#22 - How to Try Again When Everything Falls Apart w/ Steve Kamb

What your clients are buying is changing. The questions they ask are changing. Even your definition of work is changing. And if you're a creative service provider, you've probably felt the floor shift under you in the last 6–12 months. You're not imagining it. And you're not the only one quietly panicking about it.

Steve Kamb built Nerd Fitness into a business pulling 1.5 million visits a month from Google, then watched 80–90% of that traffic vanish when AI and algorithm changes rewrote the rules. He's the author of How to Try Again, and in this episode he hands you the exact framework he used to climb out: PACT: Pause, Accept, Change, Try. It's the thing to hold onto when your brain starts to spiral and you want to go cry over a Jersey Mike's sub. (Yes, that's in here too.)

Ready to stop figuring this out alone? If you're a creative service provider in the middle of a pivot, hitting a glass ceiling, or just your monthly existential crisis, we're here to help. Book your coaching discovery call here: https://www.joandlyndon.com/coaching

Inside this episode, we cover:

• [05:53] The PACT Framework: The four-letter system, Pause, Accept, Change, Try, for navigating any change & trying again.
• [10:12] Pause (the step everyone skips): Why "recovering insecure overachievers" work harder instead of stopping to ask the only question that matters: is this actually working?
• [19:38] Accept your new normal: How to stop letting Instagram's highlight reel convince you your slump is a you problem, and accept that the old playbook isn't coming back.
• [25:38] What actually helps you accept it: Other creators in the trenches, therapy, and the counterintuitive power of self-compassion over your inner critic.
• [29:14] Change without the sunk-cost guilt: Why there's no such thing as square one, and how to treat your past work like a detective and your next move like a scientist.
• [35:03] Run a one-variable experiment: Pick one variable, one timeframe, then zoom in. Steve breaks down why testing everything at once tells you nothing.
• [39:35] Try (and increase your surface area for luck): The ping-pong-ball jar, "expectation bankruptcy," and focusing only on the part you can actually control.
• [47:28] Wayfinders vs. warp speed: The Polynesian navigation metaphor for building a business when you can't see the whole map, and don't need to.

Connect with Steve Kamb:

• Get the book: howtotryagain.com
• Instagram & Threads: www.instagram.com/stevekamb/
• Steve's weekly newsletter, sign up at stevekamb.com/newsletter/

Connect with Us:

• The Breakroom: Find your people. Join our community of creative entrepreneurs, because you already know you can't do change alone. Step into The Breakroom: www.joandlyndon.com/the-breakroom
• Instagram: instagram.com/joandlyndon/ & instagram.com/thesustainablecreator/
• Interview Us: We love talking about pivoting, working with a partner, and building community.