How I'm Structuring My Life and Work in 2026

Income stability, passion work, and protecting creative joy

***NEW NEW***: I’m opening up a way for you to ask me questions about work, business, motherhood, and living life on your terms. I’ll answer selected questions in future issues. You can submit it here.

I’ve learned something important over the last few years: not everything in your life needs to earn its keep.

When I was in corporate, I had my job and I had my creative outlet - my handbag brand. That worked beautifully for a while. But then my relationship with work changed and I started asking my creative outlet to do more...

Be my passion.
Be my side income.
Eventually, be my replacement income.

And when you ask one thing to be everything, it usually stops being fun.

When a Creative Outlet Starts Carrying Too Much Weight

My handbag brand started as a creative playground. Over time, I began asking it to deliver more than it was designed to. The joy faded. The pressure increased. The relationship changed.

I’m only now fully accepting that this wasn’t a failure, it was a mismatch between season and structure.

And that realization is shaping how I’m approaching 2026.

2026 Is My Year of Income Stabilization

Last year forced a reckoning I didn’t plan for as I was laid off while on maternity leave (you can read about that below)

I Got Laid Off While on Maternity Leave. It Broke Me ... and Freed Me

I live in probably the most expensive city in the U.S., so my income mattered to our household in a real way. We’re financially okay, we’ve worked for years and been responsible with saving & investing. But I also don’t want to spend my child’s inheritance.

So my north star for 2026 is simple and unsexy: by the end of the year, our net worth should not be lower than what we started with. That means earning enough to cover our expenses without dipping into savings.

That’s it. I don’t have aggressive growth targets, I just want income stabilization.

Everything else ladders up to that.

The Three Things I’m Focusing On

Instead of trying to make all my interests pull equal weight, I’m being explicit about their roles.

1. My Primary Income Driver: A Consulting Firm

This is the anchor. I’m building a consulting firm (which i’m super excited about!) and putting the majority of my energy behind it. I’ve been working on it quietly with a co-founr, and we’ve closed a few clients in stealth mode, which feels like a solid way to start the year.

This is the vehicle designed to replace my corporate income and stabilize my family financially. This is not an experiment. This is the priority.

Don’t worry, I’ll share more about it in a future post :)

2. My Passion and Long-Term Bet: On Your Terms

I started this as a coaching business because I thought I was passionate about helping women start product-based businesses. That was partially true. But what I’m really passionate about is helping people see how much more control they have over their lives than they think they do.

You don’t have to wait until retirement to live life on your own terms.

In 2026, this platform grows through Substack, LinkedIn, and hopefully YouTube if time allows. This is a secondary revenue driver, but I’m not forcing monetization right now. If people reach out for coaching through my content, great. But I’m not actively selling packages.

This gets to grow at the pace that feels aligned with who I am in this season.

3. A Purely Creative Outlet: Olori Handbags

I love my handbag brand. I don’t think I’m done with it.

But I am done asking it to fund my life.

Trying to make it replace my full-time income is exactly what drained the joy out of it. So I’m changing the rules. In 2026, Olori goes back to being a creative playground.

My goal is to launch a collection this year, likely closer to the end of the year. I still need to figure out manufacturing (that’s my biggest hurdle), but I’m being honest about that.

This is not the priority. It’s the joy. And I want to protect that.

What I’ll Share Along the Way

I don’t have everything figured out, but I am clear on the structure I need right now, and I’m committed to seeing it through.

I’ll be sharing my quarterly goals, how close I am to hitting revenue targets, and what I’m learning in real time. I’ll probably share Q1 goals after I write more about the consulting firm.

If you’re in a season where everything feels heavy and nothing feels fun anymore, this might be a sign that it’s not about doing less. It’s about letting different things play different roles.

I don’t have it all figured out. But I’m committed to figuring it out honestly and sharing the journey with you.

💬 Your Turn

Have you ever felt the fun drain out of something you loved because you started asking too much of it? I'd love to hear what happened and whether you found a way back to the joy.

→ P.S. Submit a question (anonymous): If there’s a question you want me to cover in a future issue - about living life on your terms, entrepreneurship, work or motherhood - you can submit it here.

Catch Up on Previous Issues

2026: The Year of the Brave

A Clear Update From a Very Unclear Year

The Three Things Corporate Women Aren’t Saying Out Loud