I’ve had two conversations this week about money. One was based around the feast or famine panic, and the other was entirely different.

And it going me thinking:

I think freelancers can often treat their earnings as if they’re still employed and we actually need to reframe how we see our income.

Because I see many freelancers get stressed when they have a quiet month. But freelance rates are designed to account for this down time – or they should if you’ve got your rate right.

It’s unrealistic to expect to earn a consistent amount every month. Projects overrun, payments take longer than they need to (I’m looking at you big companies out there 👀), and sometimes things are just quieter.

But you can bet come October you’re going to be run off your feet and earning probably double what you’d ‘expect’ to earn in one month.

My turnover is inconsistent and I’m okay with that.

Because I’ve got tools to track my finances so I’m not constantly in panic mode if I’ve had a quiet month.

• I track my income over 3 months rather than 1, so it usually balances out.

• I pay myself a consistent wage, so any leftovers support me in the slower months.

• And over the years I’ve been able to build up a buffer to support me - which allowed me to continue paying myself a wage in Covid when all my work disappeared.

Now I get that it’s a great position to be in and not everybody has that luxury. Some people are genuinely struggling to pay their bills every month. This isn't a post saying ‘just change your mindset rather than earn money’. I'm a big believer in creatives earning bloody good money for what they do.

But I think the ‘regular, steady income’ mindset that you get with a job has a tendency to stress freelancers and solo business owners out unnecessarily.

What we need is to create our own rules and tools around money coming into our business that aren’t based on being paid a regular wage by somebody else.

Because when we do that, it opens up a world of possibilities for us.

I was reminded of this yesterday in a power hour with one of the On Brand gang, when she said:

“I’ve been quieter than usual for a few months and I feel lucky that I have a job that gives me the space to do my creative pursuits. I’m definitely thinking about money a bit differently these days.”

She’s using the quieter time to explore a new idea that might be a longer term way for her to have a business that earns beyond her hours.

And she’s able to enjoy this slower period, rather than panicking about it because she’s gone back to her finance tracker and knows her earnings are already on track for this time of year – she just earned more earlier on.

And that’s why, rather than aiming for consistent turnover every month (which is quite frankly often unrealistic for a creative business) we need to do finances that work in a way for us.

If we have the tools in place to understand and have visibility of our money, it not only takes away the feast or famine panic, but it also gives us time and space to do all of the fun and creative things that we’re always saying we want to do, but never have any time to actually get on with.

Over the last month my brain has come alive and the imposter syndrome that had been plaguing me has finally disappeared.

I’ve been waiting all year for this to happen.

In January, I was so excited to properly get stuck back into my business as I’d had a slower year last year after burning out. But I'll be honest, I've really struggled to get momentum going again – something I'm usually very good at. More than that though, I've struggled to trust my own judgement.

Until I burnt out, I felt so confident in what I offer. I’ve done the work: got clear on what I love to do, who I love to work with and why, and how to talk about what I do with confidence. I was doing what I loved. I had proof that I’ve got a viable business that people want and need.

But something changed.

Part of it was probably a resistance to get back into my work, because I don’t ever want to burn out again. But I’ve got habits and boundaries in place that look after me now, so I was certain it wasn’t only that.

It’s only really been in the last week or so that I’ve realised what’s been causing me to second guess every decision I’ve been making. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that things started to change when I stopped opening Instagram.

I love Instagram, and have been on it since the early days. I’ll no doubt go back to it at some point. But somewhere along the way it stopped being somewhere I shared my work, and started becoming somewhere I was constantly questioning it.

So I decided to leave it alone for a while, and within a week my brain suddenly started fizzing with ideas.

It’s not because Instagram was blocking my creativity. I think I’d finally created enough peace to hear my own thoughts again.

The ‘shoulds’ dissipated, and I started listening to what I want instead of what everybody else is doing.

Which has made me realise how easy it is to stop listening to what we know about our own business because we’re looking at what everybody else is doing instead.

And I know I’m not the only one.

I had a conversation with a client about the exact same thing the other day. When you’re constantly being fed so much information from others, it’s easy to ignore even the clearest evidence and second guess yourself.

It’s important to recognise that if you’re second guessing everything you’re doing and all the decisions you’re making, then it’s most likely nothing to do with you not being good at what you do. It’s highly likely that you’re listening to too much advice and comparing yourself to other small business owners who have completely different lives and businesses to you.

So you need to reconnect with what you want from your business and what brings you joy.

Because we backed ourselves enough to start a business in the first place, so our self-trust is there. It’s just easy to get lost by the noise along the way, and think that the problem is us.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been reconnecting with my belief in myself. It’s there. And when I revisited what I love to do, and who I love to work with, nothing’s really changed as much as I’d first thought. It’s just become clearer to me.

So it turns out that the self-doubt and second-guessing that I’ve been battling for the first five months of this year are because I’ve not been listening to myself and have been dedicating far too much time to listening to the opinions and lives of others.

So if you’re feeling this too, sit down with a brew and figure out what it is that’s making you feel inadequate, like you’re ‘behind’ or failing, or just generally gives you a bad feeling. Because it might be time to put it aside for a while and reconnect with what you love to do and what brings you joy.

When you’re building a business that works for you, it can be so easy to get frustrated and disheartened. When you’re itching for it to ‘happen’ it can feel like there’s no progress.

There’s one habit that’s supported me in my business for the last 5 years. It’s helped me to carry on. Because I chose self-employment to build a business where I do work I love and that earns beyond my hours – and creating a business that allows me to do that doesn’t happen overnight.

This habit is my review and planning process. I carve out time at the end of every season to pause, review and decide on my next steps.

This regular time and space has had such a positive impact on both myself and my business.

It reminds me of the bigger picture

It’s so easy to just keep on keeping on when you’re running a business solo. When we’re busy we get blinkers on and forget about what we’re trying to do and where we’re trying to get to. That’s when I see people making decisions that don’t feel good but are usually made in the spur of the moment based on panic or history. I know I’ve definitely gone down a path that wasn’t right more than once because I hadn’t come up for air.

Having time and space every few months to step back and remember what I’m doing and why, keeps it front of mind. So when I’m busy and am tempted to make quick decisions, I can make them with the bigger picture in mind.

It helps me see where I’m already making progress

We don’t often stop to celebrate our wins. And we often don’t even recognise them. In fact, in every seasonal planning session I host, there’s at least one person who comes along and says they’ve done nothing for the last few months, and then I see them scribbling down a long list when we’re reviewing what we’ve been up to.

Reviewing my business every season helps me to enjoy it more because it gives me a chance to recognise what I’ve achieved or chipped away at, and creates a moment to give myself a bit of glory. Because when it’s just you in your business, you’re also the only person who’s going to give you praise and recognition. So it’s important to carve out time to do just that.

It helps me spot what’s no longer worth my time

Seasonal planning isn’t just about what’s next. Because we can’t decide what’s next unless we learn from what’s been. Spotting what’s not working is a way to learn and evolve. And the way to spot what’s not working is to pause. Whether it’s my marketing, my messaging, or something else, I only ever know it’s not right by stopping momentarily to notice, and it’s usually at the end of every season that these realisations happen for me.

It’s so easy to carry on blindly hoping something will work, and get down the line and wish we’d changed things sooner. I find that if I try something that doesn’t work or fit me, I never feel much regret if I’ve realised after only a few months. But in the past when I didn’t have these moments to pause, I’d end up down rabbit holes for far longer - and it’s a lot harder to change course the further down the rabbit hole you are.

It gives me permission to change course

We need time to spot what’s not working. But sometimes we also need to review our plan if things change. Every so often, our priorities change or life happens. It’s much harder to make adjustments to the plan if you’re not used to checking in with it regularly.

Another reason I need to make changes to my plan is because my capacity and energy changes throughout the year. It’s not uncommon for me to come up with lots of wild ideas in Autumn, only for my energy to dip when winter rolls around. That’s actually a big reason why, instead of quarterly planning, I now do these seasonally.

A) the quarters don’t quite line up with the four seasons, and

B) by calling it a seasonal plan it actually reminds me of my changing energy levels throughout the year.

It helps me choose what’s actually realistic

It’s so easy to dive into planning mode with lots of exciting ideas, but never get any of them done. It’s usually because we’re not planning with our capacity in mind.

Now, I’ll be straight with you here, it took me a few goes at planning this way to realise I was expecting too much of myself. And I still don’t always get it right. But that’s the beauty of having these regular reviews. They help me to spot when I’ve been overzealous with my plans and had higher expectations of myself than I’d have for anybody else.

Now, I always start my plan for the season ahead by checking how busy I am in work, and what’s going on outside of work too.

It pulls me back to what matters when life gets busy

Life happens, things get busy, and sometimes we put a plan in place and don’t look at it until our next planning session. The joy of planning every few months is that when things do get busy there’s always time carved out in the calendar to pull me back in and reset. It’s never too long until I get the opportunity to pause and recalibrate.

I think this is actually one of the biggest benefits to this process, because it means there’s a cycle in place in my business that’s always forcing me to pause, take stock, and get focused again.

I treat my business like a creative project, which means I let it evolve and change over time. This process of reviewing and planning every season prevents me from expecting everything to be complete in ridiculous timeframes. I’m comfortable with everything iterating. It means I’m always moving in the direction I want to, but can make changes if I need to. And that means I know I’m always making progress, but in a way that works for me.

My community, On Brand is built around the cycle of these planning sessions. everybody loves them, not only for the chance to take stock and get focused again, but because they’re an opportunity to chat about ideas and plans with others - and remind ourselves we’re not alone in our business challenges.

Our summer planning session is on 6th July. If you’d like to begin this habit for yourself, I’d love to have you as part of the gang.

Come and join us here before our summer planning session.

So I’ll be taking the common themes across the episodes, and turning them into practical exercises to help you figure out how to do business your way.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on the final big theme from season 1: figuring out how you actually want to do business. Looking back at conversations with guests like Paula, Jag and Gina, I explore why sustainable businesses are usually built through experimentation, not perfection, and share a simple exercise to help you start testing ways of working that feel more natural, enjoyable, and manageable for you.

About Fliss Lee

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping creative founders and freelancers build businesses that actually fit them.

Find out more about On Brand

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter for honest truths on building a business your own way.

So I’ll be taking the common themes across the episodes, and turning them into practical exercises to help you figure out how to do business your way.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on another huge theme from season 1: the importance of finding your people. Looking back at conversations with guests like Paula, Chris and Lucy, I explore how the right support network and the right customers can make business feel lighter, easier, and far less lonely. I also share a simple exercise to help you think about the kinds of people you naturally connect with, and how to build a business around more of those relationships.

About Fliss Lee

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping creative founders and freelancers build businesses that actually fit them.

⁠Find out more about On Brand⁠

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter for honest truths on building a business your own way.

A couple of years ago I was in a therapy session talking about my very first job and how the long hours and work ethic have affected me ever since. I remember it clearly because it was a lightbulb moment for me.

Back then, 22 year old me assumed my manager would have boundaries. As it turned out, my manager at that time didn’t think to ask me if I could stay late another night. The realisation I had in that moment with my therapist, at the age of 38, was that it was on me to set my boundaries, not on him. (Side note: a good manager will tell you when you need to go home).

Why am I telling you this?

Because it’s really easy to be that boss to yourself when you’re self employed. Sitting there at 38 years old talking to my therapist, I realised I’d become my old boss. He was self employed too. He loved what he did, and he wasn’t able to put the work down at a reasonable hour either.

Many of us start our businesses to have more freedom and flexibility. But we often end up falling into the trap of thinking we’re being flexible when actually, the flexibility we give ourselves means we end up picking up work at all hours of the day.

It makes it so much harder to switch off when the business is your own. And that’s the trap I fell into.

It’s too easy to keep going. To check your emails when you’re not working. To pick up work when you’re on holiday because your client has been late getting back to you (FYI, that’s on them).

It’s too easy when you care deeply about what you do and there’s always more you could be doing. The flexibility of self employment is brilliant; the lack of structure around it is often the harder bit.

So you need good boundaries with yourself because there’s no one telling you to log off, stop overcommitting, or finally take a break.

It’s on you to do that.

It’s why, at the beginning of every season alongside the members of my community, On Brand, I revisit my boundaries as part of our planning session. We make intentional decisions about what we need to keep ourselves fit, well, and able to keep businesses forward in a sustainable way.

Because designing your business to fit you takes time, energy, and strong boundaries. And that only happens when you’ve got the right support and ways of working in place to make those boundaries possible.

I think this is one of the reasons I became so interested in learning how other people approached business ownership, which is ultimately what led me to start my podcast, Do your thing. I wanted to learn from other brilliant business owners how to do business in a way that worked for me too.

And in this week’s mini episode, I reflect on the lesson that came up over and over again throughout season 1: if your business depends on you constantly running on empty, something needs to change.

You can listen to the episode here.

I’m currently on holiday enjoying sun, sea views, and a healthy amount of lemon beer. I scheduled this post before I went away and will have my app blocker on so I’m not tempted to look when work notifications come through.

It’s safe to say I’m learning. And this year, holding better boundaries with myself has started to feel a bit more natural.

It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does get easier the more you practise it.

So I’ll be taking the common themes across the episodes, and turning them into practical exercises to help you figure out how to do business your way.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on a big lesson from season 1: if your business depends on you constantly running on empty, something needs to change. Looking back at what came up with guests like Jo, Morín, Gina and Lucy, I share a simple exercise to help you think about the support, boundaries, and ways of working that will help you build something more sustainable.

About Fliss Lee

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping creative founders and freelancers build businesses that actually fit them.

⁠Find out more about On Brand⁠

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter for honest truths on building a business your own way.

I’ve had a lot of conversations about control lately. It seems a lot of people are craving it.

We start our business and go with the flow because we need to earn money. We’re trying things out and often haven’t really figured out what we want this ‘thing’ to look like.

So we do what comes our way. We work how we’ve always done, doing the work we’ve always attracted.

And then after a while, we get more of an idea of what we want from our business. Or we figure out what our ‘thing’ is. Or our life and priorities change, so what we want from our business changes too.

And suddenly, we no longer feel in control of this beast we’ve been growing.

It can feel like you’ve fallen out of love with your business, but it’s more likely that you’ve grown and changed as a person.

It’s just that your business hasn’t grown with you.

And that’s where the craving for control comes from. Not because you’re controlling, but because your business has started making decisions for you.

It’s an entirely normal phase of business life. What we want from our work can change over time, and our business needs to evolve with us. Especially when we started it to support a certain kind of life, and then life starts to look different.

Our priorities change, what we need from our work doesn’t stay the same, and the kind of work we enjoy doing evolves too.

And it’s highly likely that at some point, you’ve leaned too far towards doing what your customers are asking of you and ignored your own needs for a while.

What I will say is that you don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, which is what I hear a lot of people saying.

You just need to revisit what you need from your business now, so you can make decisions about it that work for you.

Because when we start our business and dive in head-first, we don’t often make deliberate, intentional decisions about what we’re doing and why.

We take the work, say yes, and figure it out as we go - and there’s nothing wrong with that for a while. But at some point, you realise you’ve been growing and changing, while the business has stayed largely the same.

So instead of jumping to completely reinventing everything, you probably just need to sit down and ask yourself a few questions.

• What do you want your business to do for you now?

• What work do you want more of?

• What do you want to stop doing?

• What needs to change so your business fits the life you’re actually living, not the one you had when you started?

Because feeling more in control doesn’t always come from doing more.

Sometimes it comes from pausing, reflecting, and making decisions with a bit more intention.

If you’re in that stage where you know something needs to change in your business, but you’re struggling to figure out what that actually looks like, you’re not alone.

Maybe you’ve outgrown the way your business currently works or you’re craving a bit more control over what you’re doing, how you’re working, or where your business is headed, but you’re struggling to see the wood for the trees and need space and support to properly step back and figure it out. I’d love to be the one to help you do that.

My community, On Brand, is designed to help creative business owners stop constantly reacting and make more intentional decisions about where they’re headed next. It’s about working on your business in a way that evolves with you, so you can have a clear sense of what you’re building and why.

Summer is the perfect time to slow down, step back, and reconnect with what you actually want from your business. And we’ve got our summer planning session coming up on 6th July if you’re ready to join us and do exactly that.

Until next time.

Fliss 💛

People come to me to design a business that actually works for them. Which means figuring out the long term vision and putting it into action.

But quite often, the place we start is actually on an interim plan. A plan for now.

Because before we can properly work on where we want to be, we need to make sure the business we have right now is supporting us without draining all our time, energy and headspace.

I’ve got a client at the minute who is at that stage in her business where she’s tried lots of different things. She’s been swayed by advice to do things a certain way, and led by what the customers she’s attracted so far have asked her for. She’s designed and redesigned, and she’s ready to take all her knowledge from doing this, combine it with all her knowledge about her specialism, and design her business around her expertise and the way she actually wants to work.

But before we can do that, she needs to keep things ticking over so the money keeps coming in.

She needed the plan before ‘the plan’.

This interim plan is always going to be different for everybody. It’s based on capacity, headspace, and income.

I often find myself reframing this phase for my clients, because quite often we’re impatient and want to get to the long term vision fast. But crafting a business that genuinely works for you takes time.

And unless you’re one of the lucky few with a pot of money saved up to support you while you’re designing ‘the dream’, you’re going to have to do it alongside keeping your business ticking along.

There are two things we discussed about her interim plan which I wanted to share today in case you’re in this in-between phase and finding it a challenge.

1. Keep the money moving without draining yourself

How can you generate income quickly? Do you have any existing customers who return to you regularly? Do you have any income streams that are particularly lucrative?

The quick wins are about finding the easiest and quickest way to generate income to sustain you. It might not be the work you love to do, but it’s a means to an end.

When you’re doing deep work ON your business, you need the business itself to keep ticking along without constant panic about where the next bit of money is coming from.

It’s also important to think about what work drains you the least while still paying well enough to support you.

It’s often the thing we’ve done for years that we’ve grown out of, but can do with our eyes closed. Don’t underestimate the importance of this type of work when you’re pivoting or shifting things.

2. Use the interim plan as data

Another really useful way to reframe this phase is to use where you currently are as data.

Keep detailed notes of what your existing customers are saying to you. Really listen to their needs to inform how you’re designing your future offerings. Use it to understand what you don’t want to do, and why.

The plan before the plan isn’t you failing to get to the bigger vision fast enough. Quite often, it’s the thing that makes the bigger vision possible in the first place.

Often what we need from our business right now gets missed when we’re so focused on where we want to get to in the future. But finding a way to make this stage sustainable is crucial if we want to build a business we can actually stick with long term.

Because the plan before the plan isn’t just about keeping things ticking over while you work on the bigger vision. It’s about protecting your time, energy and headspace, keeping you happy right now, and paying attention to what this phase is teaching you.

Until next time.

Fliss 💛

So I’ll be taking the common themes across the episodes, and turning them into practical exercises to help you figure out how to do business your way.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on another big theme from season 1: the importance of getting clear on what you actually need from your business, rather than chasing someone else’s version of success. Looking back at conversations with guests like Lucy and Morin, I share an exercise to help you understand your values, so you can make clearer decisions about how you work, who you work with, and what success actually looks like for you.

About Fliss Lee

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping creative founders and freelancers build businesses that actually fit them.

⁠Find out more about On Brand⁠

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter for honest truths on building a business your own way.

I had a realisation at the beginning of the month. I’ve been overcomplicating things a little, and so I decided that throughout May, I’d focus on simplifying things in my business, and in turn, not doing anything new.

And that’s actually stopped me putting so much pressure on myself to constantly ‘achieve’ when it comes to my business.

I’m one of those people who is always working towards something. And in the past that’s burnt me out because my brain has struggled to switch off and I’ve put myself under a lot of pressure at times.

So rather than putting myself under pressure to complete certain business projects by a specific date, I’ve been letting myself do what I fancy.

And here’s what I’ve learnt.

When I don’t have pressure on me, I’m more creative.

When I did my planning for May and June, I decided that I have projects that I’d like to do, but I didn’t set any deadlines for them. And it’s been like a tap in my brain has suddenly been turned on.

For so long I’ve been in and out of achievement-mode in my business because I thought pressure was what helped me get things done. But taking away the pressure to constantly achieve has shown me how stifling that’s become for my creative brain.

It turns out that under pressure, our brains shift into survival mode, which makes flexible, creative thinking much harder. So the deadlines I thought were helping me to ‘achieve’ have gradually been eroding my creative thinking over time.

I enjoy creating content that’s genuinely useful.

I’d got to the point where creating content felt like a slog. I was struggling with ideas and was no longer excited by what I wanted to say, feeling as though I was trying to force things. And when you feel that, you know your audience feels it too.

But taking that pressure away has taught me that it wasn’t content creation itself that was draining me. It was the feeling that I had to create in a certain way to fit the algorithm, stay visible, or do what I thought I ‘should’ be doing.

I’ve realised that the content I enjoy creating is the stuff that’s useful, rather than the stuff that’s created just to be visible.

I’ve had the headspace and energy for writing again (hence the move to Substack). I’ve recorded some mini podcast episodes. And in shaking off the ‘shoulds’ of content, I’ve even started to happily post on Linkedin regularly again.

It’s so easy to spend our energy trying to promote our business in the way we’ve been told we ‘should’, that we forget what actually works for us. There are so many ways to be visible in a meaningful way that fits us. Often what we actually need is to shut out the noise and listen to what that is.

Being around people is my natural habitat.

I’ve always known this. My business has grown from referrals and the community I’ve met over the last 8 years. But I’ve found myself being sucked into the digital world more and more and neglecting my communities.

By letting myself do what I fancy, I’ve found myself gravitating back towards people.

It’s where I thrive. Not only is it easier to share what I do in a conversation with people, but I need socialising to feel good about myself.

And it’s made me realise how easy it is to neglect the things that energise us when we get too sucked into what we think we ‘should’ be doing to grow.

So it turns out, you can still get meaningful stuff done without deadlines.

We’re fed a constant message that productivity always has to look structured. That if we’re not tracking, measuring, planning or pushing ourselves towards something, we’re somehow falling behind.

But what I’m realising is that doing what we fancy isn’t always avoidance. Sometimes it’s information.

Sometimes it’s what pulls us back towards the way we naturally work best.

And honestly, I think a lot of us would feel better, create better work, and probably even make better decisions if we stopped treating ourselves like machines all the time.

Until next time.

Fliss 💛

So I’ll be taking the common themes across the episodes, and turning them into practical exercises to help you figure out how to do business your way.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on one of the biggest themes to come out of season 1: the beliefs, expectations, and ‘shoulds’ that shape how we run our businesses. Looking back at what came up across those conversations, I share a simple exercise to help you spot the beliefs shaping your decisions, so you can start making more intentional choices about how you work.

About Fliss Lee

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping creative founders and freelancers build businesses that actually fit them.

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter for honest truths on building a business your own way.

I remember vividly the moment I read the review. My heart sort of sank and I definitely cringed.

I always wanted to be a ‘cool’ designer. Creative, full of ideas, and different. But the truth was, that was never me. And ‘commercial’ felt like the total opposite of that.

But I’ve since realised that being a commercial designer got me to where I am today. It’s actually one of the reasons my business works because I can see the value of what I do and am able to sell that.

I don’t see sales as a dirty thing. It’s just telling people what I do so they can decide whether it’s what they need. I understand my customers and how they see their challenges, so I’m able to talk to them in a language they understand.

Most of us decide to be self employed so we can earn a living in a way that works for us. To do that, you have to be able to connect what you do with people’s needs. And that requires seeing the value of what you do.

It’s something I see many creatives struggle with when it comes to their business.

Because we’re often taught to put creativity first and anything commercial starts to feel dirty - like it’s ‘selling out’.

We’re not taught the ‘business’ side of things in art college. And the chatter in the outside world about creative roles doesn’t help. The language other people use around them can really diminish what we do. I lost track of the number of times I heard “don’t you just colour in all day?” when I was a designer.

So I see a lot of creative folk who are brilliant at it when it comes to their clients - but when it comes to their own business it can feel sticky and sometimes paralysing.

But we need to be able to sell if we want our business to survive - and if we want to make good money.

When my clients really see the value their creativity brings, things change for them. Their confidence grows and they stop downplaying what they do. They start seeing that the thing they love doing actually has real value.

That’s the moment they connect their work to the impact it has, which makes selling feel a lot less icky and actually vitally important to be able to do what they love.

That’s commerciality.

It’s not bad to be commercial. It’s good business. Commerciality isn’t about sleazy selling or selling out. It’s seeing and sharing the true impact of what you do.

It’s why I’m actually pretty proud of that review that Liv gave me nearly 8 years ago now. Because I know it’s what makes me able to help my clients see their value.

And once you start seeing the value in what you do, it becomes a lot easier for other people to see it too.

Until next time.

Fliss 💛

“How do you turn the ideas off?”

This is a question somebody asked me when I shared recently that I’m not doing anything new in May.

When you’ve got the type of creative brain that’s always coming up with new ideas (I call it the Explorer brain), it can be hard to know where to put your focus because you constantly have so many good ones.

It’s easy to feel scattered and like you’re not working towards anything in particular when you’re always trying new things, but equally, when you have a creative brain and part of its greatest ability is coming up with new ideas, it can feel restrictive and stifling if you’re not ‘able’ to explore them when you’re most excited by them.

We don’t always want to stick to a rigid plan, and need time for creativity and exploration. But equally, we also need some form of structure to keep us heading to where we want to be.

That’s where the ‘someday list’ comes in.

You can’t turn ideas off, but you can work on them with intention.

I get all of my ideas out of my head and onto post-its, and then store them in one place (like a Trello list), which means I’m not losing them across multiple scraps of paper or different Google Docs. Then when I’m doing my seasonal planning I look at what’s relevant to what I want for the next few months.

Instead of setting rigid goals at the beginning of every year, I set an intention. It’s made up of how I want the year ahead to feel, what I’m trying to do this year, and what I’m working towards. And every season I plan the projects I’m focusing on in line with my intention, taking into account my energy levels, what would be most beneficial right now, the best strategic next move, and a little of what I fancy.

Working this way has moved things in my business much quicker than before. I’m focusing on less at a time, am able to pivot my focus if things change, and more importantly, it works for my brain.

It gives me a clearer way of deciding which ideas to act on.

The someday list means I’m able to capture them all somewhere without having to act on them immediately. It forces a pause and makes me think about my ideas with a bit more intention.

And it’s helping me to have a simpler May where I’m focusing on making what’s already existing better, without being concerned about what’s next.

Not every idea needs to happen straightaway. But we do need to make sure we capture the good ones to make sure they’re not forgotten.

I hope this was helpful - I’d love to know if it was. And, if you have any questions let me know in the comments.

Until next time.

Fliss 💛

In my Spring planning session a couple of weeks ago, there was one thing that really stood out to me: I’m feeling a need to really simplify what I’m doing.

I’m sure it’s not only me that’s feeling this need. But I really need my business to work for me and where I am in life right now - and a huge part of that is in how I promote my business and the work I do.

Something’s clicked more than ever before to the point where I’m really simplifying things over the next month.

And I’m starting by not creating anything new in my business this month.

Because constantly starting new things isn’t what’s going to grow it.

It’s a lot to do all the time - and it’s really easy for us to keep going like that. To carry on creating because it feels like progress, especially when it’s what we think we ‘should’ be doing.

But it’s not always what our business, or ourselves, need.

I’m not afraid to admit that for too long now I’ve been trying to make things fit me that haven’t. Ways of promoting my business that I see other business owners that I admire smashing - that quite frankly, just drain me.

I love coming up with new ideas for my business. But more ideas aren’t always the answer.

I’ve created new lead magnets, new services, and dabbled in new marketing channels - but have never quite found the time to make them work as well as they really could.

When I looked at what I was trying to do, but never quite ‘getting right’, it made things click in my mind.

So I’ve made the decision to consolidate things here on Substack. Because at the beginning of the year I realised I want to write more - and I need a space for this writing to be honest and truthful and not ‘bound’ by marketing rules.

And more importantly, the blog that I’ve had sitting largely redundant on my website for ages, just isn’t working for me.

For too long I’ve succumbed to the feeling that I need to constantly create content to be ‘visible’ because that’s what the algorithm rewards - but the quality of this content has suffered.

I’ve looked at the marketing channels I actually enjoy, and the ones that perform best for me. Putting my energy into these places is a no-brainer. But I’m still surprised at why I kept going back to the ones that just didn’t make me feel good when it’s what I discourage my clients to do all the time.

I’m excited by this simpler approach.

My mind already feels quieter and calmer - which is only going to have a positive effect on what I put out into the world.

Because the world doesn’t need more content. As Nigel in Devil Wears Prada 2 says: we’re trying to create snippets of information that people scroll past when they’re on the loo.

If I’m creating, I want it to be useful. To add something to people’s lives rather than just being there to be visible.

And stepping back and pausing has helped me to see this.

Morín works at the intersection of business, brand and body, helping feminist founders build brands rooted in values, vision and cyclical living. After years of battling her own cycle and treating it like a weakness, discovering her “inner seasons” changed everything and completely transformed how she works, plans, creates and supports her clients.

We talk about cyclical living, capacity, burnout, creativity, and why your body is a strategic tool that most business owners ignore. Morín shares the reality of planning around her menstrual cycle, designing her business around her energy, and unlearning the belief that we have to be at the same level of productivity every day.

It’s a generous, eye-opening conversation about self-compassion, rhythms, intuition and finding a way of working that actually supports you. Whether you menstruate or not, there’s something in this episode that will help you rethink how you work.

What you’ll learn in this episode

• What cyclical living is and what it looks like in practice

• How Morín plans her work around her menstrual cycle

• Why your body is a crucial part of your capacity and brand

• How cyclical working improves creativity, confidence and decision-making

• Ways non-menstruators can work cyclically

• How to spot your own patterns, peaks and dips

• Why linear productivity leads to burnout

• How your brand and your body are connected
  

About Morín Glimmer

Morín Glimmer is a London-based brand strategist, creative director, and cyclical living advocate. She founded Rosy Futures, where she combines her brand development expertise, with her feminist values, and her experience of finding relief and truth in living cyclically after living with PMDD and suspected endometriosis for over 30 years.

Her work blends strategy, creativity and energetic awareness - challenging traditional approaches to branding and business by putting the body back into the conversation.

Follow Morin on Instagram: @‌rosy.futures  Connect with her on Linkedin: Morin GlimmerVisit the Rosy Futures website: http://rosyfutures.com/

Download Morin’s free cycle tracker here

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them.

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter.

After years in corporate, Chris reached a point where challenging the status quo (something is was brilliant at) wasn’t valued anymore. That realisation pushed him to start his own business, using redundancy as a chance to build something on his own terms.

We talk about unpicking corporate expectations, shaking off the need to work 9-5, and learning how to plan your way, not the way you think you ‘should’ do things. Chris shares openly about mistakes, overwhelm, vulnerability, and the reality of figuring things out step by step.

It’s an honest conversation about pace, permission, and the bravery it takes to do your thing when everyone else seems to be doing theirs differently.

What you’ll learn in this episode

• Why challenging the status quo is a strength - and how to use it well

• The struggle of shaking the corporate 9 to 5 mindset

• How expectations from others (and ourselves) shape the way we work

• Why planning doesn’t have to be complicated

• What to do when you feel overwhelmed or “spinning”

• Why letting go of what you’re not good at is just as important as owning what you are

• How defining your difference helps you stand out and speak with clarity

About Chris Mitchell

Chris Mitchell is a business coach, mentor and advisor who helps business leaders and business owners to get clear on what matters most to them, and how to turn what makes them unique into their competitive advantage. With a background in corporate strategy and leadership development, Chris blends practical planning with mindset work to help people create sustainable, intentional businesses that fit who they are.

Connect with Chris on Linkedin

Visit his website

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them.
Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter.

After years as a busy freelancer saying yes to everything, Gina realised she didn’t really have a business - just a lot of work. That realisation led her to build something intentional: a business designed around what she actually enjoyed doing.

We talk about finding your niche, unlearning hustle culture, and how to redefine success on your own terms. Gina shares what “fun” really means in a brand, how to use it intentionally to attract the right people (and put off the wrong ones). And we discuss the importance of building a business that feels like you.

It’s an honest, energetic conversation about self-awareness, boundaries, mindset, and why fun doesn’t make you any less professional - it makes you more you.

What you’ll learn in this episode 

• Why fun and professionalism aren’t opposites

• What finding your niche really looks like in practice

• How Gina has redefined success

• The mindset shifts that help you work less and enjoy it more

• How to find your version of fun and build your brand around it
  

About Gina

Gina Buckle is the founder of Hoot Copy, a copywriting and brand voice consultancy specialising in fun, humour, and personality. She works with businesses of all sizes to help them figure out what their authentic definition of fun is, and shows them how they can reflect this consistently across their buyer journey and marketing activity. She believes that the right brand voice should feel fun, authentic, and easy to sustain, as well as being undeniably magnetic to your audience, and that's exactly what she helps her clients to do.

Follow Gina on Instagram: @gina.hootcopy

Connect with her on Linkedin: Gina Buckle

Visit Gina’s website: https://hootcopy.com/

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them.
Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter.

Jo spent over a decade climbing the corporate ladder in communications before realising the cost of success: two breakdowns, burnout, and a growing awareness that the system she was working in wasn’t built for her.

We talk about redefining what “work” means, unlearning the beliefs that keep us overworked and overwhelmed, and building businesses that feel good, not just look good on paper. Jo shares how she helps people put themselves first in their business, set boundaries that actually stick, and create a way of working that supports mental health rather than harming it.

It’s an honest and joyful conversation about permission, beliefs, burnout and boundaries - and a reminder that success doesn’t have to mean exhaustion.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The mindset shift from overworking to ease

• What the Me First Method is and how to apply it in your own business

• How beliefs about work, productivity and worth are shaped by society

• What really causes burnout (and how to stop repeating the cycle)

• Why boundaries benefit you and your clients

• How to give yourself permission to build a business that fits you

About Jo Hooper

Jo Hooper is the founder of Get Wildly Free and creator of the Me First Method. She helps founders, freelancers and small business owners design businesses that support their mental health and the life they want to live, without falling back into burnout. Through her coaching and group programmes, Jo challenges the myths around productivity and worth, helping people work in ways that feel good, sustainable, and aligned.

Links

Get Jo’s Shit list here.

Follow Jo on Instagram: @getwildlyfree

Visit Jo’s website: https://getwildlyfree.co.uk/

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them.

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter.

With 18 years in business, Jag has built Xpand into a trusted strategic partner for brands ranging from global names like Lindt Chocolate and Tetley Brewery to ambitious SMEs across the UK. But behind those 18 years are lessons about growth, change, resilience and what it really means to “have it all figured out.”

We talk about the evolution of business: how what you want, how you work, and what success looks like can change completely over time. Jag shares how his mindset has shifted from corporate expectations to authenticity, the lessons he’s learned from failure, and why agility and self-belief are essential for long-term success.

It’s an honest conversation about learning as you go, trusting the process, and remembering that no one ever really has it all figured out.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Jag launched Xpand. And why risk sometimes pays off

• What’s changed (and what hasn’t) in 18 years of running a digital agency

• How his mindset around success, values and leadership has evolved

• Why agility and adaptability are key to surviving change

• Why self-belief and passion are non-negotiable if you want to keep going

About Jag Panesar

Jag Panesar is the founder and director of Xpand, a full-service digital marketing agency based in West Yorkshire. With over 18 years in business, Jag has built Xpand into a trusted partner for brands such as Lindt Chocolate, Tetley Brewery and His Majesty’s Prison Service.

His expertise spans marketing strategy, branding, web design and social media, helping businesses connect purpose with performance. Known for his down-to-earth approach, Jag regularly speaks about how strategy drives better marketing results, championing clarity, creativity and consistency in every campaign.

Links

Learn more about Xpand: https://xpandmarketing.co.ukConnect with Jag on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jagpanesar

This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and founder of Honest Folk, helping founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them.

Connect with me on Instagram or Linkedin and sign up to my newsletter.