Creating a business 'for fun'. Is there such a thing?
Hi friends!
In today’s episode, I want to share some behind-the-scenes struggles I was facing when I wanted to set up a NEW business ‘for fun’.
For context, I am a creator. I love creating content, particularly self-help and mindset content. I am trained as a counsellor and I create done-for-you coaching tools which you can use or sell to your clients.
Recently, I wanted to set up a new affirmations and mindfulness business because I love it. It is driven by passion purely and I want to make some income out of it because I don’t want all my efforts creating podcast episodes to go to waste.
So I set up a YouTube channel and also a podcast of the same name. In my idealistic vision, all I have to do is pick up my mic, record my motivational episode for the day and publish it on my new podcast. And then hopefully it will gain traction and grow.
But I ran into many little roadblocks.
Number 1, I am someone who needs a script before recording any podcast epsiode because I have a tendency to go off-topic or get nervous half-way. I needed to draft a script before recording even a 7-minute episode for this new podcast. It sounds manageable. So I did it.
I also need to edit the recording. I have to delete some pauses, delete some stuttering in the podcast recording. Perhaps even add auto-captions to it. All these are extra work. And if I want to upload this podcast episode on YouTube, I would need to open up Canva and create thumbnails for it.
After that, I realised that I do need to market my new podcast somehow. Which means, I have to create YT shorts, reels and more.
And then, I would also need to have a new blog to park my new episodes to rank in SEO. I know how to do that with my current business, so it’s not anything new for me.
And then I would need an email marketing service. Because, all businesses need email marketing in some way, in my opinion. As you can see, a small business which I wanted to create for fun (and some income) needs a lot of work.
Also, my current coaching content business is a B2B business whereas my new mindfulness business is a B2C business. The approach is different. I am a one-woman show so 2 businesses was a lot to handle.
Not to mention the new expenses that I will have to incur if I want to start a new business. The blog hosting, the email marketing service and more.
What I want to share is that setting up a business for fun is not as easy as we imagine it to be. Creating free content is not free on our part.
How can we solve this? I would say a mindset shift is needed if you want to set up a business ‘for fun’.
Number 1 : Don’t place high expectations on it. If you expect or have the goal to make money from this business, it’s not ‘for fun’ anymore. It will need work and commitment. If it is truly a passion project, let it remain a passion project. Create for the sake of your love for creating.
Number 2 : If you want to launch a passion project for fun, dont let naysayers bother you. There will be people who tell you that it’s a waste of money and effort. They might say “Why are you spending $300 a year and wasting your time creating and editing podcast episodes when you are not making money or have the intention to make money?”
My argument for that is : everyone has a hobby. If your hobby is creating podcast eps and videos, so be it. Most hobbies cost money! Someone else might have cooking as a hobby. That costs money too. If you are a foodie and you love exploring new food places, that costs money too. As a creative person, if creating gives you joy and you can afford the expenses that come with it, do it for the fun of it.
All in all, if you have an idea to create a business ‘for fun’, and you are going to treat it like a fun hobby, you are probably not going to make much money for it, in my opinion.
I may eat my words in future, I don’t know. I stand corrected. But from my viewpoint and experience, a business no matter how small, needs consistency and marketing.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with my new podcast channel.
I might just treat it as a fun project, as a way to inspire listeners and not put any expectations on it. My mistake was to place monetary gain as part of my expectations when I do not have the time to commit to another business, truthfully.
Let me know your thoughts about creating a business!
Shikah
(Free Printable) How to Overcome Perfectionism and be Productive
I will be sharing 5 tips to tone down perfectionism and be productive with your work! You can also download my Pause Perfectionism & Feel Relaxed printable to help you feel calmer during your perfectionism moments.
5 ways to let go of perfectionism and be more productive.
If you are a perfectionist, you can relate to this:
have started and not finished many projects
taking twice or thrice as long to finish something
keep double-checking, changing and re-editing your work. (Till it never gets completed.)
If you want to feel more relaxed and less anxious during your perfectionism moments, you can download my Pause Perfectionism & Feel Relaxed cheat sheet below.
My perfectionist streak is something which annoys me to no end.
That’s because it slows down my progress work-wise.
It has something to do with self doubt, self-worth and confidence.
We are doubting ourselves and our work quality too much.
Wait till you spot someone who has half your experience and no qualifications being ballsy enough to do something you want to do. (Such as launching a business and charging sky-high amounts for their work.)
Then we get frustrated with ourselves.
And wondering why on earth we didn’t overcome our perfectionism, pursue our dream (and stick to it) one year ago.
I have 5 small, beginner strategies to help us all overcome perfectionism in our daily lives.
Perfectionism needs a mindset shift. But mindset shifts take time.
So I’ll share practical, everyday strategies to manage our perfectionism in this blog post.
So you can start overcoming your perfectionism and being more productive today.
If you learn better through videos, I have created one video for this blog post. (full volume needed!)
If you prefer reading, let’s start!
Advice #1: Work within time limits!
Doing work at cafes is great because many of us get bored sitting in one place for hours.
So we have no choice but to whip out our laptops and start working away.
If we know that we get bored after 2 hours, we know that we have 2 hours to finish our work in that sitting.
My favourite trick is to do work on my laptop (and leave my charger at home).
My laptop battery dies after 1.5 hours, so I’ll have no choice but to produce something high-quality within 1.5 hours.
I’ll start working and researching at the speed of light.
Trust me, you’ll be surprised to see the type of quality work you can produce if you are under time pressure.
Some people swear by this free productivity and time management app.
It buzzes off every 25 minutes so we are forced to focus for 25 minutes. It worked for me, but makes me a tad anxious. I prefer longer time limits such as 1.5 hours.
Also…if you are a perfectionist, chances are your work is always a little better quality than non-perfectionists (don’t shoot me!).
Because perfectionists are naturally self-critical and hardwired to produce half-decent work, anytime and anywhere. (Again, please don’t shoot me.)
Advice #2: Stick to your decision
If you are the type who changes her mind multiple times in the middle of a project, it helps to stick to one decision.
Yes, better ideas will hit us along the way.
Yes, our project will be ten times better if we add X,Y and Z to it.
But if we follow our every whim and every urge to improve our project, it won’t be done!
And we add unnecessary stress on ourselves.
Right now, I’m in the middle of writing A Beautiful Mindset ebook to transform women from being self-critical to self-loving.
I wanted to add 101 mindset strategies to this ebook. I have too many ideas.
But if I add all these strategies, I will never be productive and never finish writing this book.
So you can try being satisfied with a modest - but solid - project.
Advice #3: Put Yourself Out There
This is scary but works for us.
Put ourselves out there. Tell people that your project, business, presentation will be done by “31st October” or some other specific date.
Announce it on social media (if it’s relevant to you).
We will be hard-pressed to finish it by its deadline to avoid embarrassment.
If we have to scale down our project to hit the deadline, so be it. At least we are productive and the work gets done!
We can always create another project another time.
Once we finish one project, we will be motivated to finish another one.
Instead of planning one big project after another, we can start by planning and pulling through a couple of small projects first.
Advice #4: Mistakes are not life-threatening
“Many of us live so cautiously just to arrive at death safely.”
I don’t remember where I got the above quote from, but it hits home doesn’t it?
This is my favourite but most difficult mindset shift.
“Mistakes are not fatal.”
“Mistakes are part of life.”
“Mistakes are learning lessons.”
“If we don’t make mistakes, we’ll never learn.”
We’ve all heard the 4 phrases above before.
If you are a perfectionist, the idea of making mistakes makes our skin crawl.
(Making mistakes is for weaklings - that’s the first thought that pops in my mind. Oops)
The only way to embrace mistakes is to make as many mistakes as possible.
Try a new approach.
If we screw up, oh well. Take a couple of days to recover from our embarrassment and try something else.
The most successful people in the world make more mistakes than the average person.
Advice #5: Remember your little successes
I have written a blog post about this before.
Create a success log for yourself.
The idea is to write our most meaningful successes on paper.
Nothing boosts our self-esteem faster than that.
You can download a template for creating your own Success Log here.
My last thoughts on overcoming perfectionism and remaining productive.
Perfectionism needs mindset shifts.
Perfectionists link our self-worth with our ability to avoid mistakes.
Don’t hold off starting or completing a project because it’s ‘not perfect enough’.
There are many other people with half your talent and half your skills enjoying much success doing what you want to do.
Let’s accept that we are all valuable yet imperfect human beings.
If you want to feel relaxed and less anxious during your perfectionism moments, you can download my Pause Perfectionism & Feel Relaxed worksheet below.
See you in my next post!
Shikah
Featured in this post:
A Beautiful Mindset eBook - From Self-critical to Self-loving
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM FOR MOTIVATIONAL VIDEOS + QUOTES
(Free Printable) How to Start Finding Your Purpose and Improve Self Worth
I’ll be sharing 4 strategies to help you find your life purpose and improve your self worth! You can download ‘My Life Purpose’ action sheet to bring you 1 step closer to finding out your bigger purpose in life.
I’ll be sharing 4 ways to help you find your bigger purpose and increase your self-worth.
The reason I want to write about finding your purpose is because it will help you feel worthy in life.
You may be jobless, single, an ‘outcast’ or ‘weird’ but if you know your bigger purpose, those labels won’t bother you.
Finding our purpose is simple but not easy.
Because nobody can tell you if your purpose is right or wrong. So we’ll fumble through life trying new things until we feel inner peace.
If you learn better by watching videos, you can watch the video I created specially for this blog post:
If you want a shortcut and get one step closer to finding out what your purpose is, you can download ‘My Life Purpose’ Action Sheet below.
Let’s begin!
1. Purpose and joy are interlinked.
I am not a spirituality expert.
But the experts always link ‘finding your purpose’ with what gives us ‘joy’.
According to them, our emotions act as a compass in our lives.
So if we feel joyful, free and light doing something, that activity is linked to our purpose in this life.
If we feel dread, heaviness and fear, we are probably not supposed to do that thing.
It sounds rather simple.
I want to add ‘fulfilment’ to this:
Joy + Fulfilment = Our Bigger Purpose
If you can find work which give you BOTH joy and fulfilment, you are lucky.
I want to be practical here and say that in all the work we do, there will be aspects we dislike.
But if overall, you feel joy and fulfilment 70% of the time, you are in a good place!
2. What are your natural talents?
Aha. Do you know what your natural talents are?
Your natural talent(s) is something:
which is easy for you to do, but challenging for other people
in fact, sometimes you are bewildered at how other people do not know what you know!
which you love doing since you were about 6 years old. (Take note that you may be suppressing these talents during your childhood if your parents disapproved of them)
Sometimes you discover your natural talents when you are much older.
And that is okay because all our life journeys are different.
Again, if something is effortless for you to do but difficult for some other people, it may be your natural talent.
3. Ask people for their opinions!
I like this suggestion.
If you are truly clueless, start asking your trusted friends, family members, colleagues for their perspective on your talents.
You will notice some similarities in their responses.
If you feel embarrassed asking people “What do you think I’m talented in?” you can tell them your perspective on their talents and then asking them to return the favour.
If you still can’t get yourself to ask other people what your talents are, you might find my article ‘How Not to Care What Other People Think and Live Your Purpose’ helpful!
4. Complete ‘My Life Purpose’ Action Sheet
I created ‘My Life Purpose’ Action Sheet to help you get 1 step closer to finding your purpose.
I feel strongly for women building their self worth!
Self worth will ensure you stay comfortable in your own skin even if life throws curveballs at you.
You will remain calm and level-headed even if you don’t fit in. Even if you lose your job. Even if you lose a relationship.
Because you know that you have a much bigger purpose on this Earth.
My last thought on finding your purpose and improving self worth
Everyone has a ‘medicine’ which helps heal the people around them. What’s yours?
It’s time to find out!
Meanwhile, have a good week.
Shikah
(Video) How Not to Care What People Think and Live Freely
If you are doing something new and you are self-conscious about what people will think of you, I have 5 mindset shifts which can help you overcome that fear!
Having self-esteem means we have the courage to chase our goals and live freely.
If you are doing something for the first time (or doing something different), you may be worried about what your friends, ex-colleagues, relatives will say about you.
Don’t let this worry hold you back!
Watch my latest YouTube video where I’ll be sharing 5 mindset shifts you can adopt to live more freely.