LAST ONE OF THE YEAR
I call bullsh*t on "no regrets!"
Welp! Here we are. The last post of the year before I throw myself dramatically into the loving arms of the holidays. But first, we must reflect, and I don’t buy into the “no regrets!" mindset. I think it’s a statement of denial and also a little bit stupid. Learning from your mistakes? Yes. But denying that there were ANY mistakes you wish you hadn’t made? Bullshit. I tend to be a little ruthless with myself when it comes to moments of poor judgement, but it lends itself to a clearer vision of what to do in the future. And so, in the spirit of spreading holiday cheer, let’s recount my greatest fuck-ups of the year. Don’t fret, read to the end to see some of my favorite moments for the year, including my most spectacular, spiritual, and deeply personal core memory!!
This post is photo-heavy and reads sort of like a picture book.
REGRET NUMBER ONE
Investing time in a platform that has shadow-banned me from the start. Meta/IG has been a nightmare for my business from day one. Had I done more due diligence, I might have learned that Meta places a ban on the mention of blue lotus flower, and more obviously, any content portraying a joint or a person smoking a joint. (We soft-launched with Blue Lotus flower pre rolls). Now, this was and is still confusing given what larger accounts like Anima Mundi Herbals are seemingly able to post without issue, but the shadow bans and threats only got worse when we launched our Kanna-based euphoric mood spray. At which point I learned that other Kanna brands also faced some difficulties with shadow-banning and account shut downs.
The craziest part of all of this is that plants like Kanna and Blue Lotus flower are SAFE, LEGAL, and have shown to demonstrate extremely positive physical, emotional and cognitive health benefits.
I know people love to give an “upside” to the down, which I’ll refer to as a catalyst. The frustrations with IG/Meta led me to Substack, where I’ve been able to write freely and without fear of being banned for sharing products and information that MIGHT ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE. Heaven forbid.
Just because there was a catalyst in this mess, does not mean it isn’t a major regret. I wasted thousands of dollars and countless hours trying to make IG work - money that would have been better spent literally anywhere else.
What did we learn from this? That IG/Meta sucks, and they have intentionally designed algorithms that threaten free speech and silence information that could help people find paths that work for them, which often means circumventing the system (big pharma, banking, insurance, government). The system no likey. Is this a lesson I would’ve rather not learned? You betcha.
I also got shit from people saying I wasn’t producing enough content and giving enough energy to TikTok. Now that TikTok is on the brink of total destruction, I think I made the right call on that one.
Let’s see, what else… Oh!
REGRET NUMBER TWO
Giving up my precious time to people who didn’t deserve it. This is a big one. Codie Sanchez says, “you should be easy to find and hard to reach,” a rule I did not follow this year. I was too quick to say yes to meetings with people I didn’t know and hadn’t vetted. I allowed them to take my time without providing any agenda or objective for the meeting. Worst of all, I let them put ME to work for THEM, asking me to send free product or prepare a deck. I willingly gave up my most precious asset - my time - one I cannot get back, to people who did not add any value to my life or business.
These were investors, contractors, marketers - pretty much anyone who were looking for opportunities or had a platform or service they wanted to sell. You might say, “but Trish! An investor asking to speak with you is a good thing!” I used to think so too, but I’ve changed my tune. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If I had a nickel for every investor I’ve spoken with who doesn’t know jack about the industry they invest in, has never built anything themselves, and asks for my time only to be rude, condescending, and cut me off at every turn, I would never need to raise. They do very little research about your company before asking for your time, so it’s common to come to the meeting with a beautifully prepared pitch deck, only for them to show up late and cut you off to leave early because it “isn’t a fit.” ….You should have already known that, bro.
I’d like to do a tell-all someday about my experience meeting with investors and VCs because I have some absolutely WILD stories and I’m sure some of you do too. One involves a lunch meeting with an investor who got HAMMERED and said he’d leave his wife for me. No thank you.
What did we learn? Protect your time. Be a hard ass about saying no to anything that doesn’t add value and serve your bigger goals.
REGRET NUMBER THREE
Nobody is coming to the rescue. Maybe it’s a princess complex I haven’t outgrown, 👸🏻but as hard and scrappy and gritty as I am, I still often operate under the assumption that people will just want to help me because I’m so lovable and I try so hard. 💅🏻 In a sense, I still think that’s true, but this year I fucked up. I confused people taking advantage for people caring. Silly girl. I regret assuming that everyone has my best interest at heart. I regret not being aggressive enough to demand proof of delivering value or establishing a pay per milestone model before forking over a lump sum of money. Nobody is going to advocate for me, but me. I will not be making those mistakes again next year.
Last category. KISS. Keep it Simple Stupid. I have a tendency to over-complicate things. In the case of my business, I really wish I hadn’t. I spent too many resources chasing too many rabbits at once. For a single person with no social media team to be running full-speed at IG, TikTok, Pinterest, X, Substack, YouTube, and a company blog, all while running all other aspects of the business is in my opinion, reckless. Especially when half of them weren’t showing me any ROI. I should have kept it simple. Instead, I made this ONE arm of my business so busy and convoluted, I ended up slacking off on some channels and completely ignoring others.
My YouTube channel was one of my favorite platforms (I love long-form media), because I got to show behind the scenes of my new small town life, my mom’s regenerative herb farm that inspired my business, and my excursions around the East Coast. However, I gave it up after a few months of vlogging every week because I simply couldn’t keep up with all of the content demands across all of the platforms. In hindsight, I should have stuck to what felt right and ignored the rest that were getting me nowhere.
Come January, I’m turning this ship around, starting with relaunching my YouTube channel to pick up where I left off showing small town living, plus a new exciting development to be announced in the season 2 premiere episode!!
Of course, I’m giving you some pretty high level categories here. There were many oopsies that sent me into tail spins, and my mental and physical health suffered quite a bit. From panic attacks to falling out of shape to mystery illnesses that came out of nowhere and knocked me out for a week. As mentioned in my Holiday Survival Guide, I did buy myself an Oura ring (on sale!) to help me track my sleep, manage my stress, and keep me accountable to activity levels, so here’s to hoping next year is less of a train wreck.
My biggest takeaways to implement next year are to 1) protect my time 2) protect my money 3) protect my health.
I hope you enjoyed reading all about my pain and regrets :) and I hope you’ll share your biggest mistake and/or biggest learning from this year in the comments. It helps to know none of us are alone in our many failures.
As promised, there were some highlights, a few of which I will share now.
Good Psyche’s launch party took place last March during SXSW in Austin, where I hosted a botanical wonderland to showcase the newly released Sidekick Euphoric Mood Spray and Glisten Up! Snow Mushroom Mist. At the event, I hosted a panel on Sex, Psychedelics, and Empathy with a fabulous group of experts to rave reviews.
Fun fact the girlies will understand, my launch party fell on the eve of my period (what are the chances), and I was the most bloated, uncomfy puffer fish of a human at the event. The cramps were kickin’, the brain fog was dense, and the emotional sensitivity levels were a trip wire waiting to blow. Luckily, we made it through without bleeding, crying or yelling at anyone.
Since launch I’ve done a lot, now that I think about it, and Good Psyche has been featured in Beauty Independent, CAP Beauty, Well & Good, Intrigue Mag, Doubleblind, and more - lots to be proud of. •ᴗ•
Another notable moment I won’t shut up about? My urban exodus from Austin to a small town in Western New York, aka home. Best decision I made all year (as documented on YouTube). As mentioned, I took a hiatus when Q3 and Q4 of this year got a little nutty, but I’m picking it back up in January so SUBSCRIBE!
Another good mem was shooting the Fall campaign with two darling friends, the Wadsworth sisters Lauren and Piper. We shot it on two separate days, the first of which was at their family’s breathtaking 200+ year old homestead, and the second day was shot at the stable and gardens at my mother’s farm. For the un-indoctrinated, Good Psyche (GP) was inspired by my mom’s regenerative herb farm here in NY, and since I’ve brought the brand home, so to speak, the vision was to invite our curious humans to the small town, history-rich East Coast lifestyle.
The lifestyle that inspired the elevated wellbeauty brand is outdoorsy, but in a rural, equestrian, farms and gardens sort of way, a la Town & Country if you want to be bougie about it. The place that bore GP has a lot of history, old art and books, homesteads, farm land, beautiful gardens, close-knit community, and most importantly, Shannon, my mother, whose knowledge of herbalism and traditional medicine informs the products I create.
And now, for my most SPECTACULAR MOMENT OF THE YEAR
I made a last minute decision to eat the exorbitant cost for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Eras Tour in Toronto. I dragged poor Dave with me on the 3 hour drive to see my queen do what she does best: dazzle tens of thousands of people on what is now the highest grossing tour of all time. And let me tell you, it was worth every penny, and created a core memory for my memory bank. I will happily rewatch my grainy, shaky, distant videos from the show time and time again, and I cannot WAIT for the documentary to come out so I can relive every second and force my entire family to watch it with me. Incredible performance, incredible vibes. I’m seriously so happy I get to live in a time when miss Taylor Alison Swift is in the world.
Have a cozy holiday. See you in the new year!
xo
Trish
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Obsessed with (and stealing) the 2025 vision
1) protect my time
2) protect my money
3) protect my health
Love the transparency around all the highs and lows — there’s so much to look forward too! 🫶