Feeling Like Oprah Here

It’s that day today. Your inbox is exhausted from all the promos and special deals.

And yet, much like planning dinner for the week, it can be really hard to come up with something great to give your loved ones - something they’ll really love.

I mean, socks? Socks are awesome, despite their bad rap. (At least in my book.)

But if you want to both delight everyone opening your gifts and support small businesses at the same time…

I gotchu.

How?

I’m pulling an Oprah here. These are 10 of my favorite things that I either bought or was gifted during 2024. They’re all creations of your fellow Entrepreneurs Gone Wild! Think they got some of these ideas outdoors?

They’re not in order. They’re all AWESOME. (They also have my affiliate link in some cases.)

#1: The kind of novel that’s hard to put down… but that you also don’t want to race through because it’s so delicious.

Our very own Alexandra wrote A Road To Joy. I keep finding myself sneaking away to read a few more pages. Like a fresh batch of warm, delicious cookies, it’s one of those books that could easily be devoured way too fast. As I read, I’m like, “Wait. That sounds like me!” The descriptions are so vivid, the journey connects on a visceral level. I don’t know how it ends yet - I’m only halfway through, purely because of self-restraint.

#2: Sure, I’m “roughing it” as a homesteader… but this makes my coffee taste way too fancy for a girl living in a barn.

TBH, I’m glad hubby drinks his black because I don’t really want to share. I mean, I would… but I’m glad I don’t need to!

I’ve tried every flavor of Ryan and Tristina’s Miss Mary’s Sinless Syrups. My absolute favorite is the White Chocolate. It’s so creamy, so delicious, that it’s hard to stop at one cup. But I do, because I also like to sleep at night and if I gave in and drank coffee frothed with this stuff all day, I’d be awake until 2037.

#3: Speaking of coffee… these cups help us AND the planet

Luke and Tara’s Lukara eco-friendly coffee mugs were one of the first purchases Spook and I made when we moved off-grid. I mean, even scalding hot campfire coffee can get cold too fast. We use these cups every single day. They’ve held up wonderfully (and they’re biodegradable - so if/when we ever need to replace them, they won’t be clogging a landfill).

#4: Every yarn-hoarding knitter or crocheter neeeeeeeeeds this.

lol - Weird Fun Fact: I once tried to make a business custom knitting children’s sweaters. My kids were the models. They’d go off to school and come home saying so-and-so’s mommy wanted me to make a sweater for their kid, too. Of course, I’d never actually calculated a rate of return. (Probably came out to a few cents an hour!)

The yarn stash wrangling was a losing battle (even without having a couple of cats that made matters much worse).

My daughter is now a crocheting fiend. She’s also got a few cats. So, when I saw Bobble + Puff’s yarn organizer from Julie and Todd, I knew immediately that this was going to be a huge hit.

#5: Got hand pain? Not anymore.

Alpesh has spent the past 15+ years as a physical therapist. He got fed up seeing that some of his patients get cut off by insurance even though they needed many more weeks of sessions. So, with Theravio, he did something about it. He created the most incredible at-home hand pain-fixing kit and a series of videos showing how to use all the goodies he included. He and I even created a series of free 5-day email courses that’ll help people with hand pain start getting relief. I don’t know how he stuffed so much goodness into this kit, but it’s truly excellent.

#6: Speaking of pain relief anywhere…

I featured Dr. Benjamin Page a while back. Our conversation was so juicy that I’m still thinking about it. He wrote the book Playing in the Dirt, which is excellent. But he also created Consuelda comfrey salve, a balm that has soothed owies here at the homestead a LOT (who knew there were so many ways to get a boo-boo!?) The container is compostable! (But for the love of all that is good, when you review this stuff, don’t mention its healing powers or compostability - Amazon will flag your review - oy. I had a hard time damping down my review!) It’s REALLY good stuff.

#7: What if your mind won’t quiet down?

Sheesh, it can get noisy in there! But it just takes 8 minutes to soothe my soul and leave me feeling supported, calm, and clear. How? Heather made this CUSTOMIZED meditation for me. I’ll share it with you here… but you can get one for yourself or a loved one, too.

#8: Or, what if you’re getting in your own way?

The only exposure I’d ever had to hypnosis before meeting Vickie was at a parents day event at Rutgers a million years ago. It was a stage hypnotist. He was funny. The participants were even funnier.

2023 was brutal for hubby and me. Anxiety became my constant companion. More like a stalker, really. I’d hoped that finally moving onto this gorgeous retreat center property and starting to build this dream would finally quiet the internal voice of doom.

But it didn’t. Every morning, I’d wake up with an elephant on my chest, mind racing, always vigilantly watching for the next ambush on our way to disaster. (Ugh, that’s so ugly to write and admit.)

It sucked, and it’s not how I want to live - much less, how I wanted to show up as a host for our future guests on the property. So, when I had the opportunity to have sessions with Vickie (she’s a business coach AND certified hypnotherapist), I went for it. (We did my sessions while I was in a lawn chair in the woods - or down by the creek.)

Now, I can’t remember the last time I woke up feeling like I needed to get into the fetal position under the covers. I have NO idea how you’d wrap a gift like this, but you’ll figure something out. Have a free 15-minute consult with Vickie on me.

#9: Podcasting is a blast… but it’s way better when it becomes a lead gen tool, too.

I came ‘this’ close to quitting podcasting, even though these conversations are one of my favorite things to do all week. It was a labor of love. But retreat centers ain’t cheap to build! We’ve got plans for bringing in investors, but in the meantime, I’m mindful of making my work work.

So, when I met Mark and Katie Adams, and heard their strategy for profitable podcasting, I was all-in. During some of the conversations I’m having with podcast guests, they reveal a need I can help with. And almost always, there’s some resource or another that I can share with them that will help them solve a pain point.

They showed me how. They built the back end automations. This podcast has become an excellent lead generation tool as well as a way for me to BLESS my guests (they’ll have a new friend, a great episode they can share, plus a writeup here - one even used her writeup to score a TEDx talk!) and to potentially land some great clients.

Best investment I’ve made all year? I’m thinking yes. You can reach them at: [email protected]

#10: This is a gift from me to you! To help you get more outdoors time + get a whole month of written social media posts that resonate with your people… without writing a single word yourself.

I made this workflow, and honestly? It’s pretty freaking awesome. Early users are loving how they can just talk for a couple of minutes and get excellent social posts that sound like them in minutes. Like, a whole month’s worth from a couple of these “walk and talk” chats. You can get it for free right here.

Well, that was really fun to create! I hope you’ll not only find something fun to give someone you love… but also that you’ll keep creating wonderful stuff in the new year.

You, entrepreneur, are making the world a better place. You take ownership of problems you didn’t cause, then devote yourself to creating solutions that serve people you love. That’s pretty awesome.