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Hi Reader
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My God. We made it.
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A week of highs. Lows. WTF moments (good and bad) and every other emotion in between that also included me getting urinated on not once but twice. (by my toddler in case you were wondering)​
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Happy Friday y’all and on that note here’s your weekly dose of entrepreneurial insanity truth, served with a side of insanity and sleep deprivation.

The week actually kicked off with me leaving an epic 40th Portugal White Lotus esque birthday party dance floor at 3am on Sunday (and yes that is absolutely a "maybe I'm not that old flex" but it must be documented) to do one of the more unhinged things I’ve done in a while…

Meet strangers on the Internet… in another country.

Went home, balled up this orange dress, grabbed a bag, and caught a 7am flight to London.

I felt slightly insane. I judged myself for a hot second and then let it pass.
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Showed up to a rooftop in London to meet 14 strangers and someone I’ve been following for years on LinkedIn and now his new community on Substack. Justin Welsh.
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​We’ve never even exchanged messages online but I’ve been a lurker.

He helped me get to home base on LinkedIn and for that I needed to take the opportunity to meet this man who happened to arrange a meet up in London on the worst possible day.

The day-after a 3-day party. (so is that like a day after after after?)
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But you must take chances. I don’t know much about life but I do know that. So I took this opportunity to meet someone I admired in person.
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5.5 hours later (I was only staying for a few hours I told myself because SLEEP but I fell in love with the night) I discovered what so many tech leaders are missing in their rush to "optimize" everything:

The very thing that makes business work REALLY WELL is human connection.

After a few hours the masks came off.
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I heard:
✔️“I burnt out so bad I just went to my room and cried all day…”
✔️“A few years ago I was 80lbs heavier and so unhappy with my life as a dad…”
✔️“I work at corporate IKEA. It’s fine. But I want more in my life…”
✔️“I work in finance… and no one talks to people without kids like we matter.”
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I kept thinking that THIS is what is being “eliminated”, “made redundant”, “automated.”
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I love me a good AI Agent (Ana is my back end agent who I’d probably leave my husband for).. I even built my own AI tool, My StoryPro, because I believe when tech is done right, it can help humans sound more like themselves—not less.

But even the best tech can’t hold a candle to real, in-person human connection…
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I left inspired.

I left making some new friends who I already have zoom dates with (hey hey Matteo!)…and the kicker…. Justin and his wife asked me if I’d like to teach my storytelling and AI methods to his community.

***cue me PICKING MYSELF UP OFF THE FLOOR.
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​This is the paradox of our AI age: The more digital we become, the more valuable face-to-face human connection becomes.

But like all weeks in the life of an entrepreneur I’ll share with you a few of the lows. (and I’m not even counting the urination)​
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​Remember I said I’m in my “unhinged fly to meet strangers” era? Well I have decided to take that energy to the Big Stage in Cannes.
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Cannes media and ad festival is like the Super Bowl for tech, media and creative agencies. I don’t have a ticket but felt called to just “be there with a My StoryPro sandwich board on my body.”
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But this week I’ve learned some truths… I 👏🏼AM👏🏼 NOT👏🏼IMPORTANT👏🏼
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You have to apply everywhere… even a free plot of beach… you need a badge. Your name needs to be on LISTS. You need to be important.
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I’ve been rejected from events more times than I can keep track of at this point. This FREE lunch below I actually was ACCEPTED and then rejected for 🤣😭

But I’m forging ahead!! Because I believe in what I do. I will report back.

But I’d be lying if all the rejection didn’t sting…. EVER so slightly.
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OK let’s move on to My StoryPro.

Disclaimer: It’s HARD to build, market and scale a SAAS tool consistently.
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This month we’ve had more cancellations than ever.

And while that number is stupidly low (according to every other SAAS founder I speak with and part of what statistically happens when you are growing each week)…it still spirals me into a tsunami of anxiety and negative self-talk.
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I get worried that maybe this venture and business will “fail” (there I said it out loud.)
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​But then in the SAME hour…I’ll get this message:

Edna telling me she just won a $100,000 Shark Tank esque competition out of 1600 other entrepreneurs—and she credited My StoryPro for helping her unearth the right story, frame her pitch, and tighten her delivery.

She even came to our My StoryPro office hours to share exactly how she used the tool to prompt and refine what became a winning pitch.

And then also in the same week….. Getting these notes about My StoryPro

It’s an emotional roller coaster and the ride keeps looping!! 🥴
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And then remember that “dream podcast” I told you about… how I loomed him after 7 months of consistent “getting on his radar and giving him value”...
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​Well I got a response….got a “let’s do it!!” (OMFG!!!)​
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But I can't seem to stick the landing.
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He emailed me this week saying “he will get back to me and look over my pitch” which I, of course, interpreted as him saying, “I HATE YOU AND ALL OF YOUR IDEAS AND I DON’T WANT YOU ON MY PODCAST.”

And not me messaging my husband, Wiebke and another friend to ANALYZE ALL 18 WORDS OF HIS EMAIL WITH A MICROSCOPE.

Where is my white surrender flag?🥴
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This is entrepreneurship, folks.

One day you're helping someone win six figures, the next you're getting ghosted by EVERYONE.

Both in the same week. Sometimes the same day.

But here’s what I keep coming back to…

At the end of the day, your superpower isn’t your perfect strategy or your flawless execution.

It’s your convictions.

Your ability to make others feel something. (hopefully good!)

The energy you put out into the world.

I believe in what I’m doing.

Even when it’s hard.
Even when I get rejected from fancy Cannes events.
Even when podcast hosts hold me in limbo.
Even when the cancellation emails roll in.

No one said it’s easy to follow a path you love or believe in.

But isn’t that what makes a life worth living? (that and going to endless parties on European castle grounds but I digress.)

The terrifying journey of betting on yourself? Of showing up as a real human in a Chat GPT world? Of believing that your story - with all its imperfections - matters?

So here’s to the dance floors at 3am.
To the strangers who become friends on London rooftops.
To the rejections that sting but don’t stop us.
To the small wins that remind us why we started.
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And for that universal nudge you desperately need in the 11th hour that says, “keep going girlfriend..”

That nudge THIS WEEK was an agency exec friend of mine asking me if I’d be interested in co-hosting a podcast about AI and that she wants to trial My StoryPro for potential use in the company.🤯
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So Reader, Keep telling your stories.

Keep showing up. Keep being a hot mess of an imperfect perfect human.

The world needs more of that. Not less.

Talk soon and I hope you have a great weekend.. No 3AM dance floors for me this time!!
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XO
Patrice

P.S I am tired.

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