How I'm Building my Business in 2025

And how I can help you in your business too! (Paid subscribers, your 100% discount code is at the bottom of this post.)

Hi friend, I’m Sophie, an introverted coffee loving creative. Welcome to Finding Simple & Calm, a place where I share the harsh realities of motherhood and being neurodivergent in my pursuit of a simple life in an overwhelming world. I’m also passionate about creative businesses, and I love writing about, and teaching, methods on how to simplify and organise your business, reduce the overwhelm, and spend more time being creative.
My whole-hearted mission is to build a business baggy enough to live in, a business that works for me, not the other way around. I hope you can join me?

Hello, and happy New Year!

How are things with you? I wanted to write a post to catch up with you and let you know what I’ve been up to. I know having time away from business is a good thing, but I’ve missed talking to you, and I’m ready to get back to chatting with this incredible community we’re building.

December was a busy month, not only because it was the craziest time of year in terms of Christmas, but also because Baby got unwell again. All of this meant less time at childcare, less time to do the work I needed to do, and less time to be able to just think!

I think that’s why I love January so much. For me, there’s no pressure to do anything. Nothing needs to be bought and wrapped, I don’t have to visit people or have people over to the house to exchange gifts and pleasantries. The cupboards are still overflowing with chocolate and biscuits, and it’s cold enough to have the fire on. Perfection, if you ask me!

January is also a great time to start thinking about the previous year and how I’d like this year to go. I don’t want to set any lofty resolutions or challenges for myself, but I do think it’s useful to take stock and see where I am.

Last year, my baby’s health was awful. He was having seizures as often as every two weeks and this impacted my ability to work massively.

I lost 90% of my clients (and my income) so I had to stop, review what I was doing and make changes. I stripped my entire business back and started again. Now I have 1 long term client and 2 short term clients, and this feels okay. It’s not the norm for a VA to build a business to be less focused on growing monthly retainers, but that’s what I need right now. My focus is more about helping creative business owners in other ways, including self-led courses, resources and tutorials, as well as my short term 1:1 services (which I am LOVING!).

And I’m so excited about this because it means that if when I build what I’m imagining, then I can make my business work for me and not the other way around.

I was talking to my new friend and VA (more on this below!) this week, and she helped me to realise that it’s not a lack of confidence in myself that’s holding me back, but rather my circumstances which are just completely out of my control. Of course! I felt so much better once I’d realised that I’m not holding myself back, my circumstances are hard right now and that’s fine. I feel like I’ve been able to let myself off the hook.

So going forward, I KNOW I need to keep going. Keep building this business and it will work out for me. I keep hearing

Claire Venus (she/her) ✨

voice in my head saying “there’s so much time!”.

And this has been a huge revelation for me. At the start of 2024 I was panicked, everything was heightened and it was chaotic. I thought I needed to fix things RIGHT NOW before everything fell apart, but actually, I didn’t. I needed to stop and start again. There’s no rushing something you want to last for a very long time.

But, my circumstances aren’t changing any time soon, and I knew I needed help and support so that I didn’t have to drop everything when my Baby became unwell. And I’m proud of myself for holding my hands up and saying “I can’t do it all myself, I need help”.

Help came in the form of a VA,

Jessica Tefenkgi Ruelle

. She’s amazing! Not only is she a neurodivergent mother running her own creative business, just like me, but she just gets it. She understands me and she says “I’ve got you”. I can’t tell you how much of a relief it has been to have Jessica come in and take some of the weight off my shoulders. Just so, so incredibly grateful to her!

I’m also getting so good at keeping my promise to myself to not take on any new long term clients. I simply don’t have the time or availability to be able to be consistent and commit to them right now. Instead, I’m building services that I can offer when I have the time and the headspace. Remember, I’m building a business baggy enough to live in so personal life comes before business life. Don’t get me wrong it’s been hard turning away clients (and money), but I know that it isn’t right for me at the moment. And I’m not right for them at the moment, either.

You know, it feels good to finally accept all of this. That I’m not a failure or lazy or unmotivated. I’m passionate about creative small businesses, and I’m determined to help as many as I can to simplify their businesses. BUT. I need to do it with me as the priority. To make it work for me so that I can work for them. You.

For so long I’ve felt stuck, lost even, in my life and my business. In the last 2 years I fell into the victim mindset and a lot of woe is me, but now I’m feeling excited, motivated, hopeful for what’s to come.

My word of the year has taken a lot of thought this year. I wanted a word that accepted my unpredictable circumstances and helped me to look forward to what comes next. At first I thought of capable, but then I was reminded that I don’t have a lack of confidence in my abilities, I AM capable, I just have circumstances out of my control that prevent me from doing things. So that didn’t work.

I tried the following on for size too:

hope, adaptability, grace, flourish, grow, balance, accept, allow, compassion, adapt, focus, inspire, energy, self-discovery, positive, home, imagine, unstoppable, action, rest, joy, kindness, motivate, trust, forgiveness, perseverance, reclaim, mindful, simplify, journey, unwavering, reset, surrender, transform, illuminate.

All of them could work, and at the same time none of them were quite right. I’ve found a word that encompasses all of these in some way, and I feel like it’s exactly what I need in this season of my life. I’ve chosen:

Here’s what I’ve had previously:

2022: simple & calm
2023: learning
2024: temporary
2025: patience

Tell me your word/phrase of the year and what it means for you.

A few final things before I go!

• My 2025 business diary and content planner is now available to buy on my website. I’ve loved creating it, and I know it’s going to help so many people really understand more about their business and their “why”. Buy it HERE.
  Paid subscribers, you can access it for free by using the 100% discount code at the bottom of this post.

• The 31 Days of Pinterest Course is coming! I’m working with Jessica to bring it to you via email instead of via Substack. I’ll let you know when it’s ready, but it’s already looking so good, and it’s free for paid subscribers!

• I’m updating my website at the moment, but you can still browse it to find ways that I can help you in your business. My 1:1 sessions have been popular despite not advertising them anywhere! 🤯. If you’d like to book an hour with me (or longer), then you can find all the details on my website HERE.

• Paid subs, I’m also working on the Q1 business reset post! It’ll be out very soon.

If there’s anything you’d like me to talk about, explain, show you, please let me know. I’m always happy to take suggestions because I want to be of service to you; so let me know what you need. My DMs are always open.

I think that’s it for now. A reminder that the chat space is always open and is so welcoming, please continue to use it and talk to the community there; they’re wonderful people.

Speak soon,