Is it Possible to Build a Successful Business Without Subscribing to Hustle Culture?
How many times have you found yourself feeling exhausted and overwhelmed in your business? Achieving some level of success but also wondering if you hopped off the hamster wheel would it all come crashing down?
How is it that these successful entrepreneurs online create these businesses while only working 4 hours a week sitting on a beach? Are you missing a trick here?
I have had these conversations over and over - both with myself and with clients and colleagues over the years. What is necessary for building a successful online business? Is it possible to create something remarkable without subscribing to the hustle culture? Is working minimal hours and creating millions actually possible?
Let’s start off by saying that I don’t believe that you can create real success without putting in the work. If you’re building a business, a brand, other income streams - whenever you are creating something for the first time effort needs to be made and it’s going to take work. It’s going to take sacrifice and commitment from you.
That’s not to say that it should always be this way - I also believe that your life and your business have seasons. And that after seasons of work should come periods of ease, rest and reflection. Your life and business are fluid, they are cyclical and there is never just a constant upward trajectory to things.
When I first started my business I had to sacrifice spare time in order to get it off the ground. I wasn’t sure that it could be a viable business at the time and so worked evenings and weekends alongside my full-time corporate job in order to see what would come of it. Even though early on I could tell that this could be successful I wasn’t making crazy amounts of money and so even took on a ‘third’ job waitressing to make ends meet.
The truth is that if at the start of my business I hadn’t put in the work then I don’t think my business would have taken off in the way that it did.
However there came a time when working 24/7 and always being on wasn’t working for me either and I completely hit a wall. I actually had MANY warning signs over a 6-8 month period where my body started to just give up on me, I lost my hair, I was in a terrible car accident and I kept having one health issue after another.
At first I kept pushing on with sheer determination ignoring all the signs but it got to a point where I realised that I needed to sit up, pay attention and reassess myself and my business.
We become entrepreneurs predominantly because of 3 things - time freedom, income freedom and wanting to make a greater impact, and all of these things are totally possible BUT we need to let go of the expectation that these things happen overnight.
When I hear people say that they only work 4 hours a week and make 8-7 figures and that you could too, it triggers me! First of all I fall into the trap of thinking ‘How, tell me everything?’ and then I start to criticise myself for not having found the magic key yet and thinking that I’m obviously not good enough to be a proper entrepreneur.
The truth is that oftentimes those people have either been in business for years (not 30 days!), built strong foundations and systems, and are now able to see the fruits of their labour and take the foot off the gas OR they have a team working for them behind the scenes DOING all the work they aren’t doing.
How can I tell which season I am in?
I first heard about this concept of seasons in business and cyclical living from Kate Northrup (there are now lots of great resources on this online) but on a really simple level if you’re creating something new - a business, an offer, a website, a new income stream- you are in a growth season which means that there is work to be done!
If you’re generally happy with how your business is currently doing or have just launched something big then I would say you’re more in the rest, review and maintenance phase. That’s not to say that you’re not creating anything new here but it’s not something really big. In fact this stage is often where we can tweak and experiment and improve what we already have so that we can ensure that we have a really strong base to our business.
I’m in a growth/ hustle phase but I don’t want to push too hard or burnout. How can I maintain some balance?
Real talk how hard you will have to work is in large part due to the deadlines you put on yourself. Suddenly want to create a new massive offer in a week - then you’re probably going to be working a lot to get it done but if that’s what feels aligned to you then go for it.
Whenever there is work to be done always remember that you are the one in charge of your hustle!
Yes we need to take action and not keep putting things off but it’s not a race! You call the shots and decide on the timeline.
Here are some other tips for keeping sane and healthy during periods of working hard:
Be aware of your boundaries! I am so guilty of falling into the trap of thinking that everyone else’s needs and priorities came before mine but the truth is that I had shit boundaries. Once you start putting better boundaries in place a lot of the anxiety about how much you have to do goes and you’re able to approach your to-do list in a much calmer way.
Focus on what’s important and only have one goal at a time. This is all about looking at the bigger picture and making sure that you’re working on the needle mover tasks first. For example you want to launch a new offer and there are a MILLION things to do. You start by building out your course and then suddenly decide that you need to pitch to podcasts and then panic that you need to update your website and slowly but surely you spend your day jumping from one task to the next and feel like you’re getting nowhere. Even if there are lots of spin-off or related tasks to your current goal, don’t keep getting distracted by them. Write down ALL the things that need to get done and just focus on the next step that will create momentum - get that done and then move on to the next one.
Take care of your health above all else and prioritise rest! I cannot tell you how many times in my business I would work so late/ hard that I would literally crawl into bed exhausted - no shower, no taking care on myself, sometimes forgetting to brush my teeth (yep gross!) because I put myself totally on the back burner for the task at hand. It was bullshit! I’m probably an extreme but it has taken me a while to not feel guilty about switching off at a certain time (no matter how much is left to do) and go and take care of myself. Here’s the thing: the more you take care of yourself and give yourself even pockets of time for rest and self care the better you show up and do better work. This is a non-negotiable even though sometimes it seems counter intuitive when the list is so long.
Go for the low hanging fruit. If you’re in a busy period and you’re panicking about still showing up for marketing etc then my advice would always be first of all to see where do you feel most aligned energy wise when it comes to marketing - right now does writing a weekly blog feel good or making a podcast episode or a video once a week. Whatever it is, go with that and then create a system around it to support you.
I’ve been building for so long and I’m exhausted! How can I make my business worker harder/ smarter for me. I want those 4 hour work weeks!
Got a huge bank of content and offers but still feel like you’re spinning your wheels working hard trying to make consistent income? This is where I always advice clients to stop, take a breath and then really look at your business more strategically. If you want to make your business work smarter for you then now is the time to focus on your funnels, and your systems.
Go through your whole customer journey from start to finish and see are there any gaps, can anything be improved? For example, you have 10 plus offers but are always live launching them, can we start to turn some of them into evergreen products and funnels. Is there content there to make a membership product?
Another lens to look at your business through is to go through all of your processes and see, OK where I can automate some of this stuff and make it easier for myself? Can I automate onboarding or contracts? Can I automate certain parts of my content creation?
If you want to ‘work less’ then you need to build systems and sales funnels that support that, not make more work for you. Once we have a proven success with business or offers that is when we can reassess and tweak and optimise and make it work for us ‘more passively’ or hand it off more to the team to deal with on a more day to day basis.
Above all, have grace with yourself, business is a long game and it can be easy to get swept up in the craze for instant gratification. Recognise the season that you are in and know that opportunities will be there again but you have to recognise and focus on what’s important right now.
Ready to start refining your funnels and systems but would love a second pair of expert eyes to guide you through the process? Our audit call is perfect for you!
