HSR ICYMI: Rich & Real

If it's out of your hands, it deserves freedom from your mind too

Maggie Sellers
05 May

Time for my favorite part of the week, ICYMI!!!

ICYMI ₊♡₊˚ 🍒・₊✧ ₊

This Week’s Mantra: “The point is not to try harder but to resist less'“. - Terry Richey
This Week’s Biggest Lesson: Say no if it doesn’t make sense. If they want you now, they will again in the future. Know your worth.
This Week’s Best Podcast: Rick Rubin on The Creative Act Part One discussing the importance of allowing creativity to happen rather than willing it into existence (resist less, don’t try harder^)!!
MIAMI or MONACO: I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a little FOMO this weekend. I was supposed to be in Miami for F1 but decided to stay home and rest because in a few weeks, I’ll be leaving for Europe for F1 Monaco and a trip to London, the South of France and Paris for my birthday instead… I always get asked “how I decide where and when to spend money on conferences, cultural events, etc.” and while there is no exact formula, I always first ask myself “is this for fun or for work/ business development?” and with F1 Miami turning out to be 60% for fun, I decided to stay back and make Europe my priority to officially kick off summer and my 32nd birthday.
Fear of Failure and Success: I listened to my first Theo Von podcast conversation after speaking with my friend this week about her fear of failure AND success (which initially surprised me). I thought, “How could anyone be afraid of success?”. Call it delusion but I have always fundamentally believed I would be successful. But then I listened to the podcast with Trauma Expert Tim Fletcher and it made complete sense because without realizing it, I had done that in my romantic life up until 8 months ago. If you’ve been known to self sabotage or think about the worst that can happen vs. what’s the best that can happen, this is the podcast for you. And if you don’t have time for a 2 hour convo, here is an excerpt on TikTok that’s worth listening to.
Taking Risks: “Everything you really want is on the other side of fear.” - George Addair or “Fear will kill more dreams than failure ever will.”- Suzy Kassem. Common cliches like this are meaningful and “overused” for a reason and I refuse to be one of those people who only once they find success, will then reflect and talk about the struggle or the failures they made along the way. The same way the best startups of today build in public, I decided to do the same with my life (with boundaries) when I started posting content and especially going through a public breakup. And for the first time, I’m taking a risk in my romantic life and I hope that by sharing this vulnerable part of myself, it will encourage you to take a risk and do the same whether it’s in business, in love or in life. (ps- if it doesn’t quite make sense how I’m taking a risk, I’ll give you a hint…it’s because, for once, I'm not settling—I'm choosing to spend time with someone who elevates my world, and the thought of losing that is scary.)

This Week’s Mood Board

This Month’s HSR Book Club

For this month’s HSR Book Club, I’ve chosen "Think Again" by Adam Grant. Trust me, it will change your life. It did for me too.

One of the most prestigious Organizational Psychologists Adam Grant self-describes what he does as “how to make work not suck” and “how to become the best version of yourself”. He’s an expert at opening other people’s minds-and our own.

Why I Picked It

Call it the recovering people pleaser in me (I choose to call it empathy) but this book really opened up my eyes to different view points.

With the world just full of misinformation and strong opinions, "Think Again" is like a breath of fresh air. It’s taught me—and will teach you—how to revisit and potentially revise what you’ve always believed.

It provides a framework that's incredibly important to have in your toolkit. It dives into how we can effectively persuade others, not by bombarding them with arguments but by asking questions and building rapport. And who doesn't need that in their back pocket?

Whether you're crafting your personal brand, feeling unsure about what you want to say or be known for in the early stages of your career, or just aiming to be that confident voice in the room without feeling like you have to know everything, this book gives you the confidence to not just participate but influence conversations at every level.

Get ready to reframe the way you think and embrace the joy of being wrong.

To be a part of the book club this month, follow along with @hotsmartrich on Instagram and the ICYMI newsletter where I’ll be checking in with you each week with my thoughts, prompts, and questions!

If you’ve already read Think Again, I have SO many books on the HSR Bookshelf I would recommend digging into.

Flaus Gets Rich & Real and Goes Swimming In The Shark Tank

HSR Founder Sam Coxe claims she's building a $200M business as the pioneer of oral beauty with her startup Flaus…

So to find out, we're back with your highly requested HSR original series, Rich & Real to grill Sam with the hard-hitting startup money questions EVERYONE wants to know but are too scared to ask.

Full disclosure, I’ve been advising Sam’s startup Flaus for the past few years! She officially aired on Shark Tank on Friday night and walked away with a deal with my friend and guest shark, Candace Nelson!!! 🙂 Flaus is running a 20% site-wide sale until Monday for you to give it a try and a little birdie told me they’ll likely sell out 🙂

Who should be next up? You can reply to this email to let me know if you have someone good in mind.

Would you invest $250,000 for 5% of Flaus? As a reminder, Flaus did $900K in revenue in the last 12 months with a 75% gross margin on their hero product, and $300K in gross profit!

Things I’m Loving This Week

I’ve become obsessed with Cowboy Colostrum and have been adding it to my coffee for weeks. The one dress my stylist “let me” keep from my $800 Revolve order and it’s only $79. This Heaven Mayhem belt (which is still in stock on Revolve) and these silver Heaven Mayhem Haze earrings. I’ve been using the Think Dirty App daily to figure out what toxic chemicals are in my beauty products and household products and I got inspired to add the HSR Sticker Sheet to decorate my Airpods with these silicone covers. These pepperoni Chomps have been living in my bag. I reordered this Marvis toothpaste for about the 1,000th time and have been using my Flaus daily! These new Anthro frames have added such a fun whimsical touch to my sideboard in my living room. This week’s audio diet is one of the best speeches ever by Tony Robbins that I listen to almost every morning on my HSR hike. “Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Winners never quit, they are always hungry!” - Tony Robbins.

PS - Smart girls know they save money wherever they can so ICYMI, I posted part 1 of the beauty and wellness brands I use my own affiliate code for to save money when I repurchase my favorite products! - Cowboy Colostrum (MAGGIE), BelliWelli (MAGGIE30), Arrae (HSR15), Methodology (HSR), De Soi (HSR20), Upkeep (C28PP), and Allara (HSR).

Consumer News

♡ the brands, people, places, things that have captured my attention ♡

Taylor Swift and UMG head back to TikTok after a months long stand off
beehiiv (my newsletter provider!!) raises a $33M Series B led by NEA with Sapphire Sport and previous backer Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is officially out at Rose Inc after the brand was sold at auction as part of the bankruptcy proceedings of Amyris
The celebrity Erewhon smoothie craze
Why the public is obsessed with publicists like Cait Bailey who touts clients like Alex Cooper, Alix Earle, and Zayn Malik.
Pinterest passes half a billion global active users and is being revived by Gen Z

PS - paid HSR subscribers get access to my POV on all consumer news this week.

TYSM, I♡U!!!!

To enter this week's giveaway, comment on this with a ❤️ emoji and your favorite platform to watch short form content (YouTube Shorts, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat)!

If this email was forwarded to you, I’d love for you to join me!

Become a Paid Subscriber of ICYMI!

This week I’m sharing:

If I’m concerned about the TikTok bank
My POV on the consumer news section

Subscribe to Monthly to read the rest.

Become a paying subscriber of Monthly to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Upgrade

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• Weekly startup, venture, & consumer brand insights
• Business case studies & experienced POV
• Post comments
• Invitations to HSR Insider virtual events

HSR ICYMI: Rich & Real

Subscribe to keep reading

Reply

Keep Reading

About

Shop