8 tips for solo-preneurs to flow into balance
managing time and energy this September
Hello love,
September has always been a month of excitement for me. As a child, it meant new books and pencils, new subjects, new routines, new clothes and new good habits. Or bad ones, like the time I decided I’d start smoking so I’d fit in - this was in the 90s and I loved Olivia Newton John, so withhold your judgment please.
Now, as an entrepreneur and as a mom, it represents something deeper: a chance for renewal, turning the metaphorical page of summer to leap into action, following my vision and my commitment to a life of purpose and joy. I’m thrilled to announce that I’m back to business, after a 2 years break (although did I ever really stop?), and I’m looking forward to share oh-so-many cool projects and new services with you.
As I’m taking on this new chapter of my journey, I keep in mind the mistakes I’ve made in the past, the habits and thought patterns that led me to over-exertion and burnout and the very real ways in which life’s challenges - small and not so small - dysregulate our sensitive nervous system.
The key, like ever so often, is to observe with consciousness, curiosity, and compassion in order to keep things in balance : enough time for the kiddos, enough time for my work, enough time for my marriage, and most importantly, enough time for myself.
Because let’s be real : it’s not so easy to juggle it all, especially when you’re in the first years of business and it feels like you have to do all the things in order to climb this never-ending mountain. Being prepared, I find, is the antidote to being taken by surprise and crumble under stress.
The learning curve is steep
When I became an online entrepreneur in 2017, I had just moved to Vietnam with my family and embraced the slow nomadic lifestyle, digitalising my work as a teacher and diving head first into homeschooling my daughter.
It was an extremely rich and challenging period, as I was constantly learning new skills and pushing the limits of what I thought I was capable of. For someone who a few months prior had never heard of a “landing” page, you can imagine.
The very first thing I wish I had learned though, before digital marketing, before choosing my niche, before setting up a newsletter, any of that… Can you guess?
» Time and energy management «
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t expect the learning curve to be so steep.
Before I started building my first business Bubbles of French, I thought I was quite good at time management.
I mean, I had a full-time job as a teacher, working evening shifts 2 days per week, I took care of my home, brought my kid to daycare, had so many hobbies I felt like the soundtrack from the Tangled movie was directly inspired from my life. (Or maybe that was another ADHD thing, who knows? - Read here about my latest ADHD self-diagnosis)
“How hard could it be to find the time to create a business and teach full-time on Italki and homeschool my kid? It’s just a question of organisation,” I would say, triumphant and ignorant of some major facts I would learn later and wish I had known sooner.
Here are some of them:
There’s a big difference between knowing how to tackle many tasks and knowing how to go to the end of a huge project. Building your business will never be “over”, because you keep adding things, improving and evolving, and so does your audience. With such never-ending projects, the problem is not so much a question of productivity as much as it is a question of self-preservation.
Having the time is not quite the same as having the energy. In fact, energy levels vary greatly during the day, the week, and the month, especially for women. It even varies greatly according to wether or not you’re following your human design strategy. Ignore this, and you’re denying your very human nature, turning your passion business into an unsustainable endeavour.
If setting boundaries when you were an employee was challenging, wait until you’re self-employed. I used to be scared that I would disappoint my boss if I did anything wrong. But it’s so much scarier to disappoint your clients and your audience! Your brain literally equates this level of possible rejection with death: “If someone doesn’t like me, nobody will buy from me and my kids will starve.” Try not to answer an email from a prospect on a Sunday, or to say no to a “not-so-aligned” client or project with those fears in mind…
Multi-tasking is not sustainable. When you’re an employee, you might get away with multitasking for a few years before you hit burnout, but as a business owner, trying to fill every moment of your day with podcasts episodes, client emails and social media, let me tell you, you won’t last long before anxiety creeps in.
When delegating or hiring help isn’t yet possible
So much of the advice we hear about avoiding burnout focuses on hiring help or expanding your team. But let’s be real—if you’re a solo entrepreneur, that might not be in the cards just yet. Many of us are wearing multiple hats and doing it all on our own.
At the moment, I’m still juggling childcare with business work until we can afford a full-time babysitter, so I know how difficult it is. But this period of transition is what it is : a transition, and if the workload feels overwhelming, and hiring help isn't an option, what do we do?
Create a sustainable routine. This is something I’ll keep on repeating and teaching until I’m very old. If you’re winging your tasks and activities in your day, in your week, it’s impossible to optimise your time and energy. Learn to be realistic about the time that each activity of your day takes, and then build your daily routines like a Lego kit, leaving room for flexibility, spontaneity and creativity.
Start by choosing tasks that are truly going to make a difference, and let go of instant-gratification strategies that are driven by survival instinct but don’t allow you to see further down the road. Starting to post stories on IG when you’re cash-short is preventing you from making long-lasting changes and improvements in your business.
Building a business is like building a house: start by the healthy foundations, start having guests (clients) as soon as it’s viable, then pursue with more elaborate constructions. Patience is key, and believing that you should already have arrived when you’re barely starting is sending you straight into survival, fight or flight mode. Side note: having a side gig or day job is not a bad idea, more on that later.
Ditch perfectionism: many women can see their own growth potential and are hindered by it. You can feel that you’re constantly growing and so the moment you finished creating something (a program, a course, a podcast, a blog post), you’re not happy with the result anymore because you know you can do better. Let go, honey. It’s good enough. Hit publish, make some money, then improve and update later.
You’re good enough to get paid decent money : Let go of the hundreds of courses and trainings you think you need to take before you can start charging more. If your prices aren’t aligned with your business model and the real cost of life, you can’t have a sustainable - let alone profitable - activity. It’s time to take a close look at your financial goals and how exactly you’re planning on reaching them through your work.
Create sustainable offers : who said the only valuable way to work with you is to speak to you, be coached by you or trained by you in a 1:1 video conference setting? This kind of access to you is very valuable indeed - and you should charge accordingly for it. But for lower-priced offers, think outside the box : what could you create that would give your clients valuable change and improvement, without costing you so much time or energy?
Simplify wherever you can : we have this amazing habit of making things more complicated than they should be. Take a closer look at the way you work : What can be simplified? What can be done once and for all? What can be batched? What can be simply let go? What processes can you improve to facilitate your workflow? P.S: Sometimes it’s as simple as putting the apps you use for work next to one another so you don’t spend valuable time looking for them.
Self-care as a priority : no, we’re not talking about applying a mask on your feet, although that can be quite pleasant. True self-care is about nurturing your mind, body, and soul, so that it’s nourished enough to stay strong in the face of the daily adversities we face as entrepreneurs, digital marketers and/or mothers. It’s the foundation that keeps you resilient amidst the chaos. Incorporating simple but effective rituals like morning journaling, meditations, or a daily walk (alone please) can do wonders for your mental and physical well-being.
These practices help ground you, recharge your energy, and keep you connected to your purpose—even when the to-do list feels never-ending. Remember, you don’t have to be superhuman to be successful; you just need to take care of the human running the show.
September as an invitation to sustainable, self-preserving choices
These invaluable lessons took me years to learn, and I guess that’s all part of the process of becoming - little by little - a happy and sane entrepreneur.
Shedding the conditionings and unlearning the rules of a world that isn’t fair, inclusive, nor sustainable. Yet we continue to follow these rules as “the norm”, failing to see that doing business as business has always been done isn’t going to help us improve the mental health crisis the entire world is facing. (More info on the global mental health situation here).
It’s taken me years to finally take ownership of my time and energy.
Years to observe and know myself enough to know what rhythms work for me, which practices help me feel good, and which don’t.
Years to acknowledge that choosing what’s best for me is also doing what’s best for my clients, for my community, for my loved ones.
Years to learn, to dare rather, set healthy boundaries so that I could treat myself as the number #1 asset in my business and in my life.
My wish for you is that it won’t take you as much time as it took me.
That you won’t need to go through burnouts and anxiety to finally take the decision to do things differently.
It’s time today, my dear one, to know yourself and respect yourself deeply. Time you’d consider your well-being as a priority -a strategy even- to sustainably work in a business that knows you’re human, knows you’re worthy, and doesn’t ask you to act like a robot.
That’s why I’m inviting you to join my upcoming Flow into Balance Masterclass.
This isn’t just a class; it’s a transformative experience designed to help you reconnect with your own rhythms, set sustainable routines, and reclaim your time and energy.
You’ll walk away with a renewed sense of clarity, a balanced approach to managing your life and business, and the tools to make choices that honour your well-being without sacrificing your ambitions.
Oh, and as a “back-to-business” gift from me to you, it’s just €8! Because 8 is my favorite number. I hope you join us!
As we step into this new season together, I hope you’ll take a moment to reflect on what balance means to you—both in your business and your life.
Remember, it’s not about doing more, but about doing what truly nourishes you.
Wishing you a peaceful and purposeful September.
Power and light,
Jessica
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At the moment I'm...
Reading - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - An epic Korean historical fiction.
Learning: S.E.O Fundamentals by SEMrush
Thanks Jessica. Now those are some seriously important tips!!! The school of hard knocks and the school of starting your own business are right next to each other on that street called..."did I really choose this street". Thank you for sharing your experience.