I want to talk honestly about something I think many women in business secretly feel:
We’re not lacking ambition.
We’re lacking capacity.
Because yes — I’m technically a business owner.
But I’m also:
A mum.
A daughter.
A school-run-chauffeur.
A meal-assembler.
Occasional admin assistant to life itself.
And the woman everyone asks when they can’t find the scissors.
And somewhere in the middle of all that?
There’s the business.
Now — business culture tells us the solution is to:
Wake up earlier
Work harder
“Want it more”
Cut out rest
Push through
But in my world?
That doesn’t feel aspirational.
It just feels… exhausting.
So I did something rebellious:
I designed my business to run in about 10 hours a week.
Not as a temporary season.
But as the model.
And the more I speak to women, the more I realise:
I am not the only one craving less pressure, more presence.
Which brings me to the real truth of this blog:
It wasn’t mindset that made my work simpler.
It was systems.
The day my business stopped depending on my brain alone
For too many years, my business lived entirely in my head.
I remembered who needed what.
I followed up manually.
I kept notes in random places.
I chased myself constantly.
It worked — but it cost me energy I didn’t have spare.
Because real life continues regardless:
School uniforms still need washing.
Horses sometimes escape fields.
Kids need lifts to dance competitions in Blackpool.
And glitter — once released — haunts a house for eternity.
So I started building calm workflows.
Not flashy funnels.
Not 27-step sales traps.
Just…
If this happens → then do that → quietly → reliably.
Tools like Make.com now connect the dots behind the scenes.
And honestly?
That’s when business started feeling lighter.
Automation isn’t cold — it’s supportive
There’s this myth that automation makes business robotic.
But for me?
It brought humanity back.
Because when your admin isn’t swallowing you whole…
You have time to think.
To breathe.
To create.
To rest.
To be present at the dinner table.
Automation doesn’t mean:
“I don’t care”
It means:
“I don’t need to suffer to succeed.”
And that’s a narrative I’m quite happy to rewrite.
What a 10-Hour Workweek really looks like
People often imagine it’s glamorous.
It’s really not.
It looks like:
Two focused working blocks.
One planning session.
A couple of creative bursts.
And everything else…
…running quietly in the background.
Lead magnets deliver themselves.
New contacts are labelled and tagged.
Onboarding flows without panic.
Reminders fire without me remembering.
The work gets done —
without me needing to hold it all.
And that — to me — is freedom.
This isn’t about laziness
It’s about life-honouring design.
Because:
Women don’t always get long, predictable work days.
We work in pockets.
In between.
Around.
So our systems need to be steady even when our time isn’t.
Automation is the thing that says:
“It’s okay — I’ve got this bit.”
And when I finally stopped thinking automation was “too technical” or “for bigger businesses”…
My nervous system exhaled.
The surprising truth: calm creates better results
When your systems are clear:
Clients experience smoother journeys
People get responses faster
Follow-ups don’t get lost
Sales don’t rely on you being online
And because you’re less frazzled…
Your thinking improves.
Your work deepens.
Your creativity expands.
Calm doesn’t slow you down.
It stabilises you.
And stability compounds.
This is not the productivity Olympics
I don’t want to:
“Crush”
“Hustle”
“Dominate”
I want to:
Contribute
Be proud of my work
Be financially supported
Love my family
Live in the real world
And I’m guessing —
if you’re still reading —
you might want that too.
So where do you begin?
Not with everything.
Just one workflow.
Choose the place where your brain is most tired of repeating itself.
Then automate that tiny part.
Notice the relief.
Enjoy it.
Sit with it.
Then build another.
Slowly.
Kindly.
On your terms.
Because here’s the truth
You don’t need to be more.
You already are.
What you need is structure that supports you —
instead of draining you.
That’s what calm automation offers.
And that’s why I’ll keep saying it:
A business that runs in 10 hours a week
is not “small thinking”.
It’s sustainable thinking.
It’s life-first.
Family-protective.
Human-centred.
And I’m very happy living here 💛
If you’d like to see the exact tool I’m using to create those calm workflows, I’m exploring Make.com all this week in my Lives. No hype. Just honesty.
You’re always welcome.