Can I re-ignite the passion for my (side) business?
Building a business is so much fun, until it isn't anymore...
For the last 18-24 months, I’ve been struggling to find my groove with my side hustle business: Dream Life by Design.
To give you some context, I’m all about helping solopreneurs bring their course ideas to life on the Teachery course platform [aff].
It was a bit of a happy accident that I fell in love with this platform – you can read more on why I love Teachery over on my website – and for the last few years I’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping people ensure they launch a course that looks as amazing as the content they’re creating. Well, until I didn’t enjoy it anymore that is…but more on that later.
My work has always been rooted in authenticity and integrity, and I’m 100% committed to delivering design that’s not only beautiful but also practical.
I’ve been in the design world for over 15 years, balancing a full-time job as a UI designer for a product I love, raising two kiddos, and building my business on the side— so trust me when I say I understand the importance of making the most of your time and resources. Hence, I know helping others focus on their Zone of Genius whilst I work my design magic is a match made in heaven.
A proud moment for me was when Jason and Caroline Zook (founders of Teachery) reached out to me and asked if I could design some starter themes for their platform. Honestly, this was a literal dream come true as I’d previously written this down in my ‘Dreams’ list in my journal. The excitement I felt when Jason reached out to me was immense, there was no way I’d turn down an offer like that!
Truthfully though, that project – whilst I considered it to be some of my best work and an insanely valuable opportunity to have experienced – was probably a stretch too far for a second-time Mama on her maternity leave, that was learning to adapt to her new life with two littles. However, I didn’t really realise that until after the fact when the first few signs of burnout started seeping in through the cracks.
The funny thing about having a baby is that it feels like a part of you metaphorically dies whilst a new version of yourself is also born. With this re-birth comes a period of unravelling and self-discovery. Not only are you adjusting and tending to the needs of your baby, your body, your hormones and your recovery…you are also learning to understand and navigate what this new version of ‘You’ is all about.
I realise now, after a lot of rest, reflection and journalling, that I never truly honoured that time to just “be” and enjoy that season. The result of continuing to push past my desire for productivity and achieving my goals was that I ended up falling completely out of love with my business.
However, I continued to push.
No matter how much I planned, designed, listened to coaching, paid for coaching, validated my ideas, or knew I had product idea that people were literally asking me for…I couldn’t manifest my ideas or create anything I was truly proud of and felt comfortable enough to share.
As I mentioned, my work is rooted in authenticity and integrity – and attempting to side step past my body screaming for rest meant I was not honouring those core values anymore…
…so I boldly decided to just let go.
Detach entirely from my business.
Stop consuming ANYTHING business related.
Focus on small pleasures and cultivating joy.
This period of stepping back has been both challenging and incredibly enriching – but mostly it's been a very good lesson in acceptance and fine-tuning my inner compass.
Whilst I initially found it triggering to see peers progressing and flourishing in their businesses, I eventually reached a point where it no longer bothered me. I took my time to do all the inner work to examine, accept and move past the feelings that were arising.
I also chose to lean heavily into personal development, started reading for pleasure again, became pro-active in making the effort to meet up with friends, embraced the learning curve of owning our own caravan, cherished making family memories at our favourite camp site, and funnelled my energy wherever it felt like it wanted to in any given moment. It’s been so refreshing and liberating, yet at times truly terrifying!
Would my creativity and zest for my business ever return? Or was this it? Finito?
For months and months, I felt despair at not knowing my next steps. Yet, when I began to surrender fully and trust that following my desires and honouring my needs was a worthy cause, I also began to experience mini waves of inspiration.
They were fleeting, and didn’t often make sense from a strategic business perspective, but I just noted them down in Notion and sometimes gave myself some space to explore them if I felt the desire to do so.
Fast-forward to today, I feel a glimmer of hope for the future, alongside a fear of falling back into where I have been previously. All I know is that I want to operate more from the lens of integrity and share openly about my journey of trying to reconnect with my biz, and the big ‘a-ha’ for me is that I don’t want to burn down my business like I initially thought I did.
Life will always keep on life-ing, so I understand now that I’ve got to be able to adapt and ensure that building my side hustle doesn’t overshadow the aspects of my humanity – love, connection, joy etc.
My intention is to begin small by creating a mini digital product. If you’re keen to follow along for the ride – especially if you’ve been in a bit of a rut yourself – I invite you to subscribe to Unravel. It’s completely free 💖
PS. You may have noticed that I’ve shared my affiliate link for Teachery in this post, and I have only done so because I whole-heartedly love this course platform. As a heads up, I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use my affiliate link to purchase Teachery #justbeinghonest