Welcome to the Year of the Fire Pony 🔥🐎
There’s a shift happening — and you can feel it if you slow down just enough to notice.
The leaders who are standing out right now aren’t louder. They aren’t scrambling. They aren’t contorting themselves to fit whatever the algorithm wants this week.
They’re confident.
Not hype confidence. Not “fake it till you make it” confidence. But the kind that’s rooted, regulated, joyful, and self-trusting.
And in 2026?
That kind of confidence is the competitive advantage.
This year isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about stepping forward with clarity, presence, and trust in yourself.
In Chinese astrology, each year carries an animal and an element, not as a prediction, but as a way of naming the energy a season invites us into. The Horse represents movement, independence, and leadership. It’s forward motion with purpose.
Fire brings passion, determination, and clarity, energy that’s focused, warm, and alive. Together, the Fire Pony reflects a year of aligned action, steady momentum, and confident leadership rooted in self-trust.
Welcome to the Year of the Fire Pony — a year-one year.
An opening.
A spark.
A season of possibility.
Let’s Redefine Confidence (Because Most People Get It Wrong)
When people talk about confidence, they usually mean one of two things:
- Being fearless
- Being loud
But real confidence?
It’s neither.
Real confidence is earned.
It’s built through self-trust, steady choices, and learning how to stay present in your body when things feel uncertain. It’s calm on the inside and energized on the outside. It’s knowing who you are and not abandoning yourself when things get uncomfortable.
Confidence isn’t something you wake up with one day.
It’s something you practice.
I know this because I didn’t start confident.
How I Became a Confident Entrepreneur (On Purpose)
The entrepreneur you see today — the one people trust, hire, collaborate with, and root for — didn’t arrive fully formed.
She was built. Slowly. Intentionally. Humanly.
Here are some of the choices that shaped my confidence, and we’ll be talking about these (and more) all year long.
I did not become confident because I woke up fearless.
I became confident because I stopped abandoning myself when things felt hard.
Early on, my brain never shut off. I carried everything. Ideas, worries, conversations, expectations. I thought that was what being “on” looked like.
But confidence did not start when I learned more.
It started when I created support outside my nervous system.
I began documenting ideas instead of holding them.
Asking questions instead of assuming.
Letting structure carry what my body did not need to.
That was the first shift.
Confidence grew when I stopped forcing myself to manage everything alone.
Then came the harder part.
Relationships and Structures
I learned the art of:
- Networking without performing
- Working conventions and rooms with intention
- Matchmaking and connecting people because it felt aligned
- Building real relationships, not transactional ones
I invested in:
- Business development programs
- Certifying my business
- Learning how to pitch my business and myself clearly
- Coaching (even when it was uncomfortable)
- Reading, learning, and staying curious
I built structure by:
- Creating a one-pager
- Hiring a professional graphic designer to create a visual identity
- Creating repeatable systems
- Maintaining a consistent schedule
- Learning how to execute ideas my way
And finally, my body.
For a long time, I treated my body like a vehicle that should just keep going. I thought confidence lived in my mindset alone.
It did not.
So I stopped waiting for my body to cooperate and started supporting it on purpose.
I drank water.
I took vitamins.
I scheduled haircuts and massages instead of squeezing them in “someday.”
I moved my body regularly, even when I did not feel motivated.
I learned how to breathe when my nervous system was loud instead of pushing through it.
I built care into my calendar the same way I built meetings and deadlines.
Not as rewards for productivity, but as requirements for showing up well.
That was the third shift.
Confidence grew when my body felt supported enough to lead with me.
And maybe most importantly
I learned how to tell better stories about myself.
Not by rewriting the past, but by understanding it.
By seeing my experiences as information instead of evidence that I was behind or not enough.
I stopped pretending imposter syndrome was not there and learned how to work with it.
Naming it. Questioning it. Letting it inform me without letting it run the show.
I became more intentional about who I let support me.
The partners I chose.
The rooms I stayed in.
The relationships that felt steady instead of draining.
I paid attention to my body in practical ways.
Learning what foods actually worked for me.
How much was just enough.
What helped me feel clear instead of foggy.
And then I did the least glamorous part of all.
I showed up.
Again and again.
In small, aligned actions that matched who I was becoming, not who I thought I should be.
That is where confidence quietly takes root.
Not in big moments, but in consistency you can trust.
Why Confidence Is the Competitive Advantage in 2026
Confident leaders do not just run businesses.
They set the pace.
They create environments where people feel safe thinking clearly, speaking honestly, and doing meaningful work.
They are not chasing validation.
They are not reacting to every shift.
They move with clarity, even when things are uncertain.
That is why people trust them.
That is why opportunities find them.
That is why their brands feel steady instead of frantic.
In 2026, confidence is not about being ahead of everyone else.
It is about being anchored in yourself.
At Holloway Media Services, we help CEOs build brands that feel as good on the inside as they look on the outside, because confidence is not a performance. It is an experience.
And people can feel the difference.
What We’ll Be Exploring Together This Year
All year long, we’ll be talking about:
- Building confidence through self-trust
- Creating confidence through connection and community
- Expressing yourself clearly and authentically
- Using structure to support (not stifle) creativity
- Caring for your body, mind, and energy without guilt
- Leading with values, presence, and joy
This isn’t a hustle calendar.
It’s a leadership rhythm.
One that meets you where you are and helps you move forward without abandoning yourself along the way.
A Question to Open the Year
As this Year of the Fire Pony begins — a year of ignition, possibility, and new ground — I’ll leave you with this:
👉 What would change if you trusted yourself just 10% more this year?
You don’t have to know everything.
You don’t have to rush.
You don’t have to become someone else.
You just have to stay with yourself as you grow.
I’ll be right here walking with you.
Cheering you on,
Heather 💚
If you want a team that supports your growth, let’s talk.
I want to hear what’s going on, what feels stuck, and where you want to go next.
We are a mindfulness-driven team at Holloway Media Services, and our marketing reflects that. The work starts on the inside, and it shows on the outside.
