What Worked, What Didn’t, and What Blew Up in My Face in 2025
Jan 05, 2026
I look forward to this episode every year… and I dread it. This is my third annual What Worked, What Didn’t, and What Blew Up in My Face recap, and it always gets a lot of downloads because you’re all nosy — and honestly? Same. I’m nosy too. I’m here for it.
2025 was the year of high highs and low lows. There was so much good. There was also so much pain. And if I had to name the biggest thing this year taught me, it’s this: I learned how to hold both at the same time — how to hold the ceiling and the floor, and expand my capacity for both in ways I wasn’t ready for… but I’m incredibly grateful for.
Because as I head into 2026, I feel equipped. And I also know there’s a lot coming — things are moving fast, and 2026 is going to be a wild ride for me, and for all of us.
So let’s talk about what worked, what didn’t, and what kind of blew up in my face — and what I’m taking with me into next year.
What worked wasn’t one thing. It was a few decisions that changed everything.
When I went into 2025, I didn’t have a clear financial target. Normally, I’m a “pick a number and run at it” person — but coming off 2024 (the year I broke my leg, and everything that meant), I just didn’t want to do that.
Instead, I went into 2025 with a baseline: I know what I need to make to support my family. That part is clear. And then my “extra” goal was… a sauna.
I know. It sounds ridiculous. It’s also incredibly privileged. But it was what I wanted.
I already have a cold plunge. I spend a lot of time at a spa not far from me. I did the math and realized it made sense to just have a sauna in my backyard. My health is a huge priority for me, and there’s so much data around sauna use and heat shock proteins — and I love saunting. So that was the goal: could I buy a sauna in 2025?
But underneath that goal, I made four big decisions at the end of 2024 that really shaped everything that happened in 2025:
- I moved my private coaching relationships to 12 months.
- I realized I can’t create the kind of transformation my clients deserve in three months. Sometimes even six months isn’t enough, because real change doesn’t happen overnight. So I landed on 12 months — and that decision created more simplicity than I expected.
- I decided to go all-in on This Mother Means Business as a brand.
- A big learning from breaking my leg was that my business, at that point, didn’t exist without me. I’ve built businesses before that could run without me — and I knew I didn’t want to keep building something that collapses if I’m not available.
- I committed to running an in-person event in 2025.
- I told myself I was going to do it, and I did.
- I started treating This Mother Means Business as a sponsorable property.
- Not just the podcast — the brand. The podcast, the retreat, the virtual mentorship spaces, the event… all of it. I wanted to build something that could exist beyond me, while still being deeply supportive and exactly what mom entrepreneurs need.
And honestly? That fourth decision ended up being one of the biggest things that worked.
The sponsorship piece worked — just not on the timeline I expected.
Early in January, I went to a masterclass in Collingwood to learn corporate sponsorship. It’s funny because my last corporate job was literally sponsorship/relationship marketing at a luxury automotive company. We partnered with brands like Fairmont, American Express, Air Canada — big B2B partnerships.
But it never clicked for me that I could build something where I could walk up to a major brand and say: “I have an incredible group of women I’m supporting — do you want to be part of it?”
So I went and learned how corporate sponsorship actually works, how to build relationships with decision-makers, how to build a deck… all of it.
And while I was at that masterclass — I got a phone call that my mom had a heart-related episode. She fainted. She fell. She ended up in the hospital.
That was early January… and it basically set the tone for the year: business expansion alongside real-life intensity. The duality. The ceiling and the floor.
I hoped I’d be able to secure corporate sponsors for the April 2025 event, but the timeline was too short. Corporate moves slower than entrepreneurs do — which I fully understand now.
And while I couldn’t land them for April 2025, I can tell you: the sponsorship piece is working now. There are brands and companies who want to be involved because they believe in this movement and they believe in me — and I take that incredibly seriously.
The event worked… and it also didn’t (and both of those things can be true)
Hosting my first in-person event was a highlight of my year.
It also wasn’t profitable.
And that’s a really important distinction.
The event worked as a marketing tool. After April, I started going to local events and people would say, “I listen to your show,” or “I heard about your event,” or “I follow you online.” It created momentum for the brand. We saw more people finding the show, joining the Inner Circle, and showing up in community connection calls.
But financially? I lost money. I know I did.
And I’m still grateful I did it — because you truly don’t understand how cost-intensive and time-intensive events are until you run one.
And on top of that, the weeks leading up to the event were… a lot.
We had a massive ice storm where I live in Barrie the week before. People didn’t have power for days — some for weeks. I wasn’t even sure if the event would happen.
And three weeks before the event — while my mom had a heart procedure scheduled — my dad had a stroke in Florida.
So there I was: planning an event, serving clients, being a mom, and suddenly learning how to medically repatriate someone from the U.S. back to Canada. Hours on the phone. Insurance companies. Medical transport experts. Trying to understand what’s possible, what’s covered, what isn’t.
And here’s a hot tip I never wanted to learn: if you have older parents traveling, make sure their insurance includes medical repatriation coverage — and specifically, coverage for an air ambulance. Because someone who’s had a stroke can’t just sit on a commercial plane, and not all insurance covers what’s actually required.
That season was high and low at the same time. The event was a high. My parents’ health was a low. And it was all happening at once.
Still — the event itself? Incredible.
It lit a fire in me. I loved getting to connect in person with women I’d only known virtually. And I had a lot of doubt about whether I could fill a room like that. So to do it felt like a massive career moment.
I remember everyone who was in that room. I truly think I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.
Simplicity and support saved me
Another thing that really worked in 2025 was the simplicity I’ve built into my business.
And yes — I know what you’re thinking: “Laura, how is that simple? You have a podcast, you run events, you have a membership, you have private clients…”
But it feels simple to me because I have systems in place — and because I’ve never been more supported.
This year, I had:
- two OBMs (one for the event side, one for membership/mentorship),
- a VA supporting the podcast,
- a podcast producer (shoutout Mike from Cardinal Studio),
- a Pinterest manager,
- and more delegation than I’ve ever had before.
That support — that team — is what kept me from being on fire.
And the other thing that worked (that we truly do not talk about enough) is relationships.
2025 brought some of the coolest, most supportive women into my life. I already had amazing people in my circle — but this year expanded my network in a way that felt unreal.
I’m at a point now where my network can answer just about any question I could have as an entrepreneur. And not only can they answer it — they’ll answer the phone.
I’ve always told women in my mentorship spaces: my network is your network. And right now my network is so, so cool.
There was literally a moment where I met a woman briefly at an event, connected on LinkedIn, booked a Zoom call… and two weeks later we’re besties. I asked her for something I needed, and she said, “Girl, I got you. Give me 24 hours.”
Twenty-four hours later she delivered something that would have taken me months — maybe years — to pull off alone.
So yes: relationships worked. Events worked. Showing up worked.
And tactically? My marketing foundations worked. Email marketing worked.
Being consistent on Instagram worked. Threads continued to be effective for me (especially networking), and I’m dabbling more in LinkedIn too — with an even bigger focus on Threads and LinkedIn in 2026.
What didn’t work: the retreat (and it broke my heart)
I didn’t host a retreat in 2025.
And it genuinely broke my heart.
After doing retreats in 2023 and 2024, not doing one in 2025 felt heavy. There are a lot of reasons for it (and I did a whole episode on it), but at the core: I couldn’t do both the retreat and the event — especially because I ran the event for the first time basically by myself, which was a terrible idea.
Yes, I pulled it off. No, I don’t get a gold star for it.
The reality is: I was coming off a not-great 2024 and I was afraid of the financial risk. I didn’t think I could afford the team support I needed — and trying to do everything myself made it impossible to do everything well.
So in 2026, we’re doing both. Mark my words.
What didn’t really happen: big shiny launches
Another thing that was different this year: I didn’t really launch anything “super new.”
The main new thing (outside of the event) was the Accelerator — a beta program I built at the end of the year to teach concepts and frameworks from my private client work. I had nine people in the beta, which I feel really good about, and I’m excited about where that goes.
But there wasn’t a big launch that flopped.
If anything, the thing I’m continuing to finesse is positioning around the Inner Circle — communicating that it’s not “just a community.” It’s a coaching container. It’s masterminding. It’s direct access to me. It’s support and strategy and implementation — and I’m continuing to tighten how I share that.
Also, if I’m being honest? I spent too much time on social media this year. Too much time creating Instagram content. I’ve been leaning back from that lately and asking: What do I actually need to be doing — and what do I not need to be doing?
What blew up in my face (a little): disappointing people + working too hard
If I’m really assessing the “blew up in my face” category… it wasn’t some dramatic catastrophe.
It was more subtle.
I definitely disappointed some people this year — and that sucked. I hate that. I’ve cried. I’ve had heartbreak. There were expectations of how I should show up or how I’ve shown up in the past, and as demands changed, I couldn’t meet all of those expectations the same way.
It forced me to navigate a tough question: How do I keep functioning with integrity as my business grows? How do I keep being myself and focusing on what I value, even if it disappoints someone?
And the other thing that blew up a little: I worked too hard in the back half of the year.
Yes, I have support. Yes, I delegate. And also — I’m in a season where opportunities are coming fast, and I’m saying yes, and it’s requiring more of me than my usual baseline.
And because of that, I’ve gotten away from some core habits — eating well, working out regularly — and I know long-term that will blow up if I don’t recalibrate.
I’m looking forward to the holiday break to level set heading into 2026.
What I hope you take from this
If your year felt big… if it felt hard… if it felt not great… I want you to know you can use January as a fresh start.
And also: you can choose a fresh start anytime. New Year’s is arbitrary. It’s a date.
My hope is that you celebrate what worked, you don’t let what didn’t work keep you down (sometimes you just need to try again), and you let what blew up be data.
Lessons. Information.
Not a story about you.
And if you’ve listened to the show, come to the event, joined a call, invested in any of my mentorship spaces — I am so grateful for you. Truly.
Also: my sauna arrives next week. And yes, I can’t wait for that content.
