What is Enough?

Nov 8

A corner of Kerstin's home office with a plant in a blue pot, flowers and books

In 2018, just before Christmas, I had to step on the emergency brakes to avoid burnout. Between managing six eCourses, community projects (mine and others), social media, providing customer service, keeping up with Squarespace and all the changes they made to their platform last year, and starting up a second business for the Eule Planner, I felt completely overwhelmed and all over the place.

In the new year, I had to do some deep soul-searching about my business and its impact on my health and quality of life.

I loved what I was doing, and I didn’t have the distractions of young children or aging parents, so I worked a lot. This typically meant that I spent many hours every day staring at a screen, either on my computer or my phone. We all know how bad that is for us, and between the screens and sedentary lifestyle, I felt it in my health, weight, sleep, and general sense of well-being.

I have often said that running your own business is not for the faint-hearted. We do much more than just the core work we feel passionate about. We wear many hats – creator, CEO, CFO, sales & marketing, customer service, logistics, you name it, we do it. The more successful you get, the more there is to manage. My business had grown steadily over the previous five years, with the last two topping just above six figures. With the increased workload, I found myself at the familiar crossroads of hiring help and expanding, or letting go of things if you want to stay a solo operator. What I knew for sure is that the pace that got me there was not sustainable in the long term.

As I was mulling all of this over in my mind and also in conversations with my husband and good friends I always came back to this one question:

What is enough?

How much income did I need to cover essential living costs as well as all the non-essential things that allow me to live a purposeful and generous life, with room for self-care and fun?
How much money did my business need to keep thriving? As online entrepreneurs, our overheads are considerably lower than those of a brick-and-mortar business. However, as we grow, we may need to spend more on outsourcing jobs, hiring help, and ensuring we have all the right systems and tools to keep up with our growth.
How much time and energy do I want to spend managing growth or maintenance in my business?

In this day and age of the six- and seven-figure hustle, it can be hard not to feel like we need to keep striving and growing until we’ve ‘made it.’ And even I, who is such a vocal opponent of the hustle, occasionally find myself getting sucked into it. That’s what happened after that Christmas when a fellow entrepreneur who runs a million-dollar business landed in my inbox with a very enticing series of promises. I actually liked this woman; I think she was genuine, and she did good things in the world. She made it all sound so easy, and I was curious whether there was something to learn there that could help me work a little less and still make more money. I talked so much about it that my husband actually offered to buy me her course!

That’s when I realized that I was looking for the answers outside of myself and that it was time to go inside for serious reflection. Thankfully my friend Angie came for a visit at the same time and between us we got a lot of soul searching done! It was just what I needed, and after she left, I knew what I had to do.

Enough, for me, is all about energy management.

Angie and I talked about this a lot. We are both HSPs (Highly Sensitive People) and empaths, and as such, our energy reserves are constantly under attack unless we manage our boundaries and create an environment that supports us rather than depletes us.

Enough, through the lens of energy management, looked something like this:

I don’t need to earn multiple six figures. The 6- and 7-figure hustlers send out deceptive messages because they rarely talk about all that is required to run a business that size, including overseeing staff and logistics and taking on a higher level managerial role rather than doing the craft that made you start your business in the first place. You earn more, but you also spend more, both in cash and energy. Many people thrive on this kind of energy, but I don’t. Plus, it’s a lot of responsibility not just for yourself but everyone who works for you and, at least for me, that creates too much pressure to keep performing and growing at a high level. After doing some maths, I concluded that making between $50-70K net is my sweet spot for having a good life that allows me to support myself and those I love and the causes I care for. That’s what I earned the last couple of years, so rather than pursuing continued growth, I wanted to focus on making my business better, not bigger.
Staying a Company of One*. I have always been very clear about not wanting to manage other people. I loved collaborating with other contractors project-by-project, but I did not want to grow into an agency or build a team around me.
*Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business is a brilliant book by Paul Jarvis, an expert on the concept of enough.
Organic growth is enough. The hustle tends to use up a lot of my energy, so I have to manage it carefully. I decided to be more intentional about my sales and marketing, keep tending to the relationships I already had, and be discerning about which new ones come into my life. I am a relationship person at heart; they fill me with positive energy and allow me to manage my business more organically and mindfully.

This remains my vision of enough today.

I've revisited the questions above as I’ve transitioned my business from Squarespace courses to Calm Business education. I keep checking in with my financial needs, values, and energy levels, ensuring the decisions I make and actions I take continue supporting what enough looks like to me.

What does your enough look like?