A few months ago, during one of the live (+ recorded) planning calls in my marketing programme Grow, a participant shared that she felt stuck. How, she asked, do you get going again in business, after a break, illness, or if things simply are going slowly?
I’ve collected some of what I shared with her in this post—and I’d love to hear what helps you to get going again in your business.
How to get going again
Be gentle and kind with yourself
So often if we feel behind, unmotivated or if business is going slowly, we beat ourselves up. We tell ourselves that we should’ve done things differently. Or we start to feel hopeless.
It can be really hard to break this cycle of thought, but if you’re feeling this way right now, try to take one small step. Try to be gentle with yourself. Try to be kind. The classic advice of speaking to yourself as you’d speak to a loved one can help.
Small steps always build up to bigger things.
Regroup and reprioritize
If your to-do list feels endless, you’re coming back from illness or a break, or you’re dealing with other things that limit your time and energy, you might feel paralysed. With so much on your list, and everything feeling urgent, where do you start?
Some suggestions
What is one (small) thing you can do to move your business forward today? It might be brainstorming a topic for your newsletter, or simply breaking your to-do list up into smaller steps;
What feels urgent, but isn’t really?
What one thing can you focus on right now? If everything feels urgent, you might as well pick any one thing to start with.
Radically reprioritize: what are your core priorities in your business? And of these, what is the most important? For instance, for me, my clients are more important than marketing—so when I have very little time and energy, marketing has to wait.
Take small steps: they always build up to big things
The small step can be making a list. It can be reviewing your art supplies if you’re planning on creating new art. It can be sitting down with a notebook and jotting down ideas for your business.
Work in small bursts, even of just 20 minutes
Or, indeed, bursts of 15 minutes, which I’ve done during chronic fatigue flares. We might think that a small burst of time contributes nothing, but it does—practically as well as mentally.
Remind yourself that there's absolutely no reason to feel shame or guilt.
You're not alone for wanting and/or needing a slower pace. In fact, all 3500+ of you reading this newsletter probably signed up because you want a slower, gentle and more profitable business. Going slow, especially if you have to, can feel frustrating, annoying and disheartening. I’ve been there. I still am there frequently. But you can build a thriving business slowly and gently, I promise.
What helps you to get going again, or what helps during periods when you don’t have a lot of time or energy (which might be always)? I’d love to hear your tips. Leave a comment to join the conversation.
If you’d like support in creating your own rules and truly running a business that serves you, I’d love to be by your side. I currently have one spot for 1:1 mentoring starting in early October. Book a free chemistry call to chat through my website, and check out what mentoring with me looks like.
books | I’ve been fortunate enough to read three books in a row that are all amazing. I’ll probably forever be a Sarah Hall fangirl, but also think her new novel Helm is genuinely great (different timelines, an intriguing natural landscape). Muckle Flugga satisfied all my island-desires, but is also, and especially, such a beautiful novel about human relationships. I got this one from the library and am planning to buy a copy to keep. And Clare Chambers’ Small Pleasures is such a human novel, with a mysterious premise, that I both wanted to keep reading and never end (affiliate links).
a newsletter | I found this newsletter on why Americans read fewer books interesting—especially the final two theories AHP suggests: adults optimise too much and leisure is seen as bad.
Erik’s had babies 🦔🦔🦔 | I was firmly planning to not write about our resident garden hedgehog, but this past week we discovered that Erik’s had 3 babies! We’re now flooded by cute videos from our wildlife camera that I can’t keep to myself: so I started a special Substack newsletter to keep you updated if this is your thing.
Have a lovely rest of your month! Do share what helps you to keep going again in business, I’d love to hear your ideas :) Speak to you soon! x
As someone who loves what she does in holistic communications, I see so much value in how we align what we say, what we believe, and how we act. Your post reminds people that getting going again isn’t just physical it’s emotional, mental, spiritual too.
Thank you for this. Starting my business has been so much slower than I expected. Then, I moved my family across the country this summer and things stalled even more.
I’ve been beating myself up - not consciously, but in the background. This is the second message I’ve gotten today that having empathy for myself is the key.