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Laura Belgray (Talking Shrimp)

"Yours are the only emails I actually open and read" - a regular reply in my inbox since 2009...and I'll bet in yours, too, once you subscribe and learn by pure, lazy osmosis to become the most compelling writer around. That said, no promises on improving your moral character.

Featured Post

I'm making a big change.

Hey Reader, I’ve switched things up in my life. Had to. At the dermatologist, where I’ve started going for variously painful and costly laser treatments and anything else that will keep me looking fresh but not like one of the trout-pout/surprise-brows set on Real Housewives of Miami, I asked the doctor what she could do about the fine lines starting to appear around my mouth. She leaned in. ā€œDo you smoke?ā€ ā€œNo!ā€ I said, indignant. I’ve only taken one drag on a cigarette in my life. Anytime...

Hey Reader, I’m in Greece now, but my heart’s in NYC. Well, it’s in Greece, too. I wrote this from the airport lounge on Tuesday night, so no details of the trip to share but I wanted to send you my post about 9/11. It’s a light update of the blog post I wrote in 2011, when I couldn’t believe it had been ten years. Now, it’s an inconceivable quarter-century, and we’ve got a generation of grown-ass adults who weren’t even born yet. Maybe you’re one of them. I’ve been seeing memories of that...

Hey, remember 2018, when people practically had $2k ready in their fists for the moment a cart opened? No? Maybe you weren’t in ā€œThe Spaceā€ back then. If not, lemme tell you: launching a course, program, what-have-you was like doing a lemonade pop-up in the desert. These days, nahsomuch. Between the trust recession, too many marketers offering the same thing in the same f’ing AI-slop-y language (🤮), and soaring prices on gas and sirloin tips, those fists are tight. Instead of big saucer eyes,...

stand close together outdoors, smiling with their arms around each other. The man wears a tan jacket and the woman a dark blue sweater, with hazy mountains and water in the background.

Yo - I’m off to Greece today. 9 nights in Crete, with 2 on each side in Athens. Can’t wait to be in the water. Also, eating Greek salad and taramasalata. Can’t get enough of that stuff. My mom is very supportive when Steven and I travel. At 89, she still goes on trips, but is probably done with any places like Greece, with all its cobblestones and hills. She uses a walker now. If you have any kind of mobility issues or are ever out and about with someone who does, you know: most of the world...

Reader — God, I hate speaking. That’s what I think when I’m packing for an event where I’m going to be on stage. In that moment, I wonder why I do this to myself and why I don’t say no and what would it take to get the whole shebang canceled so I get out of it without the shame of pulling out. (Something I’d never actually do.) And then, when I’m up there, the audience laughing, nodding, and taking notes, I’m like, ā€œI WANNA LIVE ONSTAGE! LET’S DO IT AGAIN!ā€ …Even more so when it’s over and...

A few months ago, Shrimp Club alum Sarah Aviram did something most people wouldn't be caught dead doing. Her new book was coming out, and she posted that it had a chance of hitting the USA Today bestseller list — if enough people helped by buying and spreading the word. Why wouldn’t most of us do the same? Because we don’t want to be seen trying. It’s embarrassing. Thirsty. Vulnerable. What if I’m public about a big goal and then I don’t make it and the world sees me simultaneously fall on my...

Hey! If you know me and/or what day and month it is, you prob did a double take at the subject line. March? Is Kit glitching on Laura and sending out old emails? Or future emails? And doesn’t Laura loathe emails that start with ā€œCan you believe it’s already ____?ā€ No, Kit (my email service provider, where I build and communicate with my subscriber list) is behaving perfectly. I also don’t have any emails written that far ahead, or even a week out. I wish. And yes, I’ve begged everyone who...

Yesterday morning, I saw the former president of the network where I used to write promos. Great guy. Used to be my boss’s boss. He didn’t notice me. I almost said hi but it was pre-coffee, and I see him often in that exact spot, outside of Jack’s Coffee. I felt too boring and uncaffeinated today to stop and chat. We’d just recently gone through all the ā€œHow’s your summer goingā€ and ā€œWho’ve you seen or talked to latelyā€ and ā€œI can’t wait for all these summer douchebags to leave Sag Harborā€...

There’s a bro-y saying I’ve always hated, especially with respect to entrepreneurship and income: ā€œYou’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.ā€ So — what — are you supposed to cut people out of your life who don’t have a proper webinar funnel set up? šŸ‘‹ Bye! Can’t hang witchu anymore — your lack of steady, passive income is bringing down my average! Or can you keep that friend who doesn’t have a business, one who’s happy as a stay-at-home mom or in their dependable, unsexy...

Hey! Got book + TV recos for you. But first — I know I’ve told you about last year’s July experiment, which this year became a tradition (and pretty much seeped into August): While I didn’t take the month-and-change off work, I took it off the clock. No appointments, no Zooms, no podcast interviews, no 1:1s for Shrimp Club, nothing scheduled. You might be saying, ā€œUm, I think that’s called ā€˜vacation.ā€™ā€ No. Remember, I was still working. Still writing you these emails. Also, posting on social,...

Hey! This woman I know got fired from her job, and it couldn’t happen to a better person. No, this isn’t schadenfreude, I’m not celebrating someone’s downfall. (Though I’m not above it — love me some petty!) I’m happy because the person who got sacked, Heather Campbell, is a 2-round Shrimp Club member who just posted a video about it on IG and LinkedIn, and check out the results: YES! YES, HEATHER! This is what I mean when I say tell your story. Telling your story, with your details, your...