A movie reel of my life plays on the back of my eyelids as we plunge toward the earth at hundreds of feet per second.
Everyone on this airplane is about to die, and my tombstone will read, “Here lies Sam Vander Wielen, an 70-hour a week lawyer who cries in the bathroom between meetings and masks her pain with bags of Boom Chicka popcorn hidden in the bottom drawer of her desk.”
Spoiler: I didn’t die.
But “almost dying” – or at least feeling like I was about to – was a sea change moment in my life. I was not going to spend my life hanging around the watercooler in stiff polyester skirtsuits, listening to Stephen from Mergers & Acquisitions go on about compliance loopholes and indemnity clauses.
Everything didn’t change “overnight” when I started a business.
But “almost dying” – or at least feeling like I was about to – was a sea change moment in my life. I was not going to spend my life hanging around the watercooler in stiff polyester skirtsuits, listening to Stephen from Mergers & Acquisitions go on about compliance loopholes and indemnity clauses.
Everything didn’t change “overnight” when I started a business.
I failed twice (← shortcut to the podcast episode).
It took time to build the business I have today, to record 300+ podcast episodes, add 55K+ subscribers to my list, and earn enough to buy the sweetest cottage in Vermont where I pick my own chamomile, pop into independent bookstores, and drink my weight in maple cappuccinos.
…just like it’ll take time to build your business.
To find what works, you’ll try lots of things that don’t work. Normal! I recommend that. Learning why something doesn’t work is essential if you want to grow and scale your business. As great as it feels to succeed, our failures are where we learn the most.
Sorry, no way around that one!
But I’m here to help. 🫡
Not just with getting the legal side of business squared away (get started here if you came for legal tips), but also with the kind of chill marketing strategies that have helped me earn more than $8 million without ever once putting on an ugly blazer or staying up past midnight reading contracts.
The best place to start is my podcast, On Your Terms®️.
Here are a few most popular episodes:
🎧 Everything You Need To Know About Paying Yourself
🎧 How to Build an Email List (with or without freebies)
🎧 The NEW Way To Structure Your Day For Better Content
🎧 My Wake-Up Call About Online Safety
🎧 The 6 Anchors Behind My $8M Business
…you can also browse more episodes of On Your Terms® here 👉
Prefer reading to listening? These are our top newsletter issues:
🗞️ How to Protect Your Privacy (but still grow your biz)
🗞️ Read This When You’re Procrastinating
🗞️ You Don’t Need Things to Be Perfect (let’s take action)
🗞️ Organize Your Business (my fave tools & tips!)
Oh, yeah. And that plane ride?
To hear how it turned out, you’ll have to read my book When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy, which has been endorsed by online business legends like Pat Flynn, Amy Porterfield, and Laura Belgray.
Now you know the “where she is today” part of the story, but how I got here is pretty good, too.
You’ll be relieved to hear some of the ways I crashed and burned before becoming the Sam of today—a blog about oatmeal, plus another ethically-murky business, and the blog comment that really got things rolling.
Talk soon,
