✅ Today's Checklist:

• 5 ways to strengthen your personal brand this year

• What to do when being "too good at your job" stalls your promotion

• Dressing like your future self

🤔 Riddle me this: I'm written with confidence in January but tested by February. What am I? (Find the answer on the bottom).

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QUICK LINKS

📆 Harassment training told through Hollywood-style storytelling—save your seat for the webinar.

🎯 Why long-term planning still matters, even when everything pushes short-term thinking.

🤖 The exhausting reality of cleaning up bad AI work you didn't create.

💼 What it takes to build a business as the sole breadwinner.

CAREER GROWTH

5 Ways to Strengthen Your Personal Brand This Year

Your personal brand is how others perceive you—the unique combination of skills, experiences, and personality you want to be known for. Whether you're aiming for your next promotion, building your business, or establishing yourself as a thought leader, personal branding matters.

The good news? You don't need to overhaul your entire life to build a strong personal brand. Here are five practical ways to strengthen yours this year.

Decide your brand foundations

Before you post, share, or network, get clear on your brand foundations.

Pick your tone (friendly, professional, witty?), decide your content strategy (what you'll share and what stays private), create a cohesive visual aesthetic (2-3 colors, 2 fonts), and commit to authenticity.

You can be strategic about boundaries like Gary Vaynerchuk, who openly shares his business journey but keeps his family life private. When your foundations are clear, every decision becomes easier.

Create your content pillars

Content pillars are 3-5 core topics that anchor what you talk about. For example, if you're a marketing professional, your pillars might be: marketing strategy, personal branding, entrepreneurship, work-life balance, and industry trends. Under each pillar, list specific subtopics you can discuss. This gives you a content roadmap so you're never scrambling for ideas. Having content pillars keeps you focused, consistent, and recognizable.

Document your journey (don't wait for perfection)

You don't need a professional camera crew or a perfectly curated feed. Personal branding is about documenting, not creating. Take quick photos or notes of interesting moments in your day. Transform everyday experiences into engaging content that's relevant to your audience and industry. Take people behind the scenes. Let them learn with you and alongside you.

A quick LinkedIn post about a lesson you learned this week is more valuable than a polished article you never publish. Consistency beats perfection every time.

Start small and build momentum

Don't try to do everything at once. Master one platform (like LinkedIn) before expanding. Schedule just 15 minutes daily for brand maintenance. Post regularly, even if it's just once a week. Think long-term: personal branding is a marathon, not a sprint. Results come from sustained effort over months and years.

Pursue opportunities that align with your brand

Network strategically with industry professionals who align with your values. Don't be afraid to reach out with "Interested in a 15-minute chat?" Seek speaking opportunities to establish authority in your field. Create passive income through templates or digital products you can sell on platforms like Etsy. And maintain boundaries—not everything needs to be part of your brand. The key is pursuing opportunities that genuinely align with who you are.

Your personal brand is already forming

Whether you're intentional about it or not, people are already forming opinions about who you are. The question is: are you shaping that narrative, or is it happening by default?

This year, take control. Your personal brand is the common language of who you are. Make sure it's a language you're proud to speak.

BETTER SYSTEMS

What If One Platform Quietly Handled Everything?

Not "everything" in the overhyped way.

Actually everything: invoicing, accounting, expenses, CRM, social posts, and even email.

Zoho isn't loud about it. But it's quietly become the backbone for thousands of businesses that don't want to stitch together 12 tools to stay afloat.

What's under the hood:

• Invoicing that reminds, tracks, and follows up for you

• Expense reporting that doesn't require chasing receipts

• Accounting that makes tax season feel manageable

• A CRM that connects sales to service

• Social scheduling with real analytics, not just posts in a queue

• Docs, email, and internal tools that actually talk to each other
  

A few tradeoffs to know:

• The UI isn't the sleekest; some tools feel a bit dated

• It's powerful, but there's a learning curve to setting it up right.

  
  

Still, if you're tired of app overload and want your backend to just work, Zoho's worth a look.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE

What to Do When You're "Too Good at Your Job" to Get Promoted

"My biggest challenge is not getting promoted any further due to 'being great at my job.'" — Miriam H.

We're going to call this what it is: BS.

If your boss is telling you that you're not getting promoted because you're "too good" at your current job, they're either avoiding the real reason or they're a bad manager. Either way, you deserve better.

Here's what you can do:

Ask if there's a career growth plan for you

Start by being direct. Schedule a meeting with your manager and ask: "What does my career growth plan look like here?"

If they don't have an answer, or if the answer is vague ("We'll see what opens up"), that tells you everything you need to know. Good leaders have growth plans for their high performers. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with them, not you.

Communicate where you see your career going

Don't wait for your manager to guess what you want. Tell them explicitly: "I see myself moving into a [specific role] within the next [timeframe]. What would I need to demonstrate to make that happen?"

Be clear about your goals. Ask what skills, experiences, or milestones you need to hit. If they can't give you concrete answers, they're either unprepared or they're stalling.

Ask the hard questions

This is where most people get uncomfortable, but it's necessary. If you keep hearing "you're too good where you are," push back:

"I could be great at a higher-level job too. Is there something holding you back from promoting me that we should discuss?"

This forces an honest conversation. Either they'll give you real feedback you can work on, or they'll reveal that the issue isn't about your performance at all.

Don't be afraid to leave

If the answer is still no, or if the feedback doesn't match reality, it's time to consider leaving.

You're not being loyal by staying in a role that's stunted your growth. You're being undervalued. And the company keeping you stuck because "you're too good" will replace you the second you leave anyway.

Your career growth matters more than their convenience.

Understand what's really happening

Often it's one of three things:

Lack of structure. They don't have a clear promotion path.

A toxic supervisor. Some managers hold back their best people because they're worried about losing productivity. This is bad leadership.

Lack of opportunity. There genuinely might not be room to grow. If that's the case, they should tell you directly.

Good leadership doesn't hold back people's growth because "they're good where they are." They might have other reasons (budget constraints, timing, etc.) but they should be forthright about them.

You're not stuck

Being "too good" at your job isn't a valid reason to deny you a promotion. It's an excuse.

If your manager won't give you a clear path forward, find a company that will. Your skills are valuable. Your growth matters. And you don't owe your employer your entire career just because they like the work you're doing now.

Ask the hard questions. Push for clarity. And if you don't get it, start looking elsewhere.

You're not stuck. You're just working for people who want to keep you that way.

SYSTEMS UPGRADE

What HR Looks Like After the Panic Stops

You know that feeling when someone quits and suddenly your day explodes into a mess of paperwork, approvals, and Slack pings?

Now imagine this:

The new hire already has what they need.

The PTO tracker updates itself.

Performance reviews? Already queued up and running.

Your desk is quiet. Your brain isn't fried.

You're actually doing strategic work, not just surviving the firehose.

That's BambooHR.

It's the platform built for what HR and people ops should feel like—calm, clear, and under control.

With BambooHR, you get:

• One hub for docs, data, and workflows

• Paperwork that practically completes itself

• Clean, real-time reports that don't require a spreadsheet breakdown

• Performance management that feels like progress, not punishment

• A team that's self-sufficient —because you set them up right

If your current system still feels like patching holes in a sinking ship, it's time to upgrade.

STAFF PICKS

Stuff We're Loving This Week

🌿 Feel-good science for your mood, skin, and energy.

👉 Free event on Jan 29: Scott Galloway breaks down the new playbook on AI marketing. RSVP here.

🗞️ Yes, good news still exists. Positive DONUT is a free weekly newsletter for optimism, gratitude, and warm fuzzies.

🔪 Finally, a knife set that keeps dinner prep from feeling like total mayhem.

JUST FOR FUN

COMMUNITY

🗓️ Upcoming Events

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• Tues 1/27 @ 11AM PT: Agent.ai Workshop

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• Book Tracker Coloring Worksheet

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• Year at a Glance Google Sheet Template

* Smart Girl Society is our private community for women who want deeper conversations, accountability, and tools that actually make life easier. Join the waitlist to get in the next round.

👑 Work Wisdom of the Week: "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." — Tara Cabezud (Dispatcher-Clerk Supervisor, Caltrans)

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