Katie’s Notebook: December 5, 2024

Written By Katie McMillan

Hello from the frantic weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you also have kids in school, you are looking at about 11 work days between now and “let’s circle up after the New Year.” Earlier in my career, I’d hoard my PTO days and work on Dec 27 or 28th but the productivity was next to none as every email I sent was met with an OOO response. One of the largest benefits of being self-employed is the ability to make my own schedule and the first thing I did almost 5 years ago was block off the week between Christmas and New Years. What if as many of us as possible could take that time to reset and reflect without rushing to check in with colleagues? Perhaps the world could wait a bit? I know it isn’t always possible, I have plenty of family members working in healthcare delivery, but I think a slowdown would benefit us all.

Before you rush back to online ordering your gifts, let’s chat a bit:

  • Do you need a menopause doula? I have to admit, I rolled my eyes a bit when this came across my desk, but I found the article to be pretty thoughtful. It underlines a common issue with women’s health— people feel alone, not listened to by their providers, and often just want to be told that what is happening in their bodies is normal. No judgment for however or wherever you find that peace.

  • The Beauty Of Bootstrapped Companies: Why More Entrepreneurs Should Aspire To Stay Self-Funded I am bookmarking this piece for clients. There are so many ways to grow a company, and while venture capital is really flashy, founders lose a lot of control in how they run their business when they go down that path. Bootstrapping teaches founders to be lean and focus on product market fit and profitability while also allowing for agility to respond to market shifts. I always tell people to stay in control of your business as long as possible until you can’t scale any more without taking outside money.

  • How to Play to Your Strengths This HBR article outlines concrete steps about how to figure out what value you add to the workplace and the world. At the end of every year I ask myself how I can hone in on what I do best and do more of it. I’m planning a gathering of a few professional women in January and may assign this as homework in advance. (You’ve been warned, friends!)

  • Billions of dollars have been invested in healthcare AI. But are we spending in the right places? My feelings on AI ping back and forth between optimistic and cautious depending on the day. I shared on LinkedIn that Claude, a new GPT was hallucinating fake scientific articles and THE PEOPLE had a lot to say about that. Jen Goldsack and Shauna Overgaard’s article struck the right tone when considering how billions of dollars should be invested to help AI improve healthcare. Worth a read.

What I’ve Been Writing

Fun Finds

My favorite book series of the year has been the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. It’s a great mix of historical fiction, magic, power, and family dynamics. Get the set for a reader in your life, or start with A Discovery of Witches, book 1. I just finished Time’s Convert, book 4, and am onto the final book: Black Bird Oracle. I am going to be sad when the series is over because I have loved them so much! Consider an Audible gift card as a present this year with these noise-cancelling AirPods. The combination has allowed me to consume books at a higher rate than years before — often while folding laundry. This funny feminist book of poetry is on my personal holiday wish list (ahem, MOM!) In general, I am trying to gift fewer clutter inducing things but one can never have enough books :)

Note: As a solopreneur I use affiliate links for some of the products I believe in as a means of diversifying my income. When you buy something I have linked to, I may receive a small commission from that company at no cost to you.

Katie McMillan
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Katie’s Notebook: November 14, 2024