What if you built a business you actually loved?
Today, I want to ask you a question. A big one. One that might rattle the edges a little, but in the best possible way. It’s the kind of question that sits quietly at the back of our minds, until one day, it won’t sit quietly anymore.
What if you built a business you actually loved?
Not just one that works. Not one that just “pays the bills” or looks successful from the outside. But one you genuinely, deeply, whole-heartedly love. One that feels like a true expression of you, something you’re proud of, something that fills you up, something that gives as much as it takes.
What would shift if that were the case? Not just for you, but for your clients, your creativity, your energy… even your life?
I ask this because I know the difference.
I’ve lived the other version, the one where things look shiny on the outside but feel like sandpaper on the inside. Only recently, I was a social media and marketing manager, in a business that on paper, ticked all the boxes. I had consistent clients, decent income, and work that, technically, I was good at. But I also had this constant, nagging sense that something wasn’t quite right. I was working with people I didn’t really click with, doing work I didn’t love, and spending my days moving from task to task with barely a moment to catch my breath.
And because everything was riding on me, because I was the engine, the operator, the backup plan all rolled into one, I never had the time or space to step back and ask, “Is this actually what I want?”
I was stuck on a hamster wheel that I had built for myself, which is almost worse, in a way, because I couldn’t blame anyone else for it. It was all my doing. And even though it looked fine from the outside, inside it felt flat and disconnected. I was holding it all together, but there wasn’t much room left for anything else, certainly not for the other things I’d dreamed of doing.
Things like writing.
Things like exploring and creating just for the sake of it.
Things I used to tell myself I’d get to “one day.”
But when your business consumes all your time and energy, those “one day” dreams don’t get closer. They do the opposite, they drift further away. I’d try to squeeze in writing when I could, in the quiet pockets of time early in the morning or after everyone else had logged off, but I was always running on empty by the time I got there. My creativity was drained. My mind too cluttered. The spark just wasn’t there anymore.
I remember opening up one of my writing projects recently and seeing the file date: 2017. That’s when I started it. It’s still unfinished. And it hit me that I’ve been telling myself “I’ll get to that someday” for years now. But someday isn’t a strategy. It’s a delay tactic dressed up as patience.
When I finally let go of that other version of my business, the one that was safe but stifling, I began rebuilding in a completely different way. I gave myself permission to do things differently. I stopped trying to keep my coaching work and writing separate, and started imagining a business where both could live side by side. A business that didn’t just support me financially, but creatively and emotionally too.
My First Published Childrens Book
Always Writing!!
That’s when everything started to shift.
It’s not that writing magically became profitable overnight (spoiler: it hasn’t yet), but I made the conscious decision to make space for it anyway. To treat it as something important, not just something extra. And that changed everything because I wasn’t waiting for writing to "earn its keep" anymore. I was building a business that made space for it from day one.
That’s the difference between a business that fits and one that doesn’t. A business you build around your whole self, not just your professional self. Because here’s something we’re rarely told: you are the business. And the business is you. There is no real separation, especially when you work for yourself. They are interwoven, always. Which means if your business feels heavy or disconnected or joyless, it will inevitably spill over into everything else.
But here’s the good news: if your business can deplete you, it can also energise you. If it can restrict you, it can also expand you. You just have to build it differently.
It might sound idealistic to say that your passions and purpose can live inside your business, but idealism isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I think we need more of it. I think we need more people asking “what if” and fewer people settling for “that’s just how it is.”
Because when you build a business you love, people feel it. Your energy changes. Your clients respond. Your work becomes more magnetic, not because you're trying harder, but because you're more at home in what you're doing. You stop trying to fit yourself into someone else’s version of success and start shaping something that’s truly yours.
That’s what I want for more founders. That’s why I coach. That’s why I share these stories.
So if you’ve been wondering if it’s possible to build a business that truly feels good—one that supports your dreams instead of sidelining them—the answer is yes. A very big, very real YES.
But here’s the caveat: it won’t land in your lap. It takes work. It takes honesty. It takes slowly chipping away at what’s not working and gently making space for what could. It starts with noticing: what feels heavy, what feels good, and what’s been missing.
From there, it might be as simple as dropping one offer, blocking out time to write, finishing work an hour earlier, or dusting off an idea that’s been sitting in your notes app for far too long.
Whatever it is, it matters.
You deserve a business that gives you more than just income. You deserve one that gives you energy, time, freedom, creativity, and the space to grow into everything you want to be.
So don’t wait for “one day.” Start building the business you love, today.
And if you ever need a sounding board, someone to help you figure out how your passions might all fit together, you know where I am.
Until then, stay brave, stay quietly disruptive, and keep building what matters.
You’ve got this.
- Becky :)
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