Welcome to your weekly reset for your side business. My mission is to help you stop doubting your progress and start building momentum, one email at a time.

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I tried the 5am thing.

Set my alarm. Had every intention of being that productive morning person.

You know what actually happened?

Hit snooze. Obviously. Then laid in bed scrolling TikTok for 20 minutes because my brain wasn’t ready to people yet.

My husband—the actual morning person—was already up, cheerful, making coffee, probably doing something useful.

Me? Mumbling half-words in his general direction. Cranky. Still scrolling.

And feeling like a complete failure before I even got out of bed.

Because everywhere I looked, someone was preaching the gospel of early mornings.

“Successful people wake up at 5am.”

“The first hour of your day determines everything.”

“You’re not serious about your goals if you’re not willing to sacrifice sleep.”

But here’s what nobody tells you:

Waking up early doesn’t build your business. Having an approach that works with your real life does.

And my real life? It doesn’t start until at least 9am. Maybe 10am if we’re being honest.

There’s this idea floating around that if you’re not waking up before dawn, grinding on your side business, then you’re not serious.

That real entrepreneurs sacrifice sleep. That hustle happens in the early hours.

And maybe that works for some people.

But for most of juggling full-time jobs, responsibilities, and just trying to be functional humans?

That advice is a setup for burnout, not success.

I spent months feeling guilty about not being a morning person. Like I was already behind before I even started my day.

Like my husband’s cheerful 6am energy somehow meant he was more capable of success than my cranky, TikTok-scrolling, coffee-dependent wake-up routine.

Turns out, I wasn’t behind.

I was just following advice that wasn’t designed for my actual life.

You can’t force your whole life, thoughts, and work into a morning routine that doesn’t fit you.

A lot of that “perfect morning” advice comes from people with fewer distractions, more flexible lives, or—let’s be real—a natural love of mornings that some of us just don’t have.

Here’s what I learned after trying every productivity hack and morning routine under the sun:

The time you start doesn’t matter. What you do with the time you have does.

You could wake up at 5am and spend two hours scrolling TikTok for “inspiration.”

Or you could use your lunch break to send one email to your list.

Which one actually moves your business forward?

→ The action that connects you with your people.

→ The thing that builds your email list.

→ The strategy that keeps working even when you can’t show up perfectly.

Some weeks, I have time in the evening. Most weeks, I’m working on my business late at night after everything else is done, or in random pockets throughout the day.

Both count. Both build momentum.

Your business doesn’t care what time you show up. It cares that you show up consistently.

And consistently doesn’t mean perfectly. It doesn’t mean early. It just means you keep going.

You don’t need more hours in your day. You need a business model that doesn’t require you to be “on” 24/7.

That’s why I’m obsessed with email.

You can write emails whenever works for you—lunch break, evenings, Sunday afternoon, locked in the bathroom pretending you’re not hiding from your family—basically whenever you finally have a quiet minute.

Schedule them to send at the best time for your audience, and they go out whether you’re a morning person or not.

Someone new joins your list at 6am while you’re still mumbling at your spouse? Your welcome sequence starts automatically.

You’re at your day job? Your emails are still building trust with your subscribers.

You take a full week off because life happened? Your list still hears from you.

That’s not possible when your entire strategy depends on you showing up live every single day.

Social media posts disappear in hours. Instagram stories vanish in 24. You have to keep feeding the beast or you disappear.

Email builds while you live your life—cranky mornings and all.

Forget the 5am club. Forget the perfect morning routine. Forget the idea that you need to be a morning person to be successful.

Here’s what actually works:

→ One email a week sent consistently builds more trust than random daily posts.

→ A simple welcome sequence that introduces new subscribers to your work while you’re doing literally anything else…including sleeping.

→ Scheduled emails that go out at the right time, no matter when you actually wrote them.

You don’t need to be superhuman. You need an approach that works with being human.

Maybe you write all your emails on Sunday afternoon.

Maybe you batch them during your lunch breaks throughout the week.

Maybe you write one email at 8pm on Tuesday because that’s when you finally had brain space.

Maybe you voice-memo ideas on your commute and clean them up later.

All of it counts. All of it builds momentum.

The 5am crowd can have their sunrises. I’ll take real progress over performative productivity any day.

Listen…

Skipping the “perfect” morning routine isn’t just practical. It’s actually good for you.

Trying to force yourself into a schedule that doesn’t fit you? That’s a fast track to stress and burnout.

Building your business takes energy. Real energy. The kind you don’t have when you’re exhausted from pretending to be someone you’re not.

That means setting boundaries around work time. Taking breaks. Allowing yourself to rest without guilt.

Consistent progress doesn’t mean working all day, every day. It doesn’t mean sacrificing sleep or forcing yourself to be productive when your body’s screaming for rest.

Taking time to recharge (whether that’s sleeping in, scrolling TikTok in bed, or having a slow morning) keeps your energy and creativity alive for the long haul.

Self-care isn’t extra. It’s part of smart business building.

You’re not lazy for not being a morning person. You’re just human.

Build momentum on your own schedule—not someone else’s.

If you have an email list: Write one email this week at whatever time actually works for you. Evening, afternoon, late night—doesn’t matter. What matters is you send it.

If you don’t have a list yet: Pick your email platform this week (I use Beehiiv’s free version, but Kit and Mailchimp also have free plans). Set it up whenever you have 20 minutes. Could be during lunch. Could be in the evening. Both work.

Want a walkthrough on setting up your platform? I’ve used both Kit and Beehiiv. Let me know and I’ll send you a step-by-step guide.

If you’re stuck on what to send: Reply to this email and tell me what’s holding you back. I’ll help you figure out your next step—no 5am wake-up required.

The best time to work on your business is whatever time you’ll actually do it.

Not the time Instagram tells you. Not the time productivity gurus say. The time that works with your real, messy, cranky-in-the-morning life.

Discipline means showing up when you say you will, no matter what time that is.

You are not behind. You are moving forward your way.

Talk soon,

~ Kristina