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UPDATED NOTES ON MY WORD OF THE YEAR
In December, I declared my word of 2026: rhythm.
Last week, that rhythm was tested both personally and professionally.
Early on January 25, more than 200,000 people in Nashville lost power due to Winter Storm Fern, my family included in that stat.
When was our power restored? The morning of February 1.
That shakes things up a bit.
Needless to say, last week was about triage and intense prioritization.
The question became: What’s absolutely required to…
Keep my family safe and warm?
Make sure my business didn’t come to a complete standstill?
Service existing partners, and avoid both missing deadlines and letting progress falter?
Make sure other impacted friends and neighbors were safe?
In these situations, you can’t do it all.
Your brain can only take so much.
You need to compartmentalize.
I’m sure there are many things during those seven days I could’ve done better, too.
But, once we arrived back at our home after a week in various locations, I was reminded of that word: rhythm.
In the past, when I’ve thought of rhythm, I tend to associate it with relative steady and calm. There’s a more natural flow to activity; certain things might even feel effortless.
But after last week, I’ve realized that’s not always accurate, and I’ve begun to think about this differently. Yes, I still believe that finding rhythm means there’s tempo and pattern recognition. But it also ebbs, and “steady” is not a requirement.
Finding holistic rhythm personally and professionally may actually mean building adaptability that allows for smoother transitions from one beat to another. For example, last week was about rapidly moving into an “emergency” rhythm without missing too many beats. This week has been about flowing back into the “normal” pace of life and work.
While I’ve never experienced something like last week, navigating disruptive events isn’t novel to me at this point. Instead of freezing, I was able to draw upon those past events, actions and patterns, which allowed me to navigate what was in front of me, without completely crumbling.
I’m drawing on personal disruption here, but there’s also application to the entrepreneur’s journey. The only thing you can depend on in your business is change. The unexpected will creep up on you along the way. You can’t control that.
What can you control?
The proactive actions you take to build more predictability and redundancy into the system, so the chaos doesn’t completely overwhelm or deplete you.
A peek into another entrepreneurial journey. The wins, challenges, pivots and lessons.
MEET CATHERINE CONNELLY, FOUNDER OF CONNELLY VENTURES LLC (PREVIOUSLY: CO-FOUNDER OF THE MEET GROUP)
Q: When did you know you were destined to build a business?
A: “I was exposed to entrepreneurship early, watching my older brother build a company from his Harvard dorm room. By the time I was a teenager, starting something of my own didn’t feel impossible—it felt natural. When my brother Dave and I came up with the idea for myYearbook in high school, we didn’t know what we didn’t know, and that naïveté was powerful. We stayed up late talking to developers in Mumbai, drawing wireframes, and believing we could figure it out as we went, and we did.“
Q: What’s the most unexpected thing (+/-) that’s happened along your entrepreneurial journey?
A: “One of the most surprising parts of the journey was realizing that success doesn’t look the way you expect. Building The Meet Group brought incredible milestones—a $100 million public merger and a later $500 million acquisition—but what changed me most was growing up alongside the company. Balancing life, family, and leadership taught me that designing success isn’t just about building a business. It’s about building an environment where you can thrive.“
Q: When did you hit your first scaling challenge, and how did you overcome it?
A: “Our first real scaling challenge came when we expanded beyond our local high school. We had no marketing budget and no roadmap. We leaned into creativity and ‘engineering virality’ with t-shirt guerrilla marketing, viral quizzes, and features designed for sharing. Later, scaling from web to mobile was another huge shift. We survived those transitions by staying curious, experimenting quickly, and never assuming we were “qualified” for what came next. Innovation happens when you stop waiting for permission and start building.“
Q: If you were starting all over, what’s one piece of advice you would give yourself?
A: “Ask for help sooner. When I started college while running a company, I learned that being open about what you need invites support and makes the journey far less lonely. Entrepreneurship can feel like you have to do everything yourself, but success is always a team sport. I’d tell my younger self that asking for help doesn’t make you less capable, it makes you stronger.“
Q: Do you have one ask or offer you would like to share with the Empower community?
A: “I'd love to share a virtual copy of my book, Designing Success.“
Q: A fun one, what’s your all-time favorite restaurant and where is it located?
A: “Honey in Doylestown, PA. It's delicious.“
Want to learn more?
First, snag the copy of the virtual book linked above! You can also check out Catherine’s website.
Curated reads or listens that piqued my interest and might spark new ideas for you, too.
SINCE LAST EDITION…
An interview with a venture capitalist and his perspective on opportunities in AI.
Notes on how to improve a sales pitch with strong headlines.
Free users as your growth engine.
When there’s nowhere for your star player to go.
YouTube in 2026.
Why early-stage founders shouldn’t sleep on their financial model.
The value in doing what’s hard and rare.
Understanding the Idiot Index.
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