*or what no one is willing to tell you about having a 6 figure business

It was my birthday on Saturday 👸🏼

And I found myself reverting back to type – of working long hours, creating new products, doubling down on posting because suddenly people seem to be taking notice again. 

Maybe I’ll put my Year Of Health off until next year, when business is back to my previous level again? 🤔

Or maybe the year after, when I hit 50 – everyone waits until significant birthdays to sort their shit out right? 

My business needs my attention again now – good things are happening, and I don’t want to repeat 2022. 

2022 was a shitty year for me business wise. Why? 

Because of 2021.

In 2021 I hit a 6 figure revenue (living the dream right), but gave myself burnout as a result. 

I hit that 6 figure revenue, PURELY from 1-2-1 coaching – I guess my business strategy at that time could best be summed up as a ‘make hay while the sun shines’ approach. 

Not very smart 😬

I couldn’t bear to turn anyone away during the pandemic. 

So many business owners were suffering, and at one point I was giving unlimited support and accountability (for general health stuff, as well as mental & emotional support) to 21 clients 🥺

Might not sound like much, but when you go full arse 🍑 (not half-arsed), like I do – that is A LOT of support to give.

On top of client work, I was doing daily facebook lives, fielding DM questions from people worried about their health.

I love what I do, but I didn’t need to look after everyone else’s health at the expense of my own. 

But I didn’t realise that until it was too late. 

I worked 80 hours a week, didn’t go out of the house (even when we were allowed), had no boundaries with my business, or my phone. 

I was living on my own in a new city, and talking to people online who needed my help became my social life.

I was tired all the time, and just didn’t have the capacity to look after myself in the most basic of ways. 

I felt lost.

I wasn’t acting in line with my values or principles, and I wasn’t doing the things I was advising my clients to do.

I felt ashamed and I felt like a hypocrite.

Eventually (or that’s how it felt), 2022 rolled around. 

And the way I felt started to show in my content. 

I’ve always been a terrible liar – what I feel is often right there on my face for everyone to see, and I couldn’t just show up with my message of – 

‘you CAN have both a successful business AND thriving health – you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.’

Cos that’s what I’d done…sacrificed my health to hit that ‘coveted milestone’ of a 6-figure business.

I thought that’s how you defined success.

I knew how shit I felt when things weren’t going well, and I also knew the last thing I wanted to hear was how looking after my health would benefit my business – I’d become my own ideal client! 🤦🏼‍♀️

And so I stopped talking to business owners, or in fact, anyone about my business. 

I hid behind client successes and yet more studying and qualifications.

But qualifications don’t pay the bills. 

It doesn’t matter how much you know – if you can’t disseminate that knowledge in a meaningful way for other people to implement, it’s useless. 

And I was incapable of doing that in that moment. 

When you love your business, and part of your identity is tied up in it….what you believe to be all the good bits – helping people, listening to people, supporting them with whatever they need, whenever they need, it makes it doubly hard when your message is off and you’re speaking into a void. 

When there are no people to help because you don’t have a fucking clue what you’re supposed to be saying or how to show up.

Add in some bad business decisions because of my shattered confidence making me second guess myself all time, and it wasn’t long before I added financial stress to the shitheap. 

Of course, that situation can’t continue, so in the second half of 2022 I started doing small stuff – following the advice I give my clients. 

Like the smallest fucking things that you’d be embarrassed to admit you can’t do.

And it started to work.

I found the capacity to join CrossFit again, I started walking more, and I signed up for a ridiculous challenge to make myself feel extraordinary again. 

Because, as if there wasn’t enough shitty stuff going on, peri-menopause very rudely inserted itself into the proceedings, about as welcome as a finger up the arse.

While I’m grateful that I don’t have a lot of physical symptoms, I was NOT prepared for the feelings of not being ‘important’ to anyone anymore, feeling invisible, and like I would never do anything extraordinary ever again. 

Heaped on top of the stories I was telling myself about being a ‘shit coach and a shit businesswoman’, of my 6 figure year being an absolute fluke, I was doing a pretty good job of making myself feel like shit.

Now, if you’re still here, I realise this has probably been the most depressing read since Marley & Me (you cried, admit it).

But fear not dear reader, the tide is turning!

A solid six months of exercise, some new friends, and some really good business decisions, leading to my finding my voice again, have filled me with optimism, and more importantly, the headspace and capacity to embark on a Year of Health. 

A whole year of prioritising my health every fucking time I make a decision about anything.

A year of putting ME first so I can always help people who need it. 

I will NOT make the same mistakes of 2021 & forget about my health just to be deemed ‘successful’ by those who only measure it in pound signs and Stripe statements and ‘6-figure launches’.

I KNOW I have all the skills, knowledge and tools at my disposal to make this right. 

I have the right support in place. 

But most of all, I truly believe that it IS possible to be healthy AND successful. 

That YOU can decide what successful is to you, and go out & grab it by the balls/ovaries. 

That YOU get to create your own version of healthy, whatever that looks like for you. 

It isn’t about ‘having it all’ – it’s about deciding what you want success to look like for you & designing a life that supports that. 

For me, that means health is at the centre. 

Before you show other people, you have to believe you can do it yourself.

And so here I am, 

‘not hustle and grind’, 

not ‘you can work 4 hours a week and have it all’, 

not ‘self care Sunday will solve all your problems’,

not flouncing round with my designer handbags & Stripe statements on show pretending everything is perfect. 

Just me. 

Somewhere in that messy middle, trying to find balance, but determined to show you that it is possible to put your health at the centre of everything and STILL have a successful business. 

Wanna follow me on my Year of Health? 

Follow the hashtag #ninjayearofhealth & check back for my monthly updates.

P.S – if you feel like the time is right to put your health first, I’m here to help. Just send me a message here.