Alaska is a magical place and over the past 4 months, it taught me a thing or two about business. John Muir once said, “you should never go to Alaska as a young man (lady) because you’ll never be satisfied with any other place as long as you live.” 

I won’t even try to top those words. Before we talk through some business lessons from Alaska, here’s some context behind this email for the folks that don’t know some of my life story: 

When I was 19, I went to work a summer in Denali National Park, Alaska. It was probably my favorite summer ever. 

I started to feel the pull to move from my home of almost five years in Salt Lake City toward the end of 2023. In March, I got kicked out of my apartment (not for anything bad – I had a private lease and the owners wanted someone they knew to move in) so it was time for the next chapter. Alaska had been on my mind for almost six months and, who would have thought, when I got the news from my landlords, I was in Alaska. I got home, sold 90% of my things, and got on a plane in May. Alaska had that dang pull on me that I just couldn’t shake.

When I moved to Alaska, I knew I would be there for the summer and would then leave to travel before heading back for something, hopefully, more permanent in 2025. (When you get this email, I’ll be in Ölüdeniz, Turkey flying my paraglider and beginning full time travel, follow along here!). Last week, I packed up again and left Alaska with two paragliders and no plan. 

SO, now that you have my life story, let’s get to the good stuff. 

#1: How to be a business people rave about

If you want that “cult following”, front row seat raving type of audience, you have to be expansive, abundant, and powerful. As John Muir said, Alaska is a magical place. It pulls people in from everywhere and leaves a lasting presence. Why? Because it’s expansive, abundant, and powerful. There is nothing like it. If you want to have a business people just can’t get enough of, you have to make people feel some type of way that they can’t quite explain but also can’t stop talking about – achieved not only when your business is an extension of you and presented to the right people but when you also choose to be abundant, expansive, and powerful..just like Alaska.

#2: You can’t predict tomorrow

You only have what you have today. If you ever visit Alaska – don’t even bother looking at the weather forecast, it’s entirely unpredictable and wrong 95% of the time. Tomorrow could bring beauty in ways you never even knew possible despite a forecast of pure rain – you just don’t know. We’re always reaching for the next level, goal, step, etc but we can’t predict the forecast. We can only embrace what today holds. You have to be present today (even if it’s pouring rain) to experience the beauty of tomorrow. So what exactly does this ambiguous paragraph mean? Some days we water our grass – we do admin work, prep some marketing, and lay the foundation for us to grow. Other days, the sun shines and our grass grows – our ideal client reaches out, invoices get paid, and testimonial forms get filled out. But our grass doesn’t grow without embracing the rain while we tend to our lawns. 

#3: Sometimes you just need to curl up in a cabin

And that’s okay. Your likely here, reading this, because you’re going against the ‘norm’. You’re building a business and not everyone is on the same path. In order to achieve big things, sometimes you need to cut the noise, think, and do the uncomfortable things. Not everyone wants to go hike the same trail you do when bears, moose, and who knows what else is a threat – despite the stunning on-trail views of the Alaska range, fresh berries to pick along the way, proper knowledge, and peace like you haven’t felt anywhere else. Not everyone is going to want to follow you where there is a threat of discomfort. Sometimes you just need to do the big thing alone. Make that instagram account, post that reel, launch that new website. You’ll probably find that there’s other people wanting to hike that trail BUT you aren’t going to find them if you don’t start pulling up the chair to the table you want to sit at. Want that ideal client to reach out? Then it’s time to curl up, get uncomfortable, and do the big thing alone in order to find people in the corners of the world you want to be in.

Whether you’ve been to Alaska or not, I hope you’re inspired by it to do the big thing that’s been on your mind.

Catch you next Monday,

Bri