You Get To Choose What Kind Of Business Owner You Want To Be
Before we jump in: This article was originally shared with my email community in May 2020. I'm sharing it with you on the blog today in the hope that it may be of some encouragement and insight to you in your creative journey right now, and also give you a little sneak peak of what you can expect from Weekly Letters too. If you'd like to receive letters like this one straight to your inbox every Sunday, you can sign up below. You'll also have access to all of my Mini Books too!
Can I tell you something that I’m sometimes a little afraid to admit?
I think I care less about my business than I ever have before.
Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I care less about my clients or the words I write in these letters and the conversations I share in my podcast - I’d say I’ve never felt more deeply connected to why I do this work in the world.
But what I do care less about are the pieces of being a business owner that I think we’re sometimes taught are necessary in this journey.
The never mentally switching off, the always chasing new goals and milestones, the finding all of my identity and self worth in my work.
Those are the pieces I have absolutely no interest in anymore.
My word for 2020 is simple.
I knew coming into this year that my only real business goal for the year was to find even more simplicity and ease in my business.
And I already have a pretty lean, simple business.
My work doesn’t ask more of me than I’m willing to give anymore, as after almost six years now of running my business I’ve seen time and time again that what I truly want is for my business to orbit my life and not the other way around.
It’s scary though, to opt-out of the more more more narrative in business.
There’s a tiny fear that if I take my foot of that pedal I’ll lose everything I’ve spent years working hard to build.
But the truth is, there is another way to do business if we want to choose it for ourselves.
We can choose simplicity and ease if we want to.
We can build our business to orbit our life if that’s the path that feels most joyful to us.
But I won’t lie, I do sometimes wonder: what kind of business owner am I if I’m not obsessed with growth and achievement?
Am I risking failure by refusing to work myself into the ground?
Am I taking all of this for granted by not thinking and worrying about my business every waking minute of my week?
But the truth I try and come home to is this: I’m a business owner who is happy, fulfilled, doing work that feels oh so meaningful each week, and living a life that feels simple and joyful each day.
All of this to say: you get to define for yourself what kind of business owner you want to be. Ask yourself:
What priorities feel truly important to me in my business in this season?
What would it look like for my business to orbit my life and not the other way around?
How can I welcome more simplicity and ease into my creative work and life?
If I had a permission slip to be the business owner I truly want to be, what would it say?
And if I’ve learned anything so far in my own business journey? It’s that I can be even more devoted to doing my very best work in the world when I’m prioritising ease, joy, and rest each day.
So here’s to being the business owner (and human!) we want to be, even if it looks wildly different to the path we thought we had to choose.
As always, I’m rooting for you!
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