Ep. 43 A Year of Slow Growth, Finding Balance & What’s Next for 2026
This last year has felt slow for me. Not necessarily in a bad way, or at least now I'm able to view it as not in a bad way. But it wasn't like a "I'm working so hard and nothing's working" kind of way. It was more of a "my life is really, really full and I'm just learning to be okay with slower seasons in business and flexing and letting the ebbs and flows happen" kind of way.
I started this year on maternity leave. I had my son in November 2024, and I was on maternity leave through November, December, January, and most of February. So we started out the year living life really slow and just adjusting to being a family of four.
I launched this podcast in February, which was a huge, exciting milestone. Something that had been on my vision board for years. Finally, midway through maternity leave, I said, "You know what, I'm just going to do it."
In July, we moved from Idaho to California, which I've talked about on a previous episode.
And now finally, two weeks before the end of 2025, I'm finally feeling settled, in a routine, and really ready to take on this next year.
All of those things I mentioned have been huge life transitions, and each one of them impacted my business in ways that I think a lot of people don't see, don't talk about, or just are unfamiliar with.
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A Year of Learning to Hold Space
This year was really a year of learning to hold space for both my family and my business without guilt. I really embraced this idea that balance is not 50-50.
There are going to be seasons where my business takes up most of my time and brain space. And there are going to be seasons where my family and my personal life takes up most of my time and brain space.
2025 was definitely one of the latter.
I frequently had to actively remind myself that just because I'm slowing down doesn't mean I'm stopping. Sometimes slow and sustainable is exactly what we need.
That was a different type of growth for me this last year. More about getting my head on straight about that and not focusing so much on the business and monetary growth as I have in previous years.
So even though it was one of my lower net income years than I've had in the last five years or so, it was a year of massive and really impactful foundation building that I know is going to serve me really well into this next year. And I'm really excited about it.
Personally, emotionally, strategically, business-wise, I'm able in hindsight to see that this whole last year has been about setting myself up for long-term success.
Growth Isn't Always Financial
I say all the time on the podcast: we're in business to make money. If you are not making money in your business, you have a very expensive hobby. And I don't think that's what you want. I still feel that way.
But it is very easy to exclusively tie the idea of growth to revenue.
This year was a huge reminder for me that growth shows up in so many other ways.
I made a post on Threads probably a month ago now that over the last three and a half years, I have spent almost half of that time pregnant. I have birthed two healthy babies. I've moved three times. And somehow my business is still standing.
That is a huge, huge, huge win.
I think I have always known that sometimes growth looks like just surviving, but 2025 really tested my belief in that. And it was good. I think that's what I needed.
Sometimes just being able to maintain during some of the biggest life transitions I have ever had felt hard while it was happening because I don't like to feel like I'm just surviving. But that's what I needed, and it has pushed and stretched me in ways I could not have imagined.
What This Year's Growth Looked Like
I've been able to reframe what success looks like for me in a few key ways:
Consistency through the chaos. My life has been chaos this year from start to finish (in all good ways, but chaos nonetheless). My business has been one constant through it all. That's been really grounding and reassuring for me to be able to hold onto for dear life sometimes.
Building a sustainable business. The importance of building a business that can bend and flex but not break is huge. That's something I've been working on for years, and 2025 really put that to the test.
Developing solid systems. I've put effort into developing processes, offers, systems, and a team that finally feels really solid and timeless. I'm really excited about moving forward with all of this.
The Takeaway
If any of that resonated with you, here's what I want you to remember: you can still be growing even if your numbers don't show that you're growing.
Not all of your growth in business or in life is going to show up on a spreadsheet. It is really important to acknowledge the non-tangible things.
The Consistency Lesson I Had to Learn (Again)
Another big lesson that I thought I had learned, but apparently I needed to learn again in 2025, was about consistency.
Consistency always matters.
Right now, the last two months of this year, I am really seeing that play out. November and December have been significantly slower in my business than I would like, and also than previous Novembers and Decembers.
I know why. Six months ago in the summer, when I was just coming back from having a baby, getting used to being a mom of two, and getting ready to move, I was spread too thin to show up consistently in my marketing. My sales cycle with my clients is longer, so the marketing I was doing six months ago (or in this case, not doing) is impacting the number of clients I'm booking right now.
Since I didn't do any marketing, I'm not booking as many clients as I would like.
I know from experience why that's happening, so I can trust that if I just get consistent and put in the work now, in a few months things will be fine and it's not a big deal.
But years ago, that would have really, really rattled me.
The Marketing Lag Effect
That lag is something a lot of business owners experience on and off, but we very rarely connect the dots and look back at "okay, things are slow now, what was I doing three to six months ago that maybe could have caused this?"
Marketing is kind of like a garden in that way. You have to plant the seeds and water them even when you're busy. Otherwise, in six months when it's time for you to harvest your fruit, you're not going to have any, and it's going to be a big bummer.
Going into 2026, a big goal for me is to get ahead on marketing, batch content, plan my visibility opportunities, and know how things are going to look and what my plan is rather than just flying by the seat of my pants. That way I can stay consistent even during those full, busy, chaotic seasons of life.
Personal family life-wise, we should not be moving or having any more children in 2026, so hopefully that will make a lot of that stuff easier. But I have never been a bigger fan of batching my content (especially when it comes to podcasting) as I am now.
For Those in a Slow Season
If you are in a slow season right now, it's okay. You're not behind. You are probably just reaping the benefits (or lack thereof) of a stressful, busier, more chaotic season you were in a few months ago.
Start planting those marketing seeds now so that six months from now, it's not a problem. Maybe it will never be a problem again.
Avoiding the Comparison Trap
Another big lesson for me in 2025 has been to recognize what season of life I'm in and do everything I can to avoid that comparison trap. Which is obviously easier said than done.
It is so easy for me to look around at my friends who are hitting massive milestones (multiple five-figure launches, growing their team, putting out digital products, getting featured in huge publications) and feel like I'm behind or like I'm doing something wrong or I'm not as good as they are.
But they're all playing a different game.
Most of those people that I'm talking about, who seem to be scaling so quickly or doing so well, don't live the same life as me. They might not have kids. They might not have moved three times in three and a half years. They might have different responsibilities outside of work than I do.
Some of that I am aware of, but we don't know what's going on in everyone else's life. Maybe they have more support than I do. Who knows?
That doesn't make their success better or mine worse. It just makes it different.
You can't compare your life, your capacity, the season of life that you're in to anyone else's.
This year was really about giving myself permission to be in my season without feeling guilty or comparing myself. And let me tell you, I did still feel guilty and I did still compare myself. But now that we've made it to the end of 2025, I'm getting a lot better about that, and it feels good.
Growth looks different for everyone. When you stop comparing your season to someone else's, you can finally start appreciating your own growth, whatever that looks like.
Looking Ahead to 2026
So that's enough about 2025. Let's look ahead to 2026.
I am going into 2026 with so much optimism, excitement, and openness. Maybe the calendar is going to turn to January 1st and I'm going to fall flat on my face. We'll see. I don't think so. I hope not.
But I've spent years building, refining, restructuring, and just tweaking my business to get to where I have wanted and imagined that it would be. And I feel like I'm there. I feel like all the pieces are finally in place and I don't need to be building the thing anymore or discovering what I want that to be.
Now I just get to take what I've built and run with it.
I am so, so proud and excited about the clarity I have found over this last year (but even the last few years) around my process, my offers, and especially my strategy-first approach and really owning that space.
My 2026 Goals
Goals-wise, I don't love setting super concrete goals (which is maybe the wrong way to do things, I don't know, we'll see). But loosely, my goals are:
Grow my podcast. I have really loved creating the show. I want to continue growing its audience so I can impact as many people as possible. I've got a few really cool ideas up my sleeve for different styles of episodes that I'm going to try out. That's exciting for me.
Invest in SEO. A big investment I want to make into my business is SEO. I'm sure you're thinking, "Why haven't you done that already?" I have DIY'd a lot of my SEO. I know a fair bit about it just from being a web designer for the last decade. But I'm really excited to pay somebody to do it for me and do it better than I can do it. More to come on what that process looks like and the impact it makes on my business, evergreen marketing, visibility, and all of that stuff.
Explore AI. I'm also really excited to explore how I can incorporate AI into my business in the form of freebies and digital products. I have mentioned that the Five Minute Brand Audit is going away at the end of this year and it's going to get replaced by something really fun and really cool with the help of ChatGPT. Stay tuned for more details on that.
Grow the Six Figure Brand Society. I'm looking forward to growing the Six Figure Brand Society, not necessarily expanding what's included or what it does, but hopefully just getting some more members in there and continuing to support more people inside it.
We've done some cool stuff inside the Six Figure Brand Society this year with clients. One story that comes to mind is a client who literally started this year with basically no business. By the end of the year, we were helping her create materials like tablecloths, pop-up banners, marketing things, swag, business cards, and all sorts of things to go to a huge event for her business. That's not something she would have ever had on her radar at the beginning of the year. Getting to see her through all of that was so cool. I want to do more of that for sure.
Support my clients through strategy. I'm so excited to do as many strategy sessions as I can and help as many people bring their brand into alignment and figure out what that next best step for them is.
Book four Ultimate Brand Experience clients. More specifically, I would love, love, love to book four Ultimate Brand Experience clients in 2026. If you don't know, our Ultimate Brand Experience is our everything-and-the-kitchen-sink, fully comprehensive, immersive brand experience. It's strategy, design, website, copy, SEO, photography, visioning, social media, on and on and on.
Those are such fun, super high-touch, high-support projects. When I tell you we can change the trajectory of your business with an Ultimate Brand Experience, I mean it. I would love to book four clients for that and really see what kind of impact we can make.
My Mindset for 2026
Mindset-wise for the year, I just really want to focus on consistency, clarity, and intentional growth.
I've talked in previous episodes about playing the long game and slow growth. That is still very much where my head is at. But I'm ready to kind of get back to it, do the thing, and focus more intentionally on growing my business.
And of course, approaching all of this from a place of abundance, joy, calm, and excitement. Not urgency or desperation.
2025 was my year of building (and also definitely a little bit of surviving). 2026 is my year of applying, growing, and doing. And I'm excited for that.
Final Thoughts For The Year
2025 has been a lot for me, and probably for you too. It's okay if this year didn't look the way you wanted it to or the way you expected it to.
You made it through. We're here. And that counts.
Staying in the game, showing up through the ebbs and flows, is success also. If you are still standing at the end of this year, then you're winning and you're doing great.
I want to also thank you so, so, so much for being here, for tuning into the podcast, for supporting my work, and for playing any small role in my journey this year.
Starting this podcast specifically has been a huge labor of love and leap of faith. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, and I'm excited to see how it evolves next year. I really, really truly appreciate every single download that we get.
Share Your Wins
I would love for you to share your biggest win or lesson from 2025 with me. DM it to me on Instagram and let me celebrate you and share it with my audience as well.
I think it's so important to celebrate how far we've come and to also get excited for what 2026 has in store. I think it's going to be a good one.
Here's to a new year full of aligned growth, fresh ideas, and brands that keep getting better with time.
🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned In The Episode:
➡️ Follow me on Instagram @spechtand.co
➡️ Start Your Stand Out Brand™ Audit
➡️ Grab The Stand Out Brand Foundations Workbook
➡️ Book Your Stand Out Brand Strategy Session (use code SFBPOD for $100 off)
➡️ Book A Brand Chat
🎧 Listen to episode 43 of The Six Figure Brand Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube
