It's been an... 'eh' week. We had a death in the family. It's not been a sad emotion for my immediate family, but it has been a whirlwind of emotions for my in-laws/step-in-laws and those emotions are, of course, reverberating in my soul.

I want to share something with you that I don't talk about much.

When I first started charging for my time -- after seven years of running the free Facebook group, answering questions literally around the clock, pouring everything I had into helping other makers -- some people got angry.

They said I was being greedy.

And here's the part I've never really said out loud: A piece of me believed them.

Not because it was true, but because I was already quietly terrified that I didn't deserve to be paid. That wanting to earn an income from this work I loved was somehow... too much to ask?

I was paycheck-to-paycheck. Using debt to keep the lights on. Running myself ragged helping everyone else while secretly feeling like I wasn't contributing because I didn't have a "real job".

Sound familiar?

I'd be willing to bet that some version of this lives in you too. Maybe it's not "greedy". Maybe it's "who do you think you are" or "it's just a hobby". Or... the quiet guilt of wanting this "little shop" to actually pay, to matter, to be real.

I think about the makers I've worked with who were in that exact place. Afraid to take the next step. Carrying the weight of feeling like compliance, or pricing, or growth, or whatever the thing was, was proof that they weren't ready.

And then something shifts. The work gets done. The pieces fall into place. And one day, someone asks about their "little shop" (you know... in that tone...). And they get to say: "Oh, it actually replaced my 9-5. My spouse stays home now and helps with the shop sometimes."

That Moment. That is why I do this.

Not because compliance is exciting (though I genuinely find it kind of fascinating, which I recognize is a very specific personality trait, lol). But because on the other side of the thing that feels impossible is a version of your life that you actually chose.

Whatever is making you hesitate right now, the cost, the confusion, the voice in your head that sounds suspiciously like whoever called me greedy, I want you to know that I see it.

And I want you to know it's not proof that you can't do this.

It's just the part that comes before you do.

If you're carrying something like this right now, a hesitation, a worry, a question you haven't asked yet, hit reply and tell me about it. I read every. single. one.