Rosie Sherry

I went to London for a few days last week.

These girls missed me. ❤️

I got jumped on as soon as I got back.

I left a drink on the coffee table and there happened to be a paint brush by it.

I came back to find Piper had used the coffee as paint on some books. 🧑‍🎨🎨🖌☕️

Roll on the good weather.

Easter Sunday and also my sons 16th birthday.

My sister is out of quarantine after flying over from the US.

Sometimes I’ve wondered whether it was a fluke that I grew Ministry of Testing with ‘kindness’.

Whether I was just being a hippy. And maybe I should have focused more on ‘important stuff’ to grow a business.

But I realize now, that being kind is the best strategy for human, community and business growth.

I’m more confident than ever pushing forward with it as a philosophy, mindset and strategy.

We need more kindness. More love. More giving. More ethics. More humanity. More of doing the right thing.

Business is not an excuse to hind behind poor practices. We have no excuses to make bad decisions.

‘Quitting’ Indie Hackers was such a hard decision to make, especially when I love that community, that indie hacker movement, so much.

Ultimately, it came down to personal reasons, the need to seek something new.

And I have no shame in saying that I’ve shed tears over the past few weeks, as I thought through it all, as I made the decision, as I found the courage to tell Courtland…and then the fear of announcing it.

There are many losses for me, and leaving a community is a kind of grief that I need to process and readapt my life around. ❤️

Always have the long term view:

• own your data
• push for RSS
• believe in the open web
• build habits to show up consistently

A reminder via Seth Godin.

It shouldn’t be community first.

That’s like defining a product upfront without any research.

Instead, it should be conversations first.

The conversations will lead you to the right thing.

It could be community, but also maybe something else.

And if it is community that you decide upon, you can be confident that conversations are the foundation of any good community.

Conversations lead to:

• understanding
• trust
• stronger relationships
• growth
• being able to lead

👍🏼 Conversations first.

Community fatigue is real.

Every newsletter, product and course are shouting about having ‘community’.

Maybe just have community without making a big deal about it.

It should just be the norm where people have the expectation that it exists, but no obligation to join in.

“Stretch and Play” 🙌🏽

These days Piper always wakes up first and wants to play or draw with me.

I’ve started to combine these morning moments with some much needed stretching.

Almost didn’t do it.

#5x5 #stronglifts 💪

A morning buggy run which was really a walk topped off by drag-a-bike-along.

I’m motivated to beat my previous best. 💪🏽

#5x5

In 2021 I will do better with fitness.

My next purchase will be some masks to use when running. Too many inconsiderate people out and about for my liking.

Other option is to go running earlier. 😬

You don’t stop playing because you become old.

You become old because you stop playing.

❤️

Instead of building an audience, maybe reframe it as:

• finding belonging
• building up your network
• create trust in who you are
• creating value
• making something out of nothing
• doing something you love
• creating community 🥰

Play the long game with curation.

It slows you down, until it massively speeds you up.

Entertaining kids during lockdown.

A packet of shiny balloons and a pen = hours of fun.

Seven fears that might be holding you back:

• Fear of unpredictability
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of being unworthy
• Fear of being insignificant
• Fear of failure
• Fear of trusting others
• Fear of being incapable

I think Piper wants to run like me. She insisted on getting out and running. 😍

Teach kids by leading by example. 👍

Love is when my husband surprises me with a new running buggy.

The pandemic feels bearable right now. 🥰

Hah, well they say, if you aren’t embarrassed of your first versions then you’ve launched too late.

This was one of the early iterations of rosie.land, and even this is more than 6 months into the journey.

🐌 I’m like a snail, slowly but surely.

Manually copying over content from my Rosieland Substack to a new community space.

It’s a royal pain in the butt.

I’m now Tweeting via micro.blog, mostly to have more ownership of my content.

I think I’d also like to try out their podcasting feature as a casual podcast. 👀

I was meant to do this years ago, better late than never.

This is Piper’s way of saying she’s had enough food.

Piper on her sister’s bike.

She always wants to do what Eloise does.