How to Run a Business When You're at Low Capacity

AMY: Welcome to the Peaceful Entrepreneur podcast. We're together, we're learning how to have peace in the process of everyday business ownership by improving one step at a time, how we think and what we do. I'm your host, Amy Stout.

Have you ever gotten down on yourself or felt guilty because you set expectations of how much energy you would have or how much you would get done or how much you would output and didn't meet them. There can be so many reasons obviously that this could be a thing. We could be at a certain point of our cycle that we just have less energy. We could be grieving, a loss. We could be in a transition of life. We could be experiencing illness. There There's so many things that just happen in life that affect our capacity on a day to day basis as business owners. And one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to come to peace with the fluctuation that that brings. And I am so excited to talk today all about that with somebody who knows from personal experience what it's like to deal with that.

So I have the incredible Claire from Blooming Design Co. on today. And Claire is sharing her story with an autoimmune diagnosis and how that affected her, how she runs her business, how she runs her day to day, and what sort of mindset she has had to develop to be okay and at peace and in acceptance of what her life looks like now. Claire's company, Blooming Design Co. is a web design studio that helps emerging female entrepreneurs confidently launch a website that they're proud of.

I love that. I love her work too, by the way. It's incredible. Go check her out. You can see all of her stuff linked down below. But let's go ahead and get into it. Let's get into this conversation. I always say it's one of my favorites. It's one of my favorites, guys. It was so incredible. So let's get to talking. All right, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast this week.

I'm so excited to have my friend Claire with me, my new friend, who I have been following for a little while, but I'm so glad that you're here on the podcast.

CLAIRE: Yeah, I'm super excited to be here. I think that your story, though you have been through some tough stuff, is going to be extremely helpful and relatable.

AMY: Something that I've talked about before is not that we go through things to be able to help people, but part of the purpose that comes out of it is being able to share and help other people in the same situation.

CLAIRE: I love that. I love that perspective. Yeah, I hope so.

AMY: Yeah. Love to hear your story, but today we're going to be talking about coming to terms with working at a lower capacity than you might have expected for yourself. And I think that this applies to from your personal experience, illness and something physically with your body.

For other people, it could be a season of life where they are a caretaker for somebody or or where they are pregnant or where they are in a transitional phase of moving. I mean, there are so many things. Life just happens. And I'm working hard to kind of break away from this, like, instead of being like, okay, life happens, but I just have to keep going like normal, being able to recognize that like, it's okay if life happens and it's okay if that changes what work looks like for you.

CLAIRE: Yes. And yeah. And when you are your own boss, there's no texting your boss to say, Hey, I have a funeral and I'm going to be out for the week. Can you pick up the slack? That's you. It's you have to do that. It's you.

AMY: Yeah. There, there's a lot to unpack here, but let's just start with a little bit of background on you, Claire, share your story with us of as much about you, but also just about your business and how your health has played into that in the last few years.

CLAIRE: Yeah. So I started my business back in 2019, which is crazy because that means it's been like four years, I guess. That is crazy. I started back in 2019. I was working at a media firm for a nonprofit and then just felt like it was time for me to start my own thing and all the pieces just kind of fell into place. And I did, I started at the time I was doing web design and branding and graphic design.

My college background is actually in video production with some computer science, which is where the computer web stuff came in. And my mom is actually a graphic design professor and just is fantastic. So I learned the web stuff in school and I learned the visual branding stuff from her pretty much all of my childhood and upbringing. We are very similar in the artsy realm.

AMY: That makes it make more sense because I am just so blown away by your work. And how is she so good? So it makes sense that it's been part of you.

CLAIRE: It has. She would literally, so yeah, she's a college professor at our university here in town. And she, like, I remember growing up, you know, she'd be grading student work. And I was in like sixth grade. And she'd be like, Hey, Claire, come in here and arrange these projects from like what you think is best to worst. Or she'll be like, can you look at this and tell me what you think about it.

And I'd be like, I feel like there's not enough space there or something, you know, she'd be like, yes, that's exactly right. You know, like I had these like, I don't know, she would like kind of bring me into the process or like they were teachable moments in terms of design, which was just so cool.

So I had a ton of like visual teaching in my upbringing, which definitely definitely gave me, I think a leg up. And I'm so grateful for that. Anyway, so yeah. So I started my web and branding business in 2019 and did that for a couple months and I was living in Tampa at the time. My husband and I decided it was time to move back to the Midwest where we're from, literally moved back to my hometown on the drive home pulling the U-Haul in February of 2020. I remember reading an article about this new thing. My gosh. It was, yeah, I remember that day. I remember that day.

And anyway, we basically got stranded living between in-laws for like seven months. Our in-laws are both great. So it worked, but it's still hard. So I was running my business from my sister-in-law's childhood, Ben Raylan. I mean, like a little son of a, we do that for a while. Um, we basically did that because my husband was looking for a job and we didn't want to settle anywhere in case he, you know, got something somewhere else. That makes sense. Um, yeah.

And he finally found something here in my hometown. So we rented a house here and then I had like a little office in there and, um, just in our house and the, I guess that would have been like the spring of 2021 is when I like The fall of the year before in the spring is when I just got really, really sick. Um, and I guess it was more physical. Um, from fall until like that February, I was just on this like downhill slope.

And it got to the point where I was in so much pain. I could not get up off the couch without help. I couldn't dress myself. Um, and it was horrible and I thought it was from this like cold muscle in my hip from, I was walking my dog that fall and he like pulled me weird and tweaked. And I thought, you know, it's one of those things you're just like, maybe I should just rest and it'll get better. And I kept waiting and waiting and it kept getting worse and worse. Um, and I went to physical therapy for a little bit.

I did a couple of sessions and I had like an evalu- they do like an evaluation after a few sessions to see where you're at. And the poor lady was like, I don't know how to tell you this, but I think you need to go see a doctor. This isn't normal. And I remember I started crying. She's like, I'm so sorry if I upset you. I'm like, no, you're just confirming what I knew deep down. I ended up seeing a doctor. It was autoimmune crap.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: And so it went a couple months just being in so much pain. And I don't know why I did this. I'm so thankful I did. But during this time, I ended up hiring a business coach. Again, I don't know what-- I'm kind of counterintuitive.

AMY: I love that you did it.

CLAIRE: But it saved my business. It really did. And I can go more into detail later, but just kind of part of the autoimmune diagnosis It's called ankylosing spondylitis, which is a mouthful and it sounds gross. If anyone out there has that, bless you. I just, I feel for you. I know how it is. It sucks.

Basically what that means is it's swelling of your axial skeleton and like autoimmune stuff, it can just manifest in so many different ways. Autoimmune diseases, chronic pain can just manifest itself so differently in everyone. It can take years to be diagnosed. It's a journey, but for me, it looked like swelling in my SI joints, so my low back and lumbar spine was just messed up.

And then it also causes swelling in my wrist, and I had tendonitis in my wrist really bad. So basically my job was to sit at a computer all day, and the things that were affecting me were my wrists. So typing and mouse moving, and then my low back. Yeah, it was not good. So that's like directly how my business was impacted by that. Anyway, I hired a business coach.

And she, I think we'll talk about that, you know, a little bit later, but she helped me really streamline get clear. I ended up dropping offers that I actually love to do for people like sources I loved, but they were just causing me stress. And it was time to streamline. And And so I did that, I narrowed down, started working less and making more, which is the dream.

And yeah, and so now it's been, I guess, yeah, about a little over two years since doing that. And yeah, I don't know. All that was so like crazy and roller coastery. Now that there hasn't been as much roller coaster, it feels like, not that that's plateaued, but you know, it's like, okay.

AMY: Everything's just fine. It's like, is anything wrong? Everything's fine.

CLAIRE: Yeah, all right.

AMY: Yeah. I mean, that is so interesting though. As you're saying that, I'm thinking about how that is something that people have to do is narrow down. And the goal is to work more and make less. And it's almost like your diagnosis forced you to do it.

CLAIRE: Absolutely.

AMY: Way sooner than you probably ever would have.

CLAIRE: Absolutely. So it's like not a good thing, but it kind of was a cool outcome. No, a hundred percent. It was, and it was about my, what would that have been? I guess about my two year mark. I feel like at the two or three year mark, I always see this, especially when people come to me for, you know, they need a custom website bill and they start explaining where they're at.

And I'm like, you've been in business for like two or three years, right? And they're like, yeah, I am. And I'm like, yeah, I could sell. It's like this first few years, you're just, you gotta make money somehow. You're saying yes to everything. You're trying all the things and that's okay. Like there's nothing wrong with that. You're getting a feel for what you like. Like, sure, I'll try social media marketing and like, yeah, I'll try a retainer client.

And yeah, I'll try to build templates and like, okay, sure. And then yeah, you do that for a while. And then you start getting more and more clients home. And you're like, okay, I can start saying no to a few people. Like I can say no to the things I don't want to do. Then you start doing that. And then all of a sudden you've reached capacity and you hit like that two, three year mark. And you're like, okay, I either really gotta expand this and hire out and blow this thing up in a good way or it's time to scale it back.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: And I think for me, I'm so glad I had my business coach to help me realize this, but for me personally, I'm not super entrepreneurial really. Like having a business was never my idea. It just kind of happened. That's very much my husband. So for me, when I hit this point and it felt like it was either time to expand or narrow down, all of my friends were expanding and I was watching them hire VAs, hire social media marketers, hire out other people to help them with their contract services.

And I just felt like that's what I was supposed to do because all of my friends were doing it, which is great. And I just remember having this conversation with my business coach and just being like, I don't want to manage a team. I actually think I would be really bad at that. Like I don't really want this. I just want to make websites or whatever. And she was like, why do you have to hire out and grow? Like, why do you have to do that? And I was like, I don't know, but I guess I thought that's what I was supposed to do.

AMY: Yeah, right, right. It seems like the next logical step.

CLAIRE: Yeah, and she's like, you can just stay just you as long as you want. You're gonna have to learn how to manage things, learn how to say no or learn how to just do things differently but like you do not have to grow and expand. And that was such an important part of me scaling down my business and refining my offers and making my business work in a way where it can be just me.

And I'm so lucky that I had her to walk me through that.

I am really glad because it really, it's one or the other. Like you gotta grow, but it's either growing by yourself or growing with a team. And yeah, I relate to the, well, I found myself in leading a team. Like I love it.

AMY: I love that. I love that so much.

CLAIRE: There's gonna be people who really love that. And I'd rather just be the one to tell people what to do. And then they do it.

AMY: So amazing.

CLAIRE: Then we need people like you. (laughing)

I like, do you tell me what to do? I'll do it better than anyone and I'll be a perfectionist about it. But I'm like, but don't, I don't want to make the decision.

AMY: I think there's major, major pros and cons to either. And they're both equally great choices and you just have to decide what works for you.

CLAIRE: 100%.

AMY: And for your business.

CLAIRE: Yeah, and for me, like at that time when I was barely able to sit at the computer and work, like at all, I was, it was, it already was not in my personality to be able to like lead a team. But yeah, at that point I'm like, I physically cannot.

And maybe it's something if I would have had that established beforehand and that was really something I wanted to do, like totally could have worked, but it takes a lot of time to establish that. And that's just not the path that you went down. It's just, yeah, no, no, this makes a lot of sense for you. And I think for people listening who are like, which path do I choose?

It's like, you got to kind of step back and take account of your personality and the kind of effort that you want to put in and what your business is suited for. I didn't have a one specific service that I could just zone in and do really well. I naturally like doing a lot of things and offering a lot of things. And so that kind of is suited better for a team. Whereas you literally were like, I just want to do websites, which is amazing.

AMY: Yeah. Like if you've got your thing, just lean in, figure out exactly how you can do it. Well, um, we could have a whole different episode about how you streamline to your offers. And I really want to ask you that, but I also don't want to delay too much from our other conversations.

So curious, maybe you can weave it in.

So you were working with this business coach in the midst of your initial like flare and diagnosis? Has it been in and out of like capacities since then or has it been a more consistent lower capacity?

CLAIRE: That's a great question. So I think, so I worked with her, I only worked with, she kind of ran sessions or, you know, it was like a six month mentorship and I, okay, I did the six months and And then I loved working with her so much, but just couldn't, you know.

AMY: Yeah, for the job.

CLAIRE: And so I had my sixth months. She got me in a great direction. And I kind of felt like, you know, okay, I can take it from here. So I worked with her that spring. And from that spring to fall is pretty much when I spent a lot of time physically healing. I started doing like a different type of physical therapy, I guess, that really, really worked and healed my body.

AMY: Oh, cool.

CLAIRE: Yes, I feel like a wonder story. They just, they wanted to blast me with what's called TNF blockers.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: Basically the idea is like your immune system can't attack yourself if your immune system is turned off.

AMY: Yikes.

CLAIRE: It works for some people and it's a lifesaver for some people.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: You know, I don't want to say anything negative about that. I just knew from me at the time, I'm like, I'm 26, that's a big step. Let me just see what else is out there for me.

So yeah, so I did some more physical therapy that was more tart. Now that we knew it was wrong, it looked a little different and that helped me so much. And I remember that fall was actually when I did my first community theater musical. And I remember at the beginning of the process being scared like, am I gonna be able to do all the dance moves? Like I'm still healing.

And by the end of the show, in November, whenever it was, I was like pretty much fully like physically back to where I was before, which is crazy. It's absolutely crazy. And so I think since then, since then I haven't had as much physical hindrance in like what I can do. It's been a lot of energy.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: Just, I don't know, when you just have, you know, chronic pain or autoimmune stuff or, you know, kids or whatever, like the energy is just lower. And I have noticed that. I have noticed that on and off. So luckily I haven't had to deal with as much physical stuff over the last two-ish years.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: But yeah, energy has definitely been lower. And I think, I don't know, when you have flares like that, you're just, you're almost kind of just waiting for the waiting for the other shoe to drop. You're just always kind of waiting, you know, when's that, it could come back tomorrow, it could come back two months from now.

And that's kind of scary, but just having that mindset of being able to work in a lower capacity, I think, I don't know, prepares you for it or-

And I just a moment to recognize like, because a lot of what I want to focus on in the podcast in general is just mindset. And I just want to point out here that there is a lot of energy that goes into processing what happened to you and processing like, when's the next thing going to come? A lot of your energy is being spent there.

So even if there's no physical stuff or no social or whatever getting in the way, that's still going to be a factor. And we need to recognize it and not ignore it.

AMY: And you're so right. I think so much goes, you know, from specifically like a chronic pain or sick illness standpoint, like even though you're not maybe feeling it as much right now, you're always prepping and you're always trying to maintain that.

CLAIRE: I'm always constantly trying to maintain my health and the swelling in my joints. It's at a maintenance level, which isn't just doing nothing. It costs energy and mental space. I'm sure the same goes for people with kids or moving. We just moved. goes into like just keeping your head above the water and keeping.

AMY: Another like pocket that I'm thinking about is grieving. Like if you've lost someone that process. And you never know when it's going to just come up.

CLAIRE: And if, if I'm, I'm going to be really honest, I, I guess maybe this might be a trick warning from some people in the last year, I have been pregnant twice and I have no children. So we've also in the midst of this been experienced grief.

What you were saying. And there, yeah, that that's, that is also a lower capacity. That's tied in with your body because it is. And that it's, It's all just wrapped up into each other. And yeah, and there are days where you're just like, I can't focus right now.

You're grieving or your body is just physically hurting you or whatever. And you're like, you know what? I really don't care about this fitness influencers website right now. Like I really, I'm trying and I really don't. And yeah, it's, it's hard to like find that balance between, I don't know, your health matters, your family matters, grieving and processing matters.

But you know, your business matters too. And it's hard to find that balance of working and grieving or working and resting or working and yeah, yeah, I don't have a perfect answer.

AMY: You've been through a lot. You have wisdom to share from that. And I just want to say I'm so sorry that you experienced that. I have a friend who just experienced a miscarriage as well. And I'm glad that it's more talked about now.

CLAIRE: It is. It's crazy. The more that I share with people, I would say probably three times out of four, when I tell someone I've had a miscarriage, they say, Oh yeah, I had one too.

Or yeah, I had one before I had our second kid or like, yeah, I just have found out so many more people. And I'm like, yeah, why don't you? Part of me's like, why don't you talk about that?

And I'm like, okay, I don't really talk about it.

AMY: Thank you for talking about it. Because I know that somebody listening is probably experiencing that as well. I hope so. And yeah, if you are, yeah, experiencing grief and trying to run a business, just know you're not alone. And I know that it sucks.

CLAIRE: But yeah, again, like learning to, learning to balance, learning to manage energy, learning how to prioritize what really needs to be done.

AMY: Yeah, what's really, you know, what really excites you in business, because when you're, when you're grieving, or you're in pain, or you're just crazy busy, like, you have to keep working. So it kind of needs to be things that are going to excite you a little bit.

CLAIRE: Yeah, like, you know, if there's three things you have to do and you're dreading two of them, but only want to do one of them. Like it's going to be harder to get into it, to get in his own, to work.

And yeah, that's, that's what I kind of had to do.

AMY: Well, I think it's obviously a great segue into getting into. And I think that there's a lot of like system practical things that people can do to like prepare for things like this or respond to things like this. But obviously what we're talking about is a lot more of the mindset side, which is sort of a system in itself, different kind of system. So let's dive into your two or three cents on the mindset to have of how to respond and your first one, accept what a lower capacity looks like.

CLAIRE: Yeah, and you asked me to send you a few bullet points and my first one said, "Step one, accept this."

AMY: Yeah, so true.

CLAIRE: I think, man, oh, there's so many ways I could go here, so many thoughts. I think first off, to recognize that as women and female business owners, we, I don't wanna speak for everyone, but I don't know, we feel this sense that we have to work twice as hard. And you have to, I don't know, just as a female business owner, we just already feel that expectation that we have to do twice as much to be professional or to look, I don't know. So there's that layer. And then I think there's like being a perfectionist and wanting to do things right and well, which is a great thing. But when you're first starting your business, you don't know what the heck you're doing.

AMY: Yeah. (laughs)

CLAIRE: And all of that to say, like a lot of times we don't want to accept the fact that we might not be in a place to give 120% at the moment. And that's a hard thing to accept when you have all these expectations from mostly probably yourself. But there are external expectations too. It's probably mostly yourself.

AMY: Probably.

CLAIRE: It's hard, it's a hard thing to accept, but I've talked about this before, but just like when you come to terms with that, it not only is beneficial for you, like if you're not just gonna do it for you, do it for the people around you. Because I specifically remember like back when I was having like so much chronic pain, just like all the time, when you're in the midst of chronic pain, you have to cope with it or you won't get through it. And so a lot of times that meant pushing it to the side of my brain space or just not thinking about it or just doing something else to stop thinking about how much pain I was in.

And I remember several times my husband would be like, he would see me one day and be like, "Oh my gosh, you must be doing so much better." Like you're just up and you're doing it, you must be feeling so much better. I was like, no, horrible. Like, I can barely hook my boss morning.

AMY: Yeah.

CLAIRE: No, I don't feel better. I'm just pretending that I feel better so that I can move on with my life and get the things done I have to get done. And that was, I remember that was always really shocking to him. And I think, you know, of course you do need to do things you gotta do mentally to push forward. but I think in this acceptance of being at low capacity and not being at 100%, you're gonna also help other people around you recognize, I don't, you know, she's not at 100%, okay, like, how are the ways I can step in and help out, especially like, you know, if it's a spouse or a business partner or a coworker or whatever, accepting that and letting people know, feels weak, it can feel like it can feel like you're being weak. It's not true. It feels like it. And I remember a, a gal I work with Jess at Hustle saying Lee, like I do a ton of I do all her like I did her website and I do her physical products too.

And she knows that, you know, during that time period, I worked with her for like five years now. During that time period, like I had to be be really honest with her and say like, Hey, you asked for this workbook to be due on Friday. And I just I can't do it.

I'm in so much pain and I just need to sleep and like, is it okay if I look at it over the weekend or if I get it to you next Wednesday or like just being honest or just in general saying like, I have this going on in my life that may affect these deadlines and just being really honest. And it's hard to do because it can make you look, or make you feel like you're being weak or whatever.

And I do think it can also again help other people because Nat, well, Jess is, she's one of those organized people I've ever met in my life. So she was already doing this, but I think it reminded her like, okay, if I need to post this workbook for my community on Friday, I shouldn't ask for it Thursday night from my designer. I should ask for it a week in advance or whatever.

AMY: Leave extra space.

CLAIRE: Yeah, and it helped her be able to plan out in advance as well. Again, she's crazy and she does that already so well.

AMY: I know, I'm amazed.

CLAIRE: But, man, you should see the place she’s in. Anyway, it's so inspiring really, 'cause I am not that way at all. But anyway, so I think just being accepting when you're at low capacity, again, helps you and it can help people around you when you communicate that to them.

And I think can just kind of set expectations better, better for you to be straight up and say, this is what I'm working with, it may affect this. I will let you know, I will communicate with you. I'm sorry, it's just what life has given me right now.

Then better that than the day before saying like, hey, this isn't gonna be done on time, I'm really sorry. Exactly. And yeah, again, it's hard and I know it. It's not, it's not what we want to do, but I think it can save you so much time and save other people time. And if you're honest, upfront, people are going to be very understanding.

AMY: Oh my gosh. More understanding than you would expect them to be.

Because I think we just think we're the only ones with ish going on. Yeah. But like everyone else has their own ish too. Everyone gets it. Like you said, like, female business owners are parents and they're like, Oh, I also have a two and a five year old running around.

I was going to say, like you said, like you mentioned one thing, one experience that you're having and you never know who's going to relate to it.

CLAIRE: Yes. I have, yeah. After I've been on a few podcasts and talked about having like ankylosing spondylitis, which is just in the name in itself. It's just crazy. And I had people DM me, oh my gosh, I have that same exact autoimmune disease too. And to just hear you say that was like so validating. And it's not like, you just, you'd absolutely never know what's or, you know, like maybe they're a caretaker and they see other people struggling with pain or whatever it is. Like you just, you never know. And I think extending that,

AMY: Absolutely.

CLAIRE: That grace to people to understand, giving them the chance to understand.

AMY: Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. You're inviting them in and that'll create a stronger connection.

CLAIRE: Yes, 100%.

AMY: And probably result in a better working relationship anyways.

CLAIRE: 100%, yeah, which I think that's something unique that we as women business owners are able to do and to foster a more community in those, even just contractual, you know? Like, I'm your web designer, but like we DM and like we, you know, I don't know. Like it's just I like to be friends with people.

AMY: Okay, so you mentioned this earlier about how when you're kind of forced to, or when you come to the point in business where you're like, okay, I really got a pare down. What you need to focus on is what lights you up and what makes you excited versus what drains you. and needs to be either cut or handed off. So talk about that process and what you went through.

CLAIRE: Yeah, yeah. So for me, I have a very concrete example. So I started working with my business coach back when I was experiencing all this pain. And I'm just like, if I continue business like this, I will not be able to continue at all. Like this isn't gonna work.

AMY: Yeah, which was hard. You just had like a hard line that not everybody has. It's hard.

CLAIRE: And yeah, I think for, yeah, for me, it became the life or death of my business. Like I got a change or this isn't gonna work. And my business coach really helped me. We spent a lot of time like talking through my offers, talking through what I wanted and all these things. So specifically for me at that time, my services were custom web design work. And that was usually a two month-ish process, back and forth between clients. And then also custom branding design, which was again--

AMY: Wow, you had all of that.

CLAIRE: Yes, full on custom everything, month-long projects.

AMY: Yeah, that's a lot of work.

CLAIRE: And I even was good at pacing myself as far, I didn't book too many people at once. It wasn't even that, that wasn't even the problem. Which is good, but like I was still drowning. And we dug down and like deep enough to figure out a couple of things that even though I loved what I was doing, were draining me. And the first one was months, months long back and forth communication with clients.

AMY: That is hard.

CLAIRE: If it was a service, Service-based business is not there, you know, it was hard and it was draining me and the anxiety I would feel when I knew a client was waiting for something and it wasn't going to be until next week that I would give it to like, there was just so much anxiety.

And I also came to realize that actually the process of branding, even though I thought it I thought it was really fun and I loved it. It was actually draining me. I kind of see, you know, web design is give me the stuff and I'll make something beautiful out of it. Give me your colors, give me your photos, give me your content and I'll make this thing.

Branding is very much like something out of nothing. Like, you know, there's whole branding processes, you know, people go through, right? You know, there's questionnaires, they give you things, but essentially you have to create something from nothing. And I found that for me, even though again, I love to do it, it just drained my energy that between that and going back and forth with clients like for months at a time was just running me ragged, even if I had one or two clients at a time, still, and even maybe this goes into the mindset of that, but like, like I said, like the anxiety from that, and always knowing someone was like waiting on me or that just like, for me personally, just like wore me down so much. Um, and totally makes sense.

Yeah. So from there, kind of those two things, my business coach was like, all right. So how do we change? Like, how do we change? So the first pretty easy, simple one was I stopped doing branding design, um, which was sad, but after I let it go, I just felt so much lighter. And sometimes if a friend or someone I know comes to me that I've worked with before, sometimes they can pull me out of work.

Yeah, like on a case like, but I do not like offer it, you know, on my website, on whatever, which I think from an outside perspective can look like, you know, I don't like man, like Pinterest traffic, if you're a branding designer, oh my gosh, you can get so much traffic and do so well on Pinterest for brand design.

And so I think, which is why I never wanted to let it go, because man, you can just get so much traffic, inquiries, all this stuff as a branding designer. Specifically, that was one reason I think I kept holding onto it and you know, I enjoyed it. So I let that go and we just focused on websites. And after I just kind of one track minded it, like just websites, I already felt better, but my coach was like, we're not gonna stop there.

Like, let's keep going.

AMY: Love it. Yeah.

CLAIRE: Yeah, again, so now this other part that was draining me was this like months or eight week projects, 12 week projects, like going on and on, just like draining me. And she was like, well, have you ever thought about doing a VIP day? And I was like, not really. I don't really know what that is.

So I started researching and looking and we like created this new VIP date website service, which I started realizing when I started looking at my, you know, two month long web design process, I was really only designing for like a couple days in there because I as a person, one of my strengths is focus. And I'm one of those people who will just, I could sit there for eight hours and just pump it out like crazy.

And so I realized I was kind of already doing that. I was just adding more stress for myself with the back and forth and like, send this for approval and like you get back and then we'll jump on a call and then like just all this fluff that didn't necessarily need to be there. Yeah. And so we redesigned the offer to just be a two day website build. I build it day one, day two, we look at it together, we'll, you know, tweak stuff, we'll launch it and we'll make it live. And I remember, I remember after my first one, just the feeling of having the client come in, like, you know, give me everything before the day. You got to give it to me. Okay. I have it. Okay. We're editing it. We've launched it. Good. Bye.

I send, I send you off with this beautiful website, uh, you know, and I'm here if you have questions or whatever, but yeah, right. The feeling of being able, like just in and out, in and out and not having these like ongoing things, just, I don't know my mind, just my mindset about everything totally changed. I felt so much freer and I feel like I got so much energy back to then put into my business in other ways.

Because you need to reserve energy for yourself. I know marketing and all that.

So that's kind of how I scale those things. Just looking at my strengths, what was draining me, things that were actually exciting to me and how do we fit all of those things together.

AMY: That's amazing. I was literally going to ask you, what questions would you tell people to ask themselves? But you already answered it.

CLAIRE: Yeah. I think, yeah, I think, you know, what lights you up? What are you good at or what are you known for? Because I guess switching to something that you're totally not known for could hurt you.

What are you known for? And then what are you good at? Like what are your strengths? And outside of just like, I can build websites, you know, like as firm But what are you good at in your business specifically?

And for me, what I'm good at and what I love most is just the actual nitty gritty designing of it. And it's actually helped me as well. Actually, now I do some contract web design work for other designers who their favorite thing to do is to talk back and forth with the client, to brainstorm and dream and like, what do you want this to look like? Let's do some business strategy. And then they hand me the pieces and I just, I built it. And like, that's my thing.

AMY: Yeah, so you have the execution.

CLAIRE: I'm the executioner by far.

So it's just, it has freed me up a lot and has really helped me, I don't know, mentally stay in business. Which I need to do.

AMY: And you used the word scale. I don't know if you meant to, but you used the word scale when you were talking about simplifying. But it's like, yeah, like sometimes we have to like flip that like in our head scales.

CLAIRE: Yeah, but scaling isn't always more sometimes it's no scaling.

A lot of times and I think for me as a as a solopreneur scaling didn't look like hiring more people and expanding my offers. It looked like simplifying my offers so that I could get really good at it and maybe do more of it. But I mean, you can scale financially. I was able to scale financially once I got really good at what my craft was. I could, like I said, turn that into other things as well, like doing contract work for other designers. It is another service, but it is still very much in the same lane.

It's still what I love to do and what I can offer in terms of energy and capacity, but just in another form, which is scaling in itself as well. It is so good. And yeah, that's another thing that we have to flip in our minds that the more I offer, the more money I'll make. And it's actually less you offer the more money.

And my business coach again helped me refine that offer. And I would do a few VIP days and then we'd meet and like, "Okay, what went well? How can we make it even better. Like, what more can you offer on the VIP date without, you know, quote, giving, you know, often more without putting too much energy into it.

And like, yeah, I up the price several times. Have up the price on my VIP day several times now just because it's gotten better and better. And I've really honed in that craft. And it's really what I love to do. And so yeah, for this season of business, it's, I'm really enjoying it, just having that simple offer. And yeah.

AMY: I was gonna ask, do you feel like you've established all of that? And like, of course you make tweaks along the way, like the up in the price, but do you feel like you're mainly in more of like a, like you've got it set and you're just running with it?

CLAIRE: Right, yeah, I do, which at the beginning I was talking about, you know, all these crazy things are happening and then it kind of feels like you, plateau is the wrong word, but it's like just 'cause there's nothing crazy happening right now. I do kind of think that's how it's been for me. I have this offer kind of worked out. I've had it worked out for about over a year now. And for me, that's comforting. I think for some people who wanna keep adding on or doing more or hiring people, which is great, maybe they would have feel uncomfortable with it, but I actually feel very comfortable with it.

And I don't know, I kind of know, I know how many inquiries I'm gonna get. I have like a set, you know, I know what I'm gonna make each month. And if at some later time, somehow I gain more capacity, I can choose to add up it. I can up it, but no, I think for me and just where I'm at in life, I feel very comfortable just continuing with this without changing it every whatever or, and I don't, even processing this out loud makes me feel better about it because I don't see a lot of other entrepreneurs doing that.

I see them adding new offers, hiring people, upping prices, always upping the ante. And so, and almost it can, I think, if you let it make you feel bad about yourself or your business, but to just say, wait a minute, that's not even what I wanna do.

So why do I feel bad about this? Like I'm exactly where I want to be. So I don't need to continue to like keep changing and refining, which takes energy, you know? I can just, it totally does. It takes planning and execution and you know, and like I'm good with where I'm at. Like let me just stay in my lane if more, some crazy opportunity comes my way, like great, but I'm, I'm good for now.

AMY: That's beautiful honestly. And I crave to be there on it. Like from someone who is always doing something new, I am really ready to just like have my stuff set.

CLAIRE: It's a lot of discipline.

AMY: And I feel myself getting a lot closer, but just know that like, I want to be where you are.

CLAIRE: Oh my God. But I feel so eager to like hear.

AMY: Yeah, I know. That's why I'm saying it too. Cause like other people probably like feel that same way that they're like, is something wrong with me, that I'm not constantly watching something. Whereas I'm like, is something wrong with me that I can't make up my mind and I keep doing more things. But yeah, I love, I love your point of be okay with not looking like any everybody else.

Like I think that's exactly what you need to. It's hard, especially when it is your business, it is your income. It is, you know, yeah, that's how you're going to put food on the table. And so I think to see other people find success and, what appears as happiness, like on Instagram, I'm sure it is happiness a lot of times, but it's not always, you don't see the negative sides, right?

Um, to see them find success in something that you think you should be doing can definitely, that could be a whole podcast episode on itself.

CLAIRE: Yes. On its own, but 100%.

Feeling comfortable with where you're at is, is huge.

AMY: Oh, that's another good one. I'll have to write that down. So I know you have some resources that have been really helpful to you during this journey. I would love to hear about those and share them with everybody who's listening too.

CLAIRE: I have a couple. So the first one, uh, this feels like a pitch for myself. It's not really. I just designed the products. I probably talk about Jess in maybe 25 episodes. Like I talk about it all the time. So surely they know.

Just the stuff with hustle, same Lee, her planners, her, I literally like have my, have my planner right here. I have an episode on her podcast where we talk about how specifically I like plan out, you know, my days being lower capacity in life.

Anyway. It's like a secret. Listen to that anyway. So all her stuff is just great for it is peaceful productivity. I was thinking about that on my drive into work today, like how you, like, you know, your stuff is like peaceful entrepreneur and hers is like, you know, productivity. From a peacefulness. They fit together really nicely. I use a lot. I mean, I've used so much of her stuff. She's great. Um, so that would be the first resource. Um, from a business perspective, someone I love to follow is Natasha. She's Natasha Pierre now. Um, Shined with Natasha is her handle. And she has kind of gone from like an instant, she was a social media manager, then she did Instagram kind of coaching. Now she just does like video content, which video content right now is huge.

And she basically just coaches people on how to use video content, but not, but how to like, not kill yourself in the process, which I think is just really great from my perspective, when you're lower capacity, she just has such great teaching on how to create video content for your business. She calls it low lift content. That's just really easy and everything, all of her, everything's just so approachable and like achievable.

And I never feel like I'm, you know, wasting out for doing something. She just has great simple tips for video. And I really appreciate that about her. She's wonderful. And then Barry on Barry would be the last one. She has this program called optimize your flow. She's a period educator and she helps women balance their hormones and cycle sync so that they can be more productive in business because at different times in your cycle, your brain is like better wired to do certain types of tasks or things or reflect or whatever.

So I love following her to optimize your energy in your business because if you're at lower capacity, every second of your day that you can't offer to work is valuable. So I love reading her tips on how to make that work in your business, how to be more productive in business.

AMY: I love that.

CLAIRE: I've started to get a lot of that. Those are just three women. I also know all of them, but yeah. I've started to see a lot about the cycle sync.

AMY: Yes. Okay. Yeah. It's like, it's clicking in. It's finally like, yeah, I want to deep dive into this. I know it seems like a whole thing.

CLAIRE: Yeah, it is a whole thing. But I think that it's going to be like when I first started doing the batch days that Jess talks about that it's like I spent my whole day on one specific type of thing. That was a big game changer for me. I feel like this is going to be my next like productivity game changer. So I'm excited.

Yeah, it's crazy our bodies work that way. I love wild. And I've been thinking about it like while we've been talking this whole time because I'm like, that's a whole nother thing that's like, we got to accept the fluctuation, even just as general women.

And yeah, and there's even like, you know, chronic pain and like your cycle, like women just come up with like endometriosis. I have endometriosis, it's not flaring crazy right now, but like I have that too. So I know, I know women who have to take a week off of work a month, who like physically cannot function, you know? like even from that perspective too. So many people.

AMY: I love that. This has been so good and I really think this is going to be very helpful to people. And so just thank you for sharing your experience and your story and your wisdom. And I, yeah, I just think this is going to be so valuable. So I cannot wait for everybody to hear it.

CLAIRE: I love being here.

AMY: Good, good.

My last question for everybody is, what is bringing you peace right now?

CLAIRE: Well, we talked about this. We talked about this at the beginning of our call, but I am just, it's weird. I think people think of me as like the website girl, but actually people in my real life that know me, no, I'm the music girl.

I grew up like playing instruments constantly all the time. And music is just my escape from everything. Listening to music, playing music, writing music. And so I would say I've been starting to write a little bit more of my own music recently and I'm trying to like, need to record some of it sometimes. So I think that is really what's been giving me peace.

But as creative entrepreneurs, we can easily slip down the slope until like perfection and monetization. And I'm like, I don't ever want it to be that. So for writing there now, writing music is giving me peace.

AMY: That's beautiful. And I think like the bigger moral to pull out of that is like peaceful entrepreneurs need to have habits and hobbies that bring them life outside of their business. And that's a big thing.

CLAIRE: Yes, absolutely. Yes, we do. Something that we cannot monetize because you know that we'll do it if we have the chance.

AMY: Oh yeah.

CLAIRE: We love it, boundaries with ourselves.

AMY: I know. (both laughing)

So good. Well, thank you again, Claire, and I hope everybody has enjoyed and we will see you all next week.

CLAIRE: Bye.

AMY: Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode. Don't forget to connect with us on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, and we would love it if you would leave a review wherever you're listening. We'll see you next week for more tips for how to become a peaceful entrepreneur.