You Started Your Business Because You Wanted More Freedom…

So why I are you postponing it until the business succeeds?

I caught myself doing it again recently.

Looking at something beautiful and thinking:

Someday...

Someday when the business is making more money.

Someday when I have more clients.

Someday when everything feels more stable.

Someday when I've accomplished the next thing.

Then I'll relax.

Then I'll travel more.

Then I'll stop checking my phone so much.

Then I'll spend an entire afternoon outside without feeling like I should be doing something “productive.”

Then I'll read the book in the middle of the day.

Then I'll take the long walk.

Then I'll sit and watch the sunset without simultaneously thinking about turning the fucking sunset into content.

I didn't leave one version of success because I wanted to build myself another cage with prettier branding.

I wanted freedom.

And somehow I had started making freedom the reward I would receive...

after I successfully built a business about freedom.

Oh.

That's uncomfortable.

Maybe You've Made the Same Deal With Yourself

Maybe yours sounds a little different.

When I'm making $5K months, I'll breathe.

When my offer fills, I'll feel successful.

When I finally figure out Instagram, I'll stop worrying.

When I have enough clients, I'll take Fridays off.

When I make enough money, I'll travel.

When my business is stable, I'll stop feeling guilty every time I'm not working.

When I finally become successful, I'll start living like the woman I imagined becoming when I started this thing.

But I want you to notice something.

The finish line keeps moving.

Because there will always be another number.

Another launch.

Another goal.

Another idea.

Another platform.

Another level.

And if freedom is something you only allow yourself to experience after you've accomplished enough...

you may spend your entire life building a business for a woman you never actually let yourself become.

That scares the shit out of me.

Because I don't want to wake up one day with a successful business and realize I missed the life it was supposed to help me live.

I Know How Easy It Is to Call This Ambition

This is where I need to tell you the truth about me.

I am ambitious.

Deeply.

I have dreams that refuse to leave me alone.

I love creating.

I love coaching.

I love watching a woman suddenly see the possibility I've been able to see in her all along.

I love business.

I love figuring shit out.

And I don't want to make myself less ambitious in order to become more spiritual.

I don't believe that's the answer.

For a long time, though, I think I confused honoring my ambition with constantly proving it.

If I had time, I could work.

If I had an idea, I could build it.

If something wasn't converting, I could fix it.

If there was white space, I could fill it.

There's always something you could be doing when you own a business.

That's the dangerous part.

Nobody comes into your office at five o'clock and tells you to go home.

There is no finished.

So eventually you have to decide:

When is enough, enough for today?

And I'm still practicing that.

Because I Don't Show You the Sunsets Just Because They're Pretty

I show you sunsets.

Sunrises.

Trees.

Water.

Road trips.

Little pieces of my life.

And yes, sometimes they're beautiful.

But there's something underneath all of it that matters much more to me.

I don't want to teach women how to create successful businesses at the expense of beautiful lives.

I want both.

Actually...

I want us to practice having both now.

Not when we hit six figures.

Not when the funnel converts.

Not when we're fully booked.

Not when the kids grow up.

Not when everything finally feels safe.

Now.

Because what if freedom isn't the prize at the end of entrepreneurship?

What if freedom is supposed to influence the way we build it?

This Is Where Business Becomes Yoga for Me

It's easy to talk about presence on the mat.

It's much harder when there's an unanswered email sitting in your inbox.

It's easy to talk about non-attachment during teacher training.

It's different when you're staring at your revenue.

It's easy to say that our worth isn't determined by achievement.

Then a launch doesn't sell the way we hoped...

and suddenly we're questioning everything about ourselves.

That's practice.

Not the pretty part.

The real part.

I don't have those answers perfectly figured out.

That's why I call it practice.

And I Wonder If This Is Happening in Your Business Too

You may have started your yoga business because you wanted more autonomy.

More time.

More meaning.

More creativity.

More connection.

More space for your family.

More opportunities to actually practice the things you teach.

But then somewhere along the way, you decided being a “real” business owner meant you had to do everything.

Post constantly.
Build every platform.
Create more offers.
Answer immediately.
Work weekends.
Keep up.
Stay visible.
Grow.
Grow.
Grow.

And because you're building your dream, you tell yourself the exhaustion is temporary.

But what if the way you're building isn't temporary?

What if you're practicing it?

Because this is something yoga keeps teaching me:

We become very good at what we repeatedly practice.

If you practice urgency every day while building your business, success won't magically teach you peace.

If you practice never having enough, more revenue won't necessarily teach you enoughness.

If you practice believing rest must be earned, a full client roster isn't going to give you permission to rest.

And if you practice postponing your life until you succeed...

success may simply give you a more convincing reason to keep postponing it.

Maybe You Don't Need a Bigger Business. Maybe You Need a Better Front Door.

Sometimes the reason we're working so damn hard isn't because entrepreneurship requires suffering.

It's because the business we've created requires too much from us.

Too many offers.
Too many messages.
Too many directions.
Too many platforms.
Too many people we're trying to help.

No clear way for the right woman to discover us, understand how we help, and take the next step.

So we compensate with effort.

We post more.

Create more.

Explain more.

Start something new.

And eventually we think:

Maybe I'm just not working hard enough.

When sometimes the opposite is true.

You don't need more hustle.

You need clarity.

You need to know who you're helping.

What she needs from you right now.

What you're inviting her into.

And what the simplest path is from finding you to working with you.

Something Else I'm Having to Admit to Myself

Sometimes business isn't actually the one postponing my freedom.

I am.

Oof.

Because it's very convenient to blame the business.

There are certainly seasons when we have to work harder.

There are bills.

Responsibilities.

Deadlines.

People depending on us.

I'm not interested in pretending otherwise.

But there are also times when nothing is actually stopping me from taking the walk.

Nothing is stopping me from sitting outside with my coffee.

Nothing is stopping me from closing the laptop.

Nothing is stopping me from calling someone I love.

Nothing is stopping me from watching the sunset.

Except the voice telling me:

You haven't done enough yet.

And that voice?

I don't want her running my life anymore.

Because if I have to accomplish enough before I'm allowed to enjoy being alive...

there will never be enough.

A Moment I'm Still Practicing

I'm practicing letting a beautiful moment be a beautiful moment instead of something I need to earn.

I'm practicing closing the laptop while there is still work left to do.

There will always be work left to do.

I'm practicing noticing when ambition turns into urgency.

I'm practicing wanting more without withholding joy from the woman I am right now.

And maybe most importantly...

I'm practicing building my business as the woman I want to become instead of expecting the business to turn me into her.

Because I think I had that backward for a long time.

We tell ourselves:

When my business succeeds, I'll become more confident.

When I make more money, I'll feel secure.

When I have freedom, I'll finally live differently.

But what if we practice her now?

What would she say no to?

What would she stop doing?

What would she protect?

What would she create?

How would she spend a random Tuesday afternoon?

Would she notice the sunset?

Would she laugh more?

Would she trust herself?

Would she still want the big dream?

I think mine would.

She just wouldn't sacrifice herself to get there.

Because This Is the Business I Want Us to Build

I want you to make money.

I want your work to reach people.

I want your offers to sell.

I want you to become wildly successful if that's what your soul is asking you to create.

But I don't want you standing at the top of everything you worked so hard to build wondering where the hell your life went.

Your life isn't waiting on the other side of your business.

It's happening while you build it.

And maybe that's the breakthrough some of us need most.

Not:

How can I work harder so I can finally become free?

But:

How can I build this from freedom, too?

You don't have to choose between ambition and a beautiful life.

You don't have to stop wanting more.

But maybe you can stop withholding your life from yourself until you get it.