Self-Employed

I have been self-employed one year as of today.  Woot woot!

May 1, 2015 kicked off what my therapist called “May Play,” a whole month devoted to all play and no work. April 30th was my last day at the “day job” and I was planning to pursue some form of self-employment (though what I would be doing was still unknown to me at the time).  It was a leap of faith.  I was brand new to sobriety and a huge part of my recovery was saying ‘no’ to people and perceived obligations.  I was really committed to letting the chickens flap and just minding my own yard.

As a work-aholic (in a addition to being an alcoholic) moving into a month of no work was a lot harder than it might sound.  I fought an inner monologue that desperately wanted to keep busy.  Because, when I’m busy, I can ignore feelings like anxiety, unworthiness and insecurity.  But, taking a whole month to choose play over work was exactly what I needed.  I faced the uncomfortable feelings and learned to make peace with myself.

That month also allowed my creative mind time and space to heal.  By the end of May I had the vision of Joanie Simon Media mentally sketched out and spent all of June building the site.  That one month period of rest was difficult for an impatient person like me, but was so important to the creative process.  It’s hard to harness your best creative work when you’re frazzled.  Intentional times of rest are a necessity.

So, now it’s time to take a little rest again.  I’m not going all-in quite as much as last year, but I will be taking the next two weeks to slow down.  I have raised up a business that I love. and now it’s time for evaluation and reflection.  Just in the past month, I have been able to generate enough income to cover our family’s monthly living expenses (I know, crazy, right?!?).  The next step is to now generate enough to get Ryan officially working full-time with me.  The longer-term goal is a renovated studio kitchen space and a team producing high quality, entertaining and encouraging video content.  I’m at my happiest when I’m creating recipes and sharing them on camera with you.  That’s what I want to do every day.

But, to get there, I need to take some time to rest and to do some work cleaning up the back-end of my site (yay WordPress!)  So, I’ll be over here attempting to be low-key for the next two weeks, allowing my creative mind some freedom to roam.  I do have a few pieces of content that have been sitting in the hopper that I need to wrap up and publish, so you’ll see those.  But, otherwise, it’s going to be a little quiet over here.  Just know that it means bigger and better things to come!

Thank you so much for being a part of this journey.  Each time you visit this site, share the recipes, and interact online, you have directly impacted the growth of this business.  Your support, enthusiasm and encouragement do not go unnoticed, so thank you!

Meanwhile, do you need to take some time to rest?  Even if just for this afternoon, don’t forget to take time to slow down once in a while.  If you have a moment to comment, what is one of the ways you get yourself to slow down in this fast-paced world?