What If Growing Your Business Could Feel Lighter?
Happy New Year!
I know this time of year can feel heavy… all that pressure to set big goals, reinvent yourself, fix everything, push harder. But what if this year could be different? What if growing your business could actually feel lighter, steadier, more like you?
If you’re feeling pressure right now (to have everything figured out, to set ambitious goals, to come back from your break ready to sprint) and you’re not feeling that energy, you might be thinking something’s wrong with you.
But here’s what I want to gently suggest: what if the problem isn’t you? What if it’s the way the business world expects you to operate?
So much of the advice out there is designed for linear thinkers. For people who thrive on rigid systems and aggressive goals. And that’s just not how creative minds work.
A Different Way Forward
What if this could be the year you return to yourself?
The year you understand your actual strengths and build around them. The year you stop forcing yourself into frameworks that don’t fit. The year you create something steadier, calmer, more aligned… and still grow.
This doesn’t mean soft or passive. It means strong enough to trust yourself. Strong enough to do things your way. Strong enough to build steadily rather than frantically.
The businesses that actually sustain and scale aren’t built on hustle and force. They’re built on clarity, alignment, and steady forward movement.
There Isn’t One Right Way
I’ve been following three Instagram accounts that grew from a few thousand followers to close to or over a million by the end of last year. Remarkable growth, same time period, same algorithm.
But completely different approaches.
One posts four times a day. Every single day. Another posts three times a week. Both phenomenally successful.
The point isn’t the frequency. The point is they each chose a way that works for them. A way that uses their strengths and fits how they like to work.
They’re both succeeding not because they found the one right formula, but because they found their formula. The one that’s sustainable for them. The one that feels natural rather than forced.
There isn’t one right way. There’s your way.
Three Principles to Anchor This Year
Your Business Doesn’t Need to Be Louder. It Needs to Be Truer.
Most of the overwhelm we feel comes from trying to match what everyone else is doing.
But what if confidence and clarity return when you come back to what’s actually true for you? Your strengths. Your values. Your way of working.
Your business doesn’t need to be louder than everyone else’s. It needs to be more authentically yours.
And often, that means doing less, not more. Going deeper rather than wider.
Depth Beats Momentum.
What if, instead of chasing momentum this year, you focused on depth?
Deepen your relationships with clients instead of constantly chasing new ones. Deepen the clarity of your message. Deepen your understanding of what you’re genuinely exceptional at. Deepen the structures in your business.
Depth creates stability. And stability—real, grounded stability—creates sustainable success.
This doesn’t mean you won’t grow. It means your growth comes from strength rather than scrambling.
Small Shifts Are Powerful.
You don’t need to overhaul everything. You don’t need big dramatic changes.
Big transformations almost always come from gentle, repeated adjustments. Small shifts, made consistently, in a direction that aligns with your strengths.
Maybe it’s getting clearer on who you actually serve. Maybe it’s adjusting one offering to work better with your strengths. Maybe it’s changing how you communicate. Maybe it’s setting one boundary that protects your energy.
Small. Aligned. Repeated.
My Own Experience
When I was running my floral business, there were years where I was constantly adding—new services, new products, new markets. Always thinking that more was the answer.
But the real transformation came when I started removing. When I got incredibly clear on what I was genuinely exceptional at and stopped trying to do everything else.
That focus—that depth rather than breadth—that’s what allowed the business to truly scale. And more importantly, it’s what made it sustainable.
I see this pattern with the creative entrepreneurs I work with now. The ones who make the biggest progress aren’t the ones trying to do everything. They’re the ones who get clear, go deep, and build steadily from that foundation.
Three Grounding Questions
Rather than a big list of things to do, I want to offer you three questions for reflection:
Where do I already feel strong in my business—and how can I build from there? Where are you already creating value effortlessly? That’s your foundation.
What would make my work feel lighter, while still supporting growth? Not what should you do. What would actually feel sustainable and aligned for you specifically?
Where might I be forcing myself into someone else’s version of success? Where are you following advice that doesn’t quite fit? Where are you measuring yourself against standards that aren’t actually yours?
Just notice. No judgment. No fixing. Just awareness.
Permission
I want to give you permission.
Permission to return grounded rather than sprinting.
Permission to build steadily rather than frantically.
Permission to trust your own way of working.
Permission to believe that success doesn’t require becoming someone else.
Permission to make this a kinder year. A steadier year. A more aligned year.
And to still grow beautifully.
You don’t need to come back with everything figured out. You don’t need a perfect plan. You don’t need to fix everything that felt hard last year.
You just need to take one step at a time in a direction that feels true to you.
What If
What if this isn’t the year you reinvent yourself?
What if this is the year you return to yourself—to your actual strengths, your genuine values, your natural way of working?
I’m really excited about this year. The Base Notes will be opening again soon, and I’m finalising the details for the six-month programme.
I hope you’ll give yourself permission to approach this year differently. More gently. More like yourself.
My focus is very much on a year of depth over momentum. A year of small, aligned shifts that create real change and thriving creative businesses.
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