A while back I spoke to a potential client about her business and her plans. She knew what she wanted—a slower pace, pivoting her business away from the less flexible 1:1 work she’d been doing—and what she didn’t want: marketing that forced her to be someone she isn’t, working in a way that doesn’t honour her introverted self.
And then she asked the question that I hear again and again: “Can a slow business like that even exist? Can a small business like mine even work?”.
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Not only do I hear this question again and again from the small business owners, freelancers and creatives I work with, I know it intimately myself. I’ve lived it. And I continue to live it as my life shifts and my desires and needs change.
The answer is actually really short: Yes, it is possible.
Living with chronic fatigue and mental health that needs extra tending to, means that my business needs to be very spacious. I need time for a midday nap and a slow start. I do best when I add daily movement of some form. I do my best work when I have no more then 2 to 3 client calls a week, and when I have lots of time to write and create.
And sometimes these needs feel a lot. Taking the rest and space I need requires intentionality and planning. It can be incredibly frustrating. Sometimes I have days when I am both happy for taking all the space I need, and deeply frustrated for not having enough hours left in the day to do the work I want to do.
There is a slower, gentler and more profitable way of running your business.
Discover your way of doing your business with my 1:1 mentoring support.
No hacks, no hustle.
Instead: marketing and launching that is slow, gentle and gets results. Clear boundaries and priorities that encourage you to live a life next to your business. Accountability and support to help you create the live and business you crave.
Your needs might feel like a lot too.
Maybe you’re also dealing with fatigue, wobbly mental health or fluctuating energy levels.
You might have a full family life and lots of demands on your time and energy.
You might be running or building your business next to a 9-to-5.
You might be living with chronic illness.
You might simply crave a slower and gentler business.
I can promise you: there are so many people like you out there. Like us.
There are so many people like you out there. Like us.
Conventional business advice might tell you that you can only run and build a business when you’re spending as much time and energy on it as possible. When you’re hustling every day. When you’re always on. I certainly thought so.
But out of necessity and desire I discovered otherwise.
It’s not necessarily easy building a business away from the norm. But nonetheless, your business can be easeful. It can be easeful because you’re honouring your own needs and desires, and that feels so good.And such a business can be profitable too. I do not have a ‘six-figure business’ or whatever the new sexy number is. But I do have a business that makes the money I need it to, and that to me is amazing—and hopefully encouraging to you.
A peptalk
There are no ten-step plans for creating any business, precisely because it needs to fit your life and your unique circumstances.
But here is some advice and encouragement to get you started:
- Start with where you are, whether that’s at zero, or in a business that is already running. You can wish you were at a different point in business, but you aren’t. And that’s okay.
- Build your business around your needs and desires, not the other way around.
- You don’t need to know all the answers, you will figure things out as you get to them.
- Be gentle with yourself. You are allowed to take as long as you need to—even if it’s frustrating and feels unfair. You are the most important part of business.
- Let whatever you’re able to do be enough. There is no rush.
Seek support: either free in the form of business friends or free business communities, or paid in the form of paid (online) communities, masterminds and working with a small business mentor.
I’d love to know what resonates with you from this post.
Please feel free to share this post it with business friends, in your newsletter or elsewhere. 💛
I’d love to support you in all phases of your business. Providing clarity, focus and next steps is something that my clients tell me I’m really good at. If you’re curious about how we can work together through 1:1 mentoring, check out what I offer or send me an email–no strings attached. I have payment plans available, and flexible options for mentoring calls.
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