3 Types Of Capacity And How They Effect Your Business Living with Chronic Illness

Welcome to Business with Chronic Illness, the globally ranked podcast for women living with chronic illness who want to start and grow a business online. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and I went from living a normal life to all of a sudden being in constant pain with no answers, to being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses and trying to make a livable income. I faced the challenge of adapting traditional business advice to fit my unique circumstances with chronic illness, feeling frustrated and burned out than I already was while managing my chronic illness to becoming an award-winning coach with a flexible, sustainable online coaching business. I found the surprisingly simple steps to starting and growing a profitable business without compromising my health or my peace. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to create a thriving business that aligns with your lifestyle and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for women with chronic illness and how we make a living. This is Business with Chronic Illness.

What capacity actually means and why it matters for your marketing more than you think. Welcome back to Business with Chronic Illness. Today we are going to talk about a word that gets used a lot in the online space and as entrepreneurs, which is the word capacity. Everyone's telling you to increase your capacity, to expand your capacity, to hold more, to stretch more, to level up your capacity so you can scale and grow. You probably have been in a coaching container and you've been like, I don't think I have the capacity to do such and such. And the coaching may have been or could have been, you just need to work on increasing your capacity. That is something that can happen. And though that is true, nobody talks about really what's happening in the middle of where that growth is happening and where you currently are. I mean, no one really talks about the nuance on this, like, not really. And so I wanted to create a podcast episode not on just how to increase your capacity, but how to really grow your business or keep growing your business while you're in transition with what capacity looks like for you presently today. And that's because a lot of us are dealing with a lot of different things constantly. And many of you have been told or fed the belief that the reason why this is, is because your capacity isn't a standard level of always growing. And because of that, it feels like you're stuck. It feels like you are frustrated in where you are. So, in explaining what capacity actually is in the context of growing your business around the reality that is right now in the present, it's important. And that's because a lot of entrepreneurs like you are misdiagnosing the real reason why you're stuck, judging yourself completely unfairly, building marketing systems that fight your actual reality in biology, calling yourself inconsistent when you're actually just overloaded, and you're trying to quote unquote fix things that actually are not broken. And a lot of you have pushed yourself to the brink of hustling their way deeper into burnout, like by doing more. So today we're clearing up this once and for all. What capacity is, some of it, because there's a lot of different types of capacity, what it isn't in relation to your business and how it affects, affects your business, and why it matters for your marketing and sales, and how podcasting gives you a system that supports your real capacity, not just the fantasy or the evolved you version you wish you were already at or wanting to happen right now. So let's get into this. Here's a definition, and I think capacity that we hear often, and I think this is where the misconceptions come from, where we really kind of haven't held space for the reality of what growing capacity looks like. The online business world treats capacity like being able to do more, hold more, handle more. Some push— may say push through more, and some say show up more. And so capacity, for many of us, the translation has become synonymous or similar to the idea of what we can do outwardly, or output, and the ability to produce beyond what feels comfortable or where we currently are in our growth edge. And listen, as humans, we can stretch, we can grow, we can expand, but stretching and growing requires safety in, in, in a relative sense, not pressure. And they require systems in some ways, not always just self-sacrifice and self-discipline. The industry definition creates shame often that I hear in marketing and messaging around this idea of being able to have personal growth around elevating or expanding our capacity. But I truly believe that if we look at capacity in this particular way that I'm gonna share with you, it can actually create sustainability and more space for you to actually grow. So for me, the real definition of capacity is that it equals what your nervous system can hold currently as you expand without breaking. Capacity isn't about how much you can do or how many tasks you can complete or how many clients you can hold or how much content you can pump out, but capacity is how much emotional, energetic, and cognitive load your nervous system can hold without putting your system out of whack, dysregulating you. Capacity is your system's wiggle room. It's the difference between I can handle this and I'm about to spiral out, right? It's the difference between I am feeling stretched and I'm shut down. Capacity includes emotional bandwidth, cognitive focus, physical energy, sensory tolerance, decision-making ability, your window of tolerance, your recovery speed, your ability to regulate, your capabilities as far as like where you are. And this is why capacity looks different every single day because all of these things will fluctuate because we are humans. So capacity can change across seasons, times, experiences, unexpected or even expected. Our capacity responds to life and fluctuates with our health, specifically mentally, emotionally, from chronic stress to neurodivergence, neurodivergency, chronic illnesses. Capacity is fluid and your business must be built with that in mind. And I think a lot of us are trying to build capacity as if it is a standard, just you, you get to a point and you can always contain, and that's just not real life. So there are 3 forms of capacity that most entrepreneurs don't really realize that we're burning through. And let's break that down so you can understand that a little bit more. There are a lot of different variations of capacity, but I'm going to talk about 3. Today that I feel like we use every day, specifically as entrepreneurs, or affects how we show up as entrepreneurs, and also affects specifically our marketing systems. So this is all three of them. So there are three forms of capacity that I believe we use every day, and most of these marketing— and most of these show up in your marketing systems, and they also can create drainage of your capacity. So Emotional capacity. This is your ability to handle feelings without overwhelm. Marketing drains emotional capacity when it requires you to be perceived all like a certain way, to be on. And when I say on, meaning live, on video, on camera, always an active conversation. Show confidence on demand, mask pain or fatigue because of the fear of being perceived incapable or not knowledgeable, or just the systemic things that we see in the world that has created place for us to mask. Emotional capacity can also be drained in marketing when we feel like we have to respond immediately and be active in a very whatever-coming-at-you kind of space and putting yourself out there when you're really not okay to put yourself out there. However, my favorite reason of why I lean into podcasting is that it allows emotional honesty and nuance without being visually— specifically visually exposed every single time if you choose not to, right? If you choose to be visually exposed, you get to choose what that looks like in the time frame that you want it to be. The second capacity form that we use every day as business owners is our cognitive capacity. That's your thinking power. Marketing drains this when you must make endless micro decisions, which that includes creating reels and tiny videos, switch platforms because you're on multiple, keeping up with all the trends and things that are changing. Batching content all like on a specific time at a specific energy level, writing constantly and planning constantly and engaging constantly. Podcasting to me simplifies the cognitive load because you think deeply once and like in a long-term storytelling way, and you can repurpose that or create more from that. Many times over. So it's really difficult for our cognitive ability to sit and think about a story that has multiple points that are important and inform the story when we're having to create micro content on a machine level ability. And it's really dysregulating to the nervous system. And it is a huge load on our cognitive capacity. Energetic capacity. Now, this is one that I really feel like as a business owner who lives with multiple chronic illnesses, I wish we had more honest conversations around. Even if you're able to increase your capacity cognitively, emotionally, spiritually, even your energetic capacity, which is your physical and sensory energy, is one that is really difficult to shift all of the time and maintain at a specific level on a daily space. And our physical and sensory energy is daily affected by our chronic conditions, our environment internally and externally. And so this is super important to keep in mind to give you some groundedness on your expectations on how you can expand your capacity, and sometimes it will fluctuate because of the physical and sensory energy you are experiencing right now. So marketing can drain our, our energetic capacity because sometimes, specifically on social media platforms, requires high energy, camera readiness, sustained focus and unpredictable output with a feeling of constant presence. And this is really difficult for our physicality because if you're dealing with chronic illness, if you're anything like me, I have expanded my capacity in a lot of different ways— emotionally, mentally, spiritually— but physically, if my physical symptoms are being aggravated by surrounding situations, for example, like a migraine or a sensory experience that I had never experienced before, it automatically affects my ability to do anything else. So even though I may have expanded the capacity of love, that capacity can be kind of sucked up by the physical capacity that is struggling to maintain what is just normal. This is another reason why I enjoy long-form content. It really reduces the energetic demands because you can record or write an email or write a little note or write some thoughts here and there, and it doesn't all have to be done in one lump sum necessarily. You can do it in a very capacity-friendly environment. And this is why I believe a lot of our current marketing strategies and conversations feel so hard. It's not designed with how real capacity in our brains and in our bodies actually move through the day, through the week, through the month, through the year. So here's a big thing that might shock you. You don't need more capacity 24/7. You need a system that doesn't require more than you currently have right now. Let me say it super clear. You don't need to turn yourself into a machine. You need a business model that honors your humanity, that flex the ebbs and flows, right? The problem isn't that you can't be consistent. The problem is that your marketing requires an unrealistic view of what consistency is. The problem isn't that you have low energy. The problem is that your business depends on high energy, right? The problem isn't that your capacity fluctuates, as I mentioned. The problem is that your systems do not flex for you in the seasons you need it to flex, right? You don't need more capacity to, to succeed. You can be the capacity you currently are. And still have success, you need fewer systems that are simple, that leverage the current capacity you have. And this is why podcasting is the most capacity-aware, or long-form marketing is the most capacity-aware marketing system you can build. It supports real capacity, not imagined, or I'm gonna get there capacity. It's kind of like when you're working out and you're like, I'm gonna have a six-pack in 6 months, and you want to have it tomorrow, but you're starting to do the practices, but you injure yourself today, right? Is it gonna be in 6 months? Maybe not, right? So it's really about building an adaptable system and mindset around this. So here's how we do this. You want to create systems for your marketing and sales as well as your operations and your offers that adapts to your energy, right? You don't need something that requires the same output every single time in order to create the results that you want. You want something that actually reduces your cognitive load. I have many episodes about this. I think I recorded an episode about why it's so hard for you to write emails when you're like mentally exhausted and your brain is not working. Um, we talk about this because I have seen, and there are science and research that shows trying to oftentimes can be a huge cognitive load that makes it more difficult for some to write. And so when you can speak something out over time or leave yourself notes or like text-to-speech, you actually reduce the stress around that. The other thing is you need a system that helps you regulate your nervous system. What I mean by this is that you need to have a, a space that is grounding for you when you decide you have the capacity to show up and create these systems that will work for you long after you created them, and that they give you an overall growing platform over time, like it compounds, right? And you want your system to be able to increase your emotional capacity. By removing the, the need to always be visible, right? This is huge. You're not on stage 24/7. Like, I think a lot of us feel like we have to be specifically cuz of social media, but our businesses are really built on relationships and building trust within ourselves and with others. So it needs to help you. Your systems need to help you do both of those things. When you are able to build systems that honor where you are and where you're going, you build self-trust. You can start to see the proof that I can show up in a way that honors my body as I still grow, and it can be consistent inconsistently, and it can still create results. And this is really at the heart of having a sustainable business. This matters so much. When you're thinking about growing your business. Marketing isn't all about visibility. It's about capacity enabling visibility. Because here's, here's what I mean by that. When your capacity is either expanding or in flux or in some way shrinking, your marketing will disappear. When your marketing disappears, your sales often disappear. Your marketing is not inconsistent because you're uncommitted to what you want. Your marketing is inconsistent because it, it's fighting the reality of what's happening in your nervous system, in your body, in your world right now. So when you have a marketing and sales system that's really based on the principles of long-form content, such as podcasting, this helps you slow the pace down. And deepen the impact that you can create over time that compounds with long-form content. So it gives your audience more of you without asking more from you. So if this episode is speaking to you and you're like thinking, I don't wanna be pushing to have my capacity at the peak all of the time. I wanna be able to feel like I can be a human being and honor the fact that my capacity isn't just a robot that's on the, on the shelf that I'm trying to get to. And you want a system that works with you and does not expect the same levels of capacity in any season, but can work in, can work in those seasons regardless, I want to help you with that. You can go to the show notes and book a call to learn how to work with me one-on-one so you can create a business marketing and sales system that's designed around your real capacity right now. And can grow and flex as you continue to build your business. If you're like, I actually am pretty good with my systems, like you have a long-form content system, but you're getting bogged down by the doing of that work. If you're using podcasting, we have our podcasting editing and management system where we do the podcast editing for you. So we can make it super easy so that all you have to do is show up. And let our team do the rest, which is editing, show notes, clips, graphics, and helping you get it out there on time and the time that matters. So I hope this episode about capacity is helpful because your capacity is not the problem. Your humanity is not the barrier. You being a human, that's imperfectly you. Your nervous system isn't the enemy, and in fact, it's just trying to protect you. The only thing I want you to keep in mind with your capacity is that your Your business needs to be built with you and flow for you, not against you. And your marketing can honor you now as you grow, but not demand more of what you currently have to give if it's just not there, right? Your sales can flow even when your energy doesn't. And that's what you can do with a marketing sales system that's built on the foundation of long-form content. That continues to compound over time, that helps finally bring some more harmony and relaxation and less stress into your life. So we'll see you in the next episode.

That's a wrap for this episode of Business with Chronic Illness. If you would like to start and grow an online coaching business with me, Head to the show notes to click a link to book a sales call and learn how to make money with chronic illness. You can also check out our website at www.craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and join our email list to get exclusive content where I coach you on how to chronically grow a profitable business while living with chronic illness. Until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.