Rest or Hustle? How to Finish the Year Strong 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 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 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 we make a living. This is Business with Chronic Illness.

Welcome back to Business with Chronic Illness. I'm so excited that you're here. I wanted to talk to you all about a couple of things. One, it's November 2024. There is still 2 months left in the year. So if you think or feel that you're not going to be able to reach your goals, or you've given up on your goals, I encourage you to review your goals and see where you can still be committed and honor what you can do in this next 2 months of the year, no matter what has happened the rest of the year, no matter what has gone wrong, what has gone right, What can you lean into for yourself holistically as a human being, as well as for your business, that you can still have your own back for when you're going into 2025? So that's just a reminder. I thought it was really important because I need to remind myself of that earlier this month— this month, last month in October. All right. Secondly, what do you need to be focusing on during this time when it comes to your business? So I definitely want to lean into business talking around this time. There's a lot of noise that's going to be happening in this month and next month. It's an election month. It is also Black Friday, the holidays and everything. You might feel extremely overwhelmed with the marketing side of your business, the sales side of your business. You might have serious FOMO because you decided that you're not going to do Black Friday sales, or you did decide, or you might decide that you aren't, and then you decide that you are. It doesn't matter where you are in that boat. It's okay. I just want to remind you of a few things to think about when you're thinking about your business during this year, during this season. So one, if you are like, Nikita Williams, I'm tired, I'm done, I don't care about my goals, I don't care what I said I was going to do, this year has been one of craziness and I just want to put everything down and not think about anything business related. I want to offer two things to you. One, I get it. Like, this is not the two, but this is one. I totally get it. However, there's a saying, and it's very much so something I've seen in my business: what you focus on today is only amplified 3 to 6 months from now and you don't see those results, you don't reap the rewards of planting those seeds. So during this season, whether you're planting seeds of rest and just like— if you're planting seeds of rest as well as planting seeds of reconfiguring, like you're trying to figure out where you want to be or what you want to be doing in 2025, be sure you're planting seeds now that support that goal of rest and planting more seeds. So what do I mean by that? Well, during this season, oftentimes we're like, I want to rest because I'm exhausted. And I want you to think about something: if you have planted seeds last year, 2023, in November and December so that you wouldn't have to be so exhausted, and it just frustrated with the year, what seeds would you have had to plant last year in November 2023 to reap the rewards now? So I want you thinking about that now. Like, how do I reap rest, not just in the end of the year, but throughout the year of next year? Now, by the seeds that I plant now, I'm not a huge planter, so please, I'm just starting to be happy that I haven't killed my aloe vera plant that seems to still be growing and my pothos plant that was gifted to me and I've had for 3 months and it's still alive. I'm so proud of that. And I have 2 basil plants that are still producing basil. So I am like the newbie and I have a succulent that hasn't quite died yet. It's still kind of alive. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm becoming a plant mama. I don't know. I'm already a fur baby mama, but Anyway, random tangent, but here's what I want you to think about when you're thinking about planting seeds for rest now. Yes, you want to rest now, but what do you need to have in place in order to create more restful year in 2025? And what I'm about to share with you applies for you whether or not you're wanting to plant seeds of rest or you want to like hit the ground running. You've got plans, you've got stuff to do, this will apply to you as well. Plant the seeds that you want to harvest now, for rest, for growth. And the two ways that you can do this— and I have been really reflecting on this in my own journey, and I'm like realizing, and I'm seeing content and things that people are talking about as far as like how this year has been challenging, where they've had to kind of go back to— a lot of people, and a lot of you You may have felt like you were having a— either coming back to home, to your own voice, to your, your own alignment of what it is that you want. You may have felt like you lost your way because things didn't work as well as you thought they would. You may be feeling that you needed to shift or pivot in your business. Your health may have changed, right? For some of you, if you're like me, this year has been a year of like Okay, I must be in that cycle where my body is doing random things and I don't know what that means. And so my energy and my capacity has been shifted. And so I've really had to focus a lot more on my intentional well-being in general, just trying to figure out what is my new status quo. And so that might have thrown off your business also in general, the market this year as far as like people's businesses has seriously taken some ups and downs. Seriously, some businesses have done really well, some have closed, some are like on the titter of like, do I stay, do I go? And people, the way people are buying and engaging, are changing. And some of us who have been on, you know, social media, I feel like those of us in our 30s and above have been on social media like the rat race of social media and is literally getting burnt out from just that aspect of our business of marketing and content creation and content consumption. And so we may have felt a lot of things this year, and you may have thought that things would look different by this time of year. And so maybe you hustled more, maybe you pushed more, maybe you grinded it out more, and maybe you tried so many different things and you bounce from here to here. I have definitely heard that in my calls with clients and sales calls. I have definitely seen that. But the thing that I want you to pay attention to is the businesses that have done well or continue to grow or continue and at least appear like they are moving forward is that they're trying new things and sticking to it, but keeping to the foundation of what they know works for them and tweaking it. And the other thing people are doing is reconnecting with people. As much as AI and marketing and sales and things like that on a technology level has like blasted above all of the things, mediums like podcasting, mediums like blogs, mediums like Facebook, y'all, Facebook groups and Facebook pages, networking and retreats in person have skyrocketed this year. And I think, and I know that the reason this is, is because people are craving genuine connection and community. And I have always said this since I don't know when, like, I don't know, I think I have an episode called The People Are Number— or The Numbers Are People. I may have changed the name, but basically the idea that our businesses don't grow or run without people and community. And that is how you find your rest, you guys. That's how you plant seeds for rest. You plant seeds for rest when you develop relationships for your business and in your life that support you when you're resting. What, girl, what are you talking about? What I'm talking about is Something that happened to me this year, which I'm very thankful for, was the majority of my business came from people who found me from other people that I've connected with and networked with and developed a relationship with. And that has either happened like organically in me connecting with people or my long-form content, which has been on for years, right? And so I encourage you that if you want to plant seeds for rest going into 2025, that you do that during this season. You don't have to hard sell everybody, but I do encourage you to connect with people and grow that email list and grow that connecting in some way, shape, or form, just checking in. And for all y'all introverts out there— I'm not an introvert, so I have— most of my clients are actually introverts. They actually love this type of marketing because it's one-to-one. They love this type of connection and community because it's one-to-one and they can focus on one question, one person at a time. It's an easy email, it's an easy DM, it's an easy text message, it's an easy comment on a social media platform of someone you want to genuinely connect with. And that is going to help you really reap the rewards of your garden going throughout the year when you want more times for rest because you would have planted seeds and you have to nurture those seeds now. So that means maybe this season you're starting to plan out a connection and collaboration plan where you have a list of people that you're connecting with and you're having an idea of like, what's the last time you connected with them? What did they share with you? What's important for them? What are they looking for? How can you be a resource to them? And how can you give of yourself in a way that doesn't deplete you, right? So for those of you who are like, I don't want to be on social media, then get to your emails, get to your phone, and connect with people. Get into your community. Look for community things. Host community events. And it doesn't have to be big. It could be one to, you know, it can literally just be a neighbor. It could be a woman that you meet at a candle shop that is sharing her journey with you while you're shopping for whatever you're shopping, and you connect with her and you tell her what it is that you do and you want to know how you can help her. Lean into community if you want more rest in your life. If you want more seeds nurturing in your life, cultivate community. And for those of you who are like grinding it out for the business, going to do the Black Friday sales, going to be posting. I know for myself, I'm going to be doing a sales challenge in the next month or so. I'm also going to be working with my clients on that same aspect of things. However, I am still focusing on community. I'm still focusing on connecting and asking of how I can be of support to people. Right, reconnecting with people that I haven't connected with. For me, this is a practice that I've always kind of developed, but this is going to help you and your goals for 2024 that we're still in the 2 months left, as well as 2025. And it will help you hit the ground running in 2025 because you would have set up yourself to have seeds where people are thinking about you and you are top of mind. Even though it is crazy, because I can guarantee you there are tons of businesses out here who are focused on people that that they don't know becoming their clients. And I want you to focus on the people that you already have connected with. I want you focusing on the people that you have already served and connecting with them. As much as you're looking for other people, be sure to reconnect with your people. Reconnect with those who you maybe have lost connection with this year. Check in with them. Check in with these people, y'all. We don't have businesses without business, without people. We don't have businesses without relationships. We don't have business. So you have to lean into that if you want to cultivate more rest and more growth even in your business. So I wanted to share that with you. I wanted to share those different kind of ways with you. So if you're like, Nikita, I want to rest, that's what I want you to focus on. If you're like, Nikita, I want to go hard in my business, I want to do the things. I want you to do the same thing for those who are like, I want to really commit to like sales and marketing. I want you to also look for opportunities to collaborate, look for ways to collaborate, to expand your audience. Again, this goes back to— and it's much easier to do when you have made connections with people. If you haven't, this is the time to plant those seeds to be collaborators coming into the new year. But this is the time, y'all, This is the time. So I am actually going to be pitching to some of my clients opportunities to collaborate with me. I'm really excited about this because I haven't done it in a while and I've kind of been in my own head mindset-wise about it. I like lots of thoughts, but I want you to do what we all crave right now, which is connection and community and people. And if you can do it in real time, not on Zoom, if you can meet up with someone with— for coffee, or if you can meet them up for a lunch or something like that, or go to a networking event, or go to a conference nearby. Or if the in-person is like too much, get into the online communities that you are and offer value. Be of service. This is going to help you. Be of connection. Connection creates a wealth of growth And it helps you so much long-term, long-term, as long as you maintain and nurture that. So that's what I wanted to share with you for this episode. We have so many amazing, um, guest episodes over the next couple of weeks. I am moving. Here's an announcement. I am moving to a new state. We're moving to St. Johns, Florida, which is just off of Jacksonville. We're really excited about this move. We're actually moving at the end of this month, and at the end of November, and I'm so excited, you guys. I am. I— we've done a lot of emotional work and growth, and I personally have done a lot of growth, and I feel like this is the first time we're making a decision that is sorely rooted by our prayerful consideration of what we want, what's good for us as a couple, as individuals, and nobody else came into consideration here, really. Of course, other— we have family and friends like that, that came into consideration. We're going to miss them, but we're close enough to people, but we're also going to be where we really feel like we will enjoy. And that's important for both of us. We both deal with our own challenges. You know, I live with multiple chronic illnesses, and my husband deals with his own challenges. And so environment is everything for us, and being close to things that bring me peace personally, like the ocean. We're not that close to the ocean that we have to worry too much about hurricanes, which we're excited about that because we used to live in St. Pete and Tampa, and that was lovely. Like, it really is lovely, but it also was very stressful because of thinking and dealing with the hurricanes and we don't hear too much of that happening in Jacksonville. So in Jacksonville, you still get the seasons. It's not always like burning up. You still get, you know, a little fall, a little winter. They last shorter and they're not as, you know, incredibly intense as they are in some other areas. So we're excited about having that. And we've met some great friends in that area. So there's so much excitement happening. So to say the least, I'm going to be busy, be packing. Doing all of the things. So I know all of you are going to be busy, but just find yourself thinking about what seeds do I need to plant now in order to reap the rewards coming into, you know, January, March, April, you know, May of next year. I think sometimes we completely stop in November and December, and then we wonder and we get frustrated when we hit the ground running in January or mid-January for some of us. And we didn't reach our goals. And it's because we completely stopped, you know, sowing seeds, throwing seeds out there. So that's just something I want you all to think about. And if you're looking to work with a coach, I am still bringing on clients inside of Chronically You and Profitable. This is the program where if you want to launch or start and launch your coaching or service-based business, teaching or helping others to create whatever version of success that you're helping them with, whether creatively, health-wise, professionally, whatever kind of coach or service provider, digital marketer you want to be, then that's great. And if you're like, Nikita, I want some one-on-one support, I have 4 spots available for my one-on-one clients. This is where you get me hands-on any day to help you in different areas of your business and your life. And my pricing and everything, you find in the show notes of the show. For those of you who are like, what's one-on-one coaching or how can that help me? I help clients from a life, life coaching or business coaching. So whether you're just trying to find ways to feel better and have better days and weeks and a whole better life living with chronic illness, I can support you in that way. For those of you who are having a business and you're just like, I want the support of someone who can understand coming from a different circumstance rather than just kind of having like quote unquote the normal life and have like varying health situations, life circumstances, then I want you to come and check me out in the show notes. All right, you guys, 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.