Running on empty
The importance of taking care of yourself as a solo founder
Hi there, and welcome back to “What I Did This Week”, a newsletter where I chronicle everything that I’m doing at my skincare startup, GRAES, on a weekly basis. My hope is that this live blog will help to demystify the “how” of entrepreneurship for those who might want to own a business one day, but aren’t sure where to start or what that might look like.
I’m sorry to have gone MIA for a few weeks, but I’ve been dealing with some health issues. I’m not going to get into it right now, because I don’t have a clear diagnostic yet, but the symptoms I’ve been dealing with have really impacted my productivity, which is the last thing you want as the one and only employee of your own business.
Some things I’ve been doing to help:
Being proactive about doing my own research and scheduling appointments and tests to make sure I am finding the root cause of the issue, not just slapping a prescription on a symptom.
Practicing being nice to myself. It’s easy for me to feel immensely guilty when productivity drops. However, I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to reframe this into allowing my body to rest when it clearly needs rest.
Jumping on some supplements where I know that I am likely deficient and need a boost. Anemia runs in my family, and I have literally always tested at low levels of Vitamin D, so I am making sure I am being consistent with those things so I’m not making anything worse.
In the meantime, please bare with me and my slow/sporadic posting schedule. You’ll see below in the granular updates just how little I am able to get done on some days.
Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I just need to get my shit working.
Before we get into this week’s granular updates, did you know that you can get 20% off your first order at GRAES with the code WIDTW20?
Monday March 15, 2026
Wrote WIDTW.
Tuesday March 16, 2026
Brainstorming/researching merch for our 1 year anniversary. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since we launched!
Emails.
Created an order for a UGC creator.
Packed and shipped orders.
Texted and then emailed my friend Erica about creating a custom graphic for our 1 year anniversary.
Wrote and published a blog post about eczema.
Wrote and scheduled January’s financial report on Substack.
Added Shopify integration to my UGC software.
Messed around with the software, sent 10 DMs to people and recorded bugs and feature requests.
Wednesday March 17, 2026
Reviewed and approved Beauty People Interview.
Submitted GRAES to Loop and Tie.
Sent a marketing email campaign on Faire.
Thursday March 18, 2026
Packed and shipped orders.
Friday March 19, 2026
Brainstorming social media posts.
Made 7 Instagram posts and uploaded them to Planoly.
Saturday March 20 - Thursday March 26, 2026
I spent this period of time just treading water and doing the bare minimum. Emails and packing and shipping orders. I was so wiped I didn’t even bother to write down what I was doing like I usually do.
Friday March 27, 2026
Intro meeting with a mentorship program I am considering joining.
Call with the Hale team to discuss a few of the things they are working on behind the scenes.
Saturday March 28, 2026
Off.
Sunday March 29, 2026
Off.
I really relate to the self-advocating and having to be easy on yourself. Sending you lots of good vibes and hoping you get some answers soon xx