Starting a business that's about living, not working

"You know that you don't have to immediately figure out how to monetize what you want to do?”

Externally, I nod my head at what my coach is saying, but inside my business model brain whispers "don't listen to her!"

I am, as a friend recently pointed at, "classically Silicon Valley trained" -- after college, I moved to Palo Alto where I helped run entrepreneurship programs at a big deal University where I learned to assess the viability of various startup ideas. And in my spare time, I attended every tech/VC/founder event I could find – I ate that stuff up! So figuring out a viable business model for any ol' idea that pops in my head is practically second nature.

This seems like a good thing when you want to start your own business. And it can be! But I'm not trying to build a company with a 10x return on investment; I'm not trying to get VC funding... in fact, I'm explicitly not trying to build a startup. I know how much work that requires, and I know I do not want to work that hard. Instead, I want to create a sustainable small business that brings me joy, that works for my life, that I don't spend even 30 hours a week working on. I want, as "Trey" Ceaser Williams ' article in Fortune recently detailed, a "soft life."

“Quiet quitting”—the internet’s favorite workforce term of the moment—its distant cousin, “lying flat,” and “soft life” have all popped up as symptoms of a shift away from the traditional expectations of what it looks like to be successful in America. Living a soft life doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have a job, it just means your job is not your whole world.

I talk a good game about rejecting hustle culture and embracing a so-called "soft life." And while this is what I try to achieve, my business model brain was taught to feel otherwise, so we are often at odds.

Over the last year, I've explored a number of avenues to build the business of Firefly (1on1 coaching, group courses, startup consulting, VC office hours), and I've tried several ways of “niching down” (as all the good consultant coaches recommend). I've changed up the messaging on my finally launched website a lot, but until recently, it didn't feel like what I was supposed to put out.

It's not that I was afraid of failure. I mean, I was/am a little (hi, I'm a human) but I've also really committed myself to this being an iterative process of learning, experimenting, pivoting, changing. It's partly why I named my business “Firefly” and not something like “Better Work Co.” because I know I have a habit of changing my mind about the work I want to do, and I needed a name that could grow and change with me.?

No, it was more that the messaging I was drafting and the offerings I was proposing didn't feel quite right. They didn't feel like they matched up with what I'd really set out to do: help people be happier at (and outside of) work – including myself! ?

My business model brain is largely to blame here; it's truly been on overdrive. I struggle to keep my mind from jumping to what the long-term business plan is for an idea: who is the target customer, what are the value propositions, how am I differentiated, how can I scale?

I've been getting ahead of myself. Skipping straight to what I thought was a good business, something I could sell. And my ideas weren't bad (if I do say so myself) many are sellable… but they're not for me. I'd unintentionally shoved aside that this business needed to work for my life, and what I really wanted to do.

So for now, I'm letting go of figuring out what the six-figure income path is for Firefly ("why not seven!?"?my business model brain whisper-screams). Instead I will focus my time energy on doing what I want to do for the change I want to see (and continue working part-time for my old clients because ?? is a necessity).

If you're curious what that looks like...

It looks like this newsletter (here on LinkedIn or you can subscribe via email)… sharing my thoughts around work and spreading ideas, tips, and tools for making work better.

It looks like a future podcast… interviewing leaders who are actively engaged in building a more sustainable world of work to share their vision for the future and define steps we can take *right now* to improve our workplaces. (Have suggestion for a great guest? Tag them in the comments below or DM me!)?

It looks like webinars and workshops… training groups of individuals and teams on how to communicate more effectively at work to get what they deserve and foster wellbeing and connection. (If you're a part of team, employee resource group, or coworking space that would get value out of a workshop, check out my sample workshops here and schedule some time for us to chat)?

Are you trying to live a "soft life?" If so, I'd love to hear what that means to you.