finding my way back to prosperum
I’m sitting here, ten days into the New Year, trying to figure out where to begin and what to say. What I do know is that I want to lead with honesty. I want to write from a place in my heart that reflects where my mind has been for the past year.
2025 started off strong. In January, we released our first cookbook and it was incredible. The feedback was motivating, and we were riding this wave of support and genuine passion for nutrient synergy and food. Fueled by that momentum, we kept pushing: pitching investors, hopping on weekly tech calls, and working to build a product that truly lit us up.
But as time moved on, the excitement of the cookbook release drifted further away, and progress slowed under the weight of limited funding. I started to feel discouraged. Pitching to investors and hearing “no” over and over again is one of the biggest reasons so many startups don’t make it. You always hear, “Just keep pushing. Get over the hump. Persevere.” And you do. You keep putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, telling yourself, “This will be the one. This will be our first investor.”
We applied for grants, pitched where we could, and even went door to door handing out flyers. But at some point, you can’t ignore the truth: building a business plan that depends on the success of a mobile app isn’t a reliable investment. And no matter who we pitched to, anyone with business experience could see that. The answer was always the same: we can’t invest in a company whose foundation rests on an app.
You might read this and think I’m making excuses, that if I really wanted to, I could keep pitching until I found an angel investor. But what I realized through all the rejection was that I had lost my passion. I lost my drive. I started to resent the plan altogether. I stopped talking about Prosperum, and eventually, I went back to my corporate job full-time.
I reached a really low point in my relationship with Prosperum. But even then, I couldn’t walk away. I couldn’t shut down the website or dissolve the LLC. I wanted to keep it alive because, no matter how heavy things felt, my passion never left, and I’ve always been proud of what we built.
Stepping back ultimately gave me my most valuable tool: space. Space to breathe, to reflect, and to finally be honest with myself about what I wanted Prosperum to be. Without the constant pressure to pitch or prove anything, I started to reconnect with the parts of this work that originally lit me up. Slowly, the frustration softened, and what came forward instead was clarity, a sense of balance, inspiration, and release that I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I’m letting go of the pressure to build a billion‑dollar app. Instead, I’ve found joy in learning about nutrition and sharing what I discover. I feel energized by the idea of writing strong, grounded, unbiased pieces about nutrition, mental health, and lifestyle. I want to put out content that reflects my curiosity.
So today, I am committing to share what I learn, to pass along the knowledge that fuels me, and to run this site with no motive other than writing about what I love. This doesn’t mean we’ll never release another cookbook or grow Prosperum in new ways. It simply means that when we do, it will be done with intention, rooted in passion, education, and balance.
If you’ve been here since the early days, thank you for walking through all of this with us. And if you’re new here, welcome to a culture built on balance. I’m excited for what comes next.
With love and gratitude,
Hannah <3
