➕ Follow along while I build my second startup Doozi publicly... The next Tiktok for travel.

I’m Erica — a creator, entrepreneur, and storyteller helping people break the rules they were taught to follow… and build lives that actually feel like theirs.

Over the past 4 years, I’ve created raw, real, and radically honest content that’s generated nearly 1 billion impressions, built a community of over 300,000, and sparked conversations around self-worth, shame, failure, and freedom.

In 2020, I met my now co-founder Gillian on Bumble BFF (true story). 

Our friendship & love for travel took us all over the world.

We both lost our businesses last year, and this brought us closer. We bonded over loss, reinvention, and the fire to build something better. 

Now we’re building doozi — the next big social media app for travellers and creators. 👀

We’re building in public. Sharing the messy middle. And showing up every day to create something that gives people — especially creators — the power, opportunity, and visibility they’ve earned.

This isn’t just a business. It’s a movement.

If you’ve ever felt like you needed permission to post, speak up, or live your life differently, I’m here to say: you don’t.

💌 My content is about starting before you’re ready, rewriting your story, and overcoming adversity.

Entrepreneurship is a ✨doozi✨

With love,
Erica

📬 Sponsorships + collabs: hello@ericarankin.com
➕ Follow me everywhere @acceptingerica

Erica Rankin

I started my first business in 2019 with zero business experience.

No background. 
No roadmap. 
Just a lot of belief and a lot of fear.

Back then, I hated being seen.
If someone pulled out a camera, I’d shrink.

I thought it was better to be seen as capable but never actually heard.

I had no idea that building a business would completely change who I am as a person.

Entrepreneurship gave me a voice.
It forced me to speak up.
To make decisions.
To be visible- even when it was uncomfortable.

It built my self-confidence in ways nothing else ever has.

But the biggest thing it taught me?

That every single one of us matters.

You don’t need a massive audience or a huge exit to make an impact.

You can change lives through conversations, vulnerability, leadership, and simply showing up as yourself.

Yes, I respect the wins.

But what I respect even more is the inner work it takes to get there.

The resilience.
The self-awareness.
The growth required when things don’t go as planned.

Entrepreneurship isn’t just about paving your own way.

It’s about becoming someone who can walk that path.

And that version of you?
That’s the real reward.

- a girl who doesn’t hate being seen anymore

🫶

Disrupting the creator economy. | Content Creator | Co-Founder of Doozi & Doozi Marketing ✈️📱

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I don’t brag often on here but I wanna brag for a second ;)

We have over 1300 users and our app isn’t even launched.

And over 5000 people on our email list who want to be creators.

We have worked really hard these past few months to onboard travel creators, and I just want to slow down and acknowledge these numbers.

We had the idea of doozi exactly a year ago.

Now we have a full-time tech team, an investor, and community of creators & users who are helping us build from the ground up.

And the app is launching THIS MONTH.

I think my favourite part of entrepreneurship is seeing the evolution of an idea, into an actual product.

Let this be a brag post, drop something in comments you’re proud of!!!! 

🫶🫶🥳🥳

I love Canada BUT I CAN’T STAND WINTER! 🥶

I must escape!!!!

First flight of 2026 (of many). ✈️

Headed to Mexico for the next month to continue building doozi with my co-founder Gillian.

We’ve been working remotely over the holidays but it’s so much better to be in person building.

We’re testing our app internally right now and it’ll be pushed publicly THIS MONTH!!!!

We also invited one of our creators to spend a week with us which is going to be so fun - she’s been like a friend to us as we’ve been building.

It’s early AF but I am soooooo stoked for this year, it feels like last year was the warm up.

This year is go time.

Happy weekend!!!!!!! ❤️

(And yes, I’m rocking a full hot pink doozi sweatsuit, LMK if you want one maybe we’ll drop some 😉)

I made a big mistake when I was building my first business:

Prioritizing the business.

…and nothing else.

Skipped meals.
Minimal movement (besides 10 hour kitchen days).
Ate poorly.
No morning routine.
No night time routine.
Abusing caffeine pills.
Neglecting relationships.

All of this did eventually lead to me hitting a wall.

I don’t regret it; because it’s the only way I could learn that it wasn’t sustainable.

Building my second startup, I now:

Get in movement everyday.
Eat mostly whole foods (but still get in a sweet treat every now and then). 
Don’t skip meals.
Don’t abuse caffeine (although, I do have more on some days than others).
Take time to myself each morning & before bed.
Make time for the people in my life.

You don’t have to sacrifice your health to be successful.

Some seasons are going to be busier than others - no doubt.

But you can’t take care of business if you aren’t maintaining the engine that runs it (aka YOU).

We’re trying to get rejected 1000 times this year.

While building our startup, doozi.

Why?

Because rejection means you’re trying. 

And the higher that number is, the more likely you are to reach your goals. 

We called 6 different people asking to go on their yachts for free (to make videos). 

5 of them said no… and one actually got angry 😅

But the sixth one was a maybe.

That maybe led us to a yacht.

… we also got to drive a rolls Royce by having the ~audacity~ to ask.

All I want to do is inspire others to go after their dreams no matter how ‘crazy’ they may be.

We had investors belittle us and tell us what we’re doing is impossible.

But we’re going to show them how wrong they are.

 Right, Gillian Gallant?

“You’re not crazy, you’re just first” - Jamie Kern Lima 🫶

I’m gonna ruffle some feathers with this post…

We could have made a 100,000 dollar mistake last year.

(Well not actually because we didn’t have 100k LOL)

An agency was quoting us over 100k to develop the most BASIC version of our app doozi. 

If you’re a startup, spending this much money on your MVP is duuuumb.

Frankly, I don’t think agencies should even be creating MVPs.

I think so many founders (not just in tech, but many industries) waste so much money trying to perfect their first product. 

Truth is, you’re going to pivot so many times and your MVP will evolve as you obtain product market fit.

Be scrappy and get that first product out into the market.

Hear back from customers/users and make sure you are NAILING what it is they want/need.

Once it’s solid, then you can reinvest.

Just my 2c.

What do you think?? 

(And yes that’s real money I’m holding definitely not fake money with emojis lol) 😎

Apple rejected us.

… and it delayed our entire launch.

It wasn’t the WORST thing but it was definitely frustrating (especially around the holidays lol).

What was supposed to take a few days took over a month.

We're been pretty quiet on social media.

We didn't want to be promoting an app that wasn’t available, or spend all our time in marketing instead of the tech/app itself.

It's been a grind building our first tech company doozi BUT after six months of putting our heads down, it's almost here. 

Gillian and I cannot wait to unveil doozi to the world in the coming weeks. 😱🫣

Let’s dooz this. ✌🏼

As a digital nomad, I’d rather spend time on a beach than fighting with a wonky platform.
 
Wix just dropped Wix Harmony, their new website builder that combines AI and manual editing all in one place.

It builds an ENTIRE WEBSITE with just one prompt - business functionality, infrastructure, security and all.

Then you can take over and customize as much as you want, with additional help from AI when you need it.

If you want to see for yourself, you can try it here: wix.com/harmony 

#WixPartner

Entrepreneur & Small Business Consultant | Revenue Optimization | Data Storyteller | Ex-Enterprise | A Dad On a Mission | Founder of PurposeBeyondBusiness

Business is a game to be won. 

Just like in any sport you would keep stats on performance, I help keep stats on operations KPIs. 

As a Consultant, I help businesses find KPIs that are aligned with their goals.
I help them clarify the goals so they know WHY they do what they do. 
Then I create a scorecard that measures if the team is winning or not. 

I like focusing on employees, products, customers, processes, and systems to improve profitability of any operation. 

I like helping employees do their tasks better so that leads to happier customers.

Happy customers become returning customers and potentially raving fans.

Creating a happy customers is my ultimate professional goal as a Consultant and a business owner.

Also, I love talking to new people and helping them if I can. 

I take customer service to another level. 

A level I call Customer Excellency. 

→ Why Business Consulting? 

I grew up watching my father deal with customers all day long. He owned a gas station. He didn't just have customers; he had raving fans. 

He loved to talk with his customers. It showed how much he cared. 
 
"Customers are free to spend their money anywhere," he'd say. You must build relationships with your customers and get to know them better. 
 
That's when my passion for entrepreneurship was born. 

Now I help businesses service their customers better by enabling their employees to do their job better and smarter.

I impact companies to grow their bottom line by working with their people and optimizing processes and systems.

I've helped companies such as Loblaw Companies Limited, adidas, Reebok, Bell, and Staples, and more.

Need a Fractional COO? Let's talk!

Sanjay Padhiar

I used to weigh 300 pounds.

"You need to fix your relationship with food.” Someone once told me.

It was kinda true. I had a love-hate relationship with food.

Today, I love food, and the only thing I hate about it is the junk/crap that gets passed off as food. 

Turns out, I didn’t need to fix my relationship with food though. Food was just an outlet.

I needed to fix the relationship with myself, and that’s what I did.

I have this need to help others who are struggling with the same issues.
I tried businesses that help people lose weight.
Coaching and apparel. Never worked. 

The only business that I succeeded in was business consulting.
Then I decided to focus only on better-for-you food companies.

I figured, if we can have better food products in grocery stores, we’ll have better options to choose from. But it’s an uphill battle that’s tougher than nails. And yet there are brands out there doing it.
Not only doing it, but doing it well.

I’ve had the privilege of working with a few of them and helping them.
I did notice one big problem though...

They all need help, but they’re limited on resources, which makes it very difficult to scale.

The thing they lack is people and capital. I can only show them the way to increase profitability & revenue; I can’t make resources appear magically, yet.

Even though it’s hard, I’m still committed to helping good-for-you brands win. Because the 300-pound version of me wished there were healthier options that tasted just as good growing up.

To all you entrepreneurs who are making amazing and better-for-us products, please keep going. The world needs it. 

Just remember this. It gets harder before it gets easier.
It’s not the strongest or the ones with the most money that survive.
It’s the ones who adapt and use their creativity to build a brand that eventually thrive.

I’ve got a confession to make LinkedIn. 

I’m addicted. 

Here’s my Dealer. His name is Minh and he won’t tell me his real age but I think he’s probably mid/early 80s. 

As you might have guessed, he’s my Book Dealer. 

I’m hooked. 
I love to read. 

He’s got a flea market booth filled with books and I visit him quite frequently. He moves great for an 80 year old. He definitely climbs a ladder better than I can 😂.  

I started buying books off him a few years ago and since then I think I’ve read over 20 books. 

While my friends are talking about big screen tv’s, I’m here flaunting my 300+ book collection (jk). 

There’s no top 5 lessons in this post. 
But I will leave you with Minh’s advice on living a healthy and a long life:

(This is word for word)

1.  Don’t smoke cigarettes 🚫 🚬
2. Don’t eat French fries. 🚫🍟 

What I think he meant by French’s fries was don’t eat fried food. I could be wrong. I am not sure but I cut down my French fry intake by 83%. 

I steal family’s fries. 

I’m not sure how this post became about stealing fries, but atleast I got you to read it. 

Thank you for reading. 

Have a great week! 

PS. What book here do you want to read the most?

Everything I needed to learn about customer service,
I learnt from my dad.


He ran a gas station for 17 years.
I watched him interact with customers and employees all the time. 

I basically grew up at the gas station.

I don’t think enough people realize this, but your employees are the ones who interact most with customers. So I observed them as well.

There were times when the employee didn’t treat customers as my dad expected, with honesty, integrity, and care.

One time, an employee who had been working there for about a year stole money from a customer.
I was there.

A customer dropped a 10/20 dollar bill on the ground, and instead of picking it up and handing it to the customer, the employee stepped on it to cover it up so he could take it. I can’t remember how my dad found out, but he was gone the next day.

He knew every regular customer by name, and he made a point of using it.
My dad never read books about this stuff.
He just knew how to treat people.

He was engaging and knew how to connect with people on a personal level.
So yeah, everything I learnt about customer service, I learnt from him.

Wanna hit your 2026 goals?

Try these 4 things:

1. Do an after-action report every quarter/major project:
   a) What did we intend to accomplish (our goal)?
   b) Was the goal clearly defined & understood?
   c) What did we do to execute?
   d) What were the results?
   e) What will we do next time for a better outcome, or how do we build on our    success?

2. Clearly define OKRs tied to your goals.
OKRs are Objectives, Key Results (measured by KPIs)
   For example. My objective is to get 10 clients by April 31st, by doing 50 outreaches a day, 1 podcast appearance a week, 3 events a month, etc. (key results/KPIs)

3. Review your Forecast, Targets, and Budgets with leadership.
Most small businesses don’t have their targets and goals written down. Once you’ve done this through forecasting and reporting, have your leadership team take on accountability for their KPIs.

4. Setup Review Meetings for the rest of the year
Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly reviews are a must, and preparation for each meeting is required. Have a data set to review and, hopefully, some insights already gathered, so your teams are ready to discuss and act. Document takeaways and assign accountability during the meeting to specific teams/individuals.

Whether you miss your targets or not, these are good practices to help you stay aligned w/ your team and keep moving forward towards your goals! 

What's something you would add to help you achieve your 2026 goals?

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The Battle

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