So, I’ve decided to start doing for myself what I spend all of my time doing for my clients: telling the story of my business.
Which means I’ve started thinking about my business as a business. That is, as an entity separate from myself, one that requires a brand, which in turn requires USPs, and key messages, and brand statements, etc.
And that presents a tricky conundrum, because, while my business is (and always has been) a separate entity (legally, at least), it also consists, wholly and solely, of me.
Just me.
The many hats of Lexical Creations
I am the client relations team, answering emails, sitting in meetings, and fielding calls. I’m the creative team, pumping out deliverables. I’m the production management team, ensuring that every deadline is met, tracking time spent on each deliverable, and handling QA and QC. I’m the accounting team, tracking expenses, producing invoices, and keeping records to send to the real accountant (because I have ZERO interest in figuring out taxes). I’m the business development team, keeping an eye out for new projects/clients, prepping pitches, and updating my portfolio (or, trying to keep it updated, at least 😅).
And now, I’m the marketing team, too, which is a role I’ve tried my utmost best to avoid over the years because there’s nothing that makes me more uncomfortable than the idea of singing my own praises.
I’m doing it though, building out a brand document, pulling together content calendars, thinking through content pillars and messaging that would best convey what I do and how I do it to those who might be interested in such things.
And this is where I find myself contemplating the contradictions inherent in promoting one’s business when one is the business.
What’s behind the curtain? 👀
From professional experience, I know the most effective communication is genuine. Contrary to popular belief, it’s honest. Yes, you need a hook and punchy language and a strong visual, and yes, you need to show your brand in the best light always. But at its core, it needs to be speaking to a truth, whether that’s a true struggle the audience is facing, a real need the customer needs addressed, or an truthful statement about how the business functions.
From where I’m sitting, the first two are relatively easy compared to the third. I can post about how difficult it is to differentiate oneself in a sea of AI slop when comms isn’t your strong suit (and you’d rather be doing the thing than writing about it). I can make a little Canva carousel about how I can take that off your hands (and share client testimonials corroborating it).
But, if I provide a peek behind the scenes at how I do it, how Lexical Creations really runs, I wonder: would that help or hurt the way you see my business?
Because the truth behind the curtain is that, in a lot of ways, I don’t run this business like a “business.” At least, not in the way I’ve always been told a business should be run.
Those pesky work-life balance blues
In fact, this business exists precisely because I was looking for a way to do the work I love while avoiding all the usual corporate nonsense that was ruining it for me. It exists because I was tired of trying to exist within the cliched pressure to work like I didn’t have a kid and parent like I didn’t have a job. And it exists because, after more than a decade across various industries and various levels, I was no longer interested in living to work and decided to try working to live for a change.
That last paragraph was a scary one to write because, in a world that refuses to let go of the grindset mentality, it can be interpreted as an admission of laziness (a cardinal sin). “After all,” a Rise & Grind-er, might say “She just said she doesn’t want to work hard.”
Alas, that is not only not what I said, it’s also hilariously untrue, from the perspective of what it actually takes to be a self-employed sole-trader. Remember, I wear ALL hats. If I do all of those jobs I mentioned earlier well, my child and I can live relatively comfortably (we’re simple girls), but if I don’t, there’s no set paycheque landing in my account at the end of the month.
This is hard work. But it’s also meaningful work and, for me, that makes all the difference.
There also aren’t set hours. Contrary to what my Google business profile says, Lexical Creations isn’t a Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm business. Not really. I may be submitting my deadlines and sitting in client meetings within that window (because that’s when my clients operate), but a lot of the work involved in the other aforementioned hats (the ones that don’t consist of client comms and deadline submission) is happening outside of it.
That’s because my responsibilities outside of Lexical Creations don’t pause within that business hours window. For example, the luxury of self-employment is that I can handle school drop-offs and pick-ups. When my child feels unwell, she calls me and I can be in my car in minutes to bring her home (at which point I settle her in and get back to work).
On the flip side, it means, if I have to step away in the afternoon to focus on her, I’m back at it into the evening because the deadlines are the deadlines and the production management team (AKA me) always builds a little extra time into the pipeline in case of emergency.
The Lexical Creations balance
Bottom line, I no longer have to choose between working like I’m not also a parent or parenting like I don’t have a job because I’ve been fortunate enough to build a balance that allows me to do both as needed (and occasionally at the same time 😅). Hell, I’m sitting at my kitchen table writing this post on a Saturday morning. (And aiming to finish it before my daughter wakes up.)
That’s a huge change for someone from the corporate world, where the separation was so stark that colleagues might suddenly notice a framed photo on my desk and exclaim “Wait, you have a kid?”
And the fact that I can do all of that and still satisfy my clients—producing exactly what they need on time and at the quality they expect—is hugely validating from someone who often heard comments about how parents (especially mothers) were risky hires because they always put their children first. (Which is why folks had to be observant to know that I was one.)
The point:
So, what does all of that say about my business? It says that I take it extremely seriously because, on top of my passion for doing good work, the success of my business enables me to feed my family. It says that, while my external availability may be limited to business hours (except in case of client emergencies), the Lexical Creations team of one is dedicated to meeting all agreed-upon deadlines because it has (read: I have) the flexibility required to do so.
Most importantly, it says that a business doesn’t have to look a particular way in order to be successful. Because we get to define success for ourselves and this (all of it) is what success means to me.
And, on that note, I’m off to start the usual weekend chores. That way, the personal will be squared away in time for the professional to take center stage on Monday.
See? ✨Balance.✨
