Ruthlessly Ranking My 2025 Business Decisions (the parts you didn't see)

What's up, you guys? Welcome back to the podcast. On today's episode, I'm gonna be ruthlessly ranking some of the major moments from 2025 and the lessons that I learned from all of them. Some are life, a lot of them are business, and I'm really just gonna be taking you behind the scenes and unpacking the good, the bad, and the ugly from some of the major moments. And these are things that you may have seen on social media this year, but I'm gonna be sure to also share the parts that you may not have seen or known about. And of course, any reflections always come with a lot of lessons. So here is what I'm learning from all of it. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shit happen. Alright, first up is the mini podcast tour that I did in Austin, Texas. I went out there last May to do some in-person interviews, to sit down in studio with some incredible guests and record. We recorded episodes for my show. I also recorded episodes for for other people's shows. And overall, it was a really, really good experience, but I'm gonna rate this a 7 out of 10. And the reason is because I was so busy during this time of year, and this just felt like a lot to have on my plate. And there was a lot of preparation for this because of the travel, the logistics, coordinating with all of the guests, the studio times, finding a studio that I liked the aesthetic of, and that made sense and that was available for all of the recordings that we wanted to do in a place where I don't live. And yeah, I've only been to Austin one other time, so just not really familiar. And then yeah, just the back and forths with all of the people that we were interviewing with transparently was handled by someone that I'd hired to help me run the podcast tour, but it still just kind of felt like a lot of admin, a lot of scheduling during a really, really busy time in my year. And then another thing that I absolutely hated about this was batch preparing for interviews and episodes because I really like to research my guests. I like to go in and like look at their social media. I like to read things that they've written. I like to learn about, you know, if they're an author, their books, their work. I really like to, yeah, do like thorough research on my guests. And so having to prepare so many interviews upfront, like all at one time, and then have everything ready to go. I'm kind of more of a last minute interview preparation person, like not right before the interview, but maybe like 1 or 2 days before is when I'll really sit down and go into like research mode and start to gather my talking points and figure out really what I wanna ask this guest about and like what the most important questions are that I wanna hit on. And also how I'm gonna start the episode, which is always like, you know, a really important piece of how do we intro this person? Where do we want the conversation to open? Because as I've shared before, if you want to be a really shitty podcast interviewer, then you should start your interviews with welcoming the person to the show and asking them to tell their story and how they got to where they are today. I mean, that is just the absolute worst fucking way to interview people. And unfortunately that is what most people do that have podcasts. So we don't wanna do that. So it does take some time and intention and forethought to go into a guest episode if you're gonna prepare properly. And so to do all of that, like to front load the work of all of that ahead of time, it was just like a lot of extra preparation and research to add to my plate while I had a lot of other things going on at the same time. And so I think that made it a less enjoyable experience overall because of the preparation piece of it. I also, it was my first time ever preparing cue cards. So the things that you like hold in your hand as you're doing an in-person interview. I'm so used to virtual interviews, so I can have my main questions, bullet points, my like outline to keep me on track in front of me on the laptop. And so to do it in person, obviously that is more set in stone. Once you print it, if you wanna make any adjustments, you have to reprint it, and then you've wasted a cue card that, you know, is branded. And so I wanted to get these branded cue cards and it was like, such a pain to get these things printed. When I tell you, I don't know why, like, I feel like printing things is kind of like an art that has sort of died in this digital era. And so going to Office Depot or Staples or wherever to try to print stuff was just really irritating. And no one there was like super helpful and things were printing with like the ink was like coming out wrong. And I printed so many things and then I had to cut them all myself because they couldn't print them on like just the right size of like card that you want. So you have to cut them. And I was so horrible with like the big like cutting machine because it was such a shitty one they had at the store. And I don't know, it was just all like this stupid stuff. I also wanted to get mic flags, which are like those, those square things that you see like stuck onto like the bottom of a mic that you can have branded for your show. And I paid like $200 for express shipping for these mic flags because I really wanted them in time. And then they messaged me and they were like, yeah, this like, there's not enough time for us to do this order, so we have to cancel it. And so I was just like bummed about that. And it was, I don't know, it's all like stupid little trivial details, but it was like a lot of the preparation and behind the scenes stuff that I think made it just more feel like more like a chaotic experience than like a 10 outta 10. Okay. Second on the list is doing Black Friday this year from the beach in Aruba. I had mentioned to you guys that this was, I had never done this before. I've done Black Friday for several years, but I had never run the sale from a family vacation on the beach. That was definitely a new experiment. And, um, that was not initially, you know, my plan for the year. It's just kind of how things worked out and we ended up doing that family vacation with my parents. There's a whole— you can watch the vlog on it on my YouTube. There's a whole vlog of us in Aruba and it's a lot of like behind the scenes stuff. You'll see like me talk about the Black Friday thing for like a second, but there's a lot of other just like behind the scenes of my family and getting to know us more and funny stuff. Yeah, that was a new experience and I'm gonna rank this a 4 out of 10. And the reason why Black Friday from the beach was a 4 out of 10 is because I've said this a lot of times, I think the laptop lifestyle and this idea of like working from the beach is total and utter bullshit. If anyone has ever tried to work from your laptop from the beach or even like from the pool, honestly, unless you're in a really shady spot and someone has a fan that's blowing on you, like otherwise you are sweating your balls off. You can't even see the screen. Like it's just so not a vibe. I find it so hard to focus and concentrate if I'm outside sweating my ass off and trying to look at a piece of technology. So I've never really been a fan of like the working from the outdoors, like working from the beach kind of vibe. I wanna go to the beach and not be working. Like I wanna work at my desk and then go to the beach and be off of work is kind of my vibe. But again, this is the way that it worked out. And luckily there's a lot of like the way that I teach Black Friday strategy, a lot of it is already preset up and automated and it's really easy to just like be making sales kind of on autopilot aside from, you know, answering a couple questions in the DMs or sending people links and that sort of thing, which you can do from your phone super easily. And so I was like, cool, it'll be fine. Like I can just do this. The thing that I, did not like about it was that I didn't have enough time to batch all of my content for that week ahead of time. So every day I was still having to edit and post content. And I know people that are like creators, like proper creators, that's like really how they identify. Like they're so used to that. That's just their life. They post every single day, multiple times a day. They're not gonna have, you know, a whole 7 to 10 days of posts batched ahead of time for the most part. And they've just kind of accepted that that's part of the reality to like post every day. But again, I just didn't enjoy the experience. I wanted to be able to be more present on that vacation, but I did have to follow through with the plan and with the sale. And so I had to do my posts and I went live a couple of times while I was there and it wasn't like it was a big deal. I just personally, it was like not my favorite type of experience. Like I say this often, I wanna go on vacation to be on vacation, not to be working from a different location. And I know people have different preferences for that. Some people love to like go to Italy, Greece, Australia, wherever, and be like working while they're there. They love the laptop lifestyle of working around the world. When I travel, like I don't ideally, I don't really want to be working while I'm there. And so that was just like kind of unenjoyable, that part of it. Okay. Third thing, third moment is buying the custom Porsche. And this is a 9 outta 10. And you might be thinking like, why the hell is this not a 10 out of 10? I'll tell you why. It was a 9. I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10 because it was a really, really amazing experience and such a dream. And still to this day, like every day I get in my car, I'm like, this was so worth the money and more because of how amazing this car makes me feel. It raises my vibration. I feel like my identity shifts every time I get into that car. And I think it's just like, it's like once you fly business or first class on a plane, you're like, oh, that's why people pay thousands of dollars for this. Because you're like, it actually is worth it. Like all of these perks, it's not just like, oh, you get to lay down and sleep and that's why people pay extra for business. No, no, wrong. If you've, if you've never done it, as soon as you do it, you'll be like, I would probably pay double. I will be doing this again. And I totally understand why people do this now. It's like that when you drive a luxury vehicle, you're like, okay, yeah, it's something that just gets you from point A to point B. But when you're a person who appreciates a vibe and aesthetic a luxury experience, a feeling, an identity upgrade, you're like, okay, I understand this and I would probably pay double for it. So getting the custom Porsche was 10 out of 10, like dreams come true. Really big moment. So exciting. Love everything about it. Still, the reason I'm knocking her down a point is because the process of buying the car was kind of challenging and frustrating. Not challenging because it was like not going to happen, but I just never like bought a car like that outright from a dealership by myself. Like walking into the dealer, having to talk to the car salesman and do all the stuff. And also, I think I've shared this on the show before, at the time the business didn't have any credit. And so if you're not going to buy the car outright in cash, like pay for the whole thing up front, and you want to pay for it monthly, you have to get a loan. And this was going to be a company car, so it had to be a business loan. In order to get a business loan, I need a business credit, and I didn't have any business credit. So there was like, I had to go to the bank and sit down with the people at my branch and go through paperwork and sign things and fill out things and send them proof of, you know, P&Ls and income and all this stuff to kind of like prove assets and, and whatever the rest. So it was another one of those things where it's like, it's just kind of like a pain in the butt. It was like the process of buying the house I've shared was actually like one of the worst things I've ever, I've ever gone through, which is horrible to say. It's like, oh, buying your dream house is like a horrible experience. But anyone who has bought or sold a home knows that it's actually like a really big headache and it's so much work and it's so fucking annoying. So that's why she's getting a 9 instead of a 10. I think the process was just kind of like irritating. And I also had no idea what the fuck I was doing. Like, maybe I would be better at it this time. But you know when you're like, you just feel like you're a stupid girl and you're like, I do not know what's going on. Who let me do this? Where is my dad? Like, why? Like, what is happening? Why am I left to like be figuring this out? Like, I don't know how to do— what do I do with my hands? That is how I felt in that situation. So she gets a 9 out of 10. Okay, next up is getting engaged in Costa Rica, and I think I'm gonna surprise you a lot with this rating. I'm gonna give this a 7 out of 10. Okay, so I have something I think you're really gonna love, and your business is gonna love it even more. Do you want to steal the strategy I've been using to seduce premium buyers and sell out my offers on Instagram stories? Chances are you're already posting, you're already making sales, but if your Instagram stories aren't working as hard as you are, you're leaving money on the table. 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Don't tell Jaime. It's not, it's not about the engagement itself. I mean, I could take away points because I requested photos or videos, something to be captured, and there was none of that that happened, and he knows that I requested that and he didn't do it because he said he was too shy and he wouldn't have been able to like speak from the heart or whatever. So that's fine. But it's really not about like the experience of the engagement. It's the fact that 20 minutes before we were basically meant to get engaged, we got stolen from at the beach and Jaime lost his green card. And then we were fucking stranded in Costa Rica and stuck at the capital. And the whole saga of me like going to the embassy every goddamn day and banging on the door and crying on the steps because they like wouldn't let me in and wouldn't help us. And I think that whole thing, like, I can look back and laugh now and like, yeah, it's like, okay, funny story, haha. And I told the whole story on the podcast, so if you're like, wait, what? I missed that? There's a whole episode about how I got robbed and engaged in the same day and whatever. But I think that whole experience just kind of soured like the moment of getting engaged. Not like the literal moment, like the moment of getting engaged was still like so special and black out once they get down on one knee and you're like, don't even remember what they said or what's happening. And then you feel so happy and you can't even believe it. But also immediately after that, like, I didn't call friends right away. I didn't FaceTime anyone. I didn't tell my family for a few days because everyone was asking us all about like the green card situation. And we were talking about embassy stuff and documents that we needed to get and how we were going to be stranded and what we were doing. And it just like, it just really put like a damper on it. And so it felt like it wasn't even the right moment to like tell people like, oh my God, and by the way, like this so exciting thing happened because we were all just kind of like heads down in the mode of like researching and figuring out like how we were gonna get back into the US, essentially. And so yeah, the day after we got engaged, like almost all of our conversations and the whole day like revolved around researching and going online. And this was like our— supposed to be our last day in Costa Rica, and it was just like all about like calling the embassies and like, how the fuck are we gonna get home? And like it was just, it kind of sucked, not going to lie. So that's why it gets a 7 out of 10. Okay. The next major event, I built so many things this year, one of which was the program Sold Out Stories, which I know a lot of you have taken. And it's one of the best things I've ever created because the reviews on it are so raving. And I continue to get messages all the time about people that took it a couple of months ago or are just getting it now. And they're like, oh my gosh, this is so helpful. Thank you so much. But let me tell you about the process of building that. Okay? That's what we're ranking here. I'm giving it a 4. I'm giving it a 4 out of 10 because this is my M.O. I'm always like, oh, I have this, you know, really specific way of doing something. I have this strategy. It's been working for my clients, my HighLevel clients, and my mastermind. Let me like make an offer around it or let me make a masterclass around it. And I always end up just going so fucking hard in the paint. Like, I go so deep on it. It's like I can't not. I can't not. And I'm so glad for it because it's what like creates these really thorough, robust offers that go so much deeper than even what people expect for what they're paying for them. And I love that. It's really important to the quality of my work and the results that my clients get. But when I tell you that I thought that I was going to whip out this offer in literally a week, and that was in February, and we didn't end up selling this thing until I think June, Part of that was because in February I went to Costa Rica, we got engaged, and then I started wedding planning and that like delayed a lot of things. But it was, it turned into a whole beast of its own. And I was spending hours upon hours upon hours in Starbucks, just pulling out examples, like the amount of examples that are in that program, the time that that took for me to go through all of the archives of my Instagram stories, collect all of these sets of ways that I've promoted things, how I've sold stuff, the exact wording that I've used, the structure to dissect it, to break it down, to put everything in order. I mean, it was just so much more time-consuming than, than the thought in my head, right? It's like, oh, teach this, you're going to talk about that, and then we'll do like a bunch of examples and we'll dissect them so that they can see exactly how it's used, and then they can kind of like plug and play and model it after how you've done it. But the process of actually doing that and building that was so tedious and so detailed and so time-consuming that it very much not enjoyable, not gonna lie. But the program is a major slay, so I'm happy we did it. But the process, the experience of actually doing that, I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 10. I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 10 because it took a lot longer than I expected and it was really like a challenge, I guess. Okay, the next moment I want to share with you was when I went to a business conference this year and it was so bad. Like, like it was— I'm not even gonna get into it because it's not even worth it. But like, I went with a friend, we had planned to go for it, we had it booked like a year prior. And then by the time it rolled around, like, both of us didn't even really feel like going anymore. We didn't even really like resonate that much, but we were like, fuck it, we want to hang out, we want to see each other. Cuz this is one of my like long-distance best friends in the industry. So we're like, let's just go, we're going to have a good time, it'll be fine. And we went and we had a good time because it was us, but I didn't like the event and neither did a lot of the people that we were with. And that's neither here nor there. The experience is the fact that we skipped the entire last day of this business conference because I was like, I wanna go find my wedding dress. And the reason why we had to skip it to do this was because there was one designer that I knew I wanted to look at for wedding dresses, and they have a flagship location in Miami. And so after I got engaged, of course your algorithm starts to change. It knows that you're engaged, it knows that you're a bride-to-be, and you start getting all the fucking bride content. So I got this ad for the fact that they were having a, what is it called? A trunk show. Where they're showing all of the designs for the upcoming season. So they've just brought the brand new designs to the US from abroad and they showed them in the Miami show. And then the designs are still gonna be in Miami for just a few days after the show, after the like fashion show of them. And those are the only few days you can come in, you can try on all the brand new styles for the following like spring and summer collection. And if you end up buying any of the, anything that day, it doesn't matter if it's one of the new designs or one of their old designs. If you go and you try on during that time and you buy anything, you get like discounts. I think you get like 10% off, you save whatever. And I was like, I really want to try on the— but it is the only time that you can try on the new collection, cuz then all of the brand new dresses, they go back to Europe and you can't try them on until months and months later. And that would mean that I wouldn't be able to try on those designs in time to be able to wear any of them or, you know, get one of them made for me for the timing of, of my wedding that's coming up in early summer. So I was like, I— this is my only chance to try on the newest collection. I really want to. And it was only that weekend, the same weekend as the business conference. So what I ended up doing was I was like, all right, I'm gonna have to like leave early the last day or miss the last day and drive back from this conference because it was on the other side of Florida and make it back to Miami and just book like the latest appointment that they have on a Sunday and try some stuff on. And so of course it was so last minute, no one could come with me. Like, my mom wasn't going to be able to travel, my sister-in-law wasn't going to be able to travel because was just so last minute. And I also wasn't even going to be around like for the days prior for them to even come and like hang out if they were to travel. So it was kind of like this unfortunate situation. And I was like, I might just have to go and try on dresses alone. And that was fine with me. But I'm so glad that my friend Sam rallied with me and she was like, fuck it, let's leave the conference. Like, we'll just skip the last day. Let's go try on your wedding dress. She literally changed her flight because she was supposed to fly out from a totally different airport on the other side of the state, changed her flight moved it to be the next day from Miami. So we drove together, made it to the appointment. My other friend Annelie met us there. And so it was so nice cuz I got to do like a proper like bridal dress, like try on, not by myself, with my friends and my bride, like a few of my bridesmaids actually in the room with me. So that was so much fun. And I found my dress, like I tried on maybe 8 dresses and I ended up picking one and buying one literally that day. So for me, that experience was 10 out of 10. One, because of the fact of like finding my dress and just feeling so magical in it. It really was an experience where I feel like the dress chose me. And I know people talk about that, but I— it was like a spiritual experience putting on that dress, especially when they put the veil on me. I was like, oh my gosh, I just— I, I really felt like something spiritual moved through me where I was like, I have to wear this dress. And so that was like so magical and fun and exciting, but also like the friendship piece of it, of like having people in your life that are willing to drop everything. And it's not like us skipping the conference was not a big deal. I mean, to us it wasn't a big deal, but it was something that we spent thousands of dollars on, you know? And, and so to have someone that loves you enough to be like, it's not worth it, I'm not gonna let you go do this alone, like I'm coming with you, and to change their flight and all of that, like it just meant so much to me on a friendship level. And so that was one of my favorite moments from 2025. Okay, the next one is my two trips to Vegas that I did in 2025 to learn from Alex Hormozi and his team in person. And I'm going to rate these an 8 out of 10. And I talked about them on the show, so if you missed that, there's episodes of like recaps of both of those. There's a vlog on my YouTube about the second time that I went, from the second time that I went to Vegas and kind of recapping my experience and Spending $40K in a day to be there. So if you want more information about that, you can find it on the podcast and also a vlog of the experience on YouTube. And I really did have a good experience and have learned a lot, and I'm about to go back in a couple of weeks. So obviously I liked it. The reason why I'm giving it an 8 out of 10 is because the second time I went, I went alone, and that was okay, but I just don't love staying in hotels by myself. And the hotel that I stayed at, I was obsessed with. Like, it's so cute. You'll see it in the vlog. Like, I was, I was having a good time, but I was also running on such little sleep because I had a super early flight out and I was packing late. Because again, I was just like, I am saying yes to all these things because this is the season of my life where I can. And I know that other people would maybe say no to things because they feel like there's too much on their plate or they're getting too busy or whatever, but I truly feel like it privilege to be busy in this season of my life. I am young, I'm not married yet, I'm not— I'm childless. Like, this is the time. And I do feel this sense of like pressure to really take advantage of it. And I know that people say you're never going to be prepared to have kids and all of that, but I do feel like a big part of my life last year and even the year before and even in 2026 is going to be around working my ass off and really preparing myself and my business to be ready to step into a season of motherhood so that things are more sustainable and more automated. And you know, there's a lot that's gonna be happening in 2026 that, that stacks on top of that. But I do feel like there is a sense of pressure of like, now is the time and really not wanting to waste it and to squeeze all the juice out of it and to take advantage of it. And so yeah, when I have a baby attached to my hip, I'm not gonna be able to just drop $40K for a day workshop and fly out to Vegas and frolic around. I mean, like, maybe I will be able to do it. I don't know. I'm not one of those people that believes that your life stops after kids. And I definitely want to model my parenting style a lot after what I experienced from living in Europe, where I feel like they really just integrate their children into their lives and they continue on and they bring them out and they bring them to restaurants and like, they just, they travel with them. They don't stop their life for children. They just really bring the children along with them in that life. But I'm also not naive to the fact that especially in the early days of postpartum, like a lot of things are gonna be different. So anyway, that's like a whole other rant on like how I'm feeling and just wanting to really be in a, in a season of like putting my head down and working hard and preparing things and babyproofing the business and doing all of that. And so I'm saying yes to a lot of things and I'm glad that I went. I loved what I learned. I'm going back, but I'm giving it an 8 outta 10 because I didn't like the fact that I went alone. I was was so tired, and it was again like a super busy season in my business where it just feels like a lot when you're traveling all the time. And I was traveling all the time in 2025 and in 2024 and in 2023. Like, I think the last 3 years in a row, every single year I've done like anywhere from 10 to 13 trips, which is, you know, like an average. If we're gonna take the median, it's like traveling once a month, which I do think substantial, especially when you have a lot to build and a lot to work on and a lot of clients to serve. And so it's just kind of a lot. All right. The next one is one of the uglier ones. And this is when I had to hire lawyers to handle some things with out-of-integrity clients that were attempting unwarranted chargebacks or explicitly breaking their contracts. And so without going into detail about like these specific happenings, I think that in general, it just is a disappointing experience anytime that you have to do something like that. Uh, it challenges you as a leader and it's also a sign of, you know, new levels, new devils where you're like, okay, we're scaling. There's more volume. There's, you know, people that think that just because your business is doing well or you're making money that they want to be able to take advantage of you or whatever. And a lot of that stuff just, just is part of the experience. It's the way the cookie crumbles. And it's like one of those things that you just have to deal with, but it's never like enjoyable. It's never fun, right? So I'm going to rate it a 3 out of 10. And it was a tough thing because I had to decide if I was going to pay for this legal representation, and it was going to cost me like almost the same amount, if not more, than what we would even like get back if we like resolved these disputes, or like whatever you want to call them. And that was a decision that I had to make really just based in principle instead of profit. And so it was like about the principle of like, no, I have to really put my foot down and be the secure CEO that I am and say, and, and also not be scared of like standing in the truth of your policies and being like, no, this is the contract. This is what you signed. This is how it works. You can't just like walk all over me and do whatever you want. And I know a lot of business owners, experienced this, especially in the early days. Like you'll get people that, that just like ghost their payment plans and then like never reply to you again. And I mean the level of like stealing, for lack of a better term, that happens in the digital education space is wild to me because people, I don't know how people are raised, but like the lack of integrity and like the entitledness and like the feeling that human beings, because they're personal brands, aren't actual real businesses and you can just like do whatever the fuck you want and that contracts aren't real and things that you sign don't mean anything. I mean, it's fucked up. It's fucked up. And so I think for me, that moment was more of just like a teaching moment that like, no, I'm not going to just roll over and let people go. Because a lot of times people will teach you like, oh, just, just let people go. Just like release it. It's not worth your energy. It's not worth it. And I do think that sometimes that pertains. But in this particular instance, I was just like, like, no, see, because no, like, I'm just so fucking over this. Actually, no, you're in the wrong and you deserve to know about it. And also I deserve to give myself the self-respect to actually do something about it, to like show to myself like our policies actually mean something and these contracts are legitimate and they can and will be enforced. And so that was an experience, giving it a 3 out of 10. For like the enjoyability level of it, cuz like it's never enjoyable. But the reason why it's not like a 0 or a 1 is because it worked out well for us. And I think it was a really good learning lesson and it was an uplevel. And yeah, everything worked out and everything was sorted and it was like really quick and actually pretty painless. And the lawyers did a great job and it was fab. So, okay, next is my experience of the clients that I called in this year, and I am giving this this a 10 out of 10 because I had so much fun this past year with the women that I called into my world. It was one of my favorite experiences, favorite cohorts of Top Tier Mastermind. The women that are inside of Ana are, oh my God, chef's kiss. It's like making me depressed that I decided to close down Ana and not do it again after this because it's just been so fucking good. The women that are inside of the room. I mean, I just feel so lucky and fortunate for the types of people that came into my world this year through even lower and mid-ticket offers too, like Sold Out Stories or Million Dollar Messaging. Like, I am just like, wow, you guys are the coolest people. It really is working. There's more premium buyers. The community that I attract, the type of woman, is something that I get complimented a lot once people are in my spaces. But I also really felt it this year and was like, okay, yeah, Yes. Like, it's actually crazy that like everyone that is in my mastermind space is someone that I would hang out with individually, go on a girls' trip weekend with them alone and be able to have a great time. And everyone in the room said the same exact thing. And like that level of curation and just matching like the vibe and the energy of everyone and being so cohesive and like-minded and on the same page and fostering these like really, really deep friendships. Is, man, like, I— some of it is just magic because I know there's a lot we can do in terms of like culture and the curation of who you bring into certain spaces like that and really having the integrity as the leader to not just let everyone in and not just let everyone by, especially for those like higher-level curated spaces, because that's how you get that. But there's also just a level of like magic where I'm like, I don't even know if I'm doing anything to like do this, but like it's just happening. And I kind of felt like similar when I was watching the Eras Tour documentary. If you guys haven't watched it yet, Oh my God, go watch it. I'm embarrassed to admit I've watched it 3 times. I'm fucking obsessed. You guys know I already love Taylor Swift, but like, the documentary actually is really, really good, even if you're not a fan of like her music. But just to like see more of the behind the scenes of such a crazy world phenomenon that that tour became and everything that went into it and also everything that she was dealing with behind the scenes. And yeah, very, very cool. But I felt that when I was watching that, like Taylor has really created that where you— when people went to the Eras Tour, they were like, it feels like girlhood, it feels like magic, it feels like everyone there is so loving and so supportive and it's such a safe space. And it's like, how does one individual without even being able to, you know, really touch people on a deep level? Because there's millions of people, tens of millions of people that attended the Eras Tour over the, you know, 2 years that it was touring. And it's like, how do you create that? And I think some of it is, yes, like your energy, it's your personal brand, it's the culture that you foster. But like there's another part of it that just kind of feels feels like magic. And that's how I felt this year with the clients that were coming into my world. And these women were also crushing it. Like the, the wins, I was like, oh my God, 10 outta 10. Like, what is happening here? I know I'm helping you guys, but also like, this is crazy. Like highest sales months, biggest cash days ever in their entire, you know, careers as online business owners, doubling their revenue from the previous year, selling out their biggest retreats and events. So many epic rebrands, like better images, messaging makeovers, effortless sales with new strategies that felt like like fresh air. I mean, it was just, it really, really was a really good year inside of my world. So 10 outta 10. To piggyback right off of the back of that, another major moment was obviously the Top Tier immersion. You may have seen some of it on social media. Oh my gosh, this immersion was crazy because it, we did it brand new, like a totally new iteration of it. I had done it in a similar way for the past like 3 or 4 times, but this time I was like, I really wanna shake it up. I wanna do something new. I wanna change the vibes. And so we rented a giant mansion, we rented a 76-foot yacht that picked us up from our backyard on the pool deck. I mean, there were so many things and moments where I was like, I cannot believe that we get to do this. Like, what is actually happening right now that we are on this yacht, like popping champagne, dancing on the deck of the yacht, blasting music? Like, how is this work? How is it that my business even generated the amount of money to make an event like this make sense and to attract these type of women that would want to come to this. And now we're all here and we're like in bikinis and we're on this fucking yacht. And like, I was just like, wow, wow, wow, wow. Also, when we rented the mansion, all of us were going through the mansion and we were like, what even? We were getting calibrated to another level of wealth that was actually just like sickening. Like the size of this house, the size of the master bedroom. There's a video of us all dancing at the same time in the shower. Because that's how big the shower was. Like, we're fully clothed, but we were just, you know, vibing and dancing in the shower. We had a getting ready party, all of us, before going out to dinner the one night in the master bathroom because there was like two enormous sinks. Like, the master bathroom— I'm not joking, you guys— was as big as my entire condo. Like, it was wild. So there was a lot of moments where we were just like, what is this? I hired a private chef. We were cooked for. Like, I mean, there was just just, yeah, that— it was opulence, it was luxury, and it was, it was magic. But I'm going to rate it a 9 out of 10. And the reason it gets docked a point is again because of like the life thing that was happening around that. And if you're someone who like holds a really big space and a big business, you know that like your capacity is going to get stretched in a lot of ways. And sometimes shit hits the fan and a lot of things happen at once, and you just have to keep showing up. You just have to keep going. And you do get tested, and you're just like, all right, well, what else is going to happen, right? So So a week before the top tier immersion, I'm in like major prep mode. I have so much to do. I have in terms of like decorations, packing outfits, prepping the talks and the workshops. And like, I'm in major like focus mode. Plus I have, you know, other programs and things running. I have clients, I have, I have all the things. And Jaime gets sick that week before the immersion. I'm also at the same time headed to Miami for a weekend because we're celebrating one of my friends' 30th birthdays and we're doing like a whole weekend in Miami, vacation. We're staying at the one hotel, we're going out, we're doing a beach day, we're doing all the things. So I'm like, I gotta plan for this, I gotta prep for this birthday, I gotta get gifts, I gotta pack my stuff, I gotta find my outfits for that. I know it sounds like so superficial and it's totally first world problems, but like, if you're a girl, you know the outfit situation for trips and travel. And if you're hosting an event, like, that actually does take up a lot of like mental space. And my mom would tell me, Sam, why don't you get a stylist? Why don't you get a personal assistant? Okay, okay, Mom. Maybe I should. Maybe you're right. But anyways, just like a lot of tabs, like a lot of things happening. So Jaime gets sick. I go to Miami for the weekend. I come home. He's like on his deathbed. I'm like, what the fuck is actually happening? This is like the biggest work week of my life preparing for the biggest event of the year. And I'm like, we have to take you to urgent care right now because you look like you're about to die. I take him to urgent care. They're like, you have influenza A and your lungs sound really bad. We have to treat you for pneumonia. And I'm like, oh my God. It's 5 days away from my assistant flying in from London, from across the world to be here for this event. And she's staying with me in my house and like, I cannot be getting sick. We cannot have sickness in this home. And I have so much to do. What is happening? So I had to basically create space, even more spaciousness to do the grocery shopping, buy all the wellness shots for him, get all of the supplements and medicines that he needed, be the caretaker, buy all the cleaning solutions, be furiously cleaning and wiping down every surface and door handle every couple of hours for the whole week, and then sleeping in separate bedrooms. I was sleeping here, right here, this bed behind me. If you're watching on YouTube, in our spare room that is my office, I was sleeping here for an entire week. We did not touch, we did not hug, we did not kiss. I was like, listen, I love you, but my clients paid a lot of money and they are coming and we are giving them the experience of a lifetime, and I cannot get sick, and you are majorly contagious. I need you to get the fuck away from me. So we were sleeping separately, living separately, except for I was cooking all of his meals and trying to caretake for him without getting sick, and cleaning everything, and, and still trying to do all of my work. And then of course he was down and out, so he couldn't help with the dog. And you know, our dog is really high-demand, high-energy animal. He needs a lot of attention, 3 walks a day minimum. So it was just like like a lot, you know? It was a lot. Also, we— the yacht that we booked, there, there was an issue. It like almost fell through 3 different times. The guy wouldn't stop calling me, and I'm trying to like host the immersion, and I keep getting calls from the guy about, oh, the people that were, you know, supposed to— the owners of this yacht, the billionaire, he, he actually just took it to Cuba, so now we don't have that yet. I'm like, okay, so what's the solution? Like, are you gonna— are you coming to me with problems? Are you coming to me with solutions? Right? We've talked about this before. And so there was just like some things where it felt like, it felt like a lot to hold. So, but overall amazing experience, 9 out of 10. Very similarly, another one of the, the biggest moments and, uh, best parts of 2025 for sure was when we shot the kind of elaborate campaign for the launch of The Room. And I absolutely love the visuals that came out of this campaign. I loved the content. I hired my friend Alyssa, Inspired Media Co, flew her out from LA to shoot the whole thing. And she was like the mastermind behind the content and the edits and all the stuff. If you guys know, she's a content wizard. If you don't already follow her, you should go follow her. And it was so fucking cool. And everything that came out of it was like so dope. I'm obsessed with it. I love it. And so that was an amazing experience. So you might be surprised by my rating, but I'm going to give it a 6 out of 10. And it's not the experience of shooting the campaign that was like 10 out of 10. It was so good. Again, it's like the duality of of what's happening on the scenes versus what's happening behind the scenes and the parts that you don't always see. And so it's like the glossy, like, shoot and the images and the content and all of it was incredible and epic and so, so good. But also that week was one of the hardest weeks of my life. And I'm not trying to be dramatic, but that was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I was starting my healing protocol with my, you know, functional health health practitioner. I had been doing a kind of like liver cleanse, and Jaime was also away for 2 weeks at this time in Spain. And so I was alone again. Hashtag— that seems to be like a theme when I'm, when I'm left on my own, and I'm like, what am I supposed to do with this damn dog all by myself? Oh my gosh, I don't think I'm ready to have kids yet, you guys. Hey, don't forget that every month we are picking a Listener of the Month to win $50 in cash just for showing love to the show. All you have to do is leave an epic review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, screenshot the review before you hit submit, and DM that screenshot to us on Instagram at Makeshift Happen Podcast. And that's it. I want to thank you for being such a loyal listener and show my appreciation by putting a little extra cash in your pocket. I know it's super easy not to do it, but every single rating and review seriously helps the show rank higher and reach new people people, so we appreciate them more than you know. We'll announce the next winner at the end of the month and slide into your DMs if it's you, so keep an eye out and good luck. Love you guys and thanks for supporting Makeshift Happen. I can't walk this dog 3 times a day. Imagine me if I'm left alone with a baby. Oh, the solo parents out there, I feel for them. Again, I know it sounds like I'm being dramatic, but like actually it was just like a lot to hold. So I'm going— I'd been starting this like liver cleanse of really changing up my diet. That's doing lot to me physically in my body. Jaime is away in Spain for 2 weeks, so I'm left on my own. I have the biggest shoot of my entire career that I've ever done coming up, which again is so much logistics, and there were so many props for this shoot, you guys. I also hired a professional makeup artist and had to coordinate that. I had to like bring so much shit to downtown Miami. I had to load my car by myself with all this stuff. I did a vlog on the behind the scenes making of The Room, so if you want to watch it, you can see everything that kind of went into the process of creating those visuals, which is really cool. But if you watch that vlog and you saw me crying, you'll also just know that I was like super emotional and like going through a lot. And then that same week, I think— was it before or after? I think it was after, like shortly after the shoot. As soon as I got done, I had to do this part of my healing protocol, which was fasting for 2 days. And so I did this 2-day fast and it fucked me up. Yo, I got the worst migraine of my life that almost sent me to the hospital, and I was alone again, like completely alone. No one could take care of me. My neighbor had to come over and like rescue me. My neighbor— my neighbors who like don't speak English, he came over to walk the dog and he saw me, and he was, you know, worried enough to call Jaime and be like, you, where are you? Because Sam does not look okay. Like, she needs help. So then he's in Spain, it's 4 AM, he calls my mom. My mom's calling me. I can barely talk on the phone because I can't keep my eyes open and I'm in so much pain from this migraine. I haven't eaten in 2 days, but now since I have such an intense migraine and I'm throwing up, I can't keep anything down. And I'm like, I need food in my system, I need electrolytes. Like, it was a bit of a— yeah, it was a bit of a sitch, if you will. And at the very same time time I started discovering these tiny little bugs all around my house, and I realized we had some sort of insect infestation. At first I thought they were baby cockroaches, which was terrifying to me because I couldn't keep my eyes open. And I was like, oh my God, not one more thing. I can't do this on my own. Please come home. Like, help me, help me, help me, help me. Where's my man? Where's my man? And not only that, Storm was really sick at this time. If you guys remember, he was like going through a bunch of stuff with like these chronic UTIs, and we had to get ultrasounds, and they thought he might have cancer, and I had to do cancer testing for him at this time, and they told me that he might have— yeah, he might have cancer, and blah blah blah. And I was like crying, and it was, it was a lot. So that was like the hardest, one of the hardest weeks of my life. I think there's a whole episode on the podcast about that too. So if you missed that and you're like, I love the behind the scenes stuff and I want to know the real real, that's the breakdown. So that's why I'm giving it a 6. 6 out of 10. But yeah, the visuals, iconic, iconic. And we still have this on my desk. If you're watching on YouTube, the prop that we got for the, the table when we shot that, that says Samantha Daly CEO. I keep this on my desk now cuz it was too good of a prop to get rid of. So we still have that for the mems. Okay. And lastly, I'm gonna rank the experience of closing down certain offers this year and removing my entire one-on-one practice. Of, of serving private clients for business mentorship. And I'm gonna give it a 5 out of 10. And the reason I'm giving it a 5 is because there's a lot of good things that came out of it, but it's always bittersweet when you are letting go of pieces of yourself or old versions of, of your business. And there is a lot of like risk involved, right? When I decided to remove one-on-ones this year, it was a really big risk because I also knew at the same exact time I was purchasing a 6-figure vehicle, I was planning a 6-figure wedding, and I was removing an over 6-figure revenue stream from the business. So expenses going up, up, up, and then cutting revenue down, down, down. Which is why I'm still so amazed that in— and, and really proud, like, this is one of my biggest things when I did my reflections on 2025, that I was like, I'm actually really fucking proud of myself. Holy shit, that we ended up doing more sales volume, like better revenue in 2025 than in 2024, even after we cut one of the biggest revenue streams in the business, which was one-on-one mentorship. Right? And a lot of that has to do with like the hidden kind of like sales strategies that I've been using behind the scenes. And so I am gonna be teaching on that. I'm hosting a 7-day live experience later this month if you wanna jump in on it. I think we're gonna start on January 15th, but I'm gonna be dropping trainings every single day, sharing exactly some of these sales strategies that I've been using behind the scenes that helped me increase revenue and sales volume even after cutting 6 figures of revenue out and what that really entails. And you know, a lot of like the, the hidden sales stuff. So stuff that doesn't necessarily involve social media. So it's not about your content or reels or any of that stuff. It's really like how your offers talk to each other and extending the lifetime value of your clients and effortlessly moving people from one offer to the next and boosting the sales that you're already making from preexisting launches and just like stacking that and adding to that rather than having too to source new clients and new leads all the time, which of course you wanna be doing anyways, but it's like, how do we optimize and how do we actually amplify some of the stuff that's already coming in? And so that's a lot of what I'm gonna be teaching. So we'll leave the link for it in the show notes below. It's called 7 Days of Sales Secrets from Inside a Multimillion Dollar Brand. If you wanna join it, it's super low cost. It's like $47. Jump in. Even if you miss like the first few days, like just jump in late, you'll, you'll be able to access all the training. And it's gonna be really, really good. But speaking of that, closing down and deciding not to do the, the one-on-ones this year, that was a chess move, right? And there's risk involved in that because you don't know, am I gonna be able to make up this money? And my initial thoughts were probably no. Like, I hope that I get close, but I probably won't be able to do exactly the same revenue. And especially didn't think that I was gonna be able to do more even doing that. Cause I knew again, this was a building year and we've talked about that on the show recently, like the difference between the years where you're like in unstoppable growth and you're really skyrocketing. And then the, the years where you're holding the line and it's like the maintenance and the, and the momentum. And then the years where you're really building. And I wanted to build a lot this year. I wanted to be really intentional about the new offers that I was creating and how they were gonna communicate with each other and flow from one to the next and really optimizing the product suite. And, um, that takes time and it takes a lot of intention and it takes, you know, like spaciousness. So I was like, I've gotta get rid of some of this stuff. So that was like good and bad, right? Because it's the challenge of like, you're, you're removing revenue from the business and it's a big risk. And also there's a lot of work involved that you're probably not gonna see the full benefits of until like a little while longer down the road when everything starts to really move like the machine that you're building it to be. And then with like closing down certain offers, this was, you know, the last live round I decided to do of ANA, which is one of my signature offers that I've ran for years and years at this point. We've done almost 10 rounds, I think, Now, and it, it's such an incredible program. It has created some of the most amazing results for my clients over the years. We've helped over 300 business owners like start, launch, and grow their online service-based businesses through ANA. And that program really is just like such a powerhouse program and I'm so proud of it. And like I said, the women who are in it, they're making me question why did I decide to close this again? But we have to like continue to evolve, right? And like there's always a, a, a bigger vision for the evolution and where we're going next. And sometimes that requires us to let go of things cuz we need to create space to allow ourselves to like step into that evolution. And so of course there's a plan for that. Yeah, it's sad to like let it go and it's such a huge part of how I really made my mark in the industry, especially when it comes to business offers cuz that was my first ever like business-focused offer and it's helped so many of my favorite clients in the world that I've ever worked with. Like clients that are coming to my wedding were people that were in some of the first few rounds of ANA and like it's just so special to me. So So that was really, really bittersweet deciding to close that down, but it's all in the name of alignment and evolution and the bigger vision for where we're going next. So I'm giving it a 5 out of 10, bittersweet, but the right moves to make, and obviously they paid off. So yeah, that is my ruthless ranking of some of the major moments from 2025 and the lessons that I learned from them. I hope this episode was insightful for you. Maybe you learned something in just the process of me kind of talking through the things that I was doing and why I was doing them and what was hard about them and what I liked about them. So if you did enjoy this episode, please let me know. Leave a comment down below wherever you are watching or listening. And if you know someone in your life who's also a business girly and would appreciate a conversation like this that's just super raw and honest and kind of pulling back the curtain, make sure you copy the link, send it to her in a text, let her know that you were thinking of her. Kill two birds with one stone. And don't forget to just keep coming back, you guys. We crossed 2 million downloads on the podcast. What the actual fuck? And I'm not going to lie, I feel like it was starting to feel like a crawl towards that 2 million mark. And everyone knows, like, the podcast space is getting more and more— it's getting bigger, it is growing. But that means there's more saturation and there's more competition, which is always good for a free market, for there to be more competition. But it's really like, it's so much different podcasting in 2026 than it was in 2020. So I just feel so incredibly grateful that this show has stayed online every single week week for all of those years without a break, and that you guys are still here listening. And if you are a new listener, welcome in! I'm so happy that you're here. Love you guys. Make sure that you rate and review the show, it always helps us. But yeah, celebrating those 2 million downloads, really, really big, and, uh, we're excited for even more. I can't wait for brand new solo episodes and just lots of stuff that we have planned for the show coming this year. So thank you for hanging out with us. And again, if you want to jump in on the 7-day sales challenge that we're doing this month, click the link in the show notes below. Join us. It's $47. Like I said, it's gonna be 7 days of really awesome audio trainings, all strategy. It's not gonna be like energetics or like mot— motivational, like hype type stuff. It's really gonna be tangible strategy that you can start implementing in your business right away. So hope to see you guys inside of that and we'll talk to you next week. Bye. If you loved this episode, make sure to check out the show notes where I've linked a few similar episodes. I know you're also going to love. You'll find them under the similar episodes section in the description down below with direct links. You can dive in and start listening right away or add them to your queue for later. Binge away for even more growth, expansion, abundance, and fire motivation.