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I used to run a small indie press called ‘small leaf press’ and at first, I absolutely loved it. Then it made me understand what burnout felt like first-hand.
After working on this press and eventually morphing it into a self-discovery magazine, telling myself this amount of stress was normal for a couple of years, I decided to stop. I quit the small business hustle altogether because it was causing me more harm than good.
I was able to rest and give my mind a break from constant racing thoughts on how to make my small business a success. I got a 9-5 and I got my life back.
But then I started to miss it all. I missed getting ready for “submissions open!” season, designing the magazines and packing them up in cute tissue paper to send overseas and seeing how happy I made people when they’d see their names in print. But I also knew how stressed I was and how the work wasn’t fun anymore.
Until I got a full-time job?
Now that the majority of my day is taken up by being a full-time copywriter, I feel like I have more time?
What changed?
Structure.
My days finally have a real structure that I can work with and easily recognise when I need rest and when I am capable of doing tasks, something I’d never even thought was possible with a full-time job until now.
I am able to recognise the parts of “running a business” I don’t like and can do without when working on JADEN magazine a much smoother process. For example, using Trello which is just a bunch of easy-on-the-eyes lists instead of Notion which is way too customisable and overwhelming for me right now.
So, I’m a bit of a hypocrite because I did this whole thing about how I’m done with side hustling and small businesses and bla bla bla. But this time it feels different. This is coming completely from a place of joy, something that I can just call a hobby (a huge one no doubt) that I can do on the weekends and get to express my creativity when I design the mag interior.
I’ve just opened submissions again and I’m really excited to get this process up and running again! Definitely terrified that I took too long of a break and everyone’s forgotten about this mag and no one submits but manifesting that doesn’t happen I guess!
If you’re a writer looking to submit some self-reflective pieces, then JADEN may be the perfect place for you! Have a look at the web page and feel free to submit something to me!
And if you want to keep up with me and JADEN, sign up to my newsletter to be the first to get updates and silly little chats from me.