Hi , welcome to the email that goes out to my clients, friends and the extended MJ community (either Ming Johanson or Marketing Jumpstart - it's almost as if I planned the acronym to cover both brands on purpose!).

I hope you're travelling well (and not white knuckling) as we edge our way toward the end of the year. It's been a big season of learning, refining, and... as always... doing the work to grow into our next version of ourselves.

🔐 Website Security Updates (Please Read)

Over the coming weeks, we will be rolling out changes for all existing website clients who host with us.

One of the key updates is masking your website's login page to add an extra layer of protection against automated attacks and opportunistic nonsense on the internet.

If you host with us, you'll be contacted before November 30 to confirm that your update has been completed.

👉 If you haven't heard from us after the 30th, please reach out, not because we don’t love you, but because sometimes technology gets a bit too creative and likes to hide emails.

If you don't currently host with us but would like to add this level of protection, we're happy to help. A one-time fee of $110 will be applied.

Your website's safety matters, and these small proactive steps make a huge difference.

🎧 "Fake It Till You Make It" vs "Do It Until You Are"

I recently sat down for a podcast interview with Vidhu from Aarohana Career Management, where we unpacked something that’s always felt… off… for me:

"Fake it till you make it."

To be blunt, it always clanged against my soul.

I've never resonated with pretending, posturing, or performing confidence I don't genuinely feel.

It's not that the growth isn't real; it’s that the faking feels inauthentic, especially for neurodivergent folks, high-integrity humans, and those of us who break out in hives at the idea of being disingenuous.

What does resonate for me is:

Do it until you are.

Show up.

Practice the craft.

Learn the skill.

Grow into your complete form without pretending to be anything other than a work in progress.

If you’d like to hear the conversation (and a whole lot more), you can watch the interview here: 🎥 https://youtu.be/vlQA6xDgtYo

🌿 Choosing an Attitude of Gratitude (Even When It’s Hard)

This past month, several people have left my business network, and in some cases, my personal life as well.

And instead of slipping into that all-too-familiar cocktail of resentment, confusion, or the strange entitlement we sometimes feel... that sense that people somehow owe us their presence... I made a different choice:

Gratitude.

Gratitude for what they contributed.

Gratitude for the season they walked beside me.

Gratitude for the lessons, the reflections, the growth, and even the discomfort.

People will come and go.

They will step in, step back, or step out entirely, and none of it means we've failed, or they've failed, or that anything has been wasted.

So here's the question I’ve been sitting with, and one you might explore too:

What shifts when you lead challenging conversations with gratitude instead of fear, resentment, or defensiveness?

It doesn't mean ignoring boundaries or bypassing hard truths.

It simply means choosing to honour the chapter for what it was, without demanding it last longer than it was meant to.

Thank you for being here, in whatever capacity you are.

Thank you for the trust, the conversations, the learning, and the continued evolution of this weird, excellent work we do together.

Here's to growth, authenticity, safety (both digital and emotional), and continually becoming more of who we already are.

With gratitude,

Ming

p.s. Need a catch-up chat? Book a 20-minute call here >> https://tidycal.com/ming/general-booking-20-minutes-phone-chat

p.p.s. Please share this email with someone who might need more Ming in their life.

p.p.p.s. Did you catch the shout-out from my favourite neurodivergent creator, My Favourite Jo? It's pretty beautiful and you can find it here: Instagram