Hi friend, it's Sandra here. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been a bit MIA around here for the last… ohhhh, three years.

I actually started a new business with a friend of mine called Carbon & Clay Design Co. And while the last 3 years have been amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world, after 3 amazing years, I decided it was time for me to step out of my roles at Carbon & Clay to focus more on my personal business and brand right here. You can read more about that decision here.

Over the last few weeks, I have been doing a lot of soul searching + praying to discover the next direction for myself and my business. One thing I have learned over the last 12+ years in business is that pivoting is never easy, but it is always essential.

Although I can't tell you what 2024 will hold for me, I can tell you that I have been on a mission over the last year to discover how to work in a way that truly supports my family, instead of pulling me away from them. I started to realize that to achieve this, I needed to set more boundaries, allow myself more grace to get things done within those boundaries, and seek more rest and peace when things don't go according to plan (because... life).

I had been preaching this "hustle less" business model for years. However, over the past 2-3 years, my circumstances changed and I found myself hustling again. I no longer found myself aligned or in integrity with the way I wanted - or needed - to be working.

You see, I think that as business owners, we each create this invisible standard of what we think success should look like for us.

We have this internal narrative in our mind that runs on repeat saying things like...

• If I can get [fill in the blank with whatever] done today, then I'll be successful.

• If I don't get [however many hours] of work in today, then I won't be successful.

• If I can reach this [big goal] this year, then I'll be successful.

And then, when life happens... and reaching that level of success we had defined in our minds becomes out of reach due to unforeseen circumstances, our first response is typically one of two options...

1. We label ourselves a failure (even if just temporarily) because we missed a goal or that plan didn't go according to plan.

Or 2. We push ourselves even harder, sacrificing the things that matter most so we can *MAKE*IT*HAPPEN* (emphasis and fist pumps added), hoping for a chance to redeem this feeling inside of us.

I want you to know that I've felt it all this past year.

• I felt shame for not getting as much done as I had hoped.

• I felt shame because I felt like I let people down by not getting as much done.

• I missed goals and felt the shame that came with feeling like a failure for missing goals.

• I tried to push harder to get things done so I could live up to the standard of success I had created in my head.

• I felt more shame for pushing harder and neglecting my family in order to make it all happen.

((Did you notice the theme of shame there? No wonder we all consider throwing in the towel on our business so often!))

BUT, maybe the better question to ask is...

Is feeling like a failure or pushing even harder to *MAKE IT HAPPEN* the only two options??

Now, I'm on the other side, having laid it ALL down, having stepped away from the business that felt suffocating, having wrestled with all of these feelings for months and months...

And I'm writing this today because I think that you need to hear this...

There is a third option.

>> You don't have to define success based on achieved goals, monetary value, or how much you got done in a day, week, month, or year.

>> You don't have to sacrifice the life you want now to build the business or life you want later.

>> You don't have to feel the sting of shame and failure when life or seasons change and you find yourself unable to attain the big goal you set for yourself months or even years ago.

I want to share more about what has helped me step out of the shame and "failure" narrative that was playing in my mind on repeat. Because I want you to be free to walk into 2024 without the baggage that comes with it. But if I shared it now, this email would be even more crazy long... so, I'll see you again in just a few days with a new post. ;)

So, friend, this is your personal invite to redefine what your value and success will look like in 2024.

I'm still here. I'm still cheering you on,

Sandra

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​PS. Your value is not found in your business. Your value is not found in the goals you did or did not reach in 2023. Your value is not found in your goals for 2024. Let's redefine our value and success for 2024 so we can have the most freeing year in business yet.

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