How to gently take up more space with your business

A new free resource on taking up space with and in your business

Mar 28, 2024

Early on in the recent launch of Marketing without social media I sent a voice message to a friend. “I feel like I’m hiding my amazingness,” I said, “I worry about being sleazy but when I look at my launch plan I can see that I’m hiding and not sharing about how amazing this group programme is.”

The feelings that I shared with my friend come up a lot in conversations with my clients too. I’ll gently challenge them about how little or how much they share about their offers and their business, and together we’ll walk through the sticky feelings that come up with a way of taking up space.

Today I have a post and a free resource for you about taking up space with and in your business. It gives a glimpse of the work I do with 1:1 clients, and the kind of questions that I ask myself whenever I notice uncomfortable feelings around taking up space.

(And for that launch? I ended up sending more emails than I’d planned and it felt great)

Taking up space

Especially those of us socialised as women have been taught not to take up too much space. Historically, not taking up space has simply been safer for women and other marginalized groups. Whether we’re aware of it or not, some of that socializing can trickle down into how we approach our business.

Many of the clients I speak to worry, for instance, that they are being too salesy in their emails to their newsletter list. When it comes to newsletters, there’s this narrative in many online spaces that emphasizes “value” over “selling”.

First and foremost, we are taught, we need to provide value for our readers. If we mention that we are selling something too explicitly, we are being too much. We are not adding value.

But this focus on value often tips into seeking permission, or even apologizing. Only by providing value, we might think, are we worth the space we take up in someone else’s inbox.

I love adding value to your lives. I love sharing my strategies and inspiration around slow, gentle and profitable business with you.

But I also run a business. And I run this business in order to make money. So as well as sharing strategies and inspiration with you, I invite you to check out my courses, programmes and 1:1 mentoring—sometimes more explicitly than at other times.

A similar focus on what our readers, clients or customers might think shows up in the boundaries that we set.

One of my key boundaries is that I check in with clients, through Voxer and email, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a boundary I need in order to keep other parts of my life running (and—in order for my brain not to explode on days when I’m at my part-time teaching job).

Yet especially early on I felt uncomfortable sharing this boundary. I worried that people would feel like they weren’t getting value for their money if I wasn’t available more.

But I learned that boundaries have to work for us first and foremost.

I’ve found that being explicit about my boundaries has been the easiest way for me to feel comfortable about them.

When you email me you automatically get an out-of-office reply telling you I reply on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the client guide that I share with new clients I mention that I reply on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I’m only available for calls on those days too.

Taking up space goes beyond these kinds of boundaries: it shows on our websites, too. So many small business owners hide their offers on their websites, making it hard for visitors to discover about them, or to get in touch with them.

There is a big difference between taking up space and being sleazy.

Perhaps for you taking up space with and in your business comes up when you try to carve out the time for it. You might have family or other responsibilities that make you feel guilty for taking the time for your business (especially when you’re not earning that much with it yet).

Taking up space shows up in how we talk about our business. How we might not even mention that we have a business to other people. Or how we’ll say, “Oh, I just offer embroidery classes, no big deal, not earning much money yet”.

But remember: there is a big difference between taking up space and being sleazy. And your amazingness needs to be seen.

The power of taking up space

Taking up space is not the same as being pushy.

Taking up space is inspiring. By taking up space, we allow others to do the same.

Taking up space is empowering. You are an amazing human being, with an amazing business that offers wonderful things for the right people.

Trust that your people will be fine with you taking up space with your business.

Trust that your people will stick with you through launches: they are the ones that want to support you, even if they don’t buy from you right now.

And if people unsubscribe? That is completely normal during a launch period, and happens to all of us.

Take up space: a roadmap

This free roadmap supports you to share your amazingness with the world, and to take up space with and in your business. It’s based on the work I’ve done in my own business and the many conversations I’ve had with 1:1 clients about this topic.

The roadmap combines reflection prompts with review exercises, taking you through the various areas in your business where you could take up more space.

In 20+ pages, I’ll support you to reflect on and review six parts of your business:

the space you create for your business in your life;
your offerings;
your website;
your marketing and newsletter;
your customer and client boundaries;
your launches.

I’ve also included a really fun practical bonus exercise on taking space to use whenever you’re out and about. Hint: if you’re always the one to move aside first when you’re approaching someone on a path or street, this is for you 🙂

Download your free roadmap

How do you feel about taking up space in and with your business? Where does this come easy and where is it hard? What has changed? Leave a comment to join the conversation.