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LinkedIn, Instagram, AI, algorithms, content chaos… 2025 was a lot.
If you’ve felt whiplash trying to market your firm this year, you’re not alone.
In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on what 2025 really looked like for me as a marketer, mom, empty nester, and business owner living in Spain plus how I’m shifting into 2026 with more flow and less forcing.
In this episode, I chat about:
✨ Why my word of the year was “reset” (and how that actually played out)
✨ The messy middle of empty nesting, business pivots, and solitude
✨ Stepping away from the agency model and back into solopreneur life
✨ Why social feels noisy, numbing, and weird and what’s actually going on
✨ Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, Facebook: where I’m showing up in 2026 (and why)
✨ My new word for 2026, “flow,” and what it means for your marketing
If you’ve been wondering how to show up next year without burning out, this one’s for you.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancamarissasmith/
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If I’m being really honest, 2025 stretched me in ways I didn’t expect. It was one of those years that felt heavy and beautiful at the same time. The kind of year where you grow because you have to… not because you scheduled it in your planner.
My word for the year was reset, and I had no idea how accurate that word would become. I didn’t just reset small things, I reset almost everything. My routines. My expectations. My energy. My boundaries. My business model. Parts of my identity I didn’t even realize needed a reset.
Maybe you had your own version of that this year too.
Where Reset Actually Showed Up
When I chose “reset,” I thought it might look like a gentle refresh. A soft pivot. A light reorganizing of my systems.
Nope.
It was big, uncomfortable, and honest.
I found myself resetting things I had been clinging to for years: patterns, habits, and even offers that once felt exciting but no longer matched who I was or the season I’m in. There were days I felt motivated and grounded, and other days I felt like I was undoing everything just to rebuild it again.
And honestly? That rebuilding wasn’t always pretty.
But it was necessary.
Empty Nesting and the Quiet Moments That Said Too Much
On the personal side, 2025 came with a new chapter: empty nesting. And wow… it’s complicated.
There were moments I missed my kids so deeply. Then there were evenings where it was just me and my husband in this slow, peaceful rhythm.
And then came the solitude.
Hours of it.
Solitude that sometimes felt like freedom and sometimes felt like a mirror I didn’t ask for. This quiet gives you space to reflect on everything: your choices, your business, your work, your identity, your patterns. Some days it grounded me. Some days it felt like too much.
But it cracked me open in ways I didn’t know I needed.
The Business Reset: Letting Go of the Agency Model
Business-wise, 2025 was… strange.
Marketing as an industry was shifting, client behavior was shifting, AI was blowing up, and honestly? It felt like the ground was moving underneath us all year long.
I made the decision to step away from the agency model and return to being a solopreneur because the market and customer demand has shifted. I was being pulled away from the work I actually love. Running a team is amazing in some ways, but it also removes you from the day-to-day creativity and the hands-on strategy that lights you up.
This reset was about coming home to myself.
Coming back to intimacy with my work.
Coming back to real client connection.
Coming back to why I started my business in the first place.
And I won’t lie, there were days I wondered if I even wanted to continue the business at all. Not out of burnout, but out of reflection. Out of realizing how much the industry was changing.
But my clients? They’re the reason I stayed the course. They’re aligned, grounded, respectful, and genuinely wonderful humans. They make the work meaningful.
That mattered more than anything.
AI, Social Media, and the Honestly Weird Year of Marketing
This year, marketing felt like walking through a house where the furniture kept moving.
AI exploded (and I love it), but people also began using it like it was their therapist, strategist, financial planner and life coach all in one. That’s where things got weird. AI is a tool, an incredibly helpful one, but it’s still a tool.
At the same time, social media shifted from social to interest-driven. You don’t see who you follow, you see what the platform thinks you want.
It made everything feel noisy and unpredictable.
Instagram? Views up. Engagement down. DMs quiet. People watching but not connecting.
Threads? Fun, chaotic, and overwhelming depending on the hour.
Facebook? I stepped away almost completely. I even deleted years of posts because I wanted a clean slate.
LinkedIn? Shockingly refreshing, It’s the one space that still feels grounded and aligned, and it’s where I’ll continue showing up most in 2026.
The reality is: Marketing changed in 2025. But I did too.
Life in Spain and the Weight of Global Shifts
Living abroad adds its own layer of complexity to life and business. Spain is beautiful, grounding, slow in the best ways… but the world itself feels heavy. Culture, politics, global shifts; they all shape how we show up.
And with both my kids in college, family milestones happening all at once, and our decision to stay in Spain for at least two more years, 2026 already feels like a year of transition.
Just a quieter, more intentional transition.
Why My Word for 2026 Is “Flow”
Reset carried me through 2025.
Flow is going to carry me through 2026.
Growing up on the Jersey Shore taught me something important: you don’t fight a rip current. You move with it. You stay calm. You let it carry you just enough so you can find your way back to safety.
Marketing and life feel exactly like that right now.
I don’t want to fight the algorithm.
I don’t want to force platforms that don’t fit.
I don’t want to push myself into a season that isn’t mine.
Instead, I want to move with what’s meant for me.
To show up where it feels aligned.
To let things unfold without gripping so tightly.
And that’s what flow is.
Not passive. Not checked out.
Just aligned. Just intentional.
Just peaceful.
Moving Into 2026 With a Softer Approach
As we step into a new year, I’m letting myself rewrite the rules. My business gets to evolve with me. My content gets to shift. My presence online gets to change as I do.
I’m choosing:
- Easier rhythms
- Softer seasons
- More aligned platforms
- More honest conversations
And less forcing. Less pushing. Less “keeping up.”
2025 was the reset. 2026 is the flow.
And if you’re craving something similar… permission granted.
Want Support as You Enter Your Own “Flow” Year?
If you’re stepping into a new season and want support with your marketing, something simple, sustainable, and true to who you are, I’d love to help.
👉 Book a free call: https://beesimplified.com
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