I’m SOOO excited to release the first episode of my brand new podcast, The Simple Business Show. So today, I want to tell you what this podcast will be about and how it can help you.
Today I’ll be diving in to why you don’t need to intensely hustle to build your dream business, and how building it can be simpler than you think.
I started this podcast to provide solopreneurs (like you!) with a place where you can get uncomplicated, simple business advice.
Because let’s face it, you want to do more of the creative work you love and less of the business-y stuff you don’t.
Managing rude clients gives you anxiety, you spend 2 hours just typing and retyping your reply, right?
Organizing your business feels boring, complicated and seems to take you forever.
And marketing just feels gross. You literally have noooo idea what to do with that. You just kinda… do good work and hope referrals will come in.
I remember doing the same thing when I started my first business, a graphic design business, in 2012. In fact, I felt confused by the business side for a few years!
I remember feeling like I had no clue what i was doing. Not with the legal stuff. Accounting. Taxes. Organizing my business. Marketing. I had no clue what I was doing, I just had a creative skill, a passion, that I wanted to turn into a full-time income so I could leave my soul-sucking day job selling mens underwear in a shop and design gorgeous graphics all day.
I had no idea that I’d actually spend so much time on admin, business management and marketing. That I couldn’t just do creative work all day.
Luckily, I ended up falling in love with the business side of things. Even more than the creative side!
But it took a LOT of hustle, plenty of mistakes and THOUSANDS of hours to build a successful business.
And the irony is that I experienced the most growth when I simplified my business and did less, not when I hustled my butt of and tried All The Things to grow.
My Revenue Growth
Let’s get transparent here.
Here’s a real look at the revenue growth of my business so you can see what I’m talking about.
I worked my butt off in my first year of business in 2012 and only made £6530 which is about $8326 USD.
My second and third years weren’t much better. I made approximately $9294 USD and $32,151 USD.
But then things turned around. I started really getting to grips with what it took to run a profitable, sustainable business and had years when I made $79k and $107k.
And here’s something that will shock you about what I did to make income like that.
I worked less.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…
“But you sell a course - passive income - so it’s easy for you to work less!”
Or…
“I bet you have a team so of course you can work less. I have no one!!”
That’s where you’re mistaken, friends.
Yes, I do sell a course now and I do have a small team now.
But even when I sold design services only, with NO products and NO team, I worked 3 days a week.
The year I made that $100k+ USD, I traveled for half of it and during my travels, I worked 2 days a week.
And as I worked less days a week and my income grew, I learned a huge lesson:
When you simplify your business, you maximize your income.
The Hustle Culture
The problem is that it’s not easy to simplify your business. Because you’re being overloaded with advice and information every day.
We’re living in a day and age where there are a LOT of business gurus out there. LOTS of coaches and programs and courses, like me and mine! Now, everyone is a business pro. Everyone seems to have an overnight success story. Everyone sells business courses.
Everyone wants to tell you the no.1 secret to wild business growth (except there seems to be about a million people with a million different no.1 secrets. So which one is THE one?)
Everyone is telling you that XYZ is killing your business. (Very dramatic because your business is probably fine.)
And you’re being bombarded by advice even when you do something as simple as open Instagram. You’re being told to be on Instagram stories every day, attend big networking conferences to find clients, cold email, start a blog.
Alllll the things.
Some of those strategies work. But it doesn’t mean you have to do all of them.
I’m a big believer in keeping your business simple and doing a FEW things REALLY well. Not doing All The Things and barely moving your business forward, just burning out in the process.
I truly believe that you do not need to hustle your butt off to create a profitable, sustainable business. A business that allows you to live the life you dream of.
It’s way too easy to mistake hustle as working hard. There’s a dangerous difference.
You started your business for freedom, flexibility and creative fulfillment. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice that to keep it going.
If you’re sick of the hustle culture that has surrounded online business recently, you’re listening to the right podcast, because I’m sick of it too. And I want to use this podcast to show you a simpler, easier, feel good approach to making money doing what you love.
An approach that doesn't require you to sacrifice your health, happiness or sanity to grow a successful business.
Let’s talk about sacrifice
One day, I was scrolling through Instagram on my lunch break, watching a few stories.
I came across an entrepreneur I admire and respect, crying because someone was 20 minutes late to meet her. Because her schedule is so busy and she hustles so hard, this tipped her over the edge. Through tears and anger, she explained the situation on her Instagram story.
Then she shared some of the encouraging DM’s her followers had sent her saying, “Keep going! You’re hustling for your dreams! It’s worth it.”
Respectfully, I unfollowed.
To be clear: I still really admire this woman and the incredible work she puts out into the world. She’s an amazing human being, and my heart completely went out to her as I watched her cry.
I unfollowed because her way of doing business simply doesn’t align with my way of doing business.
I don’t want to learn from mentors who sacrifice everything - their health, happiness, family time and peace of mind - for their business, because I don’t want to sacrifice those things. I want a successful business AND my health and joy in tact.
If you’re anything like me, you love working on your business but you are not interested in letting it take over your entire life.
You want to get paid to do the work you love. You want to impact your clients lives. You want to grow your income.
But you also don’t want to work 5 days a week to do it. You don’t want to give up time with your kids or date nights with your husband. You want more time to travel. Time to take up hobbies. Time to just do nothing but rest.
I like to think I’ve got this work/life balance thing as right as I can…
There was only one point in my business when I worked 5 days a week and I hated it.
I currently work 3.5 days a week.
For the first 5 years of my business, I worked 3 days a week and sold design services only, no products.
In my most profitable year, I traveled for 7 months and worked 2 days a week during those travels.
All that tooting my own horn to say… I know firsthand what it takes to do less but earn more. And on this podcast, I’ll help you do it too.
I believe in being choosy about the podcasts you listen to and the mentors you learn from. If you love the hustle culture and you love to work all the time, that’s totally OK but I’m probably not the right mentor for you.
However, if you like to balance your business with your life, if you want to work less but earn more, and if you want simple strategies for marketing and organizing your creative business then stick with me because simple and feel-good strategy is what you’re going to get.
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More From This Episode
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More From Nesha
Hey there! I’m Nesha, the host of The Simple Business Show. I teach solopreneurs how to organize and simplify their business so they can do less and earn more. When I’m not podcasting or helping my course students, you’ll find me sipping caramel machiattos in Starbucks, binge-watching This Is Us or traveling the world with my backpack and my laptop!
Looking for more ways I can help you? Here they are:
Organize & Automate - Use my premium course to organize your entire online service-based business in just two weeks (on the side of your regular routine!) so you can stop stressing and fall back in love with your business.
