The mind drama of starting your own company

Hello Stackers! I'm so excited you're a part of this club and I'm looking forward to seeing our growth every week. I can't wait to introduce you to our very first amazing female founder. 

👩‍💻 Meet Stephanie Yasunaga 

Stephanie has worked at leading tech companies such as Google, Meta and Microsoft in Strategy and Product roles. Now, she runs her own career coaching business helping people land jobs in tech. Stephanie started Clarity Careers because she wanted to make a meaningful impact by helping others obtain better economic opportunities and do things on her own terms.

One unexpected thing that Stephanie had to navigate while starting her business was mind drama. She says it felt overwhelming at times because there was no roadmap and so many options, so she had to learn how to manage that anxiety to make the best decisions possible. 

Through starting her own business, Stephanie has learned that anything is possible (at least more than what you might initially think is possible)! She says this is especially important to remember in your career. She's noticed women don't always see their accomplishments clearly and don't give themselves enough credit for their achievements. This is similar to the idea that men apply to jobs when they meet only some of the qualifications, but women only apply to jobs when they meet close to all the criteria. To combat this inequity or insecurity for her clients, Stephanie has them go through job descriptions with a fine-tooth comb while also getting out there and talking to people. She says these small actions can add up and make people more confident in their ability to achieve bigger things than they initially thought they were capable. 

📚 Stephanie’s Best Stack Ever

The tools and software Stephanie uses to run her coaching business.

• Google Workspace for email, documents and drive (Daily)

• Zoom for video conferencing with clients (Daily)

• Leadpages to build and host her website landing page (Weekly)

• Paypal for payments (Weekly)

• Acuity for online scheduling (Monthly)

The one product Stephanie couldn’t live without? Google Workspace. She uses it for everything from organizing documents to creating workbooks with clients. 

Stephanie’s advice for those interested in starting their own career coaching business? 

✨Representation matters. Know someone who might be inspired by Stephanie’s journey? Share this newsletter with them✨

🍿 More to stack on

There is room at the table. Thinkific is holding a free virtual event with a whole list of speakers next Wednesday, July 27. The talks feature amazing BIPOC women founders and they will be discussing topics that include marketing strategy, building a community, sales and more.

1 in 5 SMB’s still aren’t using software to help run their businesses, but by year four that greatly decreases to just 3%. This comes from a survey of over 500 businesses in the UK by SumUp. The survey also found the biggest challenge entrepreneurs say they face is a lack of time followed by self doubt.

No-code tools are amazing. I’m obsessed with no-code tools! I’ve been using Notion to take notes, organize and tag things. They have a handful of free templates you can use, and here’s a little reel I made about it.

Learning from the many pivots of Medium. One of the most interesting things I read in the past week was a look back on Medium’s journey as their CEO, Ev Williams, officially stepped down yesterday. Few companies have taken so many big swings (and a lot of misses) in the last 10 years. From curation, to ad revenue and subscription, if you at all deal with platforms, it’s worth thinking about these different business models and ideas.

Bonus! Sharing all the YC startup school secrets. If you've been following me on Instagram or TikTok, you know I’ve been attending YCombinator’s Startup School. It’s a free seven week program, and it’s already in week four. As a little bonus for being early subscribers, I wanted to share my notes with you. I’m hoping they are useful and inspiring for anyone interested or in the process of launching their own startup. YC is constantly offering free startup school courses, so keep an eye out if this is something that interests you.

Podcast recs this week:

• Land of the Giants podcast from Vox Media is out with a new season on Facebook or should I say Meta. 

• Execs from On Deck talks to leading execs, but not founders, about their experience scaling top companies. 

• Lenny’s Podcast comes from the popular Product Newsletter. This podcast features product and growth leaders.

Trending on Twitter:

If you have any questions or feedback, you can reach me at [email protected] 

Always remember to have courage and be kind 💫

Ellen at Best Stack Ever