As Spoonies, we need work environments that allow us to navigate our chronic illnesses in ways that regular 9-5’s won’t. For us, getting up and going to an office is extremely taxing and causes us more pain than we can withstand. Recently, however, I made a decision considered unconventional for Spooniepreneurs—I moved into an office space. In today’s episode, I tell a story about my life after college, independence and lack thereof, navigating a business at home, and what drove me to find a new place to run my business.

We’re Talking About:

• What living in rural Ohio is like

• Moving back home after living on my own

• Setting boundaries in a multi-generational home

• What led to my decision to start working in an office space

In this episode, Michele and I discuss what navigating a career looks like as a spoonie, overcoming disability, and how important it is to find work that allows us to navigate our needs. 

We’re Talking About: 

• What Michele’s day looks like

• Michele’s approach to being a career coach 

• Navigating the traditional job while managing side jobs

• Prioritizing your health

For me, being a spooniepreneur means not only building a business where I can navigate my conditions and disabilities but also cultivating an environment that is conscious of the things everyone else might be experiencing outside of the office. We never know what someone else is going through, but we can all agree that everyone–especially, after this pandemic–has experienced some sort of trauma. And because service-based businesses rely on understanding our clients, becoming competent in trauma and its impact will only allow our businesses to thrive. In today’s episode, I leverage my background in social work and offer an approach to navigating trauma in your business as well as developing marketing strategies that honor our clients so that you too can create a trauma-informed workplace. 

We’re Talking About: 

• How Adverse Childhood Experiences impact us

• What happens when our bodies experience trauma (flight, fight, or freeze)

• Why running a trauma-informed organization is important

• How to make your marketing accessible by ditching scarcity sales tactics

Rebecca Thorne is a disable copywriter and disability inclusion educator for small businesses. In today’s episode, Rebecca dives into how she navigates her own sensory impairments and chronic illnesses while running a business, content marketing while having limited time and energy, positioning your chronic illness as the asset that it is, and so much more. Throughout our conversation, Rebecca underscores the importance of continuing these conversations for other spoonies like us.

• How Rebecca found her niche

• What small business should know about being more disability inclusion, and having disability inclusive marketing

• Rebecca’s daily workflow, pacing, and pain management

• The importance of not feeling like you need to do everything all the time!

Connect with Nicole 

Website: http://www.spooniepreneur.net

Instagram: @spooniepreneurpodcast

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/spooniepreneurcommunity

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wnicoleneer/

Email: nicole@bloomadminservices.com

Connect with Rebecca

Instagram – instagram.com/connectwithyourcrowd

Email – rebecca@connectwithyourcrowd.co.uk

Website – http://www.connectwithyourcrowd.co.uk

Masterclass: 

https://www.resilientbusinesstoolkit.com/

Today’s episode comes to you as a part of episode 52 on “How I Spend My Money.” I received a lot of feedback from listeners on that episode about how helpful it was to see how another business owner does it. So, in order to help you all better navigate your businesses, I thought it would be helpful to dedicate an episode to painting a picture of my day managing my health while also operating a successful business.

We’re talking about:

• The software programs I use to make my team’s day more efficient

• How I spend my morning before my meetings start

• My role as a project manager

• Time management and boundaries when meeting with our agency’s clients

• Sales calls, sales pages, proposals, and so much more! 

Connect with Nicole:

Website: http://www.spooniepreneur.net

Instagram: @spooniepreneurpodcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wnicoleneer/

Email: nicole@bloomadminservices.com

Masterclass: 

https://www.resilientbusinesstoolkit.com/

As a highly accredited mental health speaker, educator, and trainer, David Woods Bartley devotes his life to centering conversations around mental health in the public space. David’s knowledge and passion have led him to audiences transnationally from the United States to India, and to various institutions from the United States FDA and Boston University to LYFT and TEDx. Stemming from personal experience, his exemplary commitment to normalizing these discussions is grounded in his battle with clinical depression, a subsequent attempted suicide, and the lifesaving support he received thereafter. As David actively nurtures his mental health and continues his journey, he works to show people the necessity of putting your mental health on a pedestal and the possibility of mental wellness for everyone. 

This episode is an attempt to contribute to this work of normalizing mental health–we touch on trauma, approaches to prioritizing yourself to achieve what David calls “mental wellness,” and so much more.

We’re Talking about: 

• David’s journey from “Mental Hell-ness to Mental Wellness”

• Putting your mental health on a pedestal

• David’s approach to making his health a priority through mind, body and spirit. 

• what normalizing and transforming the conversation of depression, isolation, and mental health look like

• Stories from David that allow us to rethink the way we approach suffering

In this episode, I chat with Laura Matthews, a graphic designer living with polycystic ovary syndrome, generalized anxiety disorder, and PTSD. Laura discusses how living with a chronic illness can empower you to run your business more efficiently while also contributing to its success and longevity. Throughout our conversation, Laura also underscores the importance of advocating for ourselves and our bodies throughout our health journey.  

We’re talking about: 

• Laura’s journey navigating her chronic illness

• Running a graphic design business during a pandemic

• Paving the way to gaining control of your business

• How living with a chronic illness equips you with the tools to grow your business and run it more efficiently

This link includes a free guide on how to ditch the overwhelm of marketing so that you can showcase your business in just 5 minutes: Here’s Your Five Minute Marketing Plan!

Whether it’s at home, out with friends, or in the office, we have all at some point been in the position where a boundary of ours was breached. At the agency, we recently came across a similar issue where lines were crossed by a client and things needed to be addressed. In today’s episode, I discuss ways to mitigate these difficult situations–specifically, through intention, boundary-setting, and effective communication–and provide a step-by-step process on how to navigate difficult relationships in your business when they do arise. 

We’re talking about: 

• Red flags

• Approaches to working with clients for your business: sales process, payments, retainers, refunds, welcome packets, meetings, and more

• Transparency, intention and effective communication

• Getting EVERYTHING in writing!

• De-escalation strategies when addressing issues with clients

This one’s for my spooniepreneurs who are struggling to keep their business running! Click the link below to check out the five systems YOU need for a more efficient business! https://www.resilientbusinesstoolkit.com/spooniepreneur-systems

Tonya is a stroke survivor, retired school nurse, certified yoga instructor, and master reiki therapist who lives with fibromyalgia, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. For Tonya, her yoga classes pose as a means to not only regulate, recenter, and ground herself in the wake of flare-ups, trauma, or unshakeable anxiety but also as a way to show that yoga is for everybody—even spoonies. 

We’re talking about: 

• How Tonya came to rediscover yoga

• Discouraging aspects of yoga

• How Tonya runs her classes and what that looks like

• Goals and Prospects for Tonya and her business

Click the link to below to find out how I can help you accomplish marketing your business: https://www.resilientbusinesstoolkit.com/5-minute-marketing

There’s been so much buzz going on in the spoonie world! There is truly nothing that compares to being acknowledged and validated for the countless hours spent working towards something you’re passionate about. While I am grateful for the praise, people have been quick to label me as an inspiration. In this episode, I question this notion of being an inspiration–and why that doesn’t sit well with me.

We’re talking about:

• Challenging the “inspirational” lens given to those living with a chronic illness by those who are able-bodied

• The stigmas around living with a chronic illness and the impact it

• A more in-depth view of my story

• Being transparent about our health journeys in the work environment