How Freelance Writers with Chronic Illness Can Make Full-Time Income on Part-Time Hours

What if the biggest business decision you made wasn't about your offer, your pricing, or your marketing strategy? What if it was deciding that your health comes first and your business has to work around that and not the other way around? Most entrepreneurs treat their well-being like it's negotiable, something to optimize later. After the launch, after you hit the revenue goal, after things quote unquote calm down. But in today's episode, we're going to hear from someone who flipped that script completely. And we also really talk about how building a business with your health not being negotiable is absolutely crucial for you to actually create success. We're joined by our guest Amanda, who has built her freelance business with this one non-negotiable rule. Her health restoration is job number one, and job number two is to make sure that everything that she does helps her make money with ease. And here's what happened when she made this her filter for every business decision. She built a six-figure business working part-time hours. She's kept the same clients for years without burning out, and she's grown her business without sacrificing core rules. And she's proven that pricing by value instead of time changes everything when your capacity isn't predictable. So as you listen to this conversation, I want you to think about what would your business look like if you stop fitting yourself into it and start building it to fit you, fit what you need, fit what is important now. Amanda and I are unpacking this today, and this isn't just about freelancing, it's about what becomes possible when you stop sacrificing yourself for your business and start designing a business that actually serves your life. So stay tuned.

I think in the beginning it was a lot more of, I have nothing to lose here. Like, I'm at rock bottom. The only way to go is up, so I might as well just throw some stuff out there.

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 more 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 the only 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.

Hello everyone. I'm so excited to have Amanda on the show. We are going to talk about a lot of different things related to freelance. I love her business. Like she reached out to me cause she found the podcast and I was like, health first business. I love that. I love that. But before we hop all the way in, please tell us how you would describe yourself. Cause I know they heard the intro, but like, how would you describe yourself? Today?

Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here as well. And I would describe myself as a human being with chronic illness who builds a freelance copywriting business, in my case, that puts my health first. That was my whole goal for starting my business and, you know, shifting from being a 9-to-5 corporate employee to a freelancer who does business and work on my own terms. So yeah, that's who I am today. And I started my business in 2020 during COVID So it's, it's my, I'm coming up on my 5-year business anniversary, business birthday. So that's very exciting. And yeah, it's been a journey, but that's kind of where I'm at.

That is so awesome. I think that's. It's a, it's a big deal to decide to be an entrepreneur and you're living with health stuff, right?

Yeah.

Do you feel like that was a, like, how did you move into that decision? I'm going, like, tell us a little bit about, because 5 years being in business, you have a community, you have, I feel like you, when we talk, you have a little bit like of an agency kind of model to the back end of your business. So how did you get to this point?

Yeah. Well, like for how I started, how I decided to start my business, it really came out of a health crisis. It was really like, I have no other option at this point kind of decision. So for me, I have chronic Lyme disease and in 2019 I had this big health crisis. I was on steroids for something else and that was totally messing with my body and I was working at a digital marketing agency at the time. And basically my health just spiraled out of control and I had to quit and I was just like really sick and didn't know why, what was really going on. So it ended up being like a solid 6 months of, of that year of just really suffering and struggling and trying to, you know, endless Google deep dives, rabbit holes, like just trying to find some answers. And eventually I ended up seeing a naturopathic doctor who helped me out and, and started some nutritional protocols and supplements and things to finally get me on the right track. And then I saw another practitioner who does frequency medicine treatments. She uses a system called Ondamed, if anyone is familiar with that, but also a lot of other different tools, energy modalities. And she was the one who was like, oh, you have chronic Lyme disease, because she also has chronic Lyme, and you have it really bad. And I was like, oh, okay. So it was from there all the pieces fell into place, and then I started to make some serious progress in my health with those treatments and modalities. And yeah, so it was like towards the end of 2019, I was like, okay, well, I'm at— I'm like, I'm doing better, but I'm not at a point where I feel comfortable with going back to a 9-to-5 type of job. And I don't really wanna do that anymore. Yeah, that was an awakening moment of, okay, like not only do I not want to do that, but it's really not sustainable for me. That's part of the reason I got to this health crisis in the first place was just like pushing myself through these long days and not feeling aligned with my work and a lot of different factors. But yeah, I realized, okay, I need to be able to work from home. I need to be able to create my own schedule. I need to be able to take a nap in the afternoon. I, I like to tell people I started my business so I could take naps, and that is absolutely the truth. And yeah, I just realized I needed a lot more freedom and flexibility than any kind of job I had had previously had allowed me to have. So that's where I landed on, on freelancing and copywriting. I have an English degree, so I have writing skills, but I just Googled like, how do you make money writing online?

I love that.

Yes, because I'd been working in and around marketing, but I'd never done copywriting before. I was doing more of the editing and proofreading side of things. So I had to look into that. Ended up buying an online course called Write Your Way to Freedom, which helped me build this copywriting business. And yeah, you know, start and then start of 2020, the world shut down. And by that point as well, I had gotten a part-time proofreading role at a nonprofit. So it was a lot more like relaxed, like the people were really nice, but I was still going into an office like 2 or 3 times a week, which was like, it was fine, but I was still like, I don't love this.

Yeah.

Yeah. And, and I was still missing those, those afternoon naps. Yeah. So suddenly when everything shut down and we were all remote, it was like, I was like, wow, this is awesome. Like I suddenly had a taste of that freedom I was really looking for. And so then being remote, having this like part-time gig to tide me over, but then also being able to continue working on restoring my health and build my business. That's when that all started to take off.

Yeah. I mean, taking naps is like an important, you know, aspect of, you know, if jobs, if we went looking for jobs and they said, hey, you know, naps are required, we might have a different thought about J-O-Bs.

I love that. Yes, absolutely.

Right.

And I love that, you know, you took this approach, like thinking about like, how do I make this work around me and what I need? So it's interesting to hear. No, I knew I wanted to have my own schedule, my own ability to have freedom to decide to take a nap. I'm curious at the time of you starting then, what did you receive resistance from maybe communities or spaces where you were like, I want to do this slower or differently that affected how you approached this lane?

Yeah, that's interesting. I don't know if I really received any resistance. So being in this copywriting course, everyone in there was very supportive, and it was just like a genuinely, generally a great environment of people and like building their businesses. And Sarah Turner, who runs that course, is also very like lifestyle first. Like, you don't have to hustle and grind 80 hours a week to build your business, you know. Like, she was very on vibe with that. But I would say The biggest thing for me was just I just didn't encounter many other people, if any other people, who were building a business alongside managing a health condition. Yeah. And for me, it just— it was so foundational for me in like the way I approached doing business at all. Yeah. So I, I just knew from the beginning of my journey in the back of my head, oh, I'm I'm doing things differently.

Wow.

And yeah, not necessarily like any outspoken, like resistance from anyone else. Just like knowing that there was a difference, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

I think that's a really powerful thing. I also am curious because I thought the same thing, Amanda, like when I first started, I was like, I, I don't think anybody else is running, uh, starting a business. With this being like, there is no ifs ands about me needing naps or not being able to do things the way we traditionally hear about business. I think that's the piece that I always felt, like you said, foundational. It was the filter, filter for every decision, filter for everything I decided to do, offers I was going to offer. It was always there. And now that, you know, for you being in this for 5 years, me being in this for almost 10 years, Do not get me started. I find it interesting because the more people that I talk to is that they too were starting their businesses with this alongside of them, but they didn't feel like they had the permission or maybe the privilege even. I don't even know if I don't— I know we use that word so much in the world, privilege, but like just the awareness that, hey, I know I have this chronic illness, chronic life, whether it's you have it diagnosed or not, that I could run my business with that being the focus, like the filter. So I'm curious, as you've grown over the last 5 years and now you have your own like community, what are some of the things that you have found that surprises you? I find this like that people come to you, they're like, I need to do such and such. And you're like, but why? I don't know if you have that experience as well as listening to some of maybe the internalized messaging that we've received that is completely different from the foundation you've come from?

Mm. Yeah. I think one of the biggest things for me that I see people have a misconception around is that— is they think that they have to work way harder than they do. Mm. I put a lot more hours into the business, the business building, you know, everything. I love to say I run— or I make a full-time income on part-time hours, and I have since the beginning of my business. And it's, it's certainly grown throughout the years, but that has— I've always known, I've always started from a framework of, okay, I only have maybe like 20 to 25 hours of capacity in me a week, you know. I had— that's— so I'm gonna make it work.

Yeah, yeah.

And yeah, I think there's this conception that you have to be spending as much time or more on your business as you would a full-time job, a full-time role, and I have not found that to be the case.

So that's— that's such an interesting— I, I totally agree with you. I'm curious though How did you come to that? Like when you started and you were growing, working part-time without working as hard, I guess that's even that language, working as hard. But how do you feel like you got into that rhythm of being working part-time, making full-time income? Because a lot of people that I talk to feel like, oh no, we have to earn our way to working part-time to make full-time income as if it's The prerequisite is that you have to work longer. And I'm curious to know what has been some of the things that have worked with you or failed that you're like, oh no, I can't do it that way. That has made it possible to work part-time and make full-time income.

I think for me, and let me know if this is not the direction you're thinking of, but I think for me, the like working less hours, it's the beauty of freelancing, to be honest, because— Thank you. Okay, cool. We're on the same page. It's the beauty of freelancing. Because I am providing a very specific deliverable that my client is paying for and how much time I spend on that deliverable and how I, you know, how I go about my creative process of creating what they need, in my case, copywriting is none of their business. So I can make that as efficient and as streamlined as I want to. And for me, for example, I started my business really focusing on blog writing. So I was, I was offering like blog retainers and like packages. And I, so I'd write, you know, most of my clients would be like 4 blogs a month. It's a certain rate. And then I would deliver it and I still do this, deliver it on like a monthly basis. So here's your set of 4 blogs for the month, or sometimes it's weekly, but like basically. You know, you know that what you're getting and, and when you're getting it.

Yeah.

But then everything else is up to me so I can develop a system that is very efficient for writing those blogs.

Mm-hmm.

And it, it just doesn't take as much time or energy, especially as you iterate that process, as people think. And, and certainly not as much time as the. Like corporate machine would, would want you to think.

That's so true. I have a follow-up question of being like, if it doesn't take as much time, is that because it's just literally in your zone of strengths? You're like, that's the thing you do well, you're passionate about it. It's the thing that just flows through you that it doesn't take you as much time.

Yeah, I think so. I think so. Especially, yeah, blogs like was something I I accustomed to very quickly. And even like before I had client work, like I was writing a little bit here and there on Medium, like just getting into a flow. And as an English major, I wrote essays all day, every day. It's really not that different. It's just like the tone is different. You're still like structuring it a certain way and organizing information so that it makes sense. So it was not very difficult for me to adapt to and was something that I found very quickly was like really intuitive to me. Whereas like for other people in this copywriting course, for example, it was not necessarily as intuitive to them.

Mm-hmm.

So yeah, I think I definitely capitalized on that and was like, okay, I can figure out how to, you know, write these in a certain amount of time and develop a system that makes it even easier.

I think that's pretty cool. That is, I'm so the opposite. We talked about this.

We, okay.

Uh, me and Amanda had a conversation in her community while we're at the same day we're recording this podcast episode.

We did.

And I was telling her, and everybody who's listening knows I am, I am working on saying that I'm not a writer because I'm not, but I'm working on the fact that I've been leaning more into that. I've been asked to be an author. I've literally just wrote a magazine article for my first, like, published piece coming out. But thank you. These are things that I would be like, I ain't doing that. Give me a mic. Let me talk about it. That's just the easy place to come from. But I really appreciate you sharing, like, it's the, it's the flow for you. Like, it's the thing that works for you. I wonder too, while you were going through like the ups and downs of chronic Lyme disease, was it still easy to do that work while you were in that space?

Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good question. I think in the beginning, actually focusing in on blog writing was easier for me because it is something that. Is very formatted and repeatable. Like a, a, a good blog post has certain components to it and you can just rinse and repeat and change topics.

Mm-hmm.

So that did make it easier for me with like brain fog and, you know, lower energy days, what have you, to still be able to make progress on projects. Mm-hmm. And there is no shame in writing some garbage and going back and editing it later.

Yeah.

That is the key. Yes.

Is that something you just like naturally leaned into because of your experience in school, knowing what I put out there is just gonna be crap and then I'll have to edit it and make it better? Is that something you've learned through that experience or also just through working with clients and not— because I don't hear perfectionist tendencies from you in this conversation and I feel like there's a lot of people listening who's like, that's great, but I'm like, not like that. So I'm curious, what does that look like for you?

I mean, that's amazing that you don't hear perfectionist tendencies from me because I am a recovering perfectionist for sure. Okay. Yeah, I think it just comes with a lot of practice and repetition with writing. You just realize that it's part of the process. And, and not to say that, you know, I, I, I really don't typically have to edit heavily, but I can give my, myself permission if I know I'm like, okay, I'm not really in the headspace for this right now, or I'm like, I don't have as much creative juice as I would like, but I just gotta get out something so that I can go back later. Or if I get out something now, then maybe the, the section after it will be better and like close, closer to done, and I can go back and rewrite the first section. But I had to write the first section to get to the better section, if that makes sense. So yep, it's a whole process, but you just gotta keep, keep doing it.

Has that approach helped you in your business too? The like kind of starting and then, yeah, it's gonna be messy and I'm just gonna have to figure it out. Like how has that looked like for you, like in your actual business?

I am very much fly by the seat of my pants kind of business owner, I feel like, which I feel like a lot of people get stuck in the analysis paralysis.

Yes.

And I, I do feel pretty good and I think that's, that partially comes from too, from my, my kind of knowing from the beginning that like I have to just do this. I don't really have another option on the table at this point.

Mm-hmm.

So I better just try stuff and see what works.

Mm-hmm.

And yeah, I think that's really helped me out in, in pricing and pitching and raising my prices. I remember in the beginning, like one of my, my first clients who is, is still my client to this day, I pitched them a rate for blogs and kind of like I had some guidance from the course I was in, but it was also, I just picked, picked a little bit of a number. And I remember when I was on the call with her, I said the number and her eyebrows went up. Oh, that's low. And I was like, oh no, I lowballed her, but I said the number and she accepted my offer. And then that told me, oh, I can go higher, you know, in the future as once we've been working together for a while. And yeah, so I wasn't, I'm not going to say I wasn't afraid of having that conversation, but I did it and then I was able to course correct later.

It's so, I love that you said, I'm saying that I love that because it's so, it's not as often that I hear You know, that I get to chat with someone who's thinking, you know what, I don't know all of the answers to something. I, and I'm not afraid that if I do do it this way, there is, you know, something, I don't know. We're in our new neighborhood that we live. We have these little woods behind us. And at night there's these weird sounds that sound like creepy crawl— I don't know what it is. Okay. It's creepy. And so we call it like the creepy, the creepy crawlers. Cause we're like, I don't know what this is. I'm not afraid of the creepy crawlers in my business. Like I'm not afraid to pitch. And I'm hearing that from you too. I don't know, this could be a great price.

It might not.

I, I'm not afraid to be on a conversation with someone who's talking about something I don't offer and think, hmm, I could probably do that. Let me think of how I would price that. I don't have that fear. And that's what I'm hearing from you, but I'm wondering if that's coming from like self-trust, is it coming from like alignment and intuition? Like how does that look like for you?

Yeah, I think it comes from self-trust and alignment now. I think in the beginning it was a lot more of, I have nothing to lose here, I'm at rock bottom, the only way to go is up, so I might as well just throw some stuff out there.

I love that. Wow.

And yeah, now 5 years later, I would say yes, it's, it's a lot more about, yeah, trusting myself and like experience, of course, and And yeah, and having these kind of firm boundaries set in place of what I will and won't do for, you know, for my clients and like for to maintain my own health and all those things. Yeah.

I'm curious, has your journey with chronic illness shaped, like beyond being like the filter, the foundation, like we're making decisions from that place, but as you've been through that healing, are you in remission with chronic Lyme right now?

Okay.

Yeah, more or less. More or less. Yeah. I'm light years better than, than I was, of course.

Yeah.

Are you finding that, that journey of, I call it disruption, disruption of, I don't know what's going on. Like you're fine one day and then all of a sudden you're not, you're like, I have no idea what's going on. That kind of upheaval of ups and downs and not getting answers and then finding answers. Like, have you found going through that has really served you? Almost as kind of like a leverage or a benefit, I dare say privilege, for an entrepreneur. Like, how has that translated into your, your business?

Yeah, it's been an enormous benefit, I would say. I mean, for me, on honestly, on the most practical level, I write for holistic health and like functional medicine practitioners, health brands, supplements, things like that.

Mm-hmm.

So, and that directly came from my own interest and like going on my own health journey and figuring out that for me, conventional medicine had, you know, Western medicine had nothing to offer me. I went down every road I could there and, and I wasn't getting better. So I had to turn to this other path and found out that I was really interested in it. Like even besides fixing my own health, I would just in my spare time was like, like looking up weird health stuff and having that, you know, kind of passion for the space and wanting to, you know, genuinely wanting to help these practitioners who were in turn helping other people, like helping them get their message out and communicate better. I don't know if you know this, but doctors are very bad writers. So they are totally— so they are more than happy usually to pay me to write for them and help them with their, their content and their copy. But yeah, I would say that was like a very practical and direct way that my, my health journey helped me in my business. But as far as like kind of handling the ups and downs, yes, absolutely. And I would say I'm, I'm very fortunate that I have not had any, knock on wood, any major like rock bottoms in my business. It's been a pretty consistent journey for me. I, I tell people I'm, I practice the buy and hold method of clients of, I've only had probably like 10 or so clients in my entire business. I just keep working with people and find different ways that we can collaborate together. And, and, you know, as I learn my clients' businesses, like then they, you know, want me to write more copy for them because I know exactly what they're about and I know their brand voice and all that kind of stuff. So for me, it's been a relatively consistent journey so far. And I think that kind of mirrors where my health journey has gone too, though, because it was, you know, in the beginning it was a lot of like ups and downs of, okay, I feel, I feel good one day, I feel crappy the next day. But through learning a lot about health and, you know, different modalities and nutrition supplements, lots of kind of different therapies and stuff, I've really been able to build up a toolkit that really works for me. And so now it's a lot more consistent for me, and I still have some ups and downs occasionally, but they're more like gentle hills than big cliffs.

I am curious, because you've said you've had a, like, a relatively stable business, you've had clients. I've, I, I love clients that stick around and move on. As technology changes, because I think this is a common thing I have, you know, it's interesting. I have a lot of clients that are writers. They love to write. And their biggest concern to me recently is just, you know, AI is coming into the picture. It's not even coming into the picture. It is in the picture. It's not going anywhere. It's like digital photography never went away. We still have it, but we also still have film photography. I'm just saying. So I'm curious to know how has that with a business that's focused on writing and, you know, connecting. How has that brought you into being like, okay, how can I incorporate this new aspect? To me, is this kind of like getting a new diagnosis and you're like, well, that throws a wrench in my plans, I'll figure it out. Like, how has that looked like for you as we, you know, graduate into the AI world of things?

Right. Yeah. It's been an interesting journey so far over the last, you know, few years. I would say, similar to many other writers, I was very resistant to it at first, and I really just dismissed it, you know. And it was like much worse in the beginning than it is now. And it's only actually been like this year, in the last few months, that I've started using it and really incorporating it more into my process. And I, I've done a 180. I love it now. I find it really helpful for those crappy first drafts of things and just giving you a starting place, especially if it's something that you're like, for, or for me at this point, I'm like, I've written about this 50 million times before. I really don't want to write about it again. Give me something to work with and then riff off of from there. Is that's really helpful. It's also really great for outlines, brainstorming, kind of like all the pieces of writing and copywriting that come before the actual writing part of things.

Right.

So, and honestly, those are the most time-consuming parts.

Mm-hmm.

Going back to the example of blog writing, like if you, once you have the outline, like in the direction that you're going with the piece, you can just write it. At least that's been my experience. Once you have the structure down, it's a lot easier to just let, you know, let the writing happen, so to speak. But yeah, I'm definitely still playing around with it and figuring out what its strengths and weaknesses are. And actually, I literally just upgraded to ChatGPT Plus today.

Yeah, I've been using it forever since it came out. I was like, I ain't got time for y'all to be asking me questions and telling me I'm limited. Ah, let's $20. Okay.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I finally, I'm like, that's the kind of stuff I'm resistant to. I'm like, I try to be really discerning of, you know, business tools that I pay for.

Yeah.

So, you know, since I've been using it for the last several months now and I'm like, okay, this is like actually really part of my process now. Now I will invest in it and see what the, the upgraded capabilities can do. So I'm just starting to play around with that. But yeah, I think it's here and it's, it's funny. It's, I wonder if this is how people felt when like Google just became part of our lives.

Yeah.

So I, I'm trying to think of it in that way of this is just another stage in the evolution of the internet. Yeah. And at this point I do think for freelancers especially, like you should be learning how to use it in some capacity and it really has the potential to make running your business even easier, running an online business even easier. So yeah, anyone who wants to, you know, create a lifestyle business or a business that puts their health first, I think it's a powerful tool.

Yeah. So AI has made it easier, I think, for a lot of us, especially with varying capacities, to just— I feel like it I used to, you know, I talk a lot about, and I'm sure you might agree with this, is like living with chronic illness is not that we're limited in our capacity. In a way we are, but actually I feel like we are much more, to your point about, am I going to invest my time in this thing? We're much more selective. And because we are much more selective, I feel like it gives us an advantage because some people are not that selective. They are not that intentional. And if you add the whole energetics and the body into it being like, does this work for my body or doesn't work for my body? Does this work for my energy or does it not work for my energy? Because we can't have something that's going to add more stress to our body and our energy in the sense that I might as well go get a job job. You know, at that point it's like, uh, I don't want that life. And so when it comes to tools like AI and things like that, it gives us an advantage that we can use in our filtering system of how we decide we wanna show up. So for you, how has that helped you build? Because you have a freelance business and you're building like a community. So how does that help? Like, how are you finding the capacity for doing both?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think for me, so I've been building the Health First Freelancer community over the last year or so, maybe a little more than that. And It's definitely, I would, I would say like at this point, maybe 80% of my business is still freelance copywriting.

Mm-hmm.

And 20% or so is the community. And I'm really still working on that, to be honest with you, like finding the balance and finding ways to optimize my time and, and like how I'm, you know, marketing the community and finding the right people and You know, sharing my own voice on platforms like this and, and I'm on YouTube. So that's also been like a main focus. So it really still is like a day-to-day process for me. And I, what I've been doing lately actually is really doubling down on like the first hour of my day is focused on Health First Freelancer and, you know, whatever I need to do. To grow the community and to serve my members who are already in the community. And then, yeah, from there, I feel really fortunate that the clients that I work with, it's very kind of systematized and like, I know exactly what I'm doing there. So it doesn't feel like a lot of mental effort. So I can, even, even though 80% of my work is still there, It's, it feels like I have more capacity to focus on the, the 20% of the community right now.

What led you to deciding to, you know, create, if you know, a community aspect of your business?

Yeah, 100%. I, I thought at first it was going to be an online course, and I thought I was gonna, you know, create a whole course and teach people how to, you know, start and grow a freelancer business in a way that supports their health and prioritizes their health. And I was just really struggling with that. Like I was trying to do that for months and really not getting anywhere with it. Mm-hmm. And it just felt so overwhelming to me. And honestly, that was, you know, pre-AI. So maybe if I revisited that now, I could make it a lot easier for myself, but But that's how I decided to pivot towards this community idea of what if it didn't have to be a course and what if it wasn't so prescriptive from me, you know, what if it was more about just bringing people together and we can learn from each other and I will still provide guidance and certain resources and we have a, a weekly call and things like that, but it's less about me being like, here is the exact method you need to follow and more about here's the, the principle of, you know, being a health-first freelancer, prioritizing your health and your business, but it leaves more room for, you know, individuality of like how you go about that. And I just love the, I love being a host. I love like bringing people together and facilitating conversations. And talking to interesting people and connecting people. Like, I met some of my best friends in this copywriting course that I took. I would love to provide a space like that for people to create those relationships. And, you know, speaking to more of the online landscape that we're in now, I think people are getting burned out on the course content and just consuming content in general. I think we have a lot flying at us all day, every day, and and what we're lacking is these community spaces and places to actually genuinely interact with people in a meaningful way that also can help us like create a lifestyle, and in this case a business, that we want and that really benefits us and ultimately benefits the world. So yeah, that was my thinking behind the community, and yeah, so far I love it.

I love I love that. I think community is a huge part of why I think I have even have found answers to my own health journey, right? Like my own things. Entrepreneurship has really been a vehicle for that. Like, I always joke with my husband. I'm always telling him, I was like, yeah, I think my answers for things that I'd be praying for always comes through my business. That has nothing to do with my business. It's like, I'm— it just expands. I feel like my, my ability to receive because of having a business like this. And so I think it's pretty cool when I have meet new people who have communities like this. And I think it's cool that you found me. I think it was ChatGPT.

It was.

And I was just like, this keeps happening. And I was like, ChaCha, ask ChaCha. I said, ChaCha, how is this happening? Gave me a whole thing. And I was like, I thank you. I appreciate this. Like, it's such cool thing, but it's mostly because of like this community of— there aren't many of us talking about specifically like health and business in relationship to this. And it's really cool to see that there's more people coming into the space and, you know, having that kind of community. So it's really cool. What kind of fears have come up for you in this journey of having a business while navigating health stuff and just business in general.

Mm. Yeah, I think I've definitely raised my baseline of being comfortable with some level of uncertainty, but at the same time, I, I do feel very secure in my business and in my client relationships and things like that. Like, it feels almost impossible to me that They'd just be like, see ya, bye, we don't want to work with you anymore. And I think that comes down to building those relationships. So yeah, I don't struggle with that on a daily basis. I would say I do struggle a little bit more with what if something like some new health complication happens and then everything falls apart, but again, And I think having built my business coming out of this like health crisis, like it was really bad. Like I glossed over it, but I was, it was not good.

So Amanda, okay. So not good. How? Give us, you don't have to give us all of it, but I think it's nice to, for, I think a lot of us wish sometimes just to a degree that we really knew Because I feel like if you're like me, my people are always telling me, Nikita, I don't know how you do what you do when you say you're like having a flare-up. And I'm like, and you still show up in some kind of way. I'm like, because I've had worse flare-ups. So this isn't that bad. Let me describe to you what really bad is. And then they're more understanding of that. I think I find that I'm the, the, the space that we are, if you will, keeps bringing people to me who know how to function in like some pretty strong things where if other, other people were in them, they would be like, I don't know how to say anything. So like, I think to paint a picture, what, like when it was bad, how did it look? How did it feel to also be in this space of I gotta figure this out?

Yeah. So at the worst of my Lyme disease and not knowing that it was Lyme disease, I mentioned I also had the steroid thing going on. Like I was on steroids actually for ulcerative colitis, which is a previous diagnosis I had from when I was a teenager. So stuff was happening with that. That's why I was on the steroids. But then because of the Lyme, I was having serious issues coming off the steroids. And to this day, I don't actually know what that was. It was like a— some kind of adrenal reaction, I think, is like the closest thing I've been trying.

You're not the first to tell me this on the show. I have literally— this It's so interesting having this conversation often with people, and steroids is a common catalyst for more complications, more challenges, more things flaring up that I have seen, and, or I've heard from other folks have shared with me that they had a really, really big challenge with steroids trying to get it off. Really interesting. Yeah.

Wow. Okay. That's very validating for me because I have not heard of many other people having that experience. If anybody. But yeah, for me, for whatever reason, it was really bad. So I was on like a, a 60mg dose of steroids and had to step down like 1mg at a time. And every time I did that, I would have kind of like a really bad mental health swing. Like every time it'd be like this like hysterical depression. It's hard for me to even describe. Yeah, right.

Weight.

So yeah, I think a large part of that, besides my gut health, was the mental health issues at the time, and really like alternating states of depression and anxiety. And I could eat very little. I was also very paranoid about eating. So I was like— I was down to 99 pounds at one point. Yeah, that— those were the major issues. And that is like true rock bottom for me.

Yeah.

So to your point, there are certain days where I'm like, yeah, I don't feel great right now, but in, you know, in comparison, I'm fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is a— that's a true thing. Like, I started my podcast like right after having a hysterectomy, and I had complications. Like, I literally was back at the hospital, staying in the hospital for longer. It flared up some other issues that I had. And I started a podcast. So like, when people are telling me, you know, it's so hard, and I don't— and it's— I'm not trying to— and I'm sure even when I talk to other people, it's not that we're negating that, right? What you're going through is hard. And then you're comparing your situation to mine. I always say, well, we're just different people. So what this looks like for you and what it looks like for me are gonna— it's gonna be different. It's like my husband getting sick versus me getting sick. It's all relative, right? And however it feels like for you is going to feel different and be different. However, even in that relativity, you have to find your capacity. You have to find like your gauge. And that's what I'm hearing. Yeah. Well, in comparison, there really isn't a comparison. I just found my way in figuring it out. So I appreciate you sharing that because I know a lot of us looking at us in this space now where we're not in that dire place is like, well, how did you get here? And I'm like, well, For me, it was 5 minutes a day working on my business. For me, that was, you know, jotting some things down on a notepad or something that I'm going to do. It wasn't that I was doing it all. I had to just pare it down.

Yeah.

Yeah. Is that an approach you have found that's an approach for you that you had to build while you were going through that for yourself? In your business.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that was— I mean, that's kind of part of the whole Health First philosophy, really, is I know— I knew that, okay, my actual job is restoring my health. That's like my first and most important job at all times.

Yes.

So anything that I do that makes me money is secondary to that. So then how does that fit in around my first and most important job, which is my health? So that's always the perspective I took. But yeah, it was, it was really a like side-by-side process for me of restoring my health. And then, you know, once I had quote unquote gotten back to like normal, I guess.

Your new normal.

Yes. Then it was like, like, okay, how do I keep going, you know? Because I, I think along this process as well, I realized that what was normal for me before was really not that great, and I could have been doing a lot better job. You know, I, I just really wasn't that conscious of my health before, even with having a chronic, like, ulcerative colitis before. I just realized, yeah, along the journey with Lyme and, you know, looking into more holistic methods of nutrition and various modalities. I've done a little bit of everything, to be honest with you, that I had an opportunity here to make things even better than they were before, but it would require a lot more conscious effort and attention than I was giving my health before.

That's a whole nother— it is, it really is. I'm like, that's a whole nother because the world would like us to believe that we, we don't get to do that yet until we have made, you know, whatever, like we need to be in, you know, my thing recently is you actually don't have to burn out to have a successful business, even though there are a lot of people telling you, oh, I burnt out and now I'm teaching you how to not burn out. You know, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm just like, okay, can we get to a point where there are people who are like on podcast episodes who are saying, yeah, it took me maybe a few extra years or a few extra months to do this, but I didn't sacrifice my health to do it. I didn't sacrifice my well-being. I didn't sacrifice, you know, can we get to that point, you know, where we're having those conversations of like actually like the tangible things. And that's part of what my mission is with the show is, yeah, chronic illness is a lens of what I think just historically we all have had to deal with and why the world is part of the reason what's going on with the world. But it doesn't have to be the way forward for success. You don't have to sacrifice your health. You don't have to sacrifice your first job, which is you, because without you, you have no business, you have no relationships, you don't have a life. And so I think to your point, it's like, it's just being more conscious and intentional about what does that look like.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I think most people, unfortunately, particularly if you don't have a chronic illness, for most people that's an afterthought.

Yeah.

And, you know, their job or maybe their family, it tends to be their number one priority. I think for most people it really is work, just because I think we just spend most of our time doing that. And it really, really, really doesn't have to be that way. And, and I think if, you know, if you're not paying attention to your health and your well-being now out, you certainly will be paying for that later.

Always.

And, um, I'm— yeah, we're here to tell you that put, you know, put in the conscious attention now and you will benefit for the rest of your life. Yeah.

Well, this has been lovely. Please, please share with us how people can connect with you, Amanda, and how we— what's— if there's anything exciting. And also tell us something that you thought that was true you first started your business that you now don't believe is true?

Oh, okay. Well, people can find me at Health First Freelancer on YouTube. I make YouTube videos and that's the best way if you want to get to know me a little bit more. You'll also find links to my email newsletter and my community there if you so wish to check those out. And a thing I believed in my business. Before that, I don't believe currently. Hmm. I never imagined I would have a six-figure business in the beginning. I was like, let me just make enough to cover my rent and food, please. And like certain health things.

Yeah.

I was like, beyond that, I don't know, but we'll see. But yeah, in 2023, I made it over that six-figure threshold, so. So that was very exciting and mind-blowing. Still is mind-blowing, to be honest.

That's awesome. I love that you shared that. It's— yeah, that's true. You'll be looking at yourself, no, I just wanted to do this little thing, and then it's more than a little thing and you're doing it on your terms, which is even cooler.

Absolutely. And if it's possible for me, it's possible for anyone else.

Well, thank you so much, Amanda, for sharing and coming on and sharing your story. Your approach to business. Also, like, you're like the long form of the written version of me when it comes to content and marketing. I'm like, long form every day. It is a chronic illness warriors, like, who are living with chronic illness running a business. That is the way, okay? The way. I'm just saying, that's my personal thing. But I, I love that there's another person out there, Amanda, out there saying, yeah, long form is great, blogging is great.

Yes, absolutely. Together we can take over the world. Yeah, sky's the limit.

Well, I love it.

Well, thank you so much for today.

Thank you for having me.

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.