The Honest Version

I've been putting off writing this. If you're in the club, you probably understand why.

When I started The Overthinkers Club, I believed what small brands get told: if you want to grow, you pay for it. Run ads, boost posts, get in front of more people. So I did. I kept running them, kept adjusting them, and kept telling myself the next one would be the one that worked.

It almost ran us dry.

Here's the part that's hard to say. I've never been good with numbers. I have ADHD, and I've been paying the ADHD tax my whole life: the money lost to things slipping through the cracks, the stuff I meant to deal with and didn't. I thought owning a business would force me to get organized. Instead it raised the stakes.

Starting a business has been harder than I thought. I'm not saying that for sympathy. I'm saying it because I think a lot of you carry something similar. There's something you're good at and something you're not, and the gap between them can feel like a secret.

So here's what's changing.

We're spending less on ads. We're leaning into what built this in the first place: making pieces with words I actually believe, showing up in person at STACKT and at shows, writing to you like a person instead of a brand, and asking what you want. That's why you've started getting club votes.

I'd rather grow slower with people who want to be here than pay to reach people who don't.

If you've ever bought something from us, worn it to death, told a friend about it, or just opened these emails, you've done more for this brand than any ad I've run. Thank you. I mean that.

Marissa

I wrote more about my ADHD diagnosis in What My ADHD Diagnosis Is Teaching Me About Alignment.