722 orders. 1 influencer collab. And only 1 crashout moment. Here’s how I’m rebuilding SoCurious in 2026.

For a long time, building this business felt a little like planting seeds in the dark. A lot of effort. A lot of faith. A lot of me whispering, “okay… but is any of this actually working?” into the void. And then Q1 arrived with enough proof to make me pause and finally take a sigh of relief. 

Q1 felt like the first quarter where SoCurious stopped feeling like a fragile little dream and started feeling like a real, living thing. 

Still growing. Still a little chaotic. Still held together with duct tape, my creativity, and more spiral bound notebooks than I’d like to admit. 

But this quarter gave me something I’ve been wanting for a long time: evidence. Evidence that joy can scale. Evidence that people care. Evidence that I’m not crazy for believing this could grow into a thriving business.

So I took myself on a metaphorical retreat. 

Me in my apartment. With 20 milligram edibles. And pretended like time and space didn’t exist outside of analyzing the data and deciding what comes next for SoCurious.

Today I want to share that info with you. 

The Numbers

1. 722 orders. A 2.59% conversion rate. And nearly 20,000 visits to the SoCurious shop. 

Those numbers don’t sound revolutionary until you remember: this is still mostly me, still mostly manual, still happening from my apartment in Austin. 

I’m legitimately elated.

2. My collab with my friend Evelyn (from the internets) actually worked. 

Relaunching the brand with support from a notable influencer led to 485 preorders. But what was more beautiful, it’s my real life friend. This was the most joyful part of the experiment. Being supported by while simultaneously supporting someone I genuinely care about. 

3. 38 people subscribed to the SoCurious Mail Club. 

That might sound small, but recurring revenue is the difference between “I’m stressed about cash flow” and “I can actually consider taking a vacation.” Recurring revenue is literally freedom. 

(Note: It’s year 2 of me being self-employed and I still have not set foot out of Texas. That has to change in Q2 or else.)

What I Actually Built

My anthem for this year was “Let It Grow.” Q1 was about proving my big ideas could work at scale.

Here’s a quick hit list of the things I’m most proud of achieving: 

1. I built a shipping and fulfillment system that doesn’t feel like I’m running a one-person sweatshop. 

The pressure test of the preorders rewired my perceptions around packing and shipping. And led me to hiring my friend Rosa to work part time and help with events and shipping.

2. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this in the newsletter, but over the past 10 months I’ve worked as Creative Director for Neurodiversion, helping to plan and build a conference for people with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, and other forms of neurodiversity. 

I designed some really awesome swag. Developed this year’s theme: Different By Design. But this year we extended that partnership to help drive some meaningful progress in my business.

I did the fourth Joy is the Revolution popup at the Neurodiversion Conference Expo, which introduced the company to an entirely new demographic. This got my wheels turning on creative ways to connect with audiences outside of art markets and industry tradeshows.

(If you know of any expos or conferences where a Joy is the Revolution popup would land, please let me know)

3. I continued to expand the product collection with the SoCurious Mail Club. 

And I’m especially proud that I got all three issues out on time EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH! Take that ADHD! (plz clap for me)

4. I finally dipped my toe back into public speaking.

I gave my first Joy is the Revolution presentation to elementary school kids. (25 times in total)

Then I delivered the Joy Reset talk at the Neurodiversion Conference to a room full of people who were visibly moved by me sharing my personal philosophy on why joy is revolutionary. I want to give this talk 25 times this year if I can and would love to get paid to do it. 

(If you’re on a planning committee for a conference or want to connect me with your HR team at work, it would make my day.)

5. I got to flex my muscles outside of SoCurious. 

The most important to me was my illustration being featured in Flow Magazine. In 2025 my illustration work fully dried up, so it felt good to have some external validation (sorry I’m human)  

I partnered with Shimmer, an ADHD coaching brand for a social content campaign. 

Recorded a podcast interview that you can listen to here. 

And finished The Artists’ Way, which I’d been dragging through since 2024.

Most of these things don’t directly print money. 

But across the board in Q1 it showed me that yes, I am an artist and an entrepreneur. 

The Social Media Side

My relationship with social media has been strange. Some days I love the way it connects me with people across the globe. Some days I want to quit because my favorite posts almost never get traction. 

I shared about 120 posts across all platforms in Q1. 

That’s a lot, until you realize I’m not doing this to hit some arbitrary number. I’m doing it because I genuinely believe the work deserves to be seen, and the easiest way to do that is to share your work–despite it feeling internally cringey to say the least.

Here’s how it broke down per platform. 

I finally saw growth on my personal Instagram. We were stuck at 10K followers for the better part of a year, but now I’m at 11.2k. 

Then there was massive growth to 11.4k on Threads (nearly a 5k jump)—which surprised me, but also solidified that yes, I am a writer. I write these emails but I still frequently feel like an imposter because I also can draw. 

And the biggest surprise: going from 0 to 3,000 followers on TikTok by sharing the process of building the SoCurious brand. I found a formula that resonates and it was genuinely fun—in many ways, it felt like making a mini TV show about the process of building the brand. (I secretly always wanted to be Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All, and now I can finally own it. I don’t mind being in front of the camera.)

The Key Learnings

1. Here’s the thing nobody tells you about running a small creative business: energy is the real constraint. 

There are only 24 hours in the day. And while Beyonce has the same 24 hours in a day that I have, I am not Beyonce. (Also I would never marry Jay Z.)

I’m one human being. With ADHD. And fluctuating self esteem. One minute I think I can save the universe and then the next I’m afraid that I will be homeless if I make one more meaningful mistake. 

So I’ve become relentless with my precious energy. Ruminating about past pain has been shut down for the foreseeable future. I’m really kind to myself. And I work with my body and its rhythms. Some days I kick ass at work and do more than the average person. 

Other days, I sit around and watch episodes of Jem and the Holograms. It evens out to about 50 hours of work a week, which I feel like is worth noting. I refuse to fall back into the hustle culture that I worked so hard to escape. 

And yes, I admit, it is more than 40 hours, but it doesn’t feel bad. On my best days, it feels like I’m hanging out and doing as much work as I can sustainably do. 

2. Weekly financial targets work better than monthly ones. 

I aim for $1,500 a week instead of $6k a month. It’s the same number, but psychologically, it’s steadier. You feel progress more often. It’s weird to say this out loud, but I love making money. It feels magical and silly and fun and creative. 

Before it felt scary and overwhelming and something to be ashamed about. But now it just feels different (I don’t know if that makes sense).

3. Burnout is a bad business decision. 

I’m not grinding through exhaustion to prove I’m serious. That’s a scarcity mindset. 

Instead, I’m building capacity. Working in sprints. Protecting leisure time, exercise, and healthy eating. And leaning on help when I need it—my friend Rosa’s been genuinely valuable for events and admin tasks. And I’m hopeful that the company will continue trending upward because how dope would it be to have a contract employee. 

4. Fun is not a luxury in my business. Fun is a business input. 

My personal enjoyment drives revenue. This isn’t some metaphorical thing I’m writing about—it’s literally how the economics work. When I’m in a space where joy is possible, I make better creative decisions, I show up differently, and people respond. So I leave plenty of time on the calendar to scroll on my phone or go on random adventures to random places (mostly Marshall’s and TX Maxx).

5. And maybe the biggest one: the business grows at the pace I can personally hold it. 

Expanding capacity—through help, through systems, through ruthless prioritization—is the actual job. 

Not growth hacking. Not viral moments. Just: can I hold this without breaking? I’m hoping that sooner than later it’ll feel more like watching a machine I built run itself, and I just check in periodically to make sure it’s still functioning as planned. 

What’s Next for SoCurious

I started with a list of 16 key priorities. But I’ll share the most important three. 

1. I’m scaling with partnerships and collaborations. 

The key is collective building—leveraging audience, capital, or influence to intentionally drive revenue for myself and for likeminded people and organizations. 

2. I’m FINALLY committing to relaunching my Youtube channel. 

I was journaling last week and I had the funniest realization.  

I don’t think I’m afraid of being seen anymore. 

It used to be terrifying to get a mean comment. Or an angry email. Or to make a mistake publicly. 

But my mission is bigger than my ego. My job is to share my story and connect with people’s hearts and minds. 

That’s it. 

I did it with words and pictures. So now let’s do it with moving words and pictures. 

3. The final one is obvious. But I think it is important to mention. I’m rolling out as many products as quickly as possible in the online shop. 

I’m a prolific creator and I love making new things. So I need to make more new things more quickly. Because it’s fun for my ADHD brain.

But here’s the focus—and I’m adding it here because I don’t want to forget it: I’m doing all of this at a pace that doesn’t require me to sacrifice the very thing I’m selling: joy.

That’s the 2026 Q1 update.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

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