We spoke to three incredible business owners living with chronic illnesses about their experiences of entrepreneurship and illness, what strategies they use to help them day to day and what advice they have for fellow business owners with their own diagnosis.
Jessica Sophia Bruno is a creative content coach and founder of The Content Club. At 18 years old she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
Jess said:
At 18 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, at 22 Interstitial Cystitis, at 25 SVT (heart condition) and now, at 30 I’ve got a High Blood Pressure and suffer with anxiety.
In contrast, at 18 I got my first events management job, at 22 I ran a thriving children’s event department for one of the largest cinema chains in the UK, at 25 I ran an award-winning marketing campaign which lead to sell out events and now at 30 I’m working for myself and guiding social media marketing campaigns and coaching services for small creative brands and businesses.
Unlike many others, It wasn’t the pandemic that thrust me into freelancing, though it did help. In December 2019 my health started rapidly declining, From January to March of 2020 I was off sick a lot and then hello pandemic, goodbye full time employment. (It was a blessing truly, I am so happy to be working on my own terms now). It took about a year to get into the swing of running my own biz whilst juggling my health, but it’s so worth it.
Spoiler, stepping into entrepreneurship didn’t heal me. In fact, it’s pushed my body to the limit a few times. Here’s somethings I’ve learnt along the way, some resources, some real and raw advice for achieving your dreams as an auto-immune warrior.
Set Boundaries
What are your triggers? Mine are stress, negativity and sitting down for too long. How can you avoid these at all costs? I’ve re-organised my packages to work around my health. For me that means more consulting and less “done for you” work.
Prioritise Your Biz
It’s easy to put your clients first, especially in the beginning because they’re actually giving you money. My biz came second and my health came 10385389th. It’s health first, then everything else. Always.
Have honest conversations with your clients
Before someone signs a contract with me for long term work I have “The Talk” with them. I tell them my intentions for the project and also explain the nature of my disease. So far, nobody has backed-out of working with me.
Give yourself strict opening hours
Do not be flexible here, even if you’ve been sick for a week but are feeling better over the weekend, do not work over the weekend. Personally I work from 10 to 6 pm from Monday to Thursday. I choose to start at 10 because my mornings are spent sorting out my pain levels or assessing how many hot water bottles I may need to have on hand.
Curate your community
Surround yourself with a support system. One who gets chronic illness and business, one of my 2021 goals is to create a community for women in business with chronic illness, but there are some great pages out there. I recommended following @youlookokaytome.
Have an emergency fund
If you can, save up to one month’s living costs and pop it in an emergency fund account. If you need to take a month off, money is one less thing to worry about.
Joe Mitton is the founder of health and fitness company MittFit. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease nearly 3 years ago and has since had the diagnosis changed to Wegner’s Vasculitis.
Joe said:
I am often asked how I manage to get so much done every day and how I live such an active lifestyle, even more so when they find out I live with a chronic condition but factoring in the intense work periods alongside structured rest periods is definitely the secret to my success.
The conditions affect me differently day to day but the biggest symptoms I suffer with are inflammation, chronic fatigue and a lack of appetite – things that are less than ideal when working in fitness! I can sometimes go long periods without eating because of the lack of appetite and this affects my focus and energy levels. To overcome this, I set timers for intense work periods and allow myself to rest afterwards. I also use homemade smoothies to keep my nutrient intake up – spinach, cucumber, ginger and water is my favourite recipe. This helps to reduce inflammation and also aids with digestion.
Yuos’sima Dineen is founder of The Trauma Sanctuary, she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia several years ago.
Yuos’sima said:
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and it completely re directed my whole life. It has been several years since that diagnosis, but I have made many changes. I have since got divorced and qualified to become a spiritual life coach, so I can live life on my own terms. For me it was a huge wake up call. I won’t say it’s been an overnight process, I’ve spent years doing inner work and identifying what created this and I’ve also had to make many routine changes. I now have a strict day to day structure in which I must honour my own well-being. It taught me that I must and always will be my number one priority.
Following my diagnosis I changed my whole life. I changed my eating to plant based, after discovering medical medium. I started reiki healing and meditation, in which I went onto become a quantum master healer and a spiritual life coach to help others. I also must honour my own well-being and put my own needs first. It’s been a journey of love for self. I completely changed any old habits and coping mechanisms that may not have been healthy and live a very well lifestyle.
Out of love for others going through this experience, I would advise buying my book The Truth to Trauma on Amazon. This can feel a very lonely path, but you are not alone. The reason I put my story out into the world was so that others can also start those shifts in their life as I did, to change their life. I deeply believe everything is a blessing and this is a opportunity to look at what our body is trying to tell us and how we are mis-aligned with ourselves. One of the things I would say is this a deep inward journey and you have the opportunity to become a better leader by showing up for yourself. It’s a new paradigm of leadership in which we have the opportunity to change, to stop sacrificing our well-being in order to serve others. So rather than your business being an example of the legacy you want to create in this world. Be a true leader by healing yourself. That is what I have to say. You are worthy of that. It is possible.
