100: A Bittersweet Goodbye (for now)

Hello and welcome to Crystal Uncorked. This is episode 100. And this episode is bittersweet because I have a big update for you. And we’re just going to dive right in. 

Are you ready to open up and talk about all things business? I’m Crystal Vilkaitis, a curious entrepreneur who loves talking about business, especially over a glass of wine. I started Crystal Uncorked to share open and honest conversations about my journey and talk to other entrepreneurs about their experiences.

We pull back the curtain and talk about the highs and the lows. Wine isn’t required, but is recommended. This is Crystal Uncorked.

Happy New Year! Depending on when you’re listening to this. I’m filming this at the very beginning of the year. It is 2024 and I’m very excited for what the year has in store.

Okay, let’s get right to it. I’ve got a big update. I have been going through a lot of back and forth and reflection and brainstorming and journaling and just so much has come up around this show. And as you know, I love doing the show. I started it in March of 2021. This is our 100th episode. And I had, we had a lot of different ideas for the 100th episode.

I thought for sure I was going to be drinking Austin Hope wine, because that’s what I had on episode number one. And I just remember starting the podcast, like it was yesterday. I was so excited. It was like, I was finally doing it. I had been wanting to do it for years and we did it. And then people gave me feedback and they loved it and they were tuning in and it was just so fun.

And then it got challenging and I took a couple of breaks and of course, I moved to cross country. So that’s when I had one of those breaks and I have been through all that reflection and journaling and just thinking about the past few years and thinking about where are we going with this show and what are we doing?

And I’ve had a lot of people ask me that what does success look like for CU and what is the purpose? And, you know, it always started as a passion project of me just wanting to do this. And I honestly feel like it was a stepping stone to help me launch rooted in retail. My other show that launched last year, that’s just really taking off.

And after just going through everything, I really got clear that it is time to conclude the show and that might mean pausing. I might be back or I might not. This is one of the great things about podcasting is you can start and stop whenever you want. It’s not recommended. You really should just be consistent.

If you’re trying to grow your brand and your listeners, I’ve heard from so many podcasters that it took them a solid three to four years to really see growth in their show. And, you know, What, maybe six, seven months ago, I did an episode committing that I was going to do this all the way. I think I said to my 40th birthday, which is June, 2025.

And I had a really hard time coming to this conclusion because I really felt like I was letting my listeners down because I made that promise and I was letting myself down by not keeping my commitment. And in a way there’s a part of me that kind of feels like a failure by stopping the show.

But That is what it is. The reason there’s a lot of reasons why I’m doing that, but I’m having a, it’s a, it’s challenging to have two podcasts and run a business and speak. And I’ve been on the road a lot more and I plan on being on the road a lot more and to create the level of content and where I really see this show, like what I would really like it to be.

I need to give it more time and, you know, I always say done is better than perfect. So that’s what I’ve been doing is just hitting record and just being unscripted, being uncorked and sharing behind the scenes of mostly my life. But there’s just. So much going on and I just don’t, I don’t feel as inspired as I was.

And you know, it does, it feels more heavy than fun. And I’ve always said like the show is this is to be fun is to be this creative outlet and a way to just connect in a different way. And when it doesn’t feel like that, then something’s got to change. And I’m grateful because. Rooted in retail is doing so well.

And I have so many ideas over there and I’ve got a team to support me. And it’s just been a whole different experience that I’m really loving. And so I want to take this effort that I have for CU and put it into Rooted as well as my business and speaking. And I’m getting married this year. 2024 is going to be a really busy, amazing year.

And I had to get really honest. With my time and with myself, and I really believe that we as entrepreneurs can have millions of ideas, so many ideas, and there are so many opportunities. I feel like there have never been more opportunities because of AI, because of technology things I’ve talked about on this show.

And so it can feel really overwhelming, but just because there’s so many ideas are so many opportunities. So many opportunities doesn’t mean that we say yes to everything because we know that if we say yes to everything we’re spread too thin, right? Like we have to, it means that we’re saying no to something else when we do say yes to something.

And so I had to say yes to something and I had to say no to something. And the no that I decided to pick here was CU. I do love this show and again, it might be back and I might just. Just record a random monthly audio version, no video, but just an audio. I don’t know, but at this point I do know I’m going to get really focused over on Rooted and my year, my word of the year that I said in the last episode Is leverage. And as I really think about leveraging my time and my commitments and the foundation that we built at Crystal Media you know, there’s such a bigger opportunity to leverage over there. That’s more flow. It’s already existing. And this show is going to take a lot more effort to really build, to really get it to the place that I would love to see it to get to.

So there is this part of me that’s been avoiding filming this because like I said, I feel kind of like a failure. It feels kind of sad. I hated telling my team because they’ve helped me with ideas. But it is what it is, I guess we just can’t chase every single thing we have to listen to that internal voice that’s telling us what we should do, like where we’re being pulled. And that’s where mine is at now, which means concluding the show. And again, maybe it’s a pause. We’ll see. But I just want to thank you so much. If you’re listening to this right now, if you’ve listened to any episodes, thank you for being here.

As you know, it really means the world to me and let’s connect on Instagram because that is where I’m most frequently posting. And I even have a thought of maybe turning what I would have done as an episode into just a live on Instagram or a story or a reel on Instagram. So still having some of this content, but making it a lot easier to get it done over there.

So it’s just my first and last name on Instagram, Crystal Vilkaitis. I hope to connect with you there. Thank you so much. I’m wishing you a very amazing 2024. And I hope to see you on Instagram and thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Bye. Cheers. Bye.