A Mid-Year Review From the Messy Middle

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

We’re halfway through the year, and I keep noticing the same tension: I’m proud of what I’ve built, and I’m also aware that the way I’ve been building my media business can’t stay the same. This season of my life is fuller than it used to be—more responsibilities, more moving parts, more desire to spend life away from a screen, less capacity to spend 80 hours a week building a business. And that reality has forced a kind of clarity I didn’t expect: I’m not chasing “more” anymore. I’m chasing what’s sustainable. What’s repeatable. What’s the best representation of my ideas. What’s aligned with the kind of creative life I actually want to keep living.

The surprising part is that, on paper, things seem to be working. Across my projects, I’ve hit (and in some cases passed) the halfway mark toward goals that I set for the year, which feels huge. Honey & Hustle crossed a meaningful downloads milestone at the halfway point of the year, when we didn’t release a single episode for like two months. That shouldn’t be possible, but it happened—partly because I did some overdue SEO cleanup on episode titles, and partly because the back catalog is finally doing what a back catalog is supposed to do: carry the work forward when I’m not pushing every day.

And then there are the products—small, practical tools that I’ve put off for far too long. Things that don’t require me to show up on camera, host an event, or be “on,” but still move the business forward and serve the people I’m building for. Productizing has been the hardest part of this whole shift away from freelancing, but it’s also the part that feels most like freedom. I said this was the year I stopped freelancing, and I’ve kept that promise. Now I’m just in the messy middle of proving to myself that the model can hold.

Still, even with momentum, I have concerns I can’t ignore.

I miss the consistency of the Substack livestreams, and I’ve felt what happens when a format disappears without an intentional replacement. I think about newsletter growth—especially growth that isn’t dependent on recommendations—and I can feel the pressure to figure out what “distribution” looks like now. I’ve also noticed a quiet distance forming between me and the in-person ecosystem: I’m not attending events really at all this year. I don’t have capacity to host my own right now, and I’m trying to make peace with that without losing the relationships and serendipity that used to come from being out in the world.

And then there’s the general reality of platforms shifting under our feet. LinkedIn, for me, has been in a real decline. The algorithm changes have been brutal, and it’s hard to stay motivated on a platform that feels like it’s punishing link-sharing and thoughtful posts. But at the same time, Threads is popping in a way I didn’t expect: text posts, links, photos, video—the distribution can be surprisingly topic-specific. It’s not “owned land,” and I’m not interested in building my entire business on rented land, but I am interested in leveraging what’s working while it’s working, especially if it helps me get people back to my newsletter, my products, and my projects.

I’m updating websites across projects (because the websites should reflect where the projects are currently, and who they serve). I’m recommitting to publishing—episodes and articles—without turning that commitment into a punishment. I’m leaning into collaboration: more guest posts and collabs because I don’t want to do everything by myself.

And I’m building with tools that match my current capacity. Some of it is support—like leveraging beehiiv Copilot to build better automations, organizing my workspace, and creating better onboarding experiences. Not because I want to automate the heart out of what I do, but because I want new people to feel welcomed and directed to resources that directly help their specific needs.

For Please Hustle Responsibly, I’m moving away from “everything is long-form, researched, editorial all the time” and trying to add other article formats that fit how people actually read, learn, and connect. I’ll be adding some short-form pieces to the mix where I break down long-form media and marketing campaigns, and more behind-the-scenes business posts so you get a few more peeks behind the curtain on what I’m doing. I’m also putting more intention into how I talk about the newsletter in public—especially on Threads—so the messaging is clearer about who it’s for, what it helps with, and why it matters. I’ve been using Notion AI to brainstorm and draft evergreen posts around the work I’ve already done (freebies, the image generator, the beehiiv block builder), and the goal is simple: stop letting good work stay hidden just because I’m busy.

For Melanin MVP, I’m keeping the conversation going where the conversation is already happening. Threads has been a real hub, and I’m treating it like a place to share episodes, articles, lead magnets, and clips—not in a “content grind” way, but in a “distribution is part of the job” way. Same with YouTube: My goal this year was to make year 2 of the Melanin MVP podcast a video show as well, supported by trailers and clips that give the stories a longer life.

Honey & Hustle is entering a new era, too. We’re experimenting with some docu-style episodes—more story, more texture—and I’m excited about what that opens up creatively. We’re getting back on YouTube with full episodes, trailers, and clips. I’ll be experimenting with some shorter voicenote-style episodes that I think will be really fun. I’m also starting to think ahead to our February 2027 daily challenge. Well, I’ve actually been planning this since October of last year, months of pre-production at the scale I want since I’ll be adding a video component to next year’s challenge. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it well. That includes the video components for both YouTube and social platforms, a full social and collaboration strategy, merch for the series, and a more intentional approach to the brands and sponsors I’d actually be proud to partner with.

Rootful Media is in a quieter transition. I’ll be honoring Trail Therapy on its anniversary in August, wrapping that chapter well, and beginning the early steps of the next project—likely a narrative short film or series pilot. Different pace, different stakes, same commitment to making something with soul.

When I look at the year so far, I feel hopeful—not because everything is perfect, but because the shape of the work is becoming clearer.

My hope for the second half is to implement workflows that match the reality of my life now: busier, less flexible, but still deeply creative. I want more opportunities to collaborate—being a guest on other shows, supporting other newsletters, showing up in ways that don’t require me to carry the whole thing. I want to support events even when I can’t physically be there, because community is bigger than attendance.

And I want to keep productizing—not because money is the only metric, but because the right products create stability. They create breathing room. They let me make the best work I can make without having to constantly ask, “Where will the money to support my work come from?”

If you made it to the end, thank you. Truly. I’d love to hear what you’re working on in this season—send me a message on social media or email me and tell me what you’re building, what you’re changing, and what you’re trying to sustain.

Yes, I’m using my own product to promote my own product. That’s how much I love it, and I know you will too.