Aha’s, TaDa’s, NoNo’s and Hell Yeses - Goodbye 2025 and Hello 2026!
OMG. I’m going to be really honest with you.
I am so damn glad that 2025 is coming to an end.
Have you seen all of those posts floating around about the Year of the Snake? You know the ones. The ones breaking down what this year has supposedly been about. Release. Inner growth. Renewal. Sacred pause. Transformation. Subconscious healing. Trust. Shedding. Soul work. Spiritual depth.
Just reading that list makes me tired.
Because 2025 has been all of that. And then some.
It has been deep. It has been emotional. It has required so much internal work. And while I’m grateful for everything it taught me, I’m also very ready to close the chapter.
At the same time, everywhere I turn I keep seeing conversations about 2026 being the Year of the Horse. And listen to this energy shift. Clarity. Freedom. Courage. Expansion. Movement. Breakthroughs. Intentional action. Boldness. Magnetic energy. Momentum.
I cannot run fast enough into 2026.
Honestly, I’ll probably trip because I’m running so fast.
Then I saw a post that said, based on your birthday, your personal year number matters too. Apparently, 2026 is my personal year four. The year I build my empire.
The post literally said 2026 hands me the blueprint for the next decade. My foundations, systems, and standards harden into reality. The fire horse strengthens everything built with intention and dissolves everything built on fear.
Hell yes.
Because if I’m being honest, that’s exactly what 2025 was for me. I spent this year rebuilding foundations. Creating new systems. Raising my standards even higher. High standards have always been my norm, but this year really asked me to live them fully.
So yeah. It feels like it’s about freakin time for that hard work to start paying off.
In this post and podcast episode, I want to walk you through how I’m ushering out 2025 and consciously stepping into 2026.
I’m sharing my top five Aha’s and TaDa’s from this past year. The realizations and wins that shaped me more than I expected. And I’m also sharing my top five NoNo’s and Hell Yeses for 2026. The boundaries, decisions, and commitments I’m making as I move forward.
No filtering. No shiny stories. Just the real and raw truth.
So let’s go.
I’m gonna start with the Aha’s. Because honestly, these were the things that shifted how I work, not just what I did.
Aha #1: Social media is not where I actually love to connect
This one came from pure frustration.
This year, I tried almost every social media platform. Literally everything except TikTok. I was feeling the pressure to be everywhere, especially with reach being so low across the board.
I experimented with more personal, almost diary-style posts on Facebook. Thought leadership on LinkedIn. Reels on Instagram. Quick, spur-of-the-moment thoughts on Threads. Tips and strategy on Pinterest. Long-form video on YouTube.
And I burned myself out.
Not because I sucked at writing content, but because I was trying to keep up with all of it. Showing up every day. Engaging everywhere. Creating different content for different platforms. I got to the point where I honestly started to hate social media.
What finally clicked for me was realizing it wasn’t just me. Every platform has low reach right now. Everyone is complaining about it. And at the same time, I kept hearing people say, “This platform works so well for me,” but it was never the same one. It was different across the board.
That’s when I stopped asking, “Where should I be?” and started asking, “Where do I actually enjoy being?”
For me, the answer was really clear. Threads feels fun and supportive. It feels like real conversation. Instagram is visually appealing to me, and it’s where the business owners I collaborate with already hang out.
Everything else felt heavy.
So I made a decision. For 2026, it’s just Threads and Instagram. That’s all my energy can handle, and honestly, it’s all I want to give.
I set YouTube audio up to feed my podcast mostly for SEO, and I repurpose the videos I’m already creating for Instagram into OfferMojo Minutes. YouTube gets to exist in the background without demanding more from me.
The bigger realization I finally came to terms with? Pouring tons of time and energy into platforms I don’t own doesn’t actually serve me. Not creatively. Not strategically. And definitely not from a nervous system perspective.
Aha #2: A podcast does not build authority if you never talk about your own work
This one hit early in the year.
Last year, I was running my podcast, On a Mission Mojo, and the entire focus was spotlighting new business owners with beautiful missions. And I genuinely loved it. I learned that I’m actually a really good podcast host. I love asking questions. I love holding space. I love telling other people’s stories.
But here’s what I noticed.
About ninety percent of the guests never shared their episodes. And even more importantly, I barely talked about my own business at all because I was so focused on giving visibility to my guests.
The podcast felt good, but it wasn’t growing my authority. It wasn’t really growing my business either.
So at the beginning of this year, I rebranded the podcast and shifted the strategy. It became The OfferMojo Show, and I made a very clear decision. The podcast would be centered around my expertise.
I committed to three solo episodes a month and one guest collaboration that actually made sense.
The difference was wild.
The podcast grew faster. My authority became clearer. And I suddenly had an entire long-form content process that saved me time instead of draining it, while also giving me way more reach.
That was a huge Aha for me. Visibility alone doesn’t build authority. Positioning does.
Aha #3: Being a marketing generalist was no longer working for me
This one changed the entire trajectory of my business.
As scared as I was to narrow my niche, I finally admitted something to myself. Being a marketing generalist was no longer working. It actually made everything harder.
In 2025, I fully owned the offer strategy lane. And honestly, miraculous things started happening.
Content became easier to create because I wasn’t trying to talk about everything. People started remembering me and what I actually do. Speaking engagements became so much easier to land because I was talking about things others weren’t.
I’m not going to pretend that making a complete pivot was easy. It wasn’t. But it is so much more aligned with my actual brilliance.
And it makes my business a hell of a lot more fun.
Aha #4: My weirdness is actually what makes me brilliant at this work
This one felt very personal for me.
I started noticing all of my quirks this year. Eating the same thing every day for lunch. My aversion to touching things that feel yucky. The way my brain craves strong structure but also thrives on spontaneous creativity.
I started questioning whether I might have a neurodivergent brain. Which honestly makes sense, considering I have one ADHD son and one highly functioning autistic son.
Then I started noticing something else. So many of the people I attract into my world also have neurodivergent brains.
And instead of seeing that as something to fix or hide, I started realizing it’s the exact thing that makes me uniquely wired for the work I do.
My systems brain. My pattern recognition. My ability to hold structure and creativity at the same time.
That realization changed how I see myself. And I’ve started celebrating all of me instead of hiding what actually makes me unique.
Aha #5: I don’t stop often enough to celebrate myself
This one brought tears..
I was at an end-of-year business planning event, and on day one we spent time reflecting on the past year. I got unexpectedly emotional because I was shocked at everything I had accomplished.
I’m such a high achiever. I accomplish one thing and immediately move on to the next goal. I focus on what didn’t go well, what hasn’t happened yet, and use that to push myself harder.
Slowing down enough to actually see my wins was a massive mindset shift.
It also made me ask a really honest question. Why can I so easily celebrate other people, but not myself?
That’s something I know I need to work on.
Thankfully, I’m part of a business community that celebrates wins and has a dedicated channel for it. So I’ve made myself a promise. Every day, I capture one win from my day. No matter how small.
This Aha has been about letting myself be proud. And that’s something I’m carrying with me into 2026.
So those were the Aha’s. The realizations that changed how I think, how I work, and how I move through my business.
Now I want to talk about the TaDa’s.
And I’ll be honest, this part doesn’t come naturally to me. Celebrating myself is still something I’m learning how to do. But if I’m really honoring what 2025 gave me, I can’t skip this part.
So here are the things I am genuinely proud of this year.
TaDa #1: Building the OfferMojo Squad
Never in a million years did I think I would build a full, custom team of AI assistants.
If someone had told me a few years ago that I was going to become an AI builder, I would have laughed. Like full-on laughed. I would have told you that kind of thing is not my superpower.
Turns out, I would have been very wrong.
What surprised me the most is how naturally this work fits the way my brain is wired. Systems. Frameworks. Pattern recognition. Strategy layered with intuition. Once I got into it, it felt oddly familiar.
I started by building and refining custom GPTs for my own business. Just tools to support how I already work behind the scenes everyday. Then my friend and business colleague, Mallika, challenged me to build a public-facing GPT.
OMG. I was so nervous.
But I took the challenge, and I built the AI Powered Offer Confidence Toolkit. And it quickly became the most popular lead magnet I have ever created.
That’s when the bigger idea hit me. If I can build this, why can’t I build an entire team based on the exact frameworks I use with my clients?
I knew people were DIYing their way through offers and getting stuck. I had such a strong desire to help them do this more strategically without burning themselves out.
So over the course of three months, I built a full team of six assistants that cover strategy, ecosystem, structuring, messaging, visibility, and sales.
The amount of detail, refining, and testing that went into this is honestly mind-blowing. And the day I launched the OfferMojo Squad is hands down one of my proudest moments of 2025.
TaDa #2: Drastically minimizing impostor syndrome
This one runs super deep and raw for me.
At the beginning of 2025, I started therapy again with one very clear intention. I wanted to remove the internal blocks, stories, and beliefs that were quietly sabotaging my success.
Every Friday, I showed up. And yes, many Fridays I would spend the entire session crying. It required a lot of digging. A lot of healing old childhood stuff I thought I had already dealt with.
What’s funny is I’ve spent years in therapy before, and I truly thought I was done. It was actually my spouse who encouraged me to try again. I resisted at first because I felt like I had already done the work.
But this year was different.
I was willing to go deeper. To look at the shadow sides of myself I didn’t want to face. But more importantly, I learned how to love and have compassion for those parts of me instead of trying to get rid of them.
This process took the entire year. But I can honestly say I’ve embraced my brilliance in a way I never had before.
Those old thoughts still pop up occasionally. The “I’m not good enough,” “I don’t know what I’m talking about,” “I need to prove myself” moments. But now I know how to bring myself back to reality much faster.
And that alone has changed how I lead my day to day life and business.
TaDa #3: Showing up on video every single week
2025 was the year I committed to one video every single week.
Before that, I told myself I wasn’t a talk-off-the-cuff person. And I’m not. So instead of forcing myself into something that didn’t work, I gave myself permission to script my videos and use a teleprompter.
And I genuinely do not care if people can tell.
I showed up every damn week of 2025 on video.
As an introvert, this did not feel natural at first. But then something weird happened. People started telling me they love my videos. That I’m really good on video.
What? Still unbelievable to me.
But I’m proud of myself for breaking all the rules and doing it in a way that actually worked for me.
TaDa #4: Simplifying my tech and reclaiming my nervous system
This was the year I finally said I am done running my business on a million tech tools.
I moved my entire backend into High Level.
I resisted this for so long because of all the rumors that High Level is a tech beast. And listen, the rumors are true. It is.
But I didn’t let that stop me.
I dug in, tried to learn it, and when I got too frustrated, I gave myself permission to hire a High Level specialist. Best decision ever.
Today, my business runs on ClickUp and High Level. That’s it. And I freakin love the organization and smoothness it’s created.
What’s even better is that I’m now set up to expand in any direction I want. Affiliate program? Yep, High Level can handle that too.
Every backend system in my business is handled by ClickUp, High Level, or custom GPTs. And the impact on my nervous system has been huge. Things feel calm. Clear. Expandable.
TaDa #5: Learning how to receive instead of over-give
This one might be the biggest shift of all.
I finally stopped over-giving in my life and business and committed to giving as much as I receive.
This was NOT easy. Over-giving has been part of my identity for as long as I can remember. But it stopped working. I felt resentment in friendships. I lost business because I didn’t know how to handle sales calls. I ran myself ragged because I didn’t set boundaries.
And I noticed something else. I was really bad at receiving.
So I stopped.
I let go of a friendship that was so one-sided it drained the hell out of me.
I stopped giving advice on sales calls. Instead, I listened deeply. I used my coaching skills to help people get clarity. I asked what kind of support they actually needed. I presented a solution and let them decide.
If they didn’t buy, I followed up once. Gently. If they didn’t respond, I let it go.
I stopped being the one who always reached out to friends. Not out of punishment, but because I knew I couldn’t receive if I was always the one giving.
And then something interesting happened.
Friends started texting me.
My brother reached out to take me on a special outing.
I got into a predictable call rhythm with my sons.
Clients I had never heard of showed up wanting to work with me.
Some people might call this selfish. I used to.
Now I call it self-preservation. And the art of receiving.
So is 2026 going to be different?
Oh yeah. It sure is.
So after the Aha’s and the TaDa’s came the really important question.
What am I no longer available for?
Because clarity is one thing, but boundaries are where life actually changes.
These are my NoNo’s for 2026.
NoNo #1: Packing my calendar with coffee chats and networking calls
In 2025, I scheduled so many coffee chats and networking calls.
And listen, if my only job was connecting with amazing humans, that would be awesome. I genuinely love meeting new people. I love learning about their lives, their businesses, their stories.
But that was not my only job.
What I noticed was that by the end of every week, I was completely stressed out. Not because the conversations were bad, but because I had so much actual work to catch up on.
So here’s the NoNo. I am not packing my calendar in 2026.
I’ve capped myself at two coffee chats per week. That’s it.
I’ve chosen a few communities I want to go deep in, and I’ll participate in those networking spaces intentionally. No more scattering my energy everywhere just to feel busy.
And I’m also done doing coffee chats with people I already know I’m not aligned with.
This one is hard for me because I love connecting deeply and I honestly feel guilty saying no to invitations. But I also don’t want to hear my spouse say one more time, “And what are all these coffee chats doing for your business, Lori?”
Especially when I quietly knew that ninety percent of them weren’t moving the needle at all.
NoNo #2: Not paying myself
This one is huge.
Here’s something to know about me. I don’t mind working for free. I love my work that much. In a heartbeat, I would rather help my team financially or reinvest into my business.
But this is complete insanity. And I’m not doing it anymore.
If I can’t give to myself, who the hell is going to give to me?
And while I have an incredibly generous and successful spouse, it’s not fair that I’m not contributing to our household income. I used to contribute regularly.
The truth is, my business pivot this year made traction harder in the short term. 2025 was a build year. I reinvested heavily into my team, marketing, and systems. I rebuilt what I intentionally let go of in 2024.
That does not mean I stop valuing myself.
So no. In 2026, I’m not running a business where everyone gets paid except me.
NoNo #3: Performative marketing
I am so done with performative marketing.
Trying to convince people why they should work with me.
Obsessing over how perfect my content is.
Killing myself to show up consistently online no matter how I feel.
Believing I have to be everywhere or I’ll disappear.
Doing things I don’t freakin want to do because I’ve listened to marketing gurus for years.
I am exhausted by comparison. I’m tired of keeping up with massive content creators. I’m worn out by constantly tracking followers, engagement rates, open rates, all of it.
I’m not saying these things aren’t important. I’m just saying they no longer align with how I want to run my business.
If I have the energy, desire, and time to dig deeply into strategic marketing efforts, I will. It’s not like I don’t know how. But if I don’t, I’m also completely good with producing my weekly podcast, blog, and newsletter, and showing up consistently on Instagram and Threads with content I actually enjoy creating.
That’s already more than many people do. And it feels sustainable to me.
NoNo #4: Traditional launching
I am saying a heck no to traditional launching.
I’m not writing a million launch emails. I’m not creating a full content calendar just to hype an offer. I’m not forcing urgency that doesn’t feel real.
It’s funny because 2025 was the only year I’ve ever done launches in my business. And now I know why I resisted them for so long. They don’t feel natural to me.
I don’t have my full selling strategy for 2026 mapped out yet, and I’m okay with that. But I do know this. When I went to launch my Offer Confidence monthly Lab for January, I was met with huge resistance.
I am not sending a bunch of emails trying to convince people to join a ninety-seven dollar masterclass and small group coaching experience.
If people sign up, I will absolutely show up and deliver. I will pour my heart into helping them with their offers for ninety minutes.
Some people will say, “Well then you’re not going to sell anything.”
I don’t actually believe that.
Almost none of my clients this year came from launches. They came from personal connection and long-form content. And that tells me everything I need to know.
NoNo #5: Worry
This one is simple, but not easy.
I am saying no to worry.
Worrying about where my next client will come from.
Worrying about what people think of me.
Worrying if I’m making the right decision.
Worrying about things I have zero control over.
Worrying about my kids.
Worrying about my health.
The list goes on.
Worry is such a complete waste of my energy.
Every time I catch myself worrying, I’m going to consciously reframe it into a belief I want to strengthen. I’m not letting worry rent space in my brain anymore.
I’m choosing to trust myself. And honestly, I’m choosing to trust life a little more too.
And now for my favorite part.
The Hell Yeses.
These are not wishy-washy intentions. These are decisions. These are the things I am actively choosing to lean into as I step into 2026.
Hell Yes #1: More win-win-win collaborations
I am saying a big hell yes to more collaborations that truly feel like a win for everyone involved.
A win for me.
A win for them.
A win for my audience.
I freaking love collaborations, and 2025 proved that to me over and over again.
One of the highlights of this year was building such a strong friendship with my colleague as we built our AI Squads side by side. What started as business quickly turned into real friendship. Now we meet monthly to talk about life, business, and challenge each other on what’s next.
I also participated in bundles with incredible women, many of whom I’m now developing deeper collaborations with for 2026. And through podcasting, both as a host and a guest, I met so many cool, aligned humans. Some of my best connections came from those conversations.
I even joined a new community this year called The Rising Tide Collective, which is completely dedicated to building better collaborations. That alone feels like such an energetic match for where I’m headed.
I’m excited about being in bigger rooms. I’m excited about expanding visibility. And I’m excited about continuing to elevate the work of amazing entrepreneurs in the online space.
Hell Yes #2: Attraction marketing and letting clients find me
I am saying hell yes to attraction marketing and allowing my ideal clients to find me naturally.
This already started happening in 2025, and honestly, some of it still blows my mind.
A casual coffee chat with a friend in Boston turned into a client.
A dog trainer I met on Instagram became one of my favorite clients ever.
My most recent client came highly recommended by ChatGPT and was practically sold by the time she booked the call.
Someone I had never met booked an Offer Power Plan straight from my podcast. Turns out we share the exact same birthday.
Stuff like this feels magical, but it’s not random.
It’s happening because I’m letting go. I’m trusting that the Universe has my back. And I’m allowing myself to receive instead of forcing.
And I know this trend is only going to continue.
Hell Yes #3: Reaping the fruits of my labor
2026 is the year I get to reap the benefits of everything I built in 2025.
I worked hard building my offer ecosystem. I worked hard building backend systems. And now I get to let them do their job.
I don’t feel any rush to create more offers just to create them. My offers are working. I don’t want to dilute my flow or disrupt what’s already aligned.
That doesn’t mean I’ll never create anything new. Let’s be real, creating offers is basically my love language. But if I do, it will be intentional and strategic.
For the most part, I’m building on what already exists and creatively using what I’ve already built. Simplicity and ease are the goals.
Hell Yes #4: Investing only in what I will actually use
I am also saying hell yes to investing only in solutions I know I will truly use.
It’s kind of funny looking back. I bought a lot of small programs this year and listened to very few of them. Most of those purchases came from a momentary lapse in self-trust.
I’m not saying I know everything. I absolutely don’t.
But I have been in the online business world for a long time. I do know a lot. And I know now that the best use of my money is not more information.
The best use of my money is having someone or something handle what I’m not good at, what I don’t enjoy, or what pulls me away from my zone of genius.
Time is my real need. Not more knowledge.
Hell Yes #5: Energetic flow
And last, I am saying hell yes to energetic flow.
What that means for me is paying attention.
If my energy feels stuck, I’m going to notice it and shift it.
If I’m tired, I will rest.
If something consistently creates negative energy, I will change it.
If my body is screaming at me to stop, I will stop.
I’m going to slow down enough to notice when I’m slipping into misalignment instead of pushing through it.
If an old pattern or thought pops up, I’ll reframe it quickly. I’m choosing optimism. I’m choosing fun. And if I experience so-called negative emotions, I’ll allow myself to feel them without getting stuck there.
I’m surrounding myself with humans who are positive, aligned, and see my value.
I want life and business to feel easier. Lighter. More fluid.
And saying hell yes to flow is how I get there.
Let’s Bring it Home
Writing this was incredibly cathartic for me.
It forced me to slow down, reflect deeply, and actually say goodbye to 2025 in a way that felt intentional instead of rushed. It helped me honor what this year gave me, even the hard parts, and step into 2026 with a clear mind and a real plan.
And now I’m already thinking about how I want to capture all of this somewhere so I don’t forget it. Because the last thing I want is to move forward and lose sight of the lessons, boundaries, and commitments that matter most to me right now.
I want these reminders visible. Accessible. Something I can come back to when I’m tired, overwhelmed, or tempted to slip back into old patterns.
So if this resonated with you at all, I really encourage you to do this for yourself too.
Take some time and reflect on your own Aha’s, TaDa’s, NoNo’s, and Hell Yeses. Write them down. Say them out loud. Let them guide how you move into the next chapter.
And if you feel like sharing, I would absolutely love to hear them. Truly. I was a cheerleader for six years so I’m really good at cheering you on!
Here’s to closing one chapter with gratitude and stepping into the next one with a whole new attitude!
Bring it on 2026! I’m ready for you!
Have a very Happy New Year and thank you for being in my community.
