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Mo Faul’s Soul Code Ends With Something Some Personal Development Books Skip: A Concrete Direction Built From Who You Actually Are

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

By: Samantha Borcy

Most personal development books end with inspiration. A summary of the key ideas, a call to action, an encouragement to go live your best life. Mo Faul’s Soul Code: Your Hidden Power to Create the Life You Want ends with something more specific and more demanding than inspiration. It ends with a Soul Mission Statement, and the entire five-milestone process that precedes it is designed to make sure that statement comes from somewhere real.

That specificity is the thing that distinguishes Soul Code from most books in its category. Inspiration is not hard to generate. The feeling of possibility that comes from reading a compelling self-help book is real, and it is also reliably temporary. What Mo is building toward is something that doesn’t depend on the feeling to sustain it.

Where the Statement Comes From

A Soul Mission Statement is not an affirmation. It is not a vision board caption or a mantra or a statement of what you want your life to look like. It is, in Mo’s framework, the distillation of who you actually are, your soul values, your natural gifts, your life purpose, and your emotional truth, translated into a direction you can actually walk in every day.

That sounds straightforward until you realize that most people have never seriously investigated any of those four things. Soul values are different from the values you were told to have. Natural gifts are different from the skills you developed because someone needed them. Life purpose is different from the job description you grew into. And emotional truth is different from the story you have been telling yourself about your own history.

The five milestones of the Soul Code Method are designed to excavate each of those things honestly, which is why the book includes practices like the Soul Truth Letter and nervous system regulation rather than simply asking readers to write down their values and calling it done. Real self-knowledge requires more than an afternoon of journaling. It requires the kind of honest inquiry that this book is built to support.

Why Embodiment Is the Missing Piece

Mo’s insistence on embodiment as essential to the process, rather than optional or supplementary, is one of the most important distinctions between Soul Code and the approach most personal development content takes. The thinking mind is very good at generating insight. It is not very good at producing change that lasts, because the patterns that keep people stuck are not located in the thinking mind.

They are located in the body, in the nervous system, in the emotional residue of experiences that may have happened decades ago but that are still shaping responses in the present moment. You cannot think your way out of a pattern that lives in the body. You have to work with the body directly, and the book includes practices specifically designed to do that.

What Lasting Change Actually Requires

Mo has been coaching executives and leaders long enough to have a precise understanding of what it takes for change to stick rather than fade. The answer she keeps arriving at is alignment, not between a person’s goals and their habits, but between a person’s actions and their actual self. When those two things are misaligned, effort feels like effort, and the results it produces don’t satisfy even when they arrive. When they are aligned, the same level of effort feels like expression rather than strain.

The Soul Mission Statement at the end of the book is the marker of that alignment. It is what a person can return to when the inspiration fades and the old patterns start pulling again. It is the answer to the question of who you actually are underneath everything that experience has layered on top. And it is, in Mo’s view, the one thing that most people spend their entire lives circling without ever quite landing on.

Soul Code is the most direct path she has found to getting there.

Mo Faul is a former healthcare CEO and COO who has coached more than 2,200 professional women over 12 years.

If you’re ready to stop circling your own potential and start living from it, Soul Code by Mo Faul is available now on Amazon.

Looking Back on 21 Days of Prayer: What Churches Learned From Showing Up Early

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

Key Points

  • 21 Days of Prayer gives churches an opportunity to build a consistent rhythm of prayer while bringing people together around a shared commitment.
  • While the initiative is commonly held in January, an August session can provide a valuable mid-year reset as churches prepare for the months ahead.
  • The experience reinforces a principle that Pastor Dino Rizzo has emphasized through Servolution: meaningful community impact can grow from small commitments repeated consistently.

Twenty-one days sounds manageable until the alarm goes off early the next morning.

That is part of what makes 21 Days of Prayer meaningful. For three weeks, people make a simple commitment to show up, pray, and do it again the next day. The individual action may be small, but maintaining it day after day creates a rhythm that can extend well beyond the 21 days themselves.

Many churches participate in 21 Days of Prayer in January, when a new year naturally encourages people to set goals and establish new routines. The August initiative offered something different. It created an opportunity to pause midway through the year, reconnect, and refocus before heading into the final months of 2026.

That idea also reflects a principle Dino Rizzo has emphasized through Servolution for years: consistent acts of service, prayer, and connection can help strengthen a community over time.

The Commitment Was the Point

Showing up every day for three weeks requires commitment.

There will inevitably be mornings when getting up early feels harder than it did on day one. That is where consistency starts to matter. The value of a daily practice comes from continuing to participate even after the initial enthusiasm has worn off.

This principle extends beyond prayer. Dino Rizzo’s work through Servolution has long encouraged churches to make serving and connecting with their communities part of their regular rhythm. A single event can bring people together for a day, but consistent participation gives those relationships room to develop.

Twenty-one days provides enough time for people to experience what that consistency can look like in practice.

Why a Mid-Year Reset Matters

January comes with built-in momentum. A new calendar year makes it natural to think about fresh starts, new goals, and new commitments.

By August, much of that energy has faded. Schedules are full, routines are established, and the intentions people began the year with may no longer receive the same attention.

That makes a mid-year reset valuable in its own way.

The August 21 Days of Prayer gave participants a reason to stop and reassess where they were heading. There was no need to wait for another January to reconnect with a practice that mattered to them.

For churches, that can also be useful as they enter a busy final stretch of the year. Taking time to reconnect through prayer can help establish a shared sense of purpose before moving into the next season of ministry and outreach.

Carrying the Rhythm Forward

The 21 days may have ended, but the routine does not have to end with them.

Churches can carry elements of the experience forward in ways that work for their congregations. That could mean setting aside a regular prayer day, creating a weekly check-in, encouraging small groups to pray together, or connecting prayer with upcoming outreach initiatives.

The goal does not have to be recreating the full 21-day schedule throughout the year. What matters is finding practical ways to maintain the consistency that the initiative helped establish.

The same principle applies to community outreach. Churches do not need a major event every week to stay connected with the people around them. Smaller acts carried out consistently can become part of the culture of a church.

Lessons for the Next Season of Outreach

One of the clearest lessons from 21 Days of Prayer is that participation does not have to be complicated to be meaningful.

A church does not need an elaborate program to create a shared rhythm. A defined period, a clear purpose, and a commitment to showing up can give people something tangible to participate in together.

That makes the model adaptable. Churches of different sizes can use the same principle for prayer, service projects, small groups, or other community initiatives throughout the year.

For Dino Rizzo and the Servolution movement, this emphasis on consistency has long been central to community outreach. Serving people becomes more sustainable when it develops into something a church practices as part of its regular life.

Twenty-one days provides a practical reminder of what that can look like: start with something manageable, keep showing up, and give the habit time to take root.

Key Takeaways

  • Consistency was one of the most important parts of the 21-day experience, with participants making the same commitment day after day.
  • A mid-year reset gives churches an opportunity to reconnect and refocus without waiting for the start of another calendar year.
  • The same approach can extend beyond prayer into outreach, small groups, and other practices that help churches stay connected with their communities.

About Dino Rizzo

Dino Rizzo is the founder of Servolution and an author and ministry leader known for encouraging churches to make serving others a consistent part of church life. His work focuses on practical ways churches and individuals can build stronger connections with the people and communities around them.

About Servolution

Servolution is a movement that encourages churches to build a culture of serving through practical, community-centered outreach. Through resources and partnerships, Servolution helps churches incorporate service into their regular ministry and find accessible ways to support the communities around them.

Working Capital for Seasonal Businesses: How to Fund the Slow Months

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

Every seasonal business knows the pattern. A landscaper is flat out from April to October and quiet through the winter. A beach town restaurant earns most of its year in twelve summer weeks. A retailer depends on the holiday rush. Revenue arrives in waves, but rent, payroll, insurance and loan payments arrive every month.

Working capital can bridge that gap, but only if it is structured around the seasons rather than against them. This article explains how seasonal businesses can plan their cash flow, which funding options fit an uneven year, and how to find qualified lenders and reputable brokers who understand seasonal revenue.

Why seasonality makes funding harder

Most funders underwrite on recent bank statements, usually the last three to six months. For a seasonal business, those months can tell very different stories depending on when you apply. Apply in August and your deposits look strong. Apply in February and the same business can look like it is struggling.

That timing affects everything: the amount you qualify for, the cost, and the size of the payment the funder expects you to carry. It also creates a trap. Owners often seek funding in the slow season, when they need it most and look weakest on paper, and end up accepting expensive terms with payments sized for revenue they will not see again for months.

Understanding this dynamic is the first step toward avoiding it.

Start with a twelve-month cash flow map

Before you approach any funder, build a simple month-by-month picture of your year. You do not need accounting software. A spreadsheet with three rows is enough:

  1. Expected deposits for each month, based on the last two or three years.
  2. Fixed costs that do not change with sales: rent, insurance, base payroll, equipment payments, software and existing debt.
  3. Variable costs that rise and fall with business: inventory, seasonal staff, fuel and materials.

Subtract costs from deposits for each month and you will see exactly where the gaps fall, how deep they are, and how long they last. That map tells you three things every funding decision depends on: how much you really need, when you need it, and when you can comfortably repay it.

Many owners discover that they need less than they feared, or that the gap is shorter than it felt. Others discover that they need funding earlier than planned, to buy inventory or hire staff before the busy season starts.

Funding options that fit an uneven year

Not every working capital product suits a seasonal business. The best fits share one feature: repayment that bends with revenue or that can be timed to the busy months.

Business lines of credit. A line of credit is often the best tool for seasonality. You draw only what you need during the slow months, repay when revenue returns, and pay interest only on the balance you use. Apply for a line during your strong season, when your statements look their best, so it is ready before you need it.

Revenue-based financing. Repayment is a fixed percentage of revenue rather than a fixed amount. Payments fall automatically when sales fall, which protects cash flow in the off-season. The trade-off is a higher total cost than a bank line.

Working capital advances with reconciliation. Many working capital advances are repaid by fixed daily or weekly debits, which can hurt in the slow months. Look for agreements with a clear reconciliation clause that lets you request lower payments when revenue drops, and ask how quickly the funder responds to those requests. Weekly payments are usually easier to manage than daily ones.

Equipment financing. If your seasonal need is equipment, such as a new mower fleet, a food truck or a snow plow, financing the asset directly usually costs less than using general working capital and spreads payments over the asset’s useful life.

Inventory financing. Retailers preparing for a holiday rush can sometimes borrow against the inventory itself, repaying as it sells.

SBA loans. For established seasonal businesses with good records, an SBA working capital loan offers the lowest cost and longest terms. It takes longer to arrange, so plan months ahead.

Build a reserve in the busy season

Funding is only one tool. The cheapest working capital a seasonal business will ever use is its own. Setting aside a fixed share of every busy-season deposit, even five or ten percent, builds a cushion that shrinks or eliminates the off-season gap. A reserve also strengthens your bank statements, because a healthy average daily balance is one of the things underwriters value most.

Timing your application

The single most useful tactic for seasonal businesses is to apply before you need the money. Funders see your strongest months, offer better terms, and you avoid making decisions under pressure. A line of credit opened in September costs nothing until you draw on it in January.

If you must apply in the slow season, give your broker or funder context. Provide statements from the same months in prior years so they can see the pattern, and a summary of your busy-season revenue. A reputable broker will present your file in a way that shows the full year, not just the quiet stretch.

Sizing payments around your seasons

Ask every funder for the payment amount and frequency in writing, then test it against your slowest month, not your average. A daily debit that is easy in July can drain the account in January. If the payment does not work in your weakest month, the deal does not work.

Ask specifically:

  • Can payments be weekly instead of daily?
  • How does the reconciliation process work, and what documents do I need?
  • Is there a discount for paying early once the busy season arrives?
  • Will the funder consider a structure with lower payments in the off-season?

A funder that answers these questions clearly is worth more than one offering a slightly lower rate with rigid daily debits.

Avoid the slow-season stacking trap

The most damaging pattern for seasonal businesses is stacking: taking a second or third advance in the off-season to cover the payments on the first. Each new position adds its own debit, and by the time the busy season returns, much of its revenue is already committed to repayment. Some businesses never catch up.

If you are already carrying an advance and the slow season is squeezing you, talk to your existing funder about reconciliation before adding another position. A reverse consolidation, which lowers your combined daily payment over a longer term, may also help, although it increases the total cost.

Finding funders who understand seasonal revenue

Some funders are comfortable with seasonal deposits. Others decline anything that dips. Sending your file to the wrong ones wastes time and adds credit inquiries.

MCA Directory helps brokers match businesses to funders whose published criteria fit, including minimum revenue, payment frequency, maximum term and industry. Its industry pages group funders that actively work with sectors like construction, farming, retail, restaurants and transport, many of which are seasonal by nature. Verified funders are hand-vetted and confirmed to be actively funding, and brokers review funders on underwriting honesty and merchant treatment, which matters when you need a funder that will actually honor a reconciliation request.

Before you commit to a broker, check their record. The FundedUSA Instagram page posts confirmations of businesses funded through reliable lenders and brokers, so you can look for funded businesses in your industry and see who is actually closing deals.

How funders and brokers join the platform

Funders that want brokers to find them can apply through the verified funder listing page, which sets out the listing criteria, placement options and the vetting behind the verified badge. Brokers can set up access through the broker marketplace, where CRMs, lead providers, legal services and other tools are organized by category.

Watch for off-season scams

Fraudsters know when seasonal businesses are most desperate. Unsolicited offers spike in the quiet months, often promising fast approval regardless of your statements. Remember one rule: no legitimate working capital provider requires you to send money before you have a signed agreement and the funds are in your account. A request for a deposit, insurance payment or release fee before funding is a scam.

MCA Directory publishes a clear guide to these warning signs and offers a private fraud reporting form. Reports go only to its team, are never forwarded to the company named, and help the industry spot schemes before they reach the next owner.

The bottom line

Seasonality is predictable, which means it can be planned for. Map your year, apply in your strong season, choose repayment that bends with revenue, size payments to your slowest month, and avoid stacking to cover a temporary dip. With the right structure and the right funding partner, the slow months become a manageable part of the business rather than a crisis.

Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Working capital costs, terms and eligibility vary by funder and by business. Review any agreement carefully and consult a qualified professional before signing.

Working Capital for Seasonal Businesses: How to Fund the Slow Months

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

Every seasonal business knows the pattern. A landscaper is flat out from April to October and quiet through the winter. A beach town restaurant earns most of its year in twelve summer weeks. A retailer depends on the holiday rush. Revenue arrives in waves, but rent, payroll, insurance and loan payments arrive every month.

Working capital can bridge that gap, but only if it is structured around the seasons rather than against them. This article explains how seasonal businesses can plan their cash flow, which funding options fit an uneven year, and how to find qualified lenders and reputable brokers who understand seasonal revenue.

Why seasonality makes funding harder

Most funders underwrite on recent bank statements, usually the last three to six months. For a seasonal business, those months can tell very different stories depending on when you apply. Apply in August and your deposits look strong. Apply in February and the same business can look like it is struggling.

That timing affects everything: the amount you qualify for, the cost, and the size of the payment the funder expects you to carry. It also creates a trap. Owners often seek funding in the slow season, when they need it most and look weakest on paper, and end up accepting expensive terms with payments sized for revenue they will not see again for months.

Understanding this dynamic is the first step toward avoiding it.

Start with a twelve-month cash flow map

Before you approach any funder, build a simple month-by-month picture of your year. You do not need accounting software. A spreadsheet with three rows is enough:

  1. Expected deposits for each month, based on the last two or three years.
  2. Fixed costs that do not change with sales: rent, insurance, base payroll, equipment payments, software and existing debt.
  3. Variable costs that rise and fall with business: inventory, seasonal staff, fuel and materials.

Subtract costs from deposits for each month and you will see exactly where the gaps fall, how deep they are, and how long they last. That map tells you three things every funding decision depends on: how much you really need, when you need it, and when you can comfortably repay it.

Many owners discover that they need less than they feared, or that the gap is shorter than it felt. Others discover that they need funding earlier than planned, to buy inventory or hire staff before the busy season starts.

Funding options that fit an uneven year

Not every working capital product suits a seasonal business. The best fits share one feature: repayment that bends with revenue or that can be timed to the busy months.

Business lines of credit. A line of credit is often the best tool for seasonality. You draw only what you need during the slow months, repay when revenue returns, and pay interest only on the balance you use. Apply for a line during your strong season, when your statements look their best, so it is ready before you need it.

Revenue-based financing. Repayment is a fixed percentage of revenue rather than a fixed amount. Payments fall automatically when sales fall, which protects cash flow in the off-season. The trade-off is a higher total cost than a bank line.

Working capital advances with reconciliation. Many working capital advances are repaid by fixed daily or weekly debits, which can hurt in the slow months. Look for agreements with a clear reconciliation clause that lets you request lower payments when revenue drops, and ask how quickly the funder responds to those requests. Weekly payments are usually easier to manage than daily ones.

Equipment financing. If your seasonal need is equipment, such as a new mower fleet, a food truck or a snow plow, financing the asset directly usually costs less than using general working capital and spreads payments over the asset’s useful life.

Inventory financing. Retailers preparing for a holiday rush can sometimes borrow against the inventory itself, repaying as it sells.

SBA loans. For established seasonal businesses with good records, an SBA working capital loan offers the lowest cost and longest terms. It takes longer to arrange, so plan months ahead.

Build a reserve in the busy season

Funding is only one tool. The cheapest working capital a seasonal business will ever use is its own. Setting aside a fixed share of every busy-season deposit, even five or ten percent, builds a cushion that shrinks or eliminates the off-season gap. A reserve also strengthens your bank statements, because a healthy average daily balance is one of the things underwriters value most.

Timing your application

The single most useful tactic for seasonal businesses is to apply before you need the money. Funders see your strongest months, offer better terms, and you avoid making decisions under pressure. A line of credit opened in September costs nothing until you draw on it in January.

If you must apply in the slow season, give your broker or funder context. Provide statements from the same months in prior years so they can see the pattern, and a summary of your busy-season revenue. A reputable broker will present your file in a way that shows the full year, not just the quiet stretch.

Sizing payments around your seasons

Ask every funder for the payment amount and frequency in writing, then test it against your slowest month, not your average. A daily debit that is easy in July can drain the account in January. If the payment does not work in your weakest month, the deal does not work.

Ask specifically:

  • Can payments be weekly instead of daily?
  • How does the reconciliation process work, and what documents do I need?
  • Is there a discount for paying early once the busy season arrives?
  • Will the funder consider a structure with lower payments in the off-season?

A funder that answers these questions clearly is worth more than one offering a slightly lower rate with rigid daily debits.

Avoid the slow-season stacking trap

The most damaging pattern for seasonal businesses is stacking: taking a second or third advance in the off-season to cover the payments on the first. Each new position adds its own debit, and by the time the busy season returns, much of its revenue is already committed to repayment. Some businesses never catch up.

If you are already carrying an advance and the slow season is squeezing you, talk to your existing funder about reconciliation before adding another position. A reverse consolidation, which lowers your combined daily payment over a longer term, may also help, although it increases the total cost.

Finding funders who understand seasonal revenue

Some funders are comfortable with seasonal deposits. Others decline anything that dips. Sending your file to the wrong ones wastes time and adds credit inquiries.

MCA Directory helps brokers match businesses to funders whose published criteria fit, including minimum revenue, payment frequency, maximum term and industry. Its industry pages group funders that actively work with sectors like construction, farming, retail, restaurants and transport, many of which are seasonal by nature. Verified funders are hand-vetted and confirmed to be actively funding, and brokers review funders on underwriting honesty and merchant treatment, which matters when you need a funder that will actually honor a reconciliation request.

Before you commit to a broker, check their record. The FundedUSA Instagram page posts confirmations of businesses funded through reliable lenders and brokers, so you can look for funded businesses in your industry and see who is actually closing deals.

How funders and brokers join the platform

Funders that want brokers to find them can apply through the verified funder listing page, which sets out the listing criteria, placement options and the vetting behind the verified badge. Brokers can set up access through the broker marketplace, where CRMs, lead providers, legal services and other tools are organized by category.

Watch for off-season scams

Fraudsters know when seasonal businesses are most desperate. Unsolicited offers spike in the quiet months, often promising fast approval regardless of your statements. Remember one rule: no legitimate working capital provider requires you to send money before you have a signed agreement and the funds are in your account. A request for a deposit, insurance payment or release fee before funding is a scam.

MCA Directory publishes a clear guide to these warning signs and offers a private fraud reporting form. Reports go only to its team, are never forwarded to the company named, and help the industry spot schemes before they reach the next owner.

The bottom line

Seasonality is predictable, which means it can be planned for. Map your year, apply in your strong season, choose repayment that bends with revenue, size payments to your slowest month, and avoid stacking to cover a temporary dip. With the right structure and the right funding partner, the slow months become a manageable part of the business rather than a crisis.

Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Working capital costs, terms and eligibility vary by funder and by business. Review any agreement carefully and consult a qualified professional before signing.

A World in Trouble Needs the Wisdom of the Bones, and Connie Lawrence Spent Twenty Years Finding Her Way Back to It Before She Could Write the Book That Guides Others Home

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

By: Mauren Mackenzie

There is a quality in Wise Bones that is unusual in healing literature and that accounts for much of what makes it genuinely compelling rather than simply interesting: the quality of genuine necessity. Connie Lawrence is not writing about accessing ancient bone intelligence as a self-improvement strategy or a wellness optimization technique. She is writing about it as something urgently needed, as a resource that the modern world has specifically suppressed and that individuals and societies are paying a high cost for losing. The call to awaken the wisdom of our bones with which the book closes is not a gentle invitation to a pleasant new practice. It is a call to remember something essential that the dominant culture has worked systematically to make us forget.

Lawrence arrived at this understanding through more than twenty years of practice as a trauma therapist, from the inside of the conventional framework rather than from the comfortable distance of its critics. She spent those years working with calming and soothing, the go-to approaches of both clinical therapy and the self-help world, and she arrived at the understanding not through theoretical dissatisfaction but through the specific and growing recognition that these approaches, while genuinely valuable, were systematically bypassing a dimension of intelligence that lived deeper in the body than they were designed to reach. The journey she traces from a wistful romance to finding a backbone and eventually to the discovery of bone intelligence as both a personal and professional framework is honest in the specific way that only direct experience can produce.

The framework she has developed, part of the leading-edge science of somatic transformation, is built around the connection between the intelligence she is describing and its evolutionary origins. The bones are not simply structural. They are historical, carrying in their molecular memory the accumulated wisdom of millions of years of adaptation and survival. The modern world’s systematic prioritization of cognitive knowing over embodied knowing has made that memory inaccessible rather than absent, and reconnecting with it is not a matter of learning something new but of remembering something ancient that was always there.

Lawrence writes with the storytelling quality and the body-based reflections that give the book both intellectual range and embodied accessibility, moving between anthropology and personal narrative and clinical insight in a way that reflects the integration she is advocating for rather than the fragmentation that the conventional approach tends to produce. Wise Bones is both a challenge to traditional therapeutic mythology and a genuine contribution to the science of somatic transformation, offered with the authority of someone who has spent twenty years earning the right to make it.

If you are ready to go below the level of calming and soothing and reconnect with the ancient evolutionary intelligence that the modern world taught you to forget, Wise Bones by Connie Lawrence is the book that makes that reconnection both intellectually grounded and genuinely experiential. Pick up your copy on Amazon today and begin the return to the grounded wisdom and aliveness that your bones have always carried.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute medical, mental health, psychological, therapeutic, or other healthcare advice. The concepts, perspectives, and approaches discussed are presented for informational purposes and should not be considered a substitute for evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, or guidance from a qualified healthcare or mental health professional. Individual experiences and responses to therapeutic or wellness practices may vary. Readers should consult an appropriately licensed professional regarding any health, mental health, trauma-related, or other personal concerns before making changes to their care or treatment. References to research, therapeutic approaches, books, authors, or wellness practices do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of their effectiveness or suitability for any individual.

Middle Sisters Traces a Family’s Story Through Two World Wars and Generations of Change

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

By: Kristine Kennedy

The women whose stories fill Middle Sisters were not the kind of women who made official history. They were the kind whose lives happened in the spaces between official history, shaped by the wars and the economics and the social structures that surrounded them without ever fully controlling them, and who left their own record not in archives or newspapers but in secret journals discovered posthumously, in the memories of children who were watching even when they were not supposed to understand what they saw, and in the patterns of behavior that repeated and occasionally broke across six generations. Marguerite Duvivier, writing under a pseudonym, is the Associate Professor in Anatomic Pathology who examined all of this evidence and wrote the memoir that finally gives these women the honest account they were never going to receive from any other source.

The saga begins in Belgium in 1908 with Lydie, the dominant mother whose decision to coerce her middle daughter Zilda into a loveless marriage with a greedy and self-serving man sets in motion a pattern that the memoir traces with unflinching specificity across the generations that follow. The coercion is not abstract. It is a specific act in specific circumstances by a specific woman whose own relationship to power and to her daughters is rendered with the complexity that makes her comprehensible even when she is not forgivable.

Zilda, the middle daughter who becomes the memoir’s first sustained focus, spent her life in the loveless marriage her mother arranged and kept her private record of it in journals that she never intended anyone to read. The posthumous discovery of those journals is the archival event that makes the memoir possible in its most intimate and most specific form, providing documentary evidence of an interior life that the official version of Zilda’s existence never acknowledged. Her own middle daughter Marguerite, fiercely independent and determined to chart a different course, married a brilliant and unfaithful man whose gifts and flaws exist in genuine proportion and whose relationship with Marguerite is rendered without the simplification that would make him easier to dismiss.

Despite favoring Marguerite’s sisters during their formative years, it is Marguerite that Zilda leans on during her later years, a reversal that the memoir treats with the complexity it deserves. The pattern of the middle daughter, overlooked in formation and relied upon in decline, is the book’s most quietly devastating and most universally recognizable insight, connecting the specific experiences of Lydie’s daughter and Zilda’s daughter to a pattern that millions of readers will recognize from their own family histories.

If you have ever been the middle daughter, or loved one, or suspected that the women in your family carried more private history than they ever disclosed, Middle Sisters by Marguerite Duvivier is the memoir that sees all of it and has the courage to write it down. Pick up your copy on Amazon today and discover what Zilda’s secret journals finally allow the world to know.

How Cal AI Used Influencer Marketing to Drive Startup Growth

Kivo Daily Staff 2 on October 17, 2026

Cal AI co-founder Zach Yadegari credited paid influencer partnerships with helping the AI-powered calorie-tracking app attract users. One early creator post reportedly brought in about 1,000 users in two days, while the startup generated more than $30 million in revenue within two years of launching. MyFitnessPal announced its acquisition of Cal AI in March 2026, with financial terms undisclosed.

Key Takeaways

  • Cal AI was co-founded in 2024 by Zach Yadegari and Henry Langmack.
  • Paid influencer partnerships became a key customer acquisition channel.
  • One creator post reportedly generated approximately 1,000 new users in two days.
  • Cal AI generated more than $30 million in revenue within two years.
  • MyFitnessPal announced the acquisition in March 2026, after the deal closed in December 2025.

Cal AI Built a Product That Creators Could Demonstrate

Launched in 2024, Cal AI uses artificial intelligence to estimate the calories in a meal from a photograph. The app offers an alternative to entering every food item manually, with an interaction that can be shown quickly in a social media video.

That visual simplicity helped make the product suited to creator-led marketing. An influencer could demonstrate the app’s core function while presenting it to an audience already interested in the creator’s content.

Yadegari’s approach combined that product demonstration with distribution through established social media audiences. Rather than depending only on conventional advertising or app-store discovery, Cal AI used paid creator posts to introduce the app to potential users.

Influencer Partnerships Became a Core Acquisition Channel

Yadegari said the team accelerated influencer recruitment after early promotions began generating sign-ups. Cal AI paid creators to post about the app and negotiated arrangements based in part on expected reach and performance.

He also emphasized the importance of influencers with tightly connected communities. Audience relevance mattered because a post’s value depended not just on the number of people who viewed it, but on how many were interested enough to try the product.

The live-shopping marketplace Whatnot similarly used influencer partnerships and giveaways to build awareness within its early collectibles community. In both cases, creator networks provided access to audiences organized around particular interests.

For Cal AI, the strategy turned social content into a potential acquisition channel. Evaluating that channel, however, required looking beyond impressions and engagement to the actions users took after seeing a post.

One Influencer Post Reportedly Generated 1,000 New Users

Yadegari described an early influencer post that he said brought Cal AI approximately 1,000 new users over two days. The response helped convince the team that creator partnerships could become a repeatable way to attract customers.

The figure measures initial acquisition, not long-term commercial value. It does not establish how many of those users subscribed, remained active or generated enough revenue to offset the cost of the promotion.

For app startups, those distinctions matter. Registrations or downloads can demonstrate interest, but activation, paid conversion, retention and customer acquisition costs provide a fuller picture of marketing performance.

Cal AI’s example illustrates why campaign outcomes should be tracked at the user level where possible. A high-performing post can be a useful starting signal without serving as proof that every creator partnership will generate comparable results.

Cal AI Generated More Than $30 Million in Revenue

Cal AI reportedly generated more than $30 million in revenue within its first two years. That figure places the company’s influencer-led acquisition efforts alongside a substantial commercial result, rather than measuring growth solely through social media attention.

The available reporting does not identify how much of that revenue came directly from influencer partnerships. It also does not provide a campaign-level breakdown of creator fees, subscription conversions, customer retention or profitability.

Those questions are central to long-term startup growth strategies that balance early acquisition with customer value and retention. A campaign that produces a surge of sign-ups is more useful when those users continue engaging with the product and contribute to sustainable revenue.

Cal AI’s reported revenue and its 1,000-user example therefore show different aspects of the business: overall commercial scale and the initial response to one marketing effort. Neither figure alone establishes the financial return on individual influencer partnerships.

MyFitnessPal Announced the Cal AI Acquisition in March 2026

MyFitnessPal publicly announced its acquisition of Cal AI on March 2, 2026. Reporting at the time indicated that the deal had closed in December 2025. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The acquisition brought Cal AI under an established nutrition-tracking company, while plans called for the app to continue operating as a standalone product. Cal AI’s emphasis on quick, photo-based estimates remained distinct from MyFitnessPal’s more detailed food-logging experience.

The transaction marked a significant milestone in Cal AI’s development. It also underscores a limit of the available numbers: without a disclosed purchase price or campaign-level financial data, the acquisition cannot be used to calculate the return on Cal AI’s influencer marketing investment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Cal AI?

Cal AI was co-founded by Zach Yadegari and Henry Langmack in 2024.

How did influencer marketing contribute to Cal AI’s growth?

Yadegari said paid creator posts helped the app reach relevant audiences and attract users, prompting the company to expand its influencer partnerships.

How many users did one Cal AI influencer post reportedly generate?

According to Yadegari, one early post generated approximately 1,000 new users over two days. That figure does not measure long-term retention or paid subscriptions.

How much revenue did Cal AI generate?

Cal AI reportedly generated more than $30 million in revenue within two years. The share directly attributable to influencer marketing was not disclosed.

When did MyFitnessPal acquire Cal AI?

MyFitnessPal announced the acquisition on March 2, 2026, after the deal had closed in December 2025. Financial terms were not disclosed.

San Diego Trainer Peter Embiricos on Why One-on-One Coaching Still Beats the App Era

Kivo Daily Staff on October 17, 2026

By: Matthew Kayser

Peter Embiricos is a personal trainer based in San Diego and is very much a one-on-one coach. In a market which is absolutely saturated with fitness apps, wearables, AI generated workout plans and on-demand classes, Peter has built his business on the traditional model of personal coaching. In this interview he talks us through how he works with clients, who he trains, why San Diego is such a good place to be active and why he thinks a real coach is still relevant in the app age.

For readers meeting you for the first time, how would you describe what you do?

Peter Embiricos: I’m a personal trainer in San Diego, and almost everything I do is one-on-one. I build customized programs around each client’s goals, fitness level, schedule and history. That might mean getting stronger, losing weight in a way that lasts, regaining confidence after a long break, or simply feeling better day to day. My job is part programming, part coaching and part accountability. The workouts matter, but the real work is helping someone build habits they can keep for years, not weeks.

Why did you build your practice around one-on-one coaching instead of group classes or online programs?

Peter Embiricos: Because no two people walk in with the same body, the same goals or the same obstacles. A group class has to be designed for the average person in the room, and most people aren’t average in any useful way. One person has a stiff lower back from sitting all day. Another hasn’t trained in five years and is nervous about getting hurt. Another is training hard but not eating enough to recover. When I’m working with one person, I can see those things and adjust in real time: the exercise, the load, the pace, even the conversation. That level of attention is where most of the progress comes from.

Fitness apps, wearables and AI workout plans are everywhere now. Why does a human coach still matter?

Peter Embiricos: Apps are very good at giving people information. What they can’t do well is read the person in front of them. An app doesn’t know that your squat changed because your knee is bothering you, or that you’re quieter than usual because work has been brutal this week.

It can’t tell when to push and when to pull back. Most people don’t fail because they lack a workout plan. There are thousands of free ones online. They fail because they don’t have the feedback, structure and accountability to stick with it. That’s what a good coach provides. There’s also something motivating about knowing a real person is expecting you on Tuesday at 7 a.m. That’s much harder to ignore than a push notification.

So are you against fitness apps?

Peter Embiricos: Not at all. I’ve talked about research showing fitness apps can help people move more over time, and I encourage a lot of my clients to use them. Tracking steps, sleep or workouts makes progress visible, and that’s a powerful motivator. The problem is when people treat an app as the whole solution. I see technology as a support tool. It’s great for the days between sessions, for spotting patterns and for keeping people engaged. The coaching itself, deciding what to change, when and why, still works best with a human involved.

Who do you typically work with?

Peter Embiricos: A real mix. Many of my clients are busy professionals who don’t have time to figure out what to do in the gym and want every session to count. Some are complete beginners who feel intimidated and need someone patient in their corner. Others are adults in their 40s, 50s and beyond who want to stay strong, protect their joints and keep doing the things they love. I also work with people coming back after a long break, whether that’s an injury, a new baby or a demanding few years at work, who are frustrated that they’ve lost ground. What they have in common is that they want results that last, not a 30-day challenge.

What does working with you look like, especially in the first few weeks?

Peter Embiricos: It starts with a conversation, not a workout. I want to know what someone’s goals are, what they’ve tried before and what got in the way. I also ask how they sleep, how they eat, what their days look like and whether they’re dealing with any aches or injuries. Then we look at how they move, starting with basic patterns like squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling and carrying. From there I build a program that meets them where they are. The first few weeks are about consistency and technique, not exhaustion. I’d much rather someone leave a session feeling capable and wanting to come back than wiped out and dreading the next one. Intensity can come later. Habits come first.

How do you approach nutrition with your clients?

Peter Embiricos: Simple and realistic. Nutrition advice is absolutely everywhere these days and there’s a new trend on social media every week. My approach is to go back to the fundamentals that have stood the test of time: sufficient protein intake, building your meals around whole foods, staying well hydrated and being consistent rather than perfect. I’d rather a client make three small changes that they can actually stick to than have them go all in on a Monday and then give up by Friday. Always bear in mind that nutrition and training go hand in hand. You can’t out-train a diet that’s not going to support your goals, but you don’t necessarily need a very fixed plan to make progress.

How does being based in San Diego shape the way you train people?

Peter Embiricos: San Diego is a fantastic place to be a trainer. The weather is ideal for outdoor training pretty much all year round and there’s a huge variety of terrain to work with (coastline, hills, trails, parks etc). I like to do as many of my sessions as possible outdoors when it’s appropriate for the client as it has a massive effect on their mood and makes the training seem less like a chore. It’s also a very active city and that helps in that people see their neighbours walking, surfing, hiking and running so staying active starts to become the standard rather than something you do as an obligation. That said, a lot of my clients are working out while travelling for work so one of the things I do is ensure that their routine doesn’t just go to pot the moment they leave town. I’ve actually got a few tips on how to stay fit whilst travelling as that’s such a common issue.

In an earlier interview, you said building mental resilience is just as important as building muscle. Do you still believe that?

Peter Embiricos: More than ever. As I said in that interview, physical results come from repetition and consistency, and both are driven by mindset. The clients who succeed long term aren’t necessarily the most talented or the most motivated on day one. They’re the ones who learn to keep going on the days they don’t feel like it. They don’t let one bad week turn into a bad month, and they measure progress over years instead of days. A big part of my job is helping people build that kind of resilience, and it tends to carry over into the rest of their lives too.

What’s your advice for someone trying to decide between a fitness app and a personal trainer?

Peter Embiricos: Be honest with yourself about what’s been holding you back. If you know what to do and you’re consistent, an app might be all you need. A coach makes the biggest difference if you’ve started and stopped several times, if you’re unsure about technique or working around an injury, or if you simply need someone to hold you accountable. And it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Some of my best results come from clients who use technology between sessions and come to me for the coaching, the adjustments and the support. The goal is the same either way: find something you can stick with, and keep showing up.

About Peter Embiricos

Peter Embiricos is a San Diego-based personal trainer who specializes in one-on-one fitness coaching. He designs customized programs focused on strength, sustainable weight management and long-term health for older adults, beginners, and busy professionals. His evidence-based approach combines personalized training, practical nutrition guidance and consistent accountability to help clients build habits that last.

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