How to Bet on Yourself When You're Scared: Lessons from Food Creator Alex Hill
Most people don't quit their jobs because they feel ready. They quit because they finally get honest about what staying is costing them.
That's the through line of this week's episode of She's So Lucky, where I sat down with Alex Hill — the recipe developer and food creator behind the beloved Instagram account @justaddhotsauce and Substack newsletter Food & Feelings.
Alex has built a genuinely engaged community around food, feelings, and the kind of radical self-honesty that most people save for their journal. She also just landed a cookbook deal. But the path to get there has been anything but linear.
Here's what I took away from our conversation — and why I think it applies whether you're a solopreneur, a 9-to-5 employee, or just someone who's tired of playing small.
You Don't Have to Feel Ready to Make the Move
One of the biggest myths about betting on yourself is that confidence comes first. Alex's story is proof that it doesn't. Before she quit her PR job, she set one goal: save $25,000 — six months of expenses — and then jump. That was the whole plan. Not a five-year business projection, not a fully monetized content strategy. A number and a deadline.
If you've been waiting until you feel ready to take a risk on yourself, you might be waiting a long time. The question worth asking isn't am I ready? It's what would make this risk specific enough to be worth taking?
Scarcity Mindset Will Have You Saying Yes to the Wrong Things
When Alex first went out on her own, she took every brand partnership offered to her — even the ones that didn't fit — because she was afraid nothing better would come. It's one of the most common traps for anyone building something independently, and it's easy to rationalize. But saying yes to everything out of fear is not the same as being strategic. It's just being scared.
The shift happened when she got a manager who could advocate for her rates and push back on low offers. That external support didn't just change her income — it changed how she saw her own value. Knowing your worth means very little if you don't have the infrastructure to act on it.
The Clearest Path Forward Is Knowing What You Won't Do
Years ago, Alex tried her hand at catering a private event. She cried in her car afterward and decided, definitively, that she is not a caterer. She's instead found her sweet spot as talent in front of the camera. That distinction — knowing exactly what lane you refuse to be in — is what keeps you focused on the work you were actually built for.
This shows up in her approach to social media too. She's not on TikTok. She made a deliberate choice to protect her mental health over chasing reach. She's not trying to be everywhere. She's trying to be excellent where it feels most aligned.
Build Something the Algorithm Can't Take From You
When I asked Alex what would remain of her business if the algorithm disappeared tomorrow, she said her newsletter immediately. She started her Substack in 2020 as a place to share exclusive recipes, and it became a running diary of her life, her creative process, and her evolution as a woman. Now years later, it's her most engaged platform — and the consistency of it helped convince publishers she could write a book.
Whatever you're building, the version of it that you own outright will always matter more than the version that lives on someone else's platform.
Alex's full story — the panic attack that preceded her resignation, the cookbook proposal rejections, the Target deal she walked away from, and what "rejection is protection" really means — is all in this week's episode of She's So Lucky.
