Hello sweet friend

In Episode 158, we talked about the money myth that drains your energy—the belief that more money will finally fix how you feel inside. If you haven’t listened to that one yet, start there. It’s the emotional and energetic foundation for what we’re doing here.

Today, we’re getting practical.

I’m walking you through exactly how I plan profit in my business in a way that honors my nervous system—what I actually do, what I don’t do, and why I will never again build a business on month-to-month pressure.

This is what “business therapy” looks like with me: the therapeutic side of mentorship meets the strategic side. Because you don’t just need a plan that “works on paper.” You need a plan your body can actually hold.

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Why month-to-month planning fries your nervous system

Let’s start with what I don’t do: I do not run my business month-to-month.

I don’t sit down every 30 days to ask:

• “What can I sell this month?”
  
• “How do I hit 20k this month—or else?”

A lot of my clients come to me living in that pattern. They have a “number” for the month, and if they don’t hit it perfectly, their nervous system goes into:

• fight (“I need to push harder, launch something new, sell more”)
  
• or flight (“This isn’t working, maybe I should burn it all down”)

Month-to-month fixation creates:

• the feast & famine rollercoaster
  
• feeling unstoppable one month, like everything is falling apart the next
  
• constant hypervigilance around Stripe notifications and bank balances

Over time, your nervous system learns:

Money = threat
Quiet = danger

And when you don’t trust your business to be steady, that leaks into:

• how you sell
  
• how you speak about your work
  
• how safe you feel to rest, create, or take a risk

That’s not “sustainable,” no matter how pretty the revenue screenshots are.

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Step 1: Start with the 30,000-foot view

Every year, usually in December, I zoom all the way out.

I look at:

• the full 12 months
  
• my capacity
  
• my desires
  
• the season my family is in

And I ask:

• What is my intention for this year—financially and energetically?
  
• What annual revenue number feels aligned—not just exciting, but holdable?

Yes, I land on a yearly number.
And yes, I’ll quickly divide it by 12 to see the average monthly amount.

But then?

I stop thinking in months.

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Step 2: Turn your annual goal into quarterly targets

Here’s the shift that changed everything for me:

Instead of obsessing about “20k months,” I think in quarters, not months.

So if the annual goal averages out to 20k/month, that’s:

• 60k per quarter

Now my question isn’t:

“How do I hit 20k this month or I’ve failed?”

It becomes:

“How do I create 60k over the next three months?”

That gives you space to:

• have a big launch month (40k)
  
• have a quieter month (10k)
  
• have a rebuilding or integration month (10k)

And still hit your quarterly goal.

Quarterly planning:

• normalizes high and low months
  
• stops you from declaring “it’s not working” every quiet week
  
• lets your nervous system relax into a bigger pattern of safety

Business has always been seasonal. We’re just being honest about it.

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Step 3: List 50–100 ways money could come in

Once I know:

• my annual intention
  
• my quarterly revenue number

I ask my favorite question:

“How many different ways could this money come in?”

And I mean many.

I brain-dump as many possibilities as I can—often aiming for 50–100 ideas, including:

Within the business:

• offers I already have
  
• programs that did well in the past
  
• things I’ve wanted to revive or refresh
  
• ideas I’ve had for years but never moved on
  
• collaborations, bundles, workshops, VIP days

Outside-the-box / just-for-fun ideas:

• selling furniture I don’t use
  
• little side gigs
  
• other creative income streams

And yes, my husband and I have absolutely joked about:

“Worst case, I start selling feet pics.”

Is that the actual plan? No.
But that’s not the point.

The point is psychological:

• It breaks the belief that “there’s only one way this can work.”
  
• It shows your brain there are dozens of doors, not just one.
  
• It shifts you out of panic and into possibility.

Possibility is regulating.
Scarcity is not.

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Step 4: Filter through desire, capacity, and season

Once I have my big menu of possibilities, I do not ask:

• “What’s the smartest business move?”
  
• “What would look impressive on Instagram?”

Instead, I run everything through this filter:

• Desire: What actually sounds fun or meaningful right now?
  
• Capacity: What do I have the real bandwidth to hold, given my life?
  
• Season: What’s happening in my world this quarter—travel, kids, holidays?

Every quarter, I ask:

• What supports my life and my values this season?
  
• What energizes me instead of draining me?
  
• What business model lets me show up as my best self?

Because yes, we can always do more.
But sustainable profit comes from the offers you can return to again and again without emptying yourself out.

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Step 5: Build your business runway (aka: safety net)

This part is not optional if you want real sustainability.

Alongside my revenue goals, I’m always thinking about:

• savings
  
• taxes
  
• buffer

I intentionally build a business runway—money set aside so that if:

• shit hits the fan
  
• a launch underperforms
  
• life throws a curveball

…I still have ground under my feet.

That runway is what:

• made my sabbatical possible
  
• lets me experiment without panicking
  
• keeps me from making reactive “emergency” business decisions

If you’re in a place where:

“If I don’t make X this month, we can’t pay bills,”

your nervous system is not safe enough to be creative.
In those seasons, I will lovingly say: go get more support.

That might mean:

• a part-time job
  
• a contract role
  
• another income stream

Not as a failure, but as a wise nervous-system decision.

You deserve to build your business from abundance, not from “if this launch doesn’t work, I’m screwed.”

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What if you don’t hit the goal?

There will be quarters where:

• you miss your number
  
• you blow way past it
  
• things go differently than planned

When that happens, instead of spiraling, I:

1. Go back to my ideas list.
   
   • Is there anything else I’d be excited to bring forward?
     
   • Can I get creative, not frantic?
     
2. Audit what’s really happening.
   
   • Is this a seasonal pattern?
     
   • Is this an energy thing? (I was sick, in transition, etc.)
     
   • Is this a strategy thing? (Offer, messaging, audience, timing?)
     
3. Adjust the next quarter without drama.
   
   • If I miss 60k, can I play with 70k next quarter?
     
   • Can I redistribute my expectations without assigning shame?

Also important:
My quarterly goal is not my bare minimum to survive.

If the goal is 60k, my real baseline might be:

• 45k = needs met
  
• the extra 15k = runway, taxes, fun, and future

That way, I’m not living in constant “all or nothing” panic.

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How I actually implement this every year

Here’s what this looks like in practice:

• Once a year (usually December)
  
  • I set my annual revenue intention.
    
  • I break it down into quarterly numbers.
    
  • I brainstorm all the ways the full-year number could happen.
    
• Once a quarter (about a month before it starts)
  
  • I have a full “Quarterly Planning Day” blocked in my calendar.
    
  • I look at the upcoming three months: trips, kids’ schedules, personal needs.
    
  • I decide: which offers, which projects, which launches fit this season?
    

I don’t want to accidentally slide back into month-to-month scrambling because I “forgot” to plan. So it lives in my calendar like any other non-negotiable.

Structure equals freedom.
Especially when your brain has been trained to equate “freedom” with constant chaos.

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This is about self-trust as much as strategy

Strategic profit planning isn’t just math. It’s:

• self-trust
  
• nervous system leadership
  
• your capacity to stay with a plan long enough for it to work
  

You’re not just asking:

“How do I make more money?”

You’re asking:

“How do I make money in a way my body can trust?”

That’s the difference between a business that looks successful and a business that feels sustainable.

It’s also the heart behind Surrender, my retreat + therapeutic immersion in Tulum.

Surrender is where:

• you recalibrate your relationship with money, ambition, and control
  
• you learn to expand without gripping
  
• you practice what it feels like to exist in your business from a regulated place
  

We do the deep somatic work in Tulum.
Then we integrate it into your actual life and business after—together.

Because profit planning like this isn’t just about spreadsheets.
It’s about who you are when you sit down to make those plans.I hope you’ll come surrender with me in Tulum.
And either way, I hope you give yourself the gift of building 2026 around a number—and a nervous system—you can truly hold. get you at full capacity.

xx, Ash

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