Spring vibes have arrived in my hemisphere of the world, and I'm also bringing them to our Friday Five.
I wanted to bring us a way to all do something good today, despite knowing there's an enormous amount to be done. As Sharon McMahon says, "We let the enormity of the world’s problems keep us paralyzed with indecision on how to help. And I’m here to tell you: the answer is to just do something. Stop letting the wheels of your mind spin, and just pick up an oar and start rowing." So, today, I hope you'll consider Friday Five #1 and join me in picking up an oar. 🚣🏻♀️
Do Something Today: Let's all come together and do a practical good thing as a Friday Five community. Today is "Do More 24", a 24-hour giving marathon that ends today at 6 pm EST, where every dollar donated can unlock bonuses and prizes for nonprofits. It's like Black Friday for generosity—but instead of buying things we don’t need, we’re investing in something life-changing. I’m fundraising for TeenSHARP, a powerhouse nonprofit that’s opening doors to top colleges for underrepresented students. 100% of their graduates go to four-year colleges. My goal for us is to raise $1k by 6 PM tonight to help TeenSHARP hit their $50,000 campaign goal. Can you chip in? Every dollar helps (seriously, even $5!). Donate here: www.domore24delaware.org/fundraisers/friday-fivers-for-teensharp. Bonus you won't regret spending 4 minutes on: check out this tear-jerker video of students opening their college acceptance letters.
3 health ideas to consider: I mentioned last week that I am the proud recipient of a shingles vaccine a bit earlier than the official schedule because of the trend of folks getting shingles earlier in life. Similarly, you might have seen measles (one of the most contagious diseases ever) outbreaks happening recently around the US. I asked my doctor to order a blood test to see if my childhood measles vaccine has stood the test of time (if the blood test shows that I've not got much immunity, I can get a booster shot), so that's something you might consider doing too. Another one to consider if you've got kids in your life who are 9 years old or older is the HPV vaccine. It's typically given at ages 11 or 12, but those of us in the US might see vaccines no longer covered by insurance at some point here, so I've scheduled the vaccine for both of my kids next month (their pediatrician was happy to get us scheduled when I asked). This article inspired that last bit for me.
3 things you're a small business owner: First up is Liz Wilcox’s List Building Live. If you are aiming to grow your email list, you should know Liz. She’s scoured the internet for experts in the B2C and B2B realm to share how they’ve grown their email lists, and the talks are all like 5-10 minutes with quick tips. And it’s 100% free. Second, how would you like to take some time off from your business this summer? It's totally doable with a bit of planning ahead. Leanne Chapman at Passive Income Superstars earned an extra $33K and even grew her list by 14% when she took 4 months off, and she teaches her strategies inside her course 'Out of Office.' Third, I made this free resource for business owners to share all the tips and tricks I've learned. I'm getting great feedback on it, so if you haven't signed up for the tips, go do that!
Ancestry: I'm not super interested in ancestry research, but years ago I decided to set an intention to do at least a little bit of digging into what I could find about my ancestors. It was a fascinating project! I got a free trial for Ancestry (they still have that deal, it's 2 weeks free) and then paid for one month at ~$15 to keep going with some additional research for a few more weeks and then stopped paying. It was a small investment of time and money that got me more info about my family (and helped me find a cousin that I'm still in touch with, which was fun). It's a pretty easy site - you essentially start putting in what you know about yourself and your family, and it starts to find documents that are likely connected to you and them. You can review the documents (like birth certificates, news articles, yearbook photos, marriage licenses, etc) and then add them to that person in your collection if you think it's a match. If this sounds like a fun project for you, try out the 2 free weeks and see what you can find.
A functional desktop wallpaper for you: I recently made myself a "functional" desktop wallpaper to be the background of my laptop screen. It's got a 2025 calendar, my brand color hex codes, and my annual goals. Having those things easy to click over and view when I need them has been so helpful. I made the image into a template on Canva so any of you can use it and personalize it for things that would be helpful for you (photos of people you love, reference numbers, priorities, quotes, etc.). Enjoy!
And the 3 winners are:In last week's issue, there was a little raffle to celebrate hitting 12k subscribers, and 3 of you could win a book of your choice from an independent book store. Earlier this week, my 8-year-old and I picked 3 winners (see the video of us choosing). Congrats to you 3 - there's an email from Wednesday in your inbox asking for which book I can send you. We'll do it all again when we hit 13k Friday Fivers (as of yesterday, we are at 12,263).
P.S. Many of us have a time change this weekend, so here's a heads up so you don't miss something important on Sunday or Monday.
