KO AU

Day 23:

Been thinking about why that Te Pō post hit the way it did. Four things.

It reframed pain. Not something happening to you. Something working for you.
It was specific. Not vague inspiration. It named the exact ache of being someone now, but knowing you let another version of yourself go because you thought she was impossible. Te Pō says she’s still available to you.

It was restrained. No noise. Say the thing. Get to the point.

And underneath all of it, it’s ancestral wisdom doing what it’s always done. Getting right to the core of us. Saying I see you. I got you. Here’s the way through.

That’s not content strategy. That’s just what happens when you let the wisdom speak instead of trying to sound smart on top of it.

Last third of this challenge and the lessons keep coming. See you for Day 23 apōpō

Day 21. The numbers are in and they’re not the win people expect.

Ten new followers on Instagram. 428 on Facebook. And a handful of unfollows too.

I could hide that. I won’t. The data that stings is usually the data that teaches you the most.

Here’s what 21 days taught me: Consistency isn’t the win everyone says it is. Not if you don’t know why you’re posting.

I mixed up personal branding with business branding. That confusion showed up in every caption, every hook, every post. Nobody was confused but me. But it read that way.

And clarity doesn’t come from more content. It comes from knowing exactly who you’re talking to.

I found that clarity this week, and I’m not doing this alone anymore. Learning from people who’ve built real audiences, real businesses. Taking what applies, leaving what doesn’t.

This is Te Pō. The part nobody posts about. The part before the breakthrough, not after it.

I wouldn’t know any of this if I hadn’t started this journey and been honest along the way.

Day 22 tomorrow.

Day 20.

Staying polished doesn’t protect you. It makes you invisible.

No one can see the thing you never post. Which means no one can criticise it either. That feels safe. It isn’t.

Here’s the cost. While you’re perfecting a caption, someone less ready than you hits post. They’re not sharper than you. They don’t look as good, sound as good, know as much as you. But they put the reps in. And reps compound.

They get seen. They get praise. They start making money doing the thing you’re still “preparing” for.

And you get jealous.

But you don’t get to be jealous of someone for doing the thing you were too scared to do.

That’s the cost of polish. Not failure. Irrelevance. You stay safe and watch someone else build the life you talked yourself out of.

Do you want that to be the cost?

Day 21 tomorrow. Before you’re ready.

Day 19. My 73 year old Aunty called me this morning.

She said my post about showing up as me made her stop and look at her own life. She’s spent seventy three years comparing herself to her sisters. Living a version of herself that was never fully her own.

So this morning she decided she was done with that. Got up, did her hair. Told me she looked stunning. And she said something I won’t forget, she said she’s been breathing clearer than she has in years.

That’s what happens when you stop trying to be someone else and finally choose to be you.

I didn’t post day 18 thinking it would reach her. But it did. And if being me gives her permission to be her, then maybe her being her gives someone else permission too.

That’s the whole point. That’s why I keep showing up messy and unfinished. You never know whose breath you’re improving 😉

Day 18: Yesterday I said I’m doing what most people are too scared to do. Today, the honest part is I was scared too. Hell I’m still scared.

Not of the camera. Of being seen not having it figured out. Of you watching a me, business owner fumble through something new and thinking less of me for it.

That fear is the real story behind these 18 days. Not the content. The fear underneath the content.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you what staying perfect 👀 actually cost me.

Day 17. I ended up just literally getting on screen and just saying, you know, the best thing about this whole journey is that I just get to be me. I literally just turn up here with my old iPhone 13. My cheap $30 KMart ring light, and I just turn up and I be me. And there is no greater feeling in the world than having the freedom to be you. We’re in a time of humanity where people are so f$&king sick of fake $hit that they are demanding authenticity and honesty and real. and I’ve shown up here day after day, day 17 authentic and real. It’s not perfect. It’s not polished. But you know what? I don’t give a $hit. I’m glad I have the courage to get on here and give myself permission to be real because so many people out there don’t. They’re still worried about what people think. Do not f$&king worry about what people think and just post the post. I’ll see you for day 18 tomorrow.

Day 16.

I kept trying to make content the way I saw other people doing it. Staying up late. Working when the house went quiet. It wrecked me. Midnight became normal. My body started showing the signs of stress.

So I looked at my own calendar instead of someone else’s.

I’m a morning person. I have two windows. 3:30 to 4am I journal and flesh out the kōrero. 7 to 7:30 I film, edit, post. That’s gonna be it.

No more sacrificing sleep for content. I made that promise to myself and I’m keeping it.

If you’re a māmā with three tamariki, your windows won’t look like mine. Maybe it’s the car. Between drop offs, between errands. Talk it out to yourself at the lights. Film it in the driveway. Edit it while you wait.

Everyone’s time looks different. Find your windows. Make it work for you.

Ka kite āpōpō, day 17

Day 16 of my 33-day challenge and I’m learning heaps… but one thing is top of my mind today.
I’m in my 40s. I come with responsibilities. And time is not the same as it used to be when I was young and free.
If you’re learning how to create content later in life, you’re going to have to invest real time teaching yourself, and finding that time is the actual tension point.
What I’m noticing is I have to get way more intentional with my time. It’s precious. There’s no spare hours just floating around.
This is the part of the journey that doesn’t get talked about enough, and I wish it would. Anywho, I’m gonna play around with some time management strategies so I’m intentional with my time. I’ll update you tomorrow for Day 16.

I been through Te Pō, and it’s pressure is the privilege I have of being here today competing in my first ever BFT Podium event. Te Pō shaped me to become the wahine I thought was impossible to be at 48.