WHAT I BELIEVE

Self-employment should amplify well-being, not undermine it.

Entrepreneurial maturity is recognizing that many of the habits formed in your early hustle days are actively blocking the future you’re craving.

Self-employment is romanticized all day long, but most solopreneurs I know are underpaid and wearing caffeinated exhaustion like a badge of honor. I sure was.

Over a decade into working for myself as a copywriter, I was stunned to realize that some old employee habits were defining how I related to self-employment. Things like:

  1. I viewed the person handing over $ (the client) as “the boss” who was entitled to set the terms of our working relationship. I deferred to them at every turn, even when that derailed my creative process or exploded my workload.

  2. I unconsciously believed that faceless companies could talk about their offerings on social media, but it was cringeworthy for me to do the same. I resisted marketing and passively waited on referrals to come in, leading to:
    — Periods of being underbooked, aka: financial instability
    — Feeling obligated to accept whoever reached out, even if they weren’t an ideal client, and even if that resulted in overlapping projects (hellooo burnout!)
    — Renewing clients I wasn’t in sync with (values-wise or working-style-wise), making me stressed and resentful.

  3. I allowed myself to be defined as a unit of labor — “just a copywriter” — instead of acknowledging the complexity of the strategic value I was bringing to the table. I was more than just a hired pair of hands, but I wasn’t acting like it (and definitely not pricing like it).

Did that hit close to home?

Take a breath.

If you saw yourself in any of the scenarios above, resist spiralling into “Ughh. I do that, too! What the F is wrong with me?!”

You were responding to the pressures of capitalism, probably some childhood money/validation stories, and very likely, a nervous system on the brink. We won’t shame ourselves for those choices, but cue Maya Angelou: “When you know better, do better.”

Focus forward, where you can do self-employment better. 

Life changed when I questioned the “rules” of self employment.

My chronic overworking and stress levels impacted my physical health and relationships. My ability to comfortably take vacations and sick leave was flimsy on a good day. And preparing for a financially secure retirement? Ha, you got jokes. 

Self-employment wasn’t the issue — how I was doing self employment was the problem.

So I sat down one day and built the mother of all spreadsheets with one core question in focus: “What does a financially secure business (just me — no team to manage) that supports my overall well-being look like?”

My answers to that question caused me to overhaul everything from the types of clients I worked with, to how I positioned my services and qualifications, to how I priced my work, and all the way down to how I deliver and collaborate with clients. 

Today, I have a thriving 6-figure business of one, and rarely work more than 25 hours a week. Most importantly, my business has become a tool that supports my life — not a burden restricting it.

Deliver the excellence you’re known for.

But let it be easier.

As a Business Coach + Messaging Strategist, I help established solopreneurs restructure their business for financial security AND personal well-being.

Remember the ease and profitability you envisioned when you started this whole thing? That’s what we do around here.