In the spirit of crumbs, just get on the boat

One of the prettiest boats I’ve ever seen, in Door County, Wisconsin.

In this month’s mastermind meeting, Linda Naylor shared that she is sending short posts to select subscribers that are “A gift… something that doesn’t ask readers to do anything…A moment of true connection, not just a short post.”

Linda calls these emails “crumbs”.

So, it’s in the spirit of crumbs that I send you this short note.

This week, I heard myself telling a friend that there might be enormous potential in using instagram to generate Substack subscriptions and blog traffic, but I’d missed that boat.

Here’s the thing that hit me, mid-sentence, and it has nothing to do with whether or not Instagram is a good or bad platform to use for anything: I had, at some point, made a decision that because I am not already on that ship, I cannot get on.

Forgive me all the sailing metaphors. My husband and I are currently in the middle of sailing lessons. It’s the only metaphor on my mind.

The point is this: Every single person who is right now at the height of anything - Substack, Instagram, pro hockey, whatever, was once at the beginning. Obviously. But, my brain has decided that if I haven’t reached a certain point by, I don’t even know… a certain age? A certain point in the age of the platform?… that the ship has sailed. I missed the boat. Shoulda woulda coulda.

This, I have realized, is ludicrous. When you get on the boat is simply when you get on the boat. There is not a right time or a wrong time. It is not linear.

And I don’t know who else needs to hear that, friends, but if you find yourself thinking, I’m too old, I’m too young, I’m too late… We need to stop that shit and just get on the boat.

xo

-Rebecca