Welcome to Wednesday. Safe moves are officially off the table.
The NBA Finals recently ended.
And every championship reminds me of the same thing:
Nobody wins alone.
Not in sports.
Not in business.
Not in leadership.
Not in life.
Yet every week I meet women trying to build everything themselves.
More effort.
More hours.
More hustle.
More responsibility.
I understand the instinct.
I've done it too.
As a solopreneur, it's easy to believe the path forward is simply becoming more capable.
But recently, I've been realizing something.
I've gotten much better at building power contacts.
People who are connected.
People who are influential.
People who are in front of my audience.
But a power contact is not the same thing as a power partner.
And that distinction changes everything.
Why this matters right now
Networking helps you meet people.
An ecosystem helps you grow.
They're not the same thing.
A power contact might introduce you to an opportunity.
A power partner helps create opportunities over and over again.
The difference is leverage.
One relationship is helpful.
The other compounds.
That's why championship teams don't simply collect talented individuals.
They build systems of coordinated effort.
Players who make each other better.
People whose success becomes interconnected.
The result is something bigger than any individual could create alone.
Today’s Move
Draw a circle.
Put your name in the middle.
Now ask yourself:
Who are the five people or organizations most capable of creating recurring opportunity in my business?
Not customers.
Not followers.
Not casual connections.
Partners.
People whose success naturally creates opportunities for you.
And whose success you can contribute to as well.
That's your Starting Five.
If your list is empty, that's useful information.
If your list is incomplete, start building it intentionally.
Because growth gets easier when opportunity is shared.
Proof it works
Some of the biggest opportunities in business don't come from marketing.
They come from ecosystems.
Referrals.
Introductions.
Collaborations.
Partnerships.
Shared audiences.
Trusted recommendations.
One strong partner can create more opportunity than dozens of random networking conversations.
Not because they work harder.
Because leverage compounds.
Brazen Boost
One of the biggest myths in entrepreneurship is that successful people build alone.
Most don't.
They build ecosystems.
Brazen Law reinforced: The fastest way to accelerate opportunity is to stop trying to create it all by yourself.
A question to sit with today:
Who belongs in your Starting Five?
That's today's move. Stop building alone. Start building an ecosystem.
And in real life.
The next Trailblazers: The Women-Biased Intentional Networking Hike is coming up soon on Saturday, June 27th.
If you're looking to meet ambitious women, build real relationships, and create opportunities that compound, come join us.
👉 Reserve your spot:
https://luma.com/pmgxunv8
—Martise
Founder, BrazenEra
Building Project Brazen 2026
P.S. - Inside the BrazenEra Business Club, there are three collective acts of agency we practice during your first 90 days:
• Raise your price.
• Make a BIG ask.
• Build your Starting Five.
Most women know they should do these things.
Very few do them consistently.
That's why we don't just talk about leverage.
We practice it.
One more thing:
I’ve been hearing from readers who are:
raising prices
making cleaner asks
thinking bigger
moving faster
That’s the point.
If one of these Power Letters has changed the way you move, I’d genuinely love to hear about it.