Memories in the making: I met my biz bestie!
Here's how a delayed train to Manchester, meeting my biz bestie IRL, and some quiet time sparked new ideas and filled my cup.
At the start of this year, I decided that my theme for the year would be:
Making Memories.
This mindset has led me to being more intentional with meeting up with friends, and looking further afield and booking events such as Atomicon 2025 where I’ll hopefully meet some familiar faces from the online world. Last week, however, my ‘Making Memories’ mindset saw me hopping on a train for a long-overdue trip to Manchester to meet up with my biz bestie, Rachilli. 👇
The train ride there was a 3.5hr trek, and I made the most of it despite the hit-or-miss WiFi. Surprisingly, I ended up making great progress on mapping out the course that will accompany my Teachery Theme Toolkit®. Crazy what you can do when you have more than 5mins to focus on a task, with zero distractions from little humans. As much as I love my babies, I loved having some quiet time alone.
I even got started on scripting the tutorial videos with a little help from ChatGPT. I had transcripts from the tutorial videos in my Teachery Christmas Advent Theme to refer back to, so I fed that into ChatGPT, tweaked the steps required, and gave it instructions to refine them for the new course material needed to accompany the Theme Toolkit®.
It was actually kind of mind-blowing how much time I saved—I would have procrastinated on reworking those steps forever! ChatGPT really took something tedious and made it effortless, however, I still can’t shake the feeling of a love / hate relationship towards AI.
In a nutshell, it scares me how accurate and effective this tech is even in it’s infancy, and the implications it has on our planet and our natural state of being. Yet, I feel the lure to use it because of it’s efficiency and how fun it is to experiment with, and then panic that I’ll come to depend on it – and that’s a path I don’t want to tread. Anyway, I am veering off topic. I can muse on that another day perhaps?
Rachel and I had all the best intentions of co-working while I was there. We even had our laptops out, ready to go, in this really cosy lounge where I was staying. But as it often goes with biz besties, the laptops took a backseat to just catching up and chatting. And honestly? No regrets. It was so lovely to finally connect in person after years of Voxer chats.
Another perk of the trip was getting a full night’s sleep in Manchester—my first in about five years—and it was an absolute dream. I’m not exaggerating when I say it felt like pure bliss. Naturally, I missed the kids (and maybe the chaos that comes with them) more than I expected and was keen to get home to them, but not until I enjoyed a coffee in bed and reading a few chapters of my book.
The trip home wasn’t quite as smooth. I had a two-hour train delay (it literally broke down before the first stop from Manchester) so again, I leaned into the extra time and worked on the Theme Toolkit®. Every cloud, right?
One thing I’ve realised is that I’m not following a super linear path with this product—one minute, I’m working on the Canva templates, then I’m finessing the theme design, then suddenly, I’m in Teachery setting up the course, drafting tutorial ideas, or tweaking content. I’m letting my energy (and WiFi availability) guide me, and honestly? It’s kind of working for me right now.
I came away from this trip with a big realisation about myself: I really love connecting with people face-to-face, but I’m definitely more suited to smaller, intimate meet-ups rather than big group settings.
As an introvert (an INFJ for all you personality test fans), I can feel my energy depleting pretty quickly in large groups. But a one-on-one hangout with Rachel? That filled my cup.
Back to the business side of things—I'm was following the Calm Launch formula for this launch, but truthfully, I’ve paused that whilst I get knee-deep in product creation mode instead.
I did manage to finish the homework for the Calm Launch Formula live cohort, and I was even lucky enough to get a shout-out on their website (yay!) and here’s how it looks:
The bare-bones waitlist page has been live since October 1st, and I’m excited to say that 13 people have already signed up. I know it’s not hundreds, but those 13 sign-ups mean the world to me—I’m genuinely thrilled that they’re interested in hearing more!
I’ve also been thinking about the theme examples I want to include in my course for inspiration of what’s possible with the toolkit, and I’ve decided I’m going to feature real businesses. For me, there’s something so exciting about working with a real business, with real brand guidelines—it gives me a framework to work within, which I actually love. Plus, it’ll be something that this person can actually use in the end, which feels even more rewarding.
At this moment, I feel a bit hesitant to say it out loud, but… I feel mega motivated.
I can tell I’m back to my old self because the ideas are just flowing again. I’m chipping away at this product bit by bit, and it feels good. No pressure, no attachment to the outcome—just the joy of creating. It’s strange because this toolkit feels like the product I promised myself years ago, but back then, I just couldn’t make it happen. Now, though? It feels simpler, more fun, and definitely not overwhelming.
I have a low-key goal of selling 10 theme toolkits and a stretch goal of 30, but honestly? If I don’t sell a single one, I’ll write about it here, share what I’ve learned, and unpack all the feelings that come with it. Either way, I’m here for the journey.
So, that’s where I’m at right now. Back home, back at it, and feeling more aligned than I have in a long time. I’m going with the flow and allowing the process to unfold, and I have a sneaky feeling that this time, it’s all going to click into place.
Until next time, Kim ✨
PS. You may have noticed that I’ve shared my affiliate link for Teachery in this post, and I have only done so because I whole-heartedly love this course platform. As a heads up, I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use my affiliate link to purchase Teachery #justbeinghonest
If you’re curious about Teachery, you can read my Teachery review over on my website – feel free to ask me any questions ☺️
Exciting times!! 🥰 xx