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By Nicole | Anniversary Week
I almost didn't write this post. Because honestly? Eleven years in, I'm not sure I have it all figured out — and that's exactly why you should keep reading.
When I started The Yellow Bird, I wasn't trying to build a brand. I was trying to solve a problem — mine, and the problem of so many people I knew. I couldn't find products made with clean ingredients that were actually accessible and affordable, especially for those of us with sensitivities. So I figured out a way to make them.
Eleven years later, that's still the whole point.
But between then and now, there's been a lot of learning. Some of it beautiful. Some of it hard. All of it worth it. So this week, in honor of eleven years, I'm sharing the lessons I wish someone had handed me on day one.
Not too long ago, I ran a sale. It did about half of what the sale before it had done. And I almost let that ruin everything — the momentum, the joy, the sense that what I was doing was working.
Here's what I know now: comparative metrics will steal your joy if you let them. A good sale is a good sale, full stop. A milestone is a milestone. Growth is growth — even when it looks different from last time.
Gratitude isn't just good for your soul. It's protective. It keeps you clear-headed, grounded, and actually able to see how far you've come. In a world that is constantly pushing you to measure yourself against someone else's numbers, choosing gratitude is an act of resistance — and a genuinely smart business move.
We live in a world that celebrates multitasking, constant connection, and the ability to do seventeen things at once. I'm here to tell you that's a trap.
One of the most valuable things I've had to continue to work on over eleven years is my ability to deeply focus — to give one thing my full, high-intensity attention, work on it, finish it, and then move to the next. It sounds simple. It is not simple. It takes practice and intention every single day and I still have to actively work on it. But it's so worth it.
But the work that comes out of deep focus? It's better. Every time. If you're a business owner, a creator, or anyone trying to build something meaningful — protect your ability to concentrate. It's one of the most valuable skills you have.
There's a quiet danger that lives inside every milestone. It's the temptation to exhale and stop — to think "I made it" and let the momentum die.
I've watched it happen, and I've felt the pull of it myself. You hit a goal, you cross a finish line, and suddenly the urgency is gone. But growth doesn't have a finish line. The work continues. The learning continues. The showing up continues.
This doesn't mean you can't celebrate — please celebrate. But celebration and coasting are different things. One fills you up to keep going. The other slowly drains what you've built.Keep going.
When you own a business, there is always something to do. Always. The to-do list never ends. There will always be an email to answer, a post to write, a product to improve, a strategy to refine, a reel to make...
I learned — not quickly enough, honestly — that you have to decide what hours belong to your business and what hours belong to your life. Not the other way around. The business will fill every hour you give it. You have to decide how many hours that is.
Set a stop time. Honor it. Create a very short list of what HAS to be done, and when that is completed, stop working. Fitting work into "the pockets of your day" can be great, but there has to be a time to NOT be working. This isn't laziness — it's sustainability.
People told me early on that I was giving too much away. Too many products, Too much knowledge, too much time, too much of myself.
They were wrong.
Every time I've led with generosity — sharing what I know, encouraging someone else, offering help without strings attached — it has come back in ways I never could have anticipated. Not always quickly. Not always in the form I expected. But the ripple effects of genuine generosity are real, and they are wide, and most of the time we never even get to see them.
One time, I sent products to a group of women who I met thru Instagram who were having a creator retreat. And they ended up loving it and choosing to share about it (this was not a collab or anything... just wonderful people appreciating a gift) and we got so many sales from them! (I have also sent lots of products to other events/people and had absolutely no recognition or traction.... lol so being generous can't have strings attached or it can be so depressing )
Lead with an open hand. It is good for business, yes. But more importantly, you get to be a part of encouraging other people — and we have no idea what all that touches.
This one is simple, and it's everything: treat people the way you want to be treated.
In business, this means showing up with integrity even when no one is watching. It means honoring your word, communicating honestly, and building a business that reflects the values you actually hold — not just the ones that look good on a website.
People can feel authenticity. They can also feel the absence of it. Over eleven years, the relationships that have meant the most to me — with customers, with community members, with collaborators — have been built on this foundation. Be who you want to work with.
I have tried things that didn't work. SO.MANY.THINGS. Products that didn't land. Strategies that flopped. Content that disappeared into the void. Initiatives that I poured time and energy into that just... didn't go anywhere.
And that's okay. That's actually the curriculum.
Not trying because you're afraid of failure is a far bigger risk than failing. The businesses and creators I admire most are the ones who keep experimenting, keep iterating, and treat every "failure" as information rather than evidence of their own inadequacy. Be willing to be a beginner. Be willing to be wrong. Be willing to try again.
As Micheal Scott (Wayne Gretsky) says, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take".
There will be weeks — many of them — where you feel invisible, hideous, irrelevant, or like your voice is just one more thing in an already noisy world.
Show up anyway.
Consistency builds trust in a way that no single viral moment ever can. The people who will become your most loyal customers, your community, your advocates — they are watching you over time. They are seeing that you keep showing up. That you care. That you're still there.
You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have something brilliant to say every time. You just have to keep coming back. This is still one that I am learning-- but I know it's worth it.
We live in a world full of influencers, content creators, and brand accounts. It is very easy to get lost in the performance of it all — the aesthetic, the numbers, the algorithm, the strategy.
But I started The Yellow Bird because I wanted to help people. Specifically, people who — like me — needed products made with clean ingredients that actually worked, were accessible, and were affordable. People with sensitivities who had been overlooked by the mainstream beauty and wellness industry.
That's still why I'm here. Not just to sell products — though I do love our products — but to be genuinely useful to people who need what we make.
In everything you create, in every post you write, in every product you launch, remember: you're not just running a business. You're serving people.
None of this — not a single year of it — would have been possible without the people who have shown up for The Yellow Bird. Who tried our products, shared them with friends, left reviews, sent messages, and kept coming back.
You are the reason there's an eleven-year anniversary to celebrate.
This week, we're celebrating with our anniversary sale — clean ingredients, accessible prices, made for you. Visit the shop to see everything that's on sale.
Here's to eleven years. And to everything still to come.
With so much gratitude, Nicole + The Yellow Bird Team
Follow along on Instagram and TikTok this week as we share more lessons, stories, and behind-the-scenes moments from eleven years of The Yellow Bird.
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