Join thousands of readers building a business that works around Life Stuff (like chronic physical or mental health conditions, recovery from big life events, caring responsibilities). I send two-ish emails each week, to help you enjoy a more comfy business and life.
When-Then Paradox
|
Reader, do you tell yourself things like …. When I have more time, then I’ll be more consistent with my marketing. When things calm down a bit, then I’ll do that thing I really want to do. When I reach some imagined state of calm, then things will be easier. That’s When-Then-ing. But When-Then isn’t coming. I know this. A whole chapter of my book, The Comfy Business Playbook, is dedicated to making choices that are right for you and your business now, not holding out for a future reality that will never arrive. And yet, I have been When-Thening the shit out of myself for half a year. It started with a perfectly valid When-Then. When this hellish bureaucratic process linked to the future and well-being of Son#2 (who is a young adult with additional needs) is over - then I’ll have more time and energy, and I’ll do more fun things, and my business will do better…and my house will be cleaner, the garden will be amazing…and….and….and. But the 8 months of intense stress and additional admin workload left me so depleted that my physical health conditions flared up, and my mental health slid down. My new When-Then became ‘when I feel better, then…..’ Son#1 turned 21 in May, and in the run-up to his birthday, the significance of the milestone reminded me to stop postponing my own life. We love watching the F1 races on TV together, and I had often thought I would love to take him to Silverstone during a race weekend. When I felt better, then I would do it. At the end of April, I finally remembered my own advice: When-Then isn’t coming - make choices for the life you have now. I chose to buy tickets for us for the Saturday of the British Grand Prix race weekend, and made myself a training schedule so I could build up my endurance for walking, standing, and generally coping with such a physically intense day, whilst managing my health conditions. And this Saturday we walked 20,000 steps around the perimeter of the track watching F3, F2 and F1 cars, and some old classics. Yesterday we watched the race on TV from the comfort of the sofa, both tired and sore. It’ll probably take me all week to recover. It was 100% worth it. This week I will be emailing daily about the All Access Pass promotion that ends on 10th July. But before I could focus on writing those emails, this email barged its way out of my brain and through my fingertips, and (just as I tell my mentoring clients to do) I decided to go with the momentum I had instead of fighting it, and forcing myself into what I should be doing. 💭 Comfy Business Prompt 📝 If there’s anything you’re When-Then-ning yourself on, today is a great day to reconsider. 🛑 Click here if you don't want to hear any more about the All Access Pass this week |
The Comfy Business Newsletter | Laura
Join thousands of readers building a business that works around Life Stuff (like chronic physical or mental health conditions, recovery from big life events, caring responsibilities). I send two-ish emails each week, to help you enjoy a more comfy business and life.
⏱️ 30-second version I stopped using Zoom because it couldn't listen, concentrate and sit still at the same time, and life was great. Then I reintroduced it because - well I don't even know. I've re-stopped using Zoom and by suiting myself I'm able to do my best work. If there's something a bit crappy that you don't love about your business right now, how can you change it to work better for you and your clients? Is there something you do for your business on the regular that you’d really...
A few weeks ago I visited a sales page for a course I was a little bit interested in buying, and after getting 50% of the way through the text I felt like I’d been poked in the eye with the ‘actually’ stick 100 times. I checked – it was on the page 14 times. On a page of around 1,000 words, the word ‘actually’ appeared FOURTEEN times. FOURTEEN!!!! 1% of the words on the sales page were ‘actually’. I did not buy the thing. I closed the page, took some calming breaths, and channelled my...
Have you heard the expression ‘sell the sizzle, not the steak’ Reader? Or ‘focus on the benefits, not the features’? In 15+ years writing online sales copy for other people’s businesses, I have heard those two a LOT. From clients. From other copywriters. From business/marketing coaches who mean well, and are trying to improve a sales page they’re critiquing. But, in my opinion, if you’re selling an online service, coaching, group program, course or similar, it’s really crap advice. ‘Sell the...