Comfy Business Chronicles
Context:
I became self-employed because I had two young sons to care for and employment wasn’t an option, so I created an online business that flexes around all my Life Stuff. 16 years later, one of my adult sons has additional support needs, and I have two chronic pain conditions, and a high-maintenance mind, so my business continues to squishly work around me/us. The Comfy Business Chronicles are my blog posts about my experience as a self-employed person with limited capacity.
But Is It A Real Business?
I was good at my work (copywriting).
I had found a way to make the money we needed, working from home, flexing around the needs of my family and my chronic pain conditions.
But a quick scroll through my inbox, or Instagram feed left me feeling like crap.
Are you going all in for your business?
Do you have a business or an expensive hobby?
Are you prepared to do whatever it takes?
We all have the same number of hours in the day – how are you spending yours?
I did these three things and 10x’d my income.
I have pretty solid evidence that I don’t have a ‘real’ business.
1. I’m not prepared to do ‘hard things’
I’m already doing hard things in the rest of my life, my business needs to feel easier than that.
2. I wasn’t very interested, or committed to scaling and growing
There’s an amount of money I need to make each month, and sure if I make more then that’s lovely, but my priority is to make the money we need with the least amount of time, energy and headspace possible.
3. It kinda was a hobby
Especially when The Sons were younger, it was a relief to have this business, to have something else to focus on, and to have some other part of my identity beyond being a care-giver. If I listed my top hobbies they’d be F1, TV, films, anything to do with the beach, and writing, especially blogs for my business – so yep it’s a hobby.
They were resourceful, resilient heroes, creating the income they needed (or working towards that goal) while fitting their work around the rest of their their life.
They knew what they wanted/needed from their business and hustling, grinding, or striving for more money wasn’t a top priority.
And that seemed to go against the marketing pitches of business coaches and other B2B brands, so sometimes (often) they felt like their dreams weren’t good enough, and their businesses weren’t valid or real.
Being comfortable is an act of courage.
We are flipping amazing and can celebrate our comfortable businesses loudly and proudly.
Because even the most comfortable spot gets uncomfortable if you stay there long enough (which is super-frustrating when I’m trying to binge-watch Netflix).
So there is growth and change – but in a comfortable, sustainable way that feels good.
I could write about this for days – oh wait – I did. I did literally write for days, and weeks, and created a book.
It’s called The Comfy Business Playbook and the digital version is available for free.
It’s an autobiographical instruction journal (yep totally made-up book genre) for people who want (or already have) a business that fits around their life challenges, priorities, and adventures.
People:
- Living with chronic health conditions
- Fulfilling caring responsibilities
- Looking after their mental health
- Enjoying non-work adventures, like travelling, or home-educating kids.
- Doing some combination of those things
AND at the same time, running a business that enables you to use the skills, knowledge and experience you have, to make the money you need, working in a flexible way that suits you.
That’s real.
What’s next
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Your approach is such a breath of fresh air Laura. It’s so liberating to have a Comfy Biz. I absolutely loved your Playbook, and in fact have bought a second copy as I’ve started another biz since I bought the first one, but wanted to ensure I approach it in a comfy style. Thank you!
I always appreciate your Comfy Business perspective, and the validation to say “yes, it’s a BUSINESS”. It’s not a hobby to hide. And it’s not the lesser way to run a business.
One thing from my “I’m not good enough” moments: I often still rank my own needs (ADHD/hating having a boss/ wanting independence/wanting time for exercise/whatever) as less important than having “a family”. IE if you have children, putting your business 2nd place is valid because having children is priority #1. So I still tell myself it’s frivolous not to give as much as I can to my work sometimes. Some internalised sexism there, I suspect.
Sharing this in case it’s useful context – I know your intention is to validate more people, and this is just how my brain sometimes twists it.