How I run a Business with Chronic Health Issues

Today I’m talking about how I run my business alongside chronic illness. I’ve done this for the past 13 years, and have grown and maintained a 6 figure business throughout that time despite repeated and ongoing health challenges.

I’m often asked how I manage it. Sometimes the answer is I “honestly, I don’t know” – and there are plenty of times when even I wonder how I do it!

So because I get asked about it a lot, I’m sharing 5 of the things that I do to help me to continue to sustain my business and revenue even when my ability to work is unpredictable because of ongoing health challenges.  And the trade off I’ve learned to make – even though it’s not comfortable.

Watch the video below or scroll down to read the blog.

How my health journey started:

I’ve lived and worked alongside health issues since I started my business Selling from the Heart 13 years ago this month and as always it’s easier to follow the breadcrumbs working backwards.

What I can see now is that I was always Highly Sensitive, I’m also autistic though didn’t realise that until I was 45. I’m also a Projector in Human Design.  With all this in mind I’m simply not designed for a hard working, push and hustle culture – the one that most of us are born into.

I was also brought up in a family that wasn’t emotionally open, loving or affectionate. So the only time I had recognition was when I excelled academically. I got praise and attention for getting high grades in exams, but no love, acceptance or acknowledgement for just being the human I was.

So of course I grew up with a huge drive to succeed – and I would push myself very hard as if I was superhuman and my body was nothing more than a vehicle.

At that time  didn’t understand these things about myself so I pushed myself to achieve to the point of burnout again and again because I didn’t understand my sensitivities or my limits.

Eventually I developed symptoms of ME/CFS which after a period of time were so debilitating I couldn’t even have a shower without needing to go back to bed for the rest of the day.

It took a long time to recover to the point where I could work at all, but when I did I started Selling from the Heart (at first I did this through alternating short periods of work with lying down, repeatedly through the day) and I’ve balanced health issues alongside the business ever since.

I don’t have consistent energy. Some days, I have a lot of energy in the morning, but run out by early afternoon. Some days I can only manage very basic admin tasks.  Some days I’m unable to work at all.  I can go to bed full of ideas and a clear plan, excited about what I’m going to do tomorrow, but wake up completely unable to work or function, and that can last anything from a couple of days to over a week.

This makes running a business very frustrating and very challenging, and it’s not easy on my team either.

This health journey has shaped the way I run my business in a number of ways:

1.  Sustainability is more important than speed

I go SLOW!   I don’t “motor” or speed.  I try hard not to take on multiple projects at once. Instead I see myself as “plodding” though my days tackling one thing after another.  (In my membership I talk about being more “tortoise” – I’m definitely more tortoise than hare).

2. Zero tolerance to stress

This doesn’t mean I never get stressed or anxious, I’m human like anyone.  But on the whole I refuse to get into high-stress situations and I often will slow myself down, take on less and remind myself that my health is more important than anything else. This means I make a lot less money than I otherwise would, but I’ve learned the hard way that no amount of money will give me a quality of life if I’m not well enough to enjoy it.

3. Simplified Offers

I make sure that my client delivery is sustainable. One membership, one course. And sometimes I take on 121 clients but only where I’m confident I have the energy and capacity to deliver to them.

4. The support of a team

I pay a disproportionate amount of my business revenue for my team. I always wonder what my accountant must think when he sees the numbers!  But it’s the team that means I can run the business even on the days that I can’t show up, so to me it’s worth paying more to have them do a lot of the work that I’m either unable to do or can’t rely on myself to do. I’d rather pay a larger percentage of my revenue to get the support than not have a business at all because I simply can’t do it all on my own.

5. Letting go of Perfection

I’ve let go the need for everything to be perfect (not easy for me!).  Some of the imperfections in my business are things that if I’m really honest I do feel embarrassed about, and every now and again someone new joins a programme and points something out, and I do feel it.

But I have a choice, I can have an imperfect business and trust that people will forgive the imperfections – which most people do because they recognise that while things might not be perfect I still bring a lot of value. Or I can have no business at all. I choose the imperfect business – even though it’s not always comfortable.

6.  Acceptance

Acceptance of what is, of the cards I’ve been dealt and the reality that I can’t change has been a big part of both my healing journey, and my approach to life and business.

I’ve [sort of] learned to live with the frustration of not being more “successful”. I’ve never achieved the big vision of a 7 figure business I had when I started out. But what I do have is a business that has supported me and paid me a good monthly salary month in, month out for nearly 13 years, allows me to save and invest for my future, and pay for the team support that I need.  That’s no small thing and I’m pretty proud of that.

My struggles don’t make me less of a business owner

I still have to do all the business activity, marketing, sales, delivery, manage a team, and make all the same difficult decisions that anyone else has to.

My struggles also don’t make me any less good as a business mentor. In fact, they’ve made me more compassionate and more flexible and versatile as a mentor.

If something doesn’t work for one of my clients I never jump straight to the conclusion that it’s a “mindset issue” as I know many others do.  Instead I respect why it might be a challenge, and I will work with them to help them adapt their business to work for THEM, their personality, strengths and weaknesses and life circumstances.

You CAN thrive in business and take care of yourself. The two are not mutually exclusive.

I know there’s lots more I can say on this topic so if you’ve questions or anything you’d like me to do another video on please let me know in the comments.

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