Dreaming of late-night creative sessions by candlelight, but instead you’re burning the candle at both ends just trying to keep your business running?
Dude, we must be soulmates.
I knew something had to change when, after spending a peaceful week in a small fishing village in Portugal, I, for the first time ever, actually dreaded going back to work.
running my business felt, well, hard (lol).
Before I became a soft CEO
Now, there’s a lot of things you should probably know about me
LIKE:
I love my work, and
I’m quite literally obsessed with my clients.
But maybe the single most important thing you should know about me is this:
I go down research rabbit holes for fun, am known to send “k here’s the plan” voice notes to my clients with a whole ass strategy I came up with in the shower *and* a pinterest inspo board to match (obvi), and my party trick is getting creative people to reveal their secret biz idea they’ve never told anyone.
I somehow got lucky enough to be surrounded by (multi) passionate creatives, who casually mention half-finished ideas that are more inspiring than most people come up with all year. I’m hell bent on seeing them come to life (and selfishly buy it for myself).
it was…
new information at best,
kind of concerning at worst.
When I flat out dreaded going back to work,
SO… SUFFICE TO SAY:
I was spending most of my time in meetings, throwing money at expensive software, and drifting further away from the things that actually made me excited about my business.
This girl
LET ME SET THE SCENE FOR YOU:
On paper, everything looked solid. My business was doing well (actually better than it had ever been), I’d just come back from a biz funded maternity leave, saved 10 hours each week and cut my work week down to 3 days. Everything was “working”.
I’d systemized practically everything I could and hired a team to help me get my precious hours back. But, ironically, who do you think ended up having to (micro)manage everything?
You think I’d be thrilled, right?
Au contrair. I was, well, for a lack of a better term, kinda miserable.
Does my mini meltdown coming back from vacay make a little more sense now?
I realised too late that the cost of running my business the way I had been became too high.
(Small European towns really put things into perspective, don’t they?)
hyperfixated on the problem, until I was inspired again.
So I burned it all down, and did what I do best:
menu
the
house
menu
the
house
I’ve been using them for years… But now, they’re the ONLY things I’m focusing on.
Pinterest & Email
At the end of the rabbit hole:
Because after almost 10 years running an online business, being behind the scenes in hundreds of service pro , & digital marketing research from the last 20 years they’re the most low-maintenance, sustainable tools for growth I’ve found.
(Actually, that’s not true. I *did* look back, but only to data mine historical marketing trends so you don't have to.)
I scrapped everything that felt high-maintenance and simplified.
I doubled down on the parts of my business that could compound over time and never looked back.
So, go ahead,
waste your time.
“A good idea loses its wings every time a creative is too busy to go down a rabbit hole.”
THE MORAL OF THIS STORY?
We went down that rabbit hole so you can go down yours
(without EVER getting behind on sales and marketing.)
Because when you have a working Back of House, you no longer have to choose between indulging your creative hyper fixations (which make you really fkn good at what you do, if I do say so myself) OR managing your business. They’re both happening at the exact same time.
Case study examples of what you can accomplish when you have a system built around your energy, your goals, and your rhythm.
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THE SLOW LIFE OF A TIME CONNOISSEUR
A non-exhaustive list of the little things I’m making time for while I’m away from my computer (thanks to soft productivity).
Sourcing scrap leather for my journal making hobby
Being able to take my daughter to the “far park”
Getting plants from my old lady neighbors
Browsing marketplace and etsy for niche finds
Cutting my bangs (again)
more time for the big (and small) things, like going completely off the (IG) grid, finally learning to make pasta from scratch, or finally making it to the 2nd floor of that antique mall.
Agatha.
Becoming a clay artist
