You Only Came Here for Business Advice?

Sorry, There’s the Door.

And yes, you are going to miss out on a ton of good business advice. Don’t let it hit you on the way out.

I write about business. A lot. If you’re reading this, that may be how you found me — and that’s great, I love that!

I love business — particularly startups and entrepreneurship — and I absolutely love sharing the lessons I’ve learned (and continue to learn) running multiple companies, as well as consulting and advising a wide variety of early-stage startups and founders, as well. I’ve consulted over 500 in just the past year, and it’s truly one of my favorite things.

However, there is an itsy bitsy elephant in the corner of my room that really deserves her moment in the light.

The miniature elephant speaks

Here’s what the elephant told me: “Rachel, you wrote an article about your fiance and lost two subscribers. You have to stop doing that.

And your dogs — stop talking about Esmeralda! They clearly don’t like dogs!

Don’t write about your lobster food poisoning either! More of them might leave!

Can you just stick to the script, get back to business, and let me go sit in my shadowy corner with the rest of your miniature elephant collection?”

My response? No, Sheila — you can’t go sit with the rest of my miniature elephant collection until I’ve finished this article. You know the drill.

Here’s the harsh truth

Yes, I spend the vast majority of my time on business-related pursuits. And I love them — but that isn’t 100% of my time.

But if that’s all you want from me, totally fine — we can be surface-level friends like that and you can use me for business advice and I’ll use you for read time — cool deal. However, I don’t believe the answer is to keep myself in a 100% business-only box.

You want to know the real reason? It’s actually not my fault or my choosing.

There simply aren’t enough business-focused publications out there. There are some, and I’m a frequent contributor to those…but I have to be considerate over here. I can’t be inundating their submission boxes just because a few of you business-only readers don’t like hearing about how my best friend dumped a bitcoin millionaire.

And truth be told, I have other life experiences on which to call upon, as well. Should I hide them away, and stifle any helpful lessons they might teach an audience, simply because they aren’t strictly business-related?

Like how I became an award-winning screenwriter in three months…don’t you think that might be useful to someone? Perhaps…

Or what happened when I hired a weightloss hypnotist? I mean, somebody might want to know about that…

Or any other random quirk or experience that might not be strictly business (though most are, and will continue to be).

My point here was not to plug a bunch of random non-business-related articles. It was simply to make the point that, while I do run multiple businesses and consult hundreds of entrepreneurs, that isn’t the only thing I do.

And if my dog obsession or near-death experience with lobster turns you off once and for all, enough to throw away the baby with the bathwater (the bathwater being the remaining business advice…and yes, I do have a queue of over 100+ business-related draft articles in waiting), then feel free to leave now, if you’ve had enough. I hope I’ve made your reading time so far worthwhile.

Have they left yet?

I guess the real point here is, yes, I will always continue to post business, startup, marketing, and entrepreneurship-related articles. I will continue to run my own businesses, consult and advise others, occasionally step in as an interim CEO (article on this coming soon) or temporary cofounder, and relay you the lessons learned from my firsthand experience. That’s what I do day-to-day, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

However, there is going to be a sprinkle of dogs, maybe rabbits, possibly my fiance, lobster poisoning (hopefully not much more of that), and other random life events that make my way into some articles in between. If that’s a little too much variety for you and you don’t have the patience to see what advice those other 100+ queued-up business-related drafts have in store, I’m sorry but I’ll grant you a kind farewell. Thanks for your attendance, no matter how short. :)

For everyone else — or anyone who was unsure — yes, the business advice is here to stay, continue, and grow. There will be no shortage. If you like the odd dog-related article, that may be in the works, too.

Apologies if my real life gets intermingled in the shuffle of business articles I publish. Don’t blame the messenger, blame the — well I guess you can blame me. But again, if you don’t like me at my dog mom, lobster-poisoned worst, you don’t deserve me at my CEO, startup consultant best.

Rant over. No need for the standing ovation.

Oh, stop.

You guys.

Don’t make me blush.

Mic dropped. I’m out for real. If you’re still subscribed, I’ve got about four business-related articles about to drop very shortly. ;)