Make Pleasure Your Business
Running your own business and being self-employed can give you a lot of freedom. But that freedom can also feel overwhelming if you haven't taken the time to imagine how you want to use it.
We spend a lot of time trying to get out of oppressive systems and dismantling them – but we can forget to imagine and envision what we want instead.
This can be true for activism, business, relationships, and life as a whole.
One thing that we often forget to include and prioritize in our businesses is PLEASURE!
Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure.
The pleasure I speak of is EXPANSIVE.
Audre Lorde really lays the framework for us on what that kind of pleasure could look and feel like:
“For the erotic is not a question only of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing. Once we know the extent to which we are capable of feeling that sense of satisfaction and completion, we can then observe which of our various life endeavors bring us closest to that fullness.”
― Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Pleasure is a central compass to the work I do.
Does my work help me come ALIVE in service?
Is it generative?! Is it WAKING me up?
Does it command that I face the pieces of myself that I feel scared to look at, but know with every bone in my body that I must?
Is it bringing me to fullness?
Are you setting yourself up to be doing the work you actually want to be doing? Are you building a business on integrity, or do you feel icky thinking about some of your practices so far? Do you have boundaries when it comes to clients or your social media channels? Are you letting in clients and students who energize you or who drain you? Is your business set up to amplify what is already EASY for you, or do you thinkg that success and business have to be HARD? Beliefs like “I’d rather fail and let it be hard than succeed and let it be easy” can make us set up systems in our business that are driven by our fears and conditioning, rather than our desires and what comes naturally to us.
Running our business from pleasure and what comes easy can also look like taking breaks. Like allowing yourself to offer the kind of products and services that come from a "HELL YES" rather than a "should". Like allowing your workspace to be sensual and comfortable with smells, textures, and snacks that nourish you!
While not every moment is pleasurable, it is vital that we find ways to dip into pleasure as we run our businesses.
The most important ways we can do this is by connecting to our WHY and our LONGING and desire for change in this world. By being willing to experiment and track what works for us and what doesn't; and then, from that place of learning what works and what doesn't, we learn to set boundaries and say "NO" – so we can say "YES" to what gives us pleasure.
Want journal prompts to reflect on how you could run your business with and from pleasure?
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