How are we in the last week of February?! I went from feeling like I was ahead of schedule to realizing… I was very much not.

So apologies. And hopefully this was worth the wait :)

Newsletter Sounds: a few tracks that carried me through January. Listen here while you’re read .

My word for January? Mindset.

It felt like as soon as the clock struck midnight, things that didn’t make sense… started making sense.

Confused? Keep reading.

January highlighted for me how important mindset is on this journey called entrepreneurship. Sometimes people make it sound like it is fluffy and optional. However, it isn’t.

Why?

Because mindset is at the root of belief and therefore action.

You can’t outwork a bad mindset. It isn’t sustainable.

Here is an example of what that looked like:

The first was my relationship to sales.

2025 was not the year I wanted it to be, especially from a business perspective. Sales always felt like something that was icky to me and I felt like I would like selling more if I could just find my “style.”

My style was to publish content, host community events, and weave in what I do.

What I ended up finding out was that wasn’t enough.

Yes, that was obvious through my sales. However, this became even clearer when I talked to three individuals who didn’t know each other, yet said the same thing:

“If I didn’t have any context, I would assume you’re booked and busy.”

The comment stayed with me. And annoyed me, if I am being honest.

However, it was the start of me accepting the fact that I needed to explicitly let people know that I was open for people to work with me.

Straightforward enough, right?

Sort of.

Until I realized that I had a sneaky story and belief around viewing sales as begging. Like if I am selling, then I am doing it because something is wrong with my business. Because people who have something hot and worth buying wouldn’t have to sell.

Don’t ask me where the story came from because I don’t know.

However, it was operating so subconsciously that it has likely been impacting my actions for who knows how long.

So how am I overcoming this?

I have now reframed it as inviting people to work with me.

As my dad pointed out, yes it is still sales. However, positioning it as an invitation is working for my brain.

And preliminarily, I am seeing movement.

More connections.
More people sharing my content.
More people saving it.
More calls being booked.

Hopefully I have convinced you that mindset is core belief and action. So, where has your mindset been limiting you in your business?

I had the pleasure of being paired with Alisa Yamawaki and Saika Morimoto. When the third day culminated, I was so proud of how their stories shaped in such a short period of time.

The audience was a room of investors, peers, distinguished members of Japanese media, and government officers.

A few takeaways I wanted to share:

• Context is so important. Whether that is cultural, local, or generational, you cannot dismiss the spoken and unspoken ways people operate and realities businesses operate in and be successful.

• Make it clear the bigger opportunity your business is operating in. You want your investors to understand why they should care about the problem and quantifying it is a helpful way to do so.

• Spend some time talking about how this idea came to be. Especially in the early stage, it helps bring people along and, if done well, helps them see things like you see them.

Accessible ways to work with founders.

I recently increased my prices, more to come on that in the Feb recap, but I still want to be able to have some time in my month where I am giving a portion of my time.

So there are two economical ways to get on my schedule. Pass it on.

Here is the best way to use my time:

• Get feedback on your verbal pitch or pitch story
• Work through a customer, product, or positioning challenge
• Review discovery insights or customer feedback
• Learn how to implement community led growth inside your company
• Plan your first community event
• Pressure test a decision you are about to make
• Clarify your narrative or messaging
• Identify why something is not working
• Align on your next move or priority

30 minute session. Free. You get feedback and the recording.

I have a strong no show policy for this.

Click on each link for more detail.

SXSW. Sponsors for B2B Haus.

As of this email, if you know any B2B or creator companies that want to activate at SXSW and time got away from them, send them my way (ASAP).

Learn more about B2B Haus here: Overview of B2B Haus

Selling.

In addition to my mindset around selling, I realized that the anxiety that comes up around selling is harder when you have no clue what you are selling.

And while I am by no means a selling expert yet, what I am realizing is that if you cannot clearly answer why someone should buy your product or service over a competitor without giving a long answer, then you do not fully know what you are selling.

How do I suggest getting around it?

If you were to use the 300 character box to add a message to someone you didn’t know as you connect with them on LinkedIn, what would you put so that they would respond to you?

This exercise has helped me get to the point and make sure I am highlighting the most important things at its core.

Oh and to plug one of the baddies, if you feel like you need help with selling check out Tish Dignam’s Cringe Free Sales course. She has some more room for her March cohort and I just finished her January cohort - get in there!

See a complete list of the Startup Baddie podcasts recs here.

Dairy of a CEO - The Money Making Expert: The Exact Formula For Turning $100 into $100k Per Month! - Daniel Priestley

Recommended by a friend. Here is what I took away from this episode:

Whether you’re looking for a thought partner, a fresh perspective, or someone to help you get unstuck, here’s how I currently support folks:

If something here speaks to you (or someone you know), I’d love to hear from you.

If you made it this far, thank you. Hit reply and let me know what landed (or what you want more of next time. I’d love to hear from you.

Grateful you’re here. Talk soon.

xx,

Ashley, the Startup Baddie