The Third Door is a weekly newsletter about sustainable business strategy for solopreneurs and creative souls who want more out of life than the status quo, hosted by business coach and strategist Jenni Gritters. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while and you receive value from it, I’d encourage you to sign up for a paid membership. By doing so, you’re also helping me make business coaching for self-employed folks more accessible to all.
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Hello, sweet friends, and welcome (back) to The Third Door. That’s right: Mindset Mastery is getting a little rebrand! The best way I know to sum up this change is that I’m catching up to myself. It was time to make this container bigger.
When I launched Mindset Mastery back in January 2022, I was living a whole different life. I was pregnant with my second child and we were living in a rental house. I was still primarily creating journalism to bring in revenue. My husband was working as a critical care nurse, and I was just about to finish my coaching training with IPEC.
At the time, I was obsessed with mindset and how it impacts our everyday life. I launched this newsletter as a way to share what I was learning in my own life, and to help people access coaching insights for free. And over the past few years, I’ve been able to teach thousands of people (how crazy!) about how to work with their mindsets to grow more sustainable businesses. I’ve also been able to use this platform to share my own journey, which is a true gift.
But the truth is that I’ve evolved (as we all tend to do). My business (and my life) look different now. My husband left his job as a nurse. I have two kids now (my daughter just turned two and my son is 4.5). We live in a house on an acre of land, in the woods, which we bought in March 2022. Now, I spend most of my time coaching and teaching. I also run a content and community agency for emerging thought leaders and solopreneurs with my husband, who is pivoting his career to become a web designer.
Truthfully, this newsletter felt like it was based on that previous version of me. For months, I’ve been aching to talk about more than mindset! I want to teach you about sustainable business strategy. I want to dig into authentic marketing and branding. I want to share case studies about successful launches and the strangeness of the economy at the present moment. I want to incorporate my thoughts on nervous system regulation and somatic work. I want to share my journey, too, without needing to focus just on mindset.
Over a year ago, my husband and I were hiking through Joshua Tree National Park, trying to figure out what to name our business. I became incredibly attached to The Third Door, which is what I’ve now named this newsletter.
Here’s the metaphor:
When you’re building a business, there are often two obvious doors to pick from. The first door is the “general admission” entrance. You have to wait in a long line, but you’ll eventually get in. The second door is the “VIP” entrance. You’ll need to pay extra or have special connections to get into that line, which moves much more quickly.
But almost always, there’s a third door. Maybe it’s the door through the kitchen. Maybe it’s a window at the back of the building. Maybe it’s the door through the band’s entrance. Wherever it is, my mission in business and life has always been to find the third door. I am not interested in building a business like everyone else — and neither are my clients.
If you’re here, you’re probably on the path less taken. If you’re here, you’re probably interested in choosing hybrid options (mother and business owner, ambitious person and creative soul, nomad and grounded homebody). You’ve always been uncomfortable being stuck in just one camp. You’re in this business ownership game because of the freedom it provides you. You’re here because you want to be at choice and in charge. You want to be able to change your mind and your circumstances whenever you’d like.
This newsletter has probably always been about finding and choosing the third door — but now it will explicitly include stories, essays and lessons to help you thrive on this entrepreneurial path less taken. The goal we all share is that we’re interested in building beautiful lives and refuse to place our work-related ambitions in front of our life priorities. We’re in search of harmony and presence. We want to belong. And we do want to change the world. This newsletter will teach you how to do that.
One of the toughest parts of choosing the third door is that few people do it so there aren’t many models to follow. My life mission is to be a model of doing this whole thing differently — but I’ll also be bringing you examples of other people who are designing easeful, simple, impactful businesses that change lives. Consider this a library that guides you down your own path, but inspires solidarity as well.
Welcome to The Third Door. I hope you’ll stick around. This is about to get really good.
xo,
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. I’m obsessed with teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here, and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.