79. Your Life Comes First. Your Marketing Supports It.

I saw it on social media, I heard it on a podcast, and then I read it in a newsletter.

And I'm sitting here thinking like, are we just not getting here? Because I thought that was always supposed to be the goal.

Before we go any further, I just want to state that last month, I celebrated seven years in business.

Yes, seven years.

I cannot believe I've been doing this for seven years, but I've been an entrepreneur for about 13 years.

And when I started this business, my kids were in middle school and high school.

My husband worked a lot.

I was volunteering all the time.

I was like hosting book clubs in my home.

And because we live overseas, you know, I was traveling a lot.

So I already knew before I started this business that if I was going to do it, it had to fit into my life.

And I remember when I first got online and started this business, I remember so much messaging around hustle culture, right? You know what I'm talking about.

The, you got to go all in.

You'll work more than you ever worked at your corporate job.

Your business becomes your baby.

And I remember sitting here thinking, absolutely not.

I will start my business, but it will not be my end or be all.

Now, where I care deeply about my clients, absolutely.

Can I help them, support them, and help them do amazing work? Absolutely not.

Can I help them with their marketing strategy? Absolutely.

But I also think we need to normalize saying nobody's going to care about your business more than you do.

And I think that's a healthy balance, right? And I think somewhere along the way, online people started acting like your business is had to become your whole identity.

And if it wasn't your whole identity, you were doing something wrong.

And I just never wanted that, even to this day with marketing, right? I approach marketing a little bit different than other marketing strategists, you know, because I knew that I wanted my business to support my life not become my life.

And I think that's why so many people are suddenly talking about this now, because people were tired, were burnt out.