Natasha Golinsky

Helping solopreneur moms earn their full-time income working part-time hours | Web agency founder - #techforgood | HypeWoman for badass women | Mom x 3 | RBC Women of Influence Canada 3x nominee | PMP ACP CSM

I've been running my own businesses since I was 13 years old.

For the last decade, I've run On Purpose Projects - a custom web development agency partnering with women-owned agencies. We handle the complex technical work so our partners can focus on strategy, client relationships, and growth.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted.

The women I work with would call about a project, and we'd end up talking about something deeper. The exhaustion. The self-doubt. The way it feels to juggle everything and wonder if you're doing any of it right.

And I'd think: I know exactly what you mean.

"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom." - Jim Rohn

Running an agency will never be easy. There will always be difficult conversations that dysregulate you. 
Decisions that push you out of your comfort zone. Moments that make you want to retreat.

You can wish for an easier path. But that won't change anything.

The only way forward is to get better at facing the things that dysregulate you. To accept that hitting your goals means doing hard things.

If you're stuck, it's most likely past trauma blocking you.

The level of your income, success, and growth will only expand to the level your nervous system can tolerate.

So how do you get better? How do you become capable of facing what dysregulates you?

You overcome your blocks by overcoming your trauma.

I'm not standing on the other side saying I've figured it all out. I'm right here with you, doing the work.
Mom of three. Breast cancer butt-kicker. Single income for my household working part-time. I've navigated cash flow anxiety, economic shifts, personal crisis, and all the messy realities of building something while showing up for the people who need you.

The answer isn't another tactic or framework. It's healing the trauma keeping us stuck - so we can cut the cords holding us back and achieve our business goals.

That's why I started Never Launch on a Friday - trauma-informed guidance for female agency owners ready to do the real work of healing. 

On Purpose Projects supports women-owned agencies with technical work. Never Launch supports the women leading those agencies.

As a 3x nominee for the Canada Women of Influence® Award, I'm committed to helping women-owned agencies thrive.

Ready to chat about dev work? Send me a DM.

Want to learn more about trauma-healing as a gateway to goal achieving? Find me on substack - https://neverlaunchonafriday.substack.com/

—Natasha

Creative Agency Operations Coach

Helping female creative agency owners simultaneously work less, profit more, decrease business drama and have more time for what matters most.

1. Learn how to position yourself as the authority / leader right from the start
-How to do a paradigm shift about who you are and what you do: increase confidence, improve your professional posture etc
-How to choose a niche, specialty, ideal / dream client avatar, know who are bad-fit clients for you
- How to have a discovery call where you are in control of the conversation 

2. Create a (paid) scoping / planning / estimating / exclusions / expectation management / sales / onboarding (internal and external) system
-How to sell paid discovery, keys to a great planning phase
-How to get your team involved in estimating work and list your exclusions / expectations / scope creep management policy
-How to close and onboard your client with style

3. Set it up so you have an empowered team who can handle execution without you (and without ever needing to do meetings)
-Leadership vs management, identity of being the leader instead of working on deliverables yourself
-How to set up a basic PM system so your team gets what they need to do their job
-How to be a great boss that people want to do their best work with day after day and love working with you

Book a time to chat: https://calendly.com/onpurposeprojects/creative-agency-chat

15 ways having breast-cancer actually made my life better:

1. Bilateral mastectomy + reconstruction = a new and "UPleveled" post-3-babies "look” ifkyk lol

2. Upon diagnosis, I hired a replacement for me in my business allowing me to be now 90% of out daily business operations

3. Strengthened my relationship with my life-partner where we now have much a much deeper connection

4. Was able to set an example for my kids of how to face challenges with a good attitude and courage (but fear is also totally ok)

5. Came face-to-face with so many fears (chemo-nausea, losing my hair, being seen as “sick”) and realized that I could handle it 

6. Have so much more confidence that my team is very capable of kicking butt without me there all the time

7. Learned how to let-go of the expectation that I have to do everything myself as it relates to keeping the house running - partner and kids will happily chip in 

8. Upleveled my mindset muscles to ensure that my family, business, relationship, finances etc stayed strong despite being in treatment for 8 months

9. Have met and been able to support so many other amazing women who are going through breast cancer too

10. Got so much insight into how and why our bodies create diseases and set on a course to turn it around and heal inside-out

11. Thanks to medical-induced menopause, I got that hormonal-milestone out of the way. Who needs to sleep when you could sweat?

12. Learned how to be in love my “new” body with all the scars and muscle-loss after doing nothing physically for months

13. Learned how to be supported in my difficult-days by a community of friends, colleagues and family instead of trying to be super-woman 

14. An increased sense of perspective about what matters and what doesn’t in the big picture of life - increased peace

15. Found out that under my hair I do not have a dented-head lol. You never know when you'll need that info. 

And so many more... 

What are some possible silver-linings of a challenge you’re having right now?

Natasha  Golinsky

Helping female agency owners achieve their goals through healing the trauma that keeps them stuck | 3x nominee RBC Women of Influence® Award | Mom | Breast cancer butt-kicker

I have a 16 year old daughter with a genetic condition the source of which no one can explain. 

Neither her dad nor I have the gene but she was born with a very severe case of a condition called Childhood Apraxia of Speech which means that her brain is healthy, her mouth is healthy but the signals between her brain and her mouth don't fire properly such that she was almost completely non-verbal until she was 7 (at which point she was finally properly diagnosed). 

As you would imagine, growing up speaking in a way that doesn't sound like all the other kids has created a lot of social anxiety for her. 

Although she is brave, fun and kind she has a lot of fear around trying to make friends because she doesn't want people to laugh at her voice nor see how she still is struggling to pronounce certain sounds. 

Last week she and I were chatting and decided to make create a challenge for ourselves and we called it "One Brave Thing". 

Inside Whatsapp we created a group just for her and I (no brothers allowed), where daily we post one action big or small that we took that required courage. 

Even though I had originally created the idea to help push her outside of her comfort zone, I'm finding it to be a very subtle push I didn't know I needed. 

Some examples from this week:

➡️ Replied with graciousness and patience to a client blaming us for not doing something that was never in the contract

➡️ Had a difficult conversation with a teammate and held him accountable

➡️ Appeared as a guest of a very popular podcast

➡️ Stood up for myself in a personal relationship despite what could have had awful consequences

➡️ Paid a very big invoice for a service I have procrastinated investing in

I honestly don't think I would have taken these actions if it wasn't for the need to post something to our mini group. 

There was no way I am not going to show up with something to share and let her down - even if doing the item makes me queasy. 

The best part is that the name is ONE brave thing, not 20 brave things. 

I just have to do one thing per day but I can already feel that each action I take is stretching me to be that much better of a leader. 

Our comfort zones feel good but unfortunately there is no growth there. 

How about you? How do you push yourself to be more courageous?

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On Purpose Projects Ltd

Never Launch On A Friday

Community Member

Solopreneur / mompreneur business coach

Web development agency founder ~ Certified Women-Owned | Mentor | 3x nominee - Canadian Women of Influence+ Award | Breast cancer butt-kicker | Mom

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Web development agency owner | Trauma healing guide | 3x nominee RBC Women of Influence® Award | Mom | Breast cancer butt-kicker | Champion of female founders

I used to think being a woman made me weaker.

I worked in boiler-room cold-calling culture with the bros for six years. I resented every minute I took off after having my babies. I spent years in tech as the only woman in the room, secretly thinking I was tougher than women who chose an "easier" path.

Then I found myself in women's communities and I started meeting the most extraordinary people I have ever encountered in my life.

Brilliant, fearless female agency owners. 

Breast cancer survivors who rebuilt themselves from the ground up. 

Mompreneurs carrying more than anyone around them ever sees.

My daughter who faces life with resilience and fun.

Women who lead with both power and softness and never apologize for either.

I was wrong about all of it and would never go back to how I was before.

I am a feminist now. Loudly and without apology.

I believe women supporting women genuinely changes the world and it breaks my heart to think about the years I spent seeing my womanhood as a weakness instead of the most powerful thing about me.

Happy International Women's Day to every woman in my orbit. I love you!

(Photo from The Female Agency Owner's Collective retreat 2024 when I still had hair and my own B@@bs lol)

I got a desperate message from a friend this week saying "I don't think I have the entrepreneur gene" out of frustration that her business was not growing. 

Having known her for years, I can see so clearly where she is stuck but refusing to do the work to get unstuck. 

Whoever gave the impression that expansion of skills, risk-tolerance and trauma-healing is a comfortable breezy thing is seriously messed in the head. 

Growth is scary as h&ll. Nothing about it feels good. 

But we have to do it anyway if we want to achieve new goals. 

The current us gets us what we currently have. To get different, we need to be different.

The exact 10-step plan I followed to remove myself from the day-to-day operations of my agency 🤦 :

1. Run an agency for a decade as a one-income household and put off hiring a #2 person because I wasn't interested in dealing with the hassle or cost.

2. Get diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer.

3. Have a major freak-out realizing my business will collapse without me and I have 3 teenagers who want food on the table.

4. Panic-hire the most capable person I know with absolutely no idea how I'm going to pay her if I would not be also able to work.

5. Take out a loan to cover 6 months of her payroll. Freak out again with visions of bankruptcy (not sugar plums) dancing in my head.

6. Onboard her while high on painkillers after surgery. Continue training while wiped-out from chemo. (Do not recommend lol.)

7. Passively watch things get really messy. Lose some clients. 

8. Resolve to let her figure it out because I was too sick to deal with any of it.

9. Return to full-time work months later, realize I didn't actually need to use the loan money and to hear the most beautiful words I've ever heard: "Everything is fine, I don't need you here anymore." 

10. Have a crisis trying to figure out what to do with my time lol


0 out of 10 would NOT recommend this particular path.

But if you'd like to learn how to actually do this — without the cancer, the panic hiring, or the painkiller onboarding — I built something for you.

The Virtual Team Freedom Framework opens April 7. 

A 60-day intensive for female agency owners who want to build a team that runs without them. Minus the dramatic backstory.

Link in the comments 👇

Got a crazy hiring story? I want to hear it - comment below!

10 things I have learned to tell myself when I feel like everything is falling apart:

1. I choose peace.

2. No matter what happens I will handle it and I will be fine.

3. I am fully capable of developing whatever skills I need to solve whatever problem I have

4. Everything is temporary, this too shall pass. 

5. Disappointing people ≠ disaster.

6. Everything is figureoutable (ty Marie Forleo for this one).

7. I am someone that handles hard well. The harder it gets, the better I get. 

8. Failures are opportunities for learning and are an unavoidable part of the journey. 

9. It is not too late to achieve my goals. 

10. Something great is going to happen to me today. 

How about you? 

What is your go-to affirmation when you feel yourself slipping into freak-out mode? 

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Hey! I'm Natasha. I help female agency owners achieve their goals by healing the trauma that keeps them stuck. I'm also a mom, and breast cancer butt-kicker and I write about the intersection of trauma healing, nervous system regulation and entrepreneurship.

My business is named after my PTSD.

Never Launch On A Friday was born from the very specific trauma of doing exactly that — launching a website on a Friday — and spending the entire weekend in emergency cleanup mode, fielding client panic texts, and sitting at my laptop in pajamas at 11pm Saturday wondering where it all went so wrong lol.

If you know, you know.

It's a reminder that as leaders we all collect our battle scars. And if we're willing to learn from them instead of just flinch at them forever, they actually become our greatest teachers. Sometimes they even become your brand name.

So tell me — what's the business mistake you made that still makes you wake up in a cold sweat? And more importantly, what did it teach you? 👇

I used to be a terrible sleeper.

I tried everything — blackout curtains, no caffeine, weighted blankets, magnesium, no blue-light, meditation, subliminal audios, prescription medication my doctors wanted me off as soon as possible... 

If someone recommended it, I tried it.

For years I told myself I was just wired that way. That some people sleep easily and I'm not one of them.

Now I know that's not true.

My sleep problems were a nervous system response. A survival mechanism I developed as a little kid in an unpredictable home — where bringing my guard down meant danger. And that response never got the memo that the threat had passed.

Sound familiar?

If you're a high-achieving female founder who hasn't slept properly in years, runs on anxiety, and quietly wonders if something is just wrong with you — I wrote this week's newsletter for you.

Nothing is wrong with you. You adapted. Now it's time to teach your nervous system something new.

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Hey! I'm Natasha. I help female agency owners achieve their goals by healing the trauma that keeps them stuck. I'm a 3x nominee for the RBC Women of Influence® Award, mom, and breast cancer butt-kicker — and I write about the intersection of trauma healing and entrepreneurship. Join my newsletter at https://lnkd.in/gygEWGwj

View newsletter: Never Launch on a Friday

If one more person told me to try melatonin, I was going to lose my mind. I had been a bad sleeper since I was a little kid. As a kid — no naps, ever.

Open article: Being "Always On" Isn't a Personality Trait. It's a Survival Response. by Natasha Golinsky • 4 min read

Being "Always On" Isn't a Personality Trait. It's a Survival Response.

My business-mom-of-three 10-step morning routine:

1. Wake up and try not to step on dog lying on the floor beside me

2. Find robe (where did I leave it?), let the dog out and walk to kitchen

3. Start coffee while unloading the dishwasher

4. Load dishwasher and take meat out of the freezer for dinner

5. Let dog back in, feed dog

6. Grab coffee, check email in pyjamas and get day organized

7. Wake up kids for school, go back to checking email

8. Re-wake up kids for school, go get somewhat dressed / brush teeth etc

9. Check slack / say good-bye to kids leaving for school (double check everyone has their lunch)

10. Re-heat coffee, back to email


Lol - what is your biz mom morning routine?

Is Your Childhood Running Your Business?

For almost a decade, I ran the same size business. Year after year, about the same revenue - it barely ever changed.

It wasn't a skill issue. I knew how to grow. I knew how to make more sales. I knew how to build bigger teams.

But I was paralyzed by perfectionism.

I grew up with a bipolar dad who was very unstable. As a little kid, I learned: anger equals danger. I became hypervigilant. I learned that if I could just be perfect, I wouldn't trigger anyone.

That belief followed me into adulthood and kept me stuck for years.

I was so obsessed with everything being perfect that I couldn't grow. Because when you grow, you lose control. Things go wrong. People make mistakes.

And if you're a perfectionist, that's not okay.

In this week's newsletter, I'm talking about the invisible net of trauma that keeps us stuck, how childhood beliefs run our businesses, and how to start cutting the ropes.

What childhood belief is running your business?

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I'm Natasha - trauma healing guide, web development agency owner, champion of female founders, breast cancer butt-kicker, and mom. Want this in your inbox? Subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dutbk3Gy

Ever heard the advice "work on your weaknesses"? I completely disagree. Here's a small sampling of who I have around me doing things I don't like to do. 

1. Virtual assistant #1 - all things admin

2. Virtual assistant #2 - all things creative

3. Virtual assistant #3 - social media support

4. Director of Agency Operations

5. Bookkeeper

6. Accountant

7. Backyard dog-poop-scooper every Wednesday

Plus much more...

Check out my team building course here - https://lnkd.in/gMtACs24

For years, I avoided letting people go because I felt I was just not good with conflict.

I'd lose sleep over it, stress out over it. But actually address it? That felt impossible.

I'd enable the situation until the point that it was so bad and I had to make a dramatic, seemingly-out-of-nowhere fire and then I'd spend weeks feeling guilty, wondering if I'd been too harsh.

If this sounds familiar, I get it. I really do.

Here's what I finally figured out: avoiding the hard conversation doesn't protect anyone. It just makes everything harder on you, your team, and honestly, even the person who's struggling.

So I created something that's helped me so much: the 3-strike system.

It's not about being harsh. It's about being clear from the beginning so no one is confused or blindsided.

Here's how it works:

1. When I hire someone, I explain the system upfront:

"If I need to address the same issue three times, we won't be able to continue working together. It's not personal—it's just how I keep things running smoothly. Does that make sense?"

2. Strike 1: I address it gently but directly.

Example: "Hey, I noticed you were late to the team meeting. Attendance is really important for us. Here's what I need going forward: [clear expectation]. How can we make sure this doesn't happen again?"

3. Strike 2: I remind them where we are.

"This is the second time we've needed to talk about attendance. Just wanted to remind you that if it happens a third time, we'll need to part ways. I know you can do this."

4. Strike 3: I let them go, kindly but firmly.

"We've now talked about attendance three times, and as I mentioned when you joined, that's our limit. Today will be your last day with us. I appreciate the work you did, and I wish you all the best."

That's it.

No drama. No guilt spiral. No wondering if I should've given them just one more chance.

Why this has been such a relief for me:

The system takes the emotional weight off. I'm not making hard decisions in the moment—I'm just following what we both agreed to.

I don't lose sleep anymore wondering if I'm doing the right thing.

This system just helps you part ways with the ones who aren't the right fit—without all the emotional turmoil.

If you're tired of avoiding these conversations and carrying all that stress, I want to help you strengthen your firing skills via my new course: How to find, interview, hire (and fire) virtual contractors like a pro. 

https://lnkd.in/gMtACs24

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I'm Natasha. Web development agency owner, mentor to female agency owners in the web space and mom of 3. I believe in doing great work, running a business that works for you, and enjoying the journey.

What happens to your business when you CAN'T show up?

I found out the hard way when I got a breast cancer diagnosis while running my agency.

The scariest part wasn't the diagnosis—it was realizing my business would crash without me.

So I rebuilt it from the oncology ward. 🏥

Now? My agency runs without me being the hero. And I'm sharing exactly how I did it at the Post Hustle Summit on February 27th.

This is for every founder who's secretly terrified of taking a vacation. 

Every agency owner who knows they're the bottleneck. 

Every entrepreneur who's one crisis away from everything falling apart.

We're running a live exercise: The 90-Day Ghost Protocol. 

You'll identify your biggest business liability and the first system you need to build TODAY.

Because you deserve a business that works even when you can't.

Register here - https://lnkd.in/gAnEnQgZ

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