beginning of the year-while you’re in the process of working on your goals for 2026. This is an important conversation because it can often feel like all of your hard work is for nothing. The majority of well-known digital entrepreneurs have put in years of work that their audience has never seen and it feels like they’re an overnight success. They’re likely not. Let’s talk.
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Show Notes
For the past year, I showed up almost every Tuesday to co-host a livestream with my friends Angela Hollowell founder of Please Hustle Responsibly and Melanin MVP and my other friend Corey Gumbs, founder of The Black Podcasters Association. At the beginning of 2025, I felt that there was an opportunity to better leverage the Substack platform. We committed to going live once a week or every every other week during the summer.
It was hard AF to do.
We did the hard work and it was transformational. We also added thousands of followers and subscribers to our lists and profiles as a result of showing up in the way that we did this year. Each livestream got us in front of people. We still haven’t hit 100 viewers during a live, however we realized that the replays were a huge deal afterwards. These wonderful supporters of our project also subscribed, shared and shouted out our work. We got to connect with some of our 1,000 true fans regularly. By the way, all three of us have different and overlapping true fans because our projects are different. We’ve decided to continue hosting the livestream that we call “Shh, We’re Talking” and even are hosting a virtual summit called “The Anti-Grifters Social Club” with the theme The Power of StoryTelling”
What about the years before 2025…
- I started blogging in 2012 (ish) on Blogger the free platform because I wasn’t sure if I would stick with it. My friend Eric moved over my website to blogger for free on Christmas Eve that year or a year later (I can’t remember) and I kept at it.
- All of my writing in those early years was trash. However, with each post it got a little bit better.
- Then I began speaking at conferences and with each session and panel that I participated in or led-my skills improved and my authority and confidence grew.
- The 10 years that I worked at a university hosting events helped me successfully host my Money On the Mountain Retreat focused on women’s personal finance and crowdfund $10,000 that was used to pay the event’s expenses.
- With every small product sale: romance books, workshops, regular books, memberships my overall ability to sell grew.
- Let’s not forget those many years that I worked at retail shops selling other people’s products. For some reason, selling your own can feel even scarier because it can feel like each purchase is making a personal take on you as a person. Nope, each purchase indicates your increasing clarity and understanding of who your audience is and how you would like to serve them.
What People Forget
About the compounding effect of your efforts.
- Your results improve over time as your skills become sharper and your knowledge improves.
- You develop a deeper intuitive since of what’s working and what is isn’t as time moves on. Similar to how an incredible home cook can make a perfect roux without a recipe.
- You’re a podcast host who began years ago and was wildly uncomfortable with public speaking and have improved your speaking skills exponentially over the years without realizing it.
Too many people have the misguided belief that the success that they’re working towards will happen fast. Most people way underestimate the amount of time it will typically take to reach the successful outcomes they are hoping for.
The Anti-Grifters Social Club Virtual Summit
For the past year myself, Corey Gumbs founder of The Black Podcasters Association and Angela Hollowell founder of Please Hustle Responsibly and Melanin MVP have collaborated on a weekly livestream called “Shh, We’re Talking” We’ve decided to dip our toe in the online summit space and will be hosting our first ever Anti-Grifters Social Club Virtual Summit focused on the power of storytelling. Hang with us for for this 2-day event featuring curated talks that will get your 2026 started on the right foot! We’re giving our Substack live experience an upgrade.
This two-day free event will be from 1:00 pm MTN-5:00 pm MTN or 3-7PM EST on February 19th and 20th. Make sure to sign up at creatorsgettingpaid.com/anti today to save your spot today
