From tidying to building (July Recap)
From paid trial experiments to a fox with a taste for rocket
Hi there,
June was for tidying. July, it turns out, was for building.
Not building more — we’ve already established my feelings on more.
Building better foundations:
A business that actually supports me and my ADHD instead of one I have to constantly wrestle with. And, for the first time in a while, a real plan for what I want the next few years to look like.
The nudge came from this newsletter by Andrew Capland, reflecting on five years of working for himself. It made me realise I’d been so busy running my business that I’d stopped asking where I actually wanted it to go. We’ve been having some great chats about it and are even hosting a free webinar together next month.
So that's been July's quieter project, ticking along in the background between experiments, the cohort, and a fox with some very strong opinions about my garden (more on that later).
Here’s everything that happened.
What’s been happening with clients
July has been a month of experiments.
We've been running some really interesting tests around onboarding and paid trials, with a mix of expected results and a few surprises. Some experiments gave us the lift we were hoping for, while others raised even better questions.
That's one of my favourite things about experimentation: even when the outcome isn't a clear win, you still learn something valuable. Sometimes the most useful result is finding out what doesn't move the needle.
What I've been presenting
Sub Club Live with Alice Muir and David Barnard on reactivation! We went live on July 2nd and covered everything from whether you should even prioritise reactivation in the first place to the tactics we've seen actually work.
Presenting in 30°C+ heat was... an experience (I have never looked shinier on camera), but I did my best to bring the energy.
If you missed it, you can watch the session back here.
What I’ve been writing
Nothing new went live this month; a planned pause on the editorial side meant a few pieces were pushed back.
That doesn't mean the writing stopped, though.
Two new pieces are on their way — one on money-back guarantees and one on growth stalls — plus I’ve been preparing some extra Growth Waves content with some fun breakdowns and advice I can’t wait to share.
What I’ve been up to with Women in Experimentation
The personal branding cohort kicked off on July 10th!
You might remember I nearly talked us out of running it. I’m so glad I didn’t, because this group is such a motivated bunch. Every session leaves me more energised than I started (which, for someone who carefully guards her energy, says a lot).
One of our free spot participants, Miracle, shared such a sweet post.
This is exactly why we wanted to offer free spots to people who are rebuilding.
The job market is a tricky place at the moment, so it feels good to be able to help women out there who are struggling and we have plans to do more free webinars and sessions with WiE to support them further.
This month’s flip-flops
As always, the messy reality:
I triple-checked course access. Google Drive had other plans. After retiring my self-serve courses (as promised in last month’s issue), I moved everything over to Google Drive and checked the permissions no fewer than three times.
Some wonderfully mysterious permission settings still managed to lock people out. The irony of breaking access while trying to simplify everything was not lost on me.
It turns out I didn’t have the original course videos. So retiring the courses meant redownloading 180 (!) videos from Podia to organise. Joys.
The silver lining: it pushed me to build a second brain in Claude that now automatically organises all my relevant files. Future me should have a much easier time.
My survey estimates let me down. I’m usually quite good at estimating survey response rates. This month, for one client, they’re coming in super low.
So I’m revamping and reviewing to see what we can do.
The gardening saga continues. I successfully grew mint and rocket this year (redemption after this year’s graveyard of seedlings!)... and then the foxes dug up and ate all my rocket. Why, foxes, why? The mint lives on. For now.
My true saving grace is my fig tree; I’ve proudly picked already 26 figs (yes… I’m keeping count).
What I’ve been enjoying
Silverstone! I headed to Silverstone with a former colleague from Heights (now a great friend), our partners, and a lot of excitement.
I got to see all my favourite drivers, which almost made sleeping in a tent worth it. Almost. Camping and I are still not on speaking terms.
Our annual road trip to France with friends. The tradition continues: the same core group of friends (plus a few new additions), a tiny village, a champagne festival, and a weekend full of good food, a few morning runs around Reims, and catching up.
London remembered it's summer. It was hot. Complaining about the weather is basically a British rite of passage, so I'm assimilating nicely. The long evenings, though? I'll happily keep those.
Attended a breathwork and sound session with Rosie Hoggmascall. This was actually my birthday gift to Rosie, but I think I needed it more than she did. I'm fairly certain I drifted off towards the end 😅... which I'm choosing to believe means it worked.
A day-long gardening course. Yes, before you point it out: I did a gardening course and still lost my rocket to foxes. The course was after that and is my comeback story 🦊.
The focus was on designing a low-maintenance, food-growing garden, and we even sketched out our own plans. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.
Completed the Ben AI accelerator course. This is where the second brain came from. Investing in actually learning this stuff properly, instead of duct-taping tools together, has already been paying off.
I became an auntie! After a difficult pregnancy, my sister welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Lucas, on 21 July. He’s still a little one, but slowly growing :).
If you missed my newsletters this month
Looking ahead to August
A new growth audit — always exciting to dig into a fresh app with fresh eyes.
A major feature launch for a client, very excited for them.
A webinar! About the three directions growth roles are going towards; you can sign up for free here.
More building and improving, of course.
AND… my birthday. Turning 33 on the 13th August and decided to stay young by going climbing in trees 🌲🌳.
If June taught me that endings make space, July taught me what the space is for.
Not filling it back up, but building something that fits.
Till next time,
Daphne