July 25, 2025 • 26 mins
If you’re trying to make money while managing chronic illness, this episode is your gentle nudge and grounded strategy all in one.
Whether you’re dreaming of replacing your income, supporting your household, or finally getting paid for the work you love—this episode breaks down how to create a business that supports both your health and your bank account.
I’m walking you through 3 essential shifts that have helped me (and my clients) earn sustainable income—even through flare-ups, fatigue, and doctor’s appointments. These aren’t quick hacks or hustle-heavy tactics. They’re real-world shifts that meet you where you are.
Inside, we’ll cover:
- Why your lived experience with chronic illness is an asset (yes, really)
- How to leverage what you’re already good at to start earning now
- What to do if you’re stuck between needing income and not having the energy
- Why “being consistent” isn’t the only path to growth
- The identity shift that helped me move from survival to a successful business
- How to align your offers with your real life, not a fantasy schedule
Whether you’re exploring coaching, freelancing, consulting, or creative services, this conversation will help you think differently about what’s possible for your income, energy, and ease.
📌 This isn’t about pushing through. It’s about building a business that pays you back—without burning you out.
Whether you’re dreaming of replacing your income, supporting your household, or finally getting paid for the work you love—this episode breaks down how to create a business that supports both your health and your bank account.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:26):
Welcome to Business withChronic Illness, the globally ranked
podcast for women living withchronic illness who want to start
and grow a business online.I'm your host, Nikita Williams and
I went from living a normallife to all of a sudden being in
constant pain with no answersto being diagnosed with multiple
chronic illnesses and tryingto make a livable income, I faced
(01:47):
the challenge of adaptingtraditional business advice to fit
my unique circumstances withchronic illness. Feeling frustrated
and more burned out than Ialready was while managing my chronic
illness to becoming an awardwinning coach with a flexible, sustainable
online coaching business, Ifound the surprisingly simple steps
to starting and growing aprofitable business without compromising
(02:09):
my health or my peace. Sincethen, I've helped dozens of women
just like you learn how to dothe same. If you're ready to create
a thriving business thataligns with your lifestyle and well
being, you're in the rightplace. Together, we're shifting the
narrative of what's possiblefor women with chronic illness and
how we make a living. This isBusiness with Chronic Illness. On
(02:40):
this episode, we are going tobe talking about how do you make
money as an entrepreneur?There are so many different ways
to make an income as anentrepreneur. Someone who has decided
they want to start a business,whether that's in person, like in
your locale or online or both.And I think there's a lot of conversation
(03:04):
out in the world about whatthat looks like for us living with
chronic illness. And I thinkit's really important for us to come
from a different lens when wethink about what it means to make
a living as a chronic illnesswarrior. And there are so many different
things we have to take care ofthat makes it so important that we
(03:25):
actually do make money in ourbusinesses if we decide we're going
to start one. Right? I like tosay there can be easier, quote unquote
ways of making an income ifyou don't want to be the boss, so
to speak. But you have tradeoffs because as a chronic illness
warrior, if you're not incontrol of how and when you make
(03:47):
money, someone else is incontrol of that. And what they're
also in control of is yourtime, energy and capacity and flexibility.
So freedom goes out the windowwhen you are tied to someone else
being in control of how you,quote, unquote, make money. And so
this is why I believe learninghow to make money as a skill while
(04:10):
living with chronic andautoimmune diseases as an entrepreneur
is so important. And I thinkthere are three ways we can really
do this in an easier way thatmakes the option of working for someone
else. Like not even an option.Right. I have said this for a very
long time that I will doanything I need to in order to keep
(04:35):
the growth of my businessgrowing. Even if that might mean
occasionally picking up a parttime job or doing something like
Uber Eats or something that Ijust have a little bit more freedom
and like flexibility so thatultimately my business is the business
that drives the traffic ofwhat I need. As far as income, however,
(04:56):
I'll be remiss. I have someprivileges. I have a, I have a partner
and my spouse, my husband, heand I are working together and making
a living. And so it makes it alittle bit easier when there are
the ebbs and flows in workingfor yourself because don't let any
coach tell you or any businessperson say you will always have consistent
(05:18):
quote, unquote every singlemonth the same amount of money. That
is not true. No matter howmany people tell you that it's not
true. There are going to besome months where you make 2k. There
are me some months where youmake 10, 20k and then there's going
to be some months where youmake like $1,000. Right. But the
bigger months and the smallermonths all average out and that's
(05:39):
just how business is. You all,that's just how business works. So
what are the three things thatreally helps us living with chronic
illness? Leverage the factthat we're living with chronic illness
and different autoimmunediseases to be very profitable entrepreneur.
And there are three things. Sonumber one, you already are good
at a lot of the skills that alot of people coming into having
(06:03):
a business don't have yet. Sofor example, I was on a market research
call with one of the amazingwomen side of one of my communities
and we were talking about howas chronic illness warriors we have
learned the skill of researchand asking the right questions to
get to the tools or resourcesthat we need. And as an entrepreneur
(06:27):
I have found myself in spaceswhere there are other folks who have
MBAs and all of thesedifferent kind of things and aren't
necessarily living withchronic illness, but because they
haven't had to learn thecreative thinking, the critical creative
thinking of how to figurethings out on their own in the context
(06:47):
of being under high pressureof, you know, fear and stress. They
have often just, you know,kind of resource people or people
of giving them the answerwithout necessarily have to work
that hard to find answers.Also they're not being gaslit, they're
also not being told that theydon't know what they're talking about.
They're also being believedwhen they go looking for answers
(07:11):
for things. And as chronicillness warriors, one of the skills
we've developed is learninghow to ask the right questions and
how to ask more questions anddo our own research. Because oftentimes
we are not believed.Oftentimes we are pushed aside. Oftentimes
we are told that it's in ourhead and we don't know what we're
talking about. So we usuallycome to the table with all of the
facts and the information aswell as we can to facilitate the
(07:35):
thing we need in order to getthe result we need, which is maybe
more support and managing ourchronic illness. Maybe it's even
to healing or curing orfinding a way to manage our chronic
illness in a way that has notbeen actually approached in a certain
way. And for some doctors,people might consider that, you know,
some doctors might considerthat like a pain in the bud. Like,
(07:55):
you think you're a doctor, youthink you know what you're talking
about. And in reality it's notthat you're a doctor, you are a doctor
of your own life in your body,and you are the best expert and you
know what you're looking for,you know what kind of questions you
need and what will not workwith you, and you're willing to go
seeking the answers and notbeing afraid about that. And in entrepreneurship,
(08:18):
that is a crucial skill.Unfortunately, as chronic illness
warrior, we didn't have theoption to consider this as an experiment,
right? We had to figure itout. Most of us kind of fumbled our
way into being full fledgedadvocates for our own self in a much
deeper way where we have to belike, I don't know if you're anything
like me, but like, when I goto the hospital or something happens,
(08:41):
most nurses think I'm a nurse.Like, some doctors even ask me if
I'm a nurse because I've justlearned how to ask the questions,
be discerning, and figure outhow to get the thing that I need
right? And in a business, asan entrepreneur, this is no different,
right? It's no different inthe difference. The only difference
is this isn't necessarily lifeor death in the context of living
(09:05):
with chronic illness. Like, itis life or death. Sometimes when
we're at the hospital and weneed to like literally advocate for
our lives and what we need, orin a doctor's office, we're literally
talking about life or death'sdecisions at times. But in our businesses,
we're not necessarily talkingabout that. And that's sometimes
where there can be a littlebit of a weird translation, right?
(09:27):
Because we know how to goafter something to solve the biggest
fear, the biggest problem inour lives. But when we come to our
businesses, sometimes thechallenge is taking that skill and
transforming it into an assetin our business, right? And here's
one way you can do that. Whenyou look at your business, look at
it as if it is a problem to besolved and an experiment to discover
(09:53):
new things. This is so crucialbecause in your business, in order
to make money, you're nevergoing to just find one way to do
something. And it will alwayswork. We are in the business of people
and relationships and peoplealways change. Just like our health,
like our health situationalways changes, right? So we have
to give ourselves permissionto be okay with, I'm going to be
(10:17):
learning and doing thingsdifferently and experimenting and
asking questions differentlyall of the time. And that doesn't
mean that I'm a bad businessperson. It doesn't mean that because
I have chronic illness, itmeans that it's just gonna mean harder
and take longer. It just meansI'm like everyone else in the context
of learning how to market andtell people what I do, right? And
(10:40):
this is huge becauseoftentimes what I have found from
a mindset point of view, fortho those of us wanting to make money
living with chronic illnesswho are trying this world out, we
tend to like, start findingthe reasons our chronic illness is
the reason why we're notmaking money in our business. And
(11:01):
nine times outta 10, it's notour, it's not our chronic illness.
Oftentimes it's our thoughtsabout our chronic illness that show
up in our business that makeit a lot harder for us to take the
steps we need to in order tomake money in our business. So that
keep that in mind over thenext several episodes, I'll be talking
about that. You can listen to,like, one of the many 100 episodes
(11:23):
that I've done about mindsetand how we think about things. That's
definitely a part of it. Buthere, this kind of leads me to my
second thing of like, thethree things you need to know about
making money as a chronicillness warrior, as an entrepreneur,
is that you have to shift andembrace a new aspect of your identity.
So as chronic illnesswarriors, we have this identity of
(11:46):
being chronic illness warriorsare like, we're fighting, right?
We're fighting to survive andwe, we're doing the thing. And, and,
and I say this so often, andthis is why the show Used to be called
crafted to thrive. Becausesurviving only allows us to do just
that. And if you think aboutthe pyramid of needs, survival is
(12:06):
like, you can drink water, yousleep, and you can breathe like there
is nothing else beyond that.And I truly do believe that with
chronic illness, you canthrive after you've gotten past the
I, the identity of justsurviving. And that might look different
on how you get to that pathwayfor yourself. But that's why I said
(12:30):
the second step is to shiftand embrace a new aspect of your
identity, of turning that paininto purpose. I know that's like
the corniest thing to say, butit's true. When you see yourself
being able to help someoneelse or help yourself get the thing
that has been a challenge foryou or challenge from like everyone
(12:50):
else's perspective, and you'reable to make money, sign your first
client, you're able to buildsomething that you didn't think was
possible because of yourchronic illness. Your identity starts
to shift. And it's importantthat your identity starts to shift
before all those thingshappen. And shifting that comes from
(13:11):
thinking from, I'm not justsurviving, but I can choose to thrive
in different areas. And itjust is going to look different for
me. And if you are decidingyou want to be an online business
person or for me, if you'rewanting to be like a coach, part
of embracing the identity thatI know how to help people and I also
(13:33):
have helped myself, is a hugestep forward to being able to make
money living with chronicillness. So when I go into the spaces
when people I used to get sohere, let me back up, let me back
up for a second. I used to getso embarrassed when I went to doctor's
offices. And like I said, I amso privileged that I have an amazing
(13:53):
husband and we, like worktogether for making a living together.
But whenever I would get tothat part on the form of like, what
is your profession? Like, areyou working? So and so. And I would
put self employed, right? Likeself employed. Because in the conditioning
of the world we live in,having a corporate job at a certain
age was like the thing I usedto get a little bit like, nervous
(14:17):
and insecure and kind of like,hate putting like, I'm a business
owner, right? Until I shiftedinto the identity of like, I am a
business owner and I helppeople, right? And so that's what
I want for you. When you startseeing that you have another side
of yourself as being able tohelp people and you start telling
people that's what you do foryour business or for your job. People
(14:40):
start to then know, hey, she'snot only just living with chronic
illness. She's not only awife, she's not only a sister, she's
not only a friend, and allthese different kind of things. She
also has a business. What isthat business about? About? And it
helps you start to think likean entrepreneur, just not someone
trying to make money. It helpsyou think as a person who is able
(15:01):
to see beyond just survivingto, like, how can I get to the life
that I truly want by embracingthis? Part of my identity is that
now I'm a business owner, nowI'm an entrepreneur, Now I'm a coach,
and I help people, and this ishow I help them. And just shifting
into that mindset can help youmake money. I say that because recently
(15:23):
I was like, in a. And ofcourse, I've been thinking about
this. My identity in generalfor years has kind of been an entrepreneur
and a business owner. Butevery now and then, I have some of
these experiences that always,like, just get me, like, riled up
of why I'm so excited for whatI do. And I was at a pelvic floor
therapy appointment, and mypelvic floor therapist is amazing.
(15:45):
I should put her stuff in,like, the show notes somewhere, but
I think maybe that's a wholenother conversation. But if you need
more information about that,reach out to me on Instagram and
I'll give you her information.If you're looking for a pelvic floor
therapist here in Atlanta, ifyou're looking for some support virtually,
you should definitely checkher out in that way as well. But
anyway, at pelvic floortherapy, I'm talking with her, and
(16:07):
we're, like, doing my, youknow, the work you do at pelvic floor
therapy. And we startedtalking about business because that's
kind of part of one of myidentities, like. Like a part of
one of the suits that I get towear. And we were talking about it,
and we just kind of got intoconversating, and basically it turned.
I asked permission to be like,hey, do you mind if I coach you around
this? And it led to anopportunity of being like, oh, this
(16:30):
is how you coach, and, oh, I'dlove to book a call with you. So
that identity shift alonehelped me, like, create an opportunity
to make money. And not onlythat, this person now knows that
I can help her, and I havehelped. I can help others. So it
leads to other places of whypeople can come to me and be referred
(16:51):
to me. And that's exciting toKnow, because pelvic floor therapy
is literally a way for me tolive with chronic illness better,
to feel better, to operatebetter. And in the context of taking
care of myself, if you wouldhave asked me 2016 Nikita, I would
not have said that that waspossible. I would not have even thought
I could do something likethat. It would be possible to do
(17:14):
something like that. And it'sjust so it's such an empowering place
to be that while you're takingcare of yourself to feel better with
chronic illness, you can alsohave the identity of being able to
make money while living withchronic illness. Right. And it's
another way of helping youactually do the thing that you want,
which is make a livableincome. All right, Number three,
(17:36):
align your needs to what youwant inside yourself, like, in your
life, in your. In your overalllife and in your business. Right.
So what I have foundoftentimes with just clients in general
who come to me is that theystart focusing first on, like, how
the business needs to be andhow they need to be in their business
(17:58):
versus the other way around.And really, this is a process of
alignment just with yourself.Right. Oftentimes when you're trying
to figure out how to make aliving with chronic illness, we're
in the survival brain. We'rein the brain of, I just need to make
an income. I need to figureout how to take care of myself and
my family. And those are veryimportant questions. But some other
(18:22):
questions that will help yoube in more alignment so that you
offer services and you canmarket something that you truly can
be confident and stand behindis seeing how those ideas and those
offers can align with the lifeyou live now and you want to live
in the future. So here's whatI mean. If you're currently in what
(18:43):
I call the newbie stage ofchronic illness, if you don't know
what that is, go back toanother episode. I'll put it in the
show notes about the differentphases of chronic illness. But if
you're a newbie chronicillness warrior, meaning you don't
have a diagnosis, or maybe youdo, and it's still like the wild,
wild west. And you don't knowwhat's on, going, going on with your
body. Like, I was back in 2009and 2010 was like, but I have this
(19:07):
thing, and I don't know whatthat means. And everybody asks, what
is this? They're like, I don'tknow what that is. I ain't never
heard that in my life. They'relike, I don't Know what? Endometriosis.
What is that? Fibromyalgia.What is that? That just sounds like
a weird vegetable, like randomthings, right? If you're in that
newbie phase and you'rethinking about starting a business,
aligning your needs is soimportant because right now you're
(19:31):
going to be trying a lot ofdifferent things. You're probably
going to a lot of differentdoctor's appointments. So if you
create a business right nowthat's all about, like, you needing
to be accessible to clientsall of the time, more than three
times a week, you might besetting yourself up for burnout,
right? If you think about,like right now, as a newbie, I might
(19:52):
be in this place of notknowing what's going on. I have a
lot more appointmentshappening, a lot more discovery happening.
But in the future, future me,future you, what would you want?
Like, what would you want yourlife to be like? Even if you are
in the season of new things,which you want more time, capacity
(20:12):
and freedom. The otherquestion you can ask yourself to
make sure you're aligning yourdecisions to the type of business
you want so you can make moneynow and in the future and not burn
out in between, is to bethinking like, would I do this even
if I didn't have what iscurrently going on? My chronic illness,
for example. If you wouldnever want to start a virtual assistant
(20:37):
business, no matter what, butyou start one now because you're
like, this is the only way Ican make money. Is it gonna be sustainable?
And will you make money? Ihave found that you might make some
money, but it won't be longterm. It'll be reft with frustration
and confusion and constantlyfeeling defeated versus what's something
(21:00):
I can do that I enjoy now andI would enjoy even if I didn't have
a chronic illness, like, whatwould I do? What would it be like?
Would I teach people how to goforage the for the forest? Would
I teach people or help peopleon, like, how to market their business
in a way that feels good tothem, but also feels good to you
(21:22):
because you get to show themhow would you do that? So really
aligning what you are excitedabout, what you can be passionate
about, what people actuallywant and need, and it's easy to deliver
in a flexible way, will helpyou make money with chronic illness
and autoimmune diseases as anentrepreneur. So the three things
(21:43):
to recap. One, leverage whatyou already know and are good at.
So go back and think aboutthings that you're good at. This
is challenging for some of us,because many of us start to discount
the things we already knowbecause it's hard because we're living
with chronic illness. Anddepending on what phase you're in,
if you're newbie chronicillness, it feels like, oh, this
(22:06):
just doesn't work for me. AndI want to offer you that maybe it
doesn't work for you the wayyou're doing it, but there is another
way of doing it that couldwork for you. If you're in the awareness
phase of chronic illness, orare you in the OG phase of chronic
illness? This is even moreimportant of how you need to leverage
what you already know thatyou've experienced as a chronic illness
warrior to help you develop abusiness, a marketing strategy, spending
(22:31):
and investment strategy thathelps you leverage those things so
that you can actually grow abusiness that works for you so you
actually make money long term.I also feel like a business needs
to be able to leverage whatyou know in the context of when you're
not working, it's stillserving you, it's still creating
leads and opportunities foryou to sell, right? So leverage what
(22:55):
you already know. Take theskills you've learned as an as a
chronic illness warrior andsee if some of those things can translate
into how you can uplevel whatit is that you decide to do or offer
in your business. Number two,shift and embrace a new aspect of
your identity. You can makemoney and you can have control of
how that looks like. Eventhough you might be in survival mode
(23:18):
or you're hoping to step intothriving, you get to start stepping
into thriving by the choicesyou make now as you identify as someone
who knows how to make money,even if you haven't done it yet.
Number three, align your needsto what you already have going on
right now. Align your yourbusiness to serve your life right
(23:39):
now and what it's going tolook like in the future when you
may still be in the samecircumstances or have better tools
of managing where you areright now. And use this question
to really help you be inalignment. Even if I didn't have
this chronic illness, I wouldwant to do such and such, right?
This helps so much around themindset of not feeling limited and
(23:59):
not feeling like you're out ofchoice. Because when you come from
a place of like, I would dothis regardless, you will find out
a way to do it even in thecircumstances you're in and be so
amazing at it and make so muchmoney because of it. So those are
my, my suggestions for you onhow you can make money as an entrepreneur.
These three things haveliterally helped me make over six
(24:21):
figures in my business. Itdidn't start at six figures. It started
at you make making two or twoto $5,000, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30
to 60. Like it didn't happenovernight. It did take time. But
I'm so proud that these thingshave literally been the way I've
actually created money formyself to make a livable income for
(24:42):
myself and my family. That's awrap for this episode of Business
With Chronic Illness. If youwould like to start and grow an online
coaching business with me,head to the Show Notes to click a
link to book a sales call andlearn how to make money with chronic
illness. You can also checkout our website@ww.CraftedToThrive.com
(25:04):
for this episode's Show Notesand join our email list to get exclusive
content where I coach you onhow to chronically grow a profitable
business while living withchronic illness. Until next time,
remember, yes, you are craftedto thrive.
Welcome to Business withChronic Illness, the globally ranked
podcast for women living withchronic illness who want to start
and grow a business online.I'm your host, Nikita Williams and
I went from living a normallife to all of a sudden being in
constant pain with no answersto being diagnosed with multiple
chronic illnesses and tryingto make a livable income, I faced
(01:47):
the challenge of adaptingtraditional business advice to fit
my unique circumstances withchronic illness. Feeling frustrated
and more burned out than Ialready was while managing my chronic
illness to becoming an awardwinning coach with a flexible, sustainable
online coaching business, Ifound the surprisingly simple steps
to starting and growing aprofitable business without compromising
(02:09):
my health or my peace. Sincethen, I've helped dozens of women
just like you learn how to dothe same. If you're ready to create
a thriving business thataligns with your lifestyle and well
being, you're in the rightplace. Together, we're shifting the
narrative of what's possiblefor women with chronic illness and
how we make a living. This isBusiness with Chronic Illness. On
(02:40):
this episode, we are going tobe talking about how do you make
money as an entrepreneur?There are so many different ways
to make an income as anentrepreneur. Someone who has decided
they want to start a business,whether that's in person, like in
your locale or online or both.And I think there's a lot of conversation
(03:04):
out in the world about whatthat looks like for us living with
chronic illness. And I thinkit's really important for us to come
from a different lens when wethink about what it means to make
a living as a chronic illnesswarrior. And there are so many different
things we have to take care ofthat makes it so important that we
(03:25):
actually do make money in ourbusinesses if we decide we're going
to start one. Right? I like tosay there can be easier, quote unquote
ways of making an income ifyou don't want to be the boss, so
to speak. But you have tradeoffs because as a chronic illness
warrior, if you're not incontrol of how and when you make
(03:47):
money, someone else is incontrol of that. And what they're
also in control of is yourtime, energy and capacity and flexibility.
So freedom goes out the windowwhen you are tied to someone else
being in control of how you,quote, unquote, make money. And so
this is why I believe learninghow to make money as a skill while
(04:10):
living with chronic andautoimmune diseases as an entrepreneur
is so important. And I thinkthere are three ways we can really
do this in an easier way thatmakes the option of working for someone
else. Like not even an option.Right. I have said this for a very
long time that I will doanything I need to in order to keep
(04:35):
the growth of my businessgrowing. Even if that might mean
occasionally picking up a parttime job or doing something like
Uber Eats or something that Ijust have a little bit more freedom
and like flexibility so thatultimately my business is the business
that drives the traffic ofwhat I need. As far as income, however,
(04:56):
I'll be remiss. I have someprivileges. I have a, I have a partner
and my spouse, my husband, heand I are working together and making
a living. And so it makes it alittle bit easier when there are
the ebbs and flows in workingfor yourself because don't let any
coach tell you or any businessperson say you will always have consistent
(05:18):
quote, unquote every singlemonth the same amount of money. That
is not true. No matter howmany people tell you that it's not
true. There are going to besome months where you make 2k. There
are me some months where youmake 10, 20k and then there's going
to be some months where youmake like $1,000. Right. But the
bigger months and the smallermonths all average out and that's
(05:39):
just how business is. You all,that's just how business works. So
what are the three things thatreally helps us living with chronic
illness? Leverage the factthat we're living with chronic illness
and different autoimmunediseases to be very profitable entrepreneur.
And there are three things. Sonumber one, you already are good
at a lot of the skills that alot of people coming into having
(06:03):
a business don't have yet. Sofor example, I was on a market research
call with one of the amazingwomen side of one of my communities
and we were talking about howas chronic illness warriors we have
learned the skill of researchand asking the right questions to
get to the tools or resourcesthat we need. And as an entrepreneur
(06:27):
I have found myself in spaceswhere there are other folks who have
MBAs and all of thesedifferent kind of things and aren't
necessarily living withchronic illness, but because they
haven't had to learn thecreative thinking, the critical creative
thinking of how to figurethings out on their own in the context
(06:47):
of being under high pressureof, you know, fear and stress. They
have often just, you know,kind of resource people or people
of giving them the answerwithout necessarily have to work
that hard to find answers.Also they're not being gaslit, they're
also not being told that theydon't know what they're talking about.
They're also being believedwhen they go looking for answers
(07:11):
for things. And as chronicillness warriors, one of the skills
we've developed is learninghow to ask the right questions and
how to ask more questions anddo our own research. Because oftentimes
we are not believed.Oftentimes we are pushed aside. Oftentimes
we are told that it's in ourhead and we don't know what we're
talking about. So we usuallycome to the table with all of the
facts and the information aswell as we can to facilitate the
(07:35):
thing we need in order to getthe result we need, which is maybe
more support and managing ourchronic illness. Maybe it's even
to healing or curing orfinding a way to manage our chronic
illness in a way that has notbeen actually approached in a certain
way. And for some doctors,people might consider that, you know,
some doctors might considerthat like a pain in the bud. Like,
(07:55):
you think you're a doctor, youthink you know what you're talking
about. And in reality it's notthat you're a doctor, you are a doctor
of your own life in your body,and you are the best expert and you
know what you're looking for,you know what kind of questions you
need and what will not workwith you, and you're willing to go
seeking the answers and notbeing afraid about that. And in entrepreneurship,
(08:18):
that is a crucial skill.Unfortunately, as chronic illness
warrior, we didn't have theoption to consider this as an experiment,
right? We had to figure itout. Most of us kind of fumbled our
way into being full fledgedadvocates for our own self in a much
deeper way where we have to belike, I don't know if you're anything
like me, but like, when I goto the hospital or something happens,
(08:41):
most nurses think I'm a nurse.Like, some doctors even ask me if
I'm a nurse because I've justlearned how to ask the questions,
be discerning, and figure outhow to get the thing that I need
right? And in a business, asan entrepreneur, this is no different,
right? It's no different inthe difference. The only difference
is this isn't necessarily lifeor death in the context of living
(09:05):
with chronic illness. Like, itis life or death. Sometimes when
we're at the hospital and weneed to like literally advocate for
our lives and what we need, orin a doctor's office, we're literally
talking about life or death'sdecisions at times. But in our businesses,
we're not necessarily talkingabout that. And that's sometimes
where there can be a littlebit of a weird translation, right?
(09:27):
Because we know how to goafter something to solve the biggest
fear, the biggest problem inour lives. But when we come to our
businesses, sometimes thechallenge is taking that skill and
transforming it into an assetin our business, right? And here's
one way you can do that. Whenyou look at your business, look at
it as if it is a problem to besolved and an experiment to discover
(09:53):
new things. This is so crucialbecause in your business, in order
to make money, you're nevergoing to just find one way to do
something. And it will alwayswork. We are in the business of people
and relationships and peoplealways change. Just like our health,
like our health situationalways changes, right? So we have
to give ourselves permissionto be okay with, I'm going to be
(10:17):
learning and doing thingsdifferently and experimenting and
asking questions differentlyall of the time. And that doesn't
mean that I'm a bad businessperson. It doesn't mean that because
I have chronic illness, itmeans that it's just gonna mean harder
and take longer. It just meansI'm like everyone else in the context
of learning how to market andtell people what I do, right? And
(10:40):
this is huge becauseoftentimes what I have found from
a mindset point of view, fortho those of us wanting to make money
living with chronic illnesswho are trying this world out, we
tend to like, start findingthe reasons our chronic illness is
the reason why we're notmaking money in our business. And
(11:01):
nine times outta 10, it's notour, it's not our chronic illness.
Oftentimes it's our thoughtsabout our chronic illness that show
up in our business that makeit a lot harder for us to take the
steps we need to in order tomake money in our business. So that
keep that in mind over thenext several episodes, I'll be talking
about that. You can listen to,like, one of the many 100 episodes
(11:23):
that I've done about mindsetand how we think about things. That's
definitely a part of it. Buthere, this kind of leads me to my
second thing of like, thethree things you need to know about
making money as a chronicillness warrior, as an entrepreneur,
is that you have to shift andembrace a new aspect of your identity.
So as chronic illnesswarriors, we have this identity of
(11:46):
being chronic illness warriorsare like, we're fighting, right?
We're fighting to survive andwe, we're doing the thing. And, and,
and I say this so often, andthis is why the show Used to be called
crafted to thrive. Becausesurviving only allows us to do just
that. And if you think aboutthe pyramid of needs, survival is
(12:06):
like, you can drink water, yousleep, and you can breathe like there
is nothing else beyond that.And I truly do believe that with
chronic illness, you canthrive after you've gotten past the
I, the identity of justsurviving. And that might look different
on how you get to that pathwayfor yourself. But that's why I said
(12:30):
the second step is to shiftand embrace a new aspect of your
identity, of turning that paininto purpose. I know that's like
the corniest thing to say, butit's true. When you see yourself
being able to help someoneelse or help yourself get the thing
that has been a challenge foryou or challenge from like everyone
(12:50):
else's perspective, and you'reable to make money, sign your first
client, you're able to buildsomething that you didn't think was
possible because of yourchronic illness. Your identity starts
to shift. And it's importantthat your identity starts to shift
before all those thingshappen. And shifting that comes from
(13:11):
thinking from, I'm not justsurviving, but I can choose to thrive
in different areas. And itjust is going to look different for
me. And if you are decidingyou want to be an online business
person or for me, if you'rewanting to be like a coach, part
of embracing the identity thatI know how to help people and I also
(13:33):
have helped myself, is a hugestep forward to being able to make
money living with chronicillness. So when I go into the spaces
when people I used to get sohere, let me back up, let me back
up for a second. I used to getso embarrassed when I went to doctor's
offices. And like I said, I amso privileged that I have an amazing
(13:53):
husband and we, like worktogether for making a living together.
But whenever I would get tothat part on the form of like, what
is your profession? Like, areyou working? So and so. And I would
put self employed, right? Likeself employed. Because in the conditioning
of the world we live in,having a corporate job at a certain
age was like the thing I usedto get a little bit like, nervous
(14:17):
and insecure and kind of like,hate putting like, I'm a business
owner, right? Until I shiftedinto the identity of like, I am a
business owner and I helppeople, right? And so that's what
I want for you. When you startseeing that you have another side
of yourself as being able tohelp people and you start telling
people that's what you do foryour business or for your job. People
(14:40):
start to then know, hey, she'snot only just living with chronic
illness. She's not only awife, she's not only a sister, she's
not only a friend, and allthese different kind of things. She
also has a business. What isthat business about? About? And it
helps you start to think likean entrepreneur, just not someone
trying to make money. It helpsyou think as a person who is able
(15:01):
to see beyond just survivingto, like, how can I get to the life
that I truly want by embracingthis? Part of my identity is that
now I'm a business owner, nowI'm an entrepreneur, Now I'm a coach,
and I help people, and this ishow I help them. And just shifting
into that mindset can help youmake money. I say that because recently
(15:23):
I was like, in a. And ofcourse, I've been thinking about
this. My identity in generalfor years has kind of been an entrepreneur
and a business owner. Butevery now and then, I have some of
these experiences that always,like, just get me, like, riled up
of why I'm so excited for whatI do. And I was at a pelvic floor
therapy appointment, and mypelvic floor therapist is amazing.
(15:45):
I should put her stuff in,like, the show notes somewhere, but
I think maybe that's a wholenother conversation. But if you need
more information about that,reach out to me on Instagram and
I'll give you her information.If you're looking for a pelvic floor
therapist here in Atlanta, ifyou're looking for some support virtually,
you should definitely checkher out in that way as well. But
anyway, at pelvic floortherapy, I'm talking with her, and
(16:07):
we're, like, doing my, youknow, the work you do at pelvic floor
therapy. And we startedtalking about business because that's
kind of part of one of myidentities, like. Like a part of
one of the suits that I get towear. And we were talking about it,
and we just kind of got intoconversating, and basically it turned.
I asked permission to be like,hey, do you mind if I coach you around
this? And it led to anopportunity of being like, oh, this
(16:30):
is how you coach, and, oh, I'dlove to book a call with you. So
that identity shift alonehelped me, like, create an opportunity
to make money. And not onlythat, this person now knows that
I can help her, and I havehelped. I can help others. So it
leads to other places of whypeople can come to me and be referred
(16:51):
to me. And that's exciting toKnow, because pelvic floor therapy
is literally a way for me tolive with chronic illness better,
to feel better, to operatebetter. And in the context of taking
care of myself, if you wouldhave asked me 2016 Nikita, I would
not have said that that waspossible. I would not have even thought
I could do something likethat. It would be possible to do
(17:14):
something like that. And it'sjust so it's such an empowering place
to be that while you're takingcare of yourself to feel better with
chronic illness, you can alsohave the identity of being able to
make money while living withchronic illness. Right. And it's
another way of helping youactually do the thing that you want,
which is make a livableincome. All right, Number three,
(17:36):
align your needs to what youwant inside yourself, like, in your
life, in your. In your overalllife and in your business. Right.
So what I have foundoftentimes with just clients in general
who come to me is that theystart focusing first on, like, how
the business needs to be andhow they need to be in their business
(17:58):
versus the other way around.And really, this is a process of
alignment just with yourself.Right. Oftentimes when you're trying
to figure out how to make aliving with chronic illness, we're
in the survival brain. We'rein the brain of, I just need to make
an income. I need to figureout how to take care of myself and
my family. And those are veryimportant questions. But some other
(18:22):
questions that will help yoube in more alignment so that you
offer services and you canmarket something that you truly can
be confident and stand behindis seeing how those ideas and those
offers can align with the lifeyou live now and you want to live
in the future. So here's whatI mean. If you're currently in what
(18:43):
I call the newbie stage ofchronic illness, if you don't know
what that is, go back toanother episode. I'll put it in the
show notes about the differentphases of chronic illness. But if
you're a newbie chronicillness warrior, meaning you don't
have a diagnosis, or maybe youdo, and it's still like the wild,
wild west. And you don't knowwhat's on, going, going on with your
body. Like, I was back in 2009and 2010 was like, but I have this
(19:07):
thing, and I don't know whatthat means. And everybody asks, what
is this? They're like, I don'tknow what that is. I ain't never
heard that in my life. They'relike, I don't Know what? Endometriosis.
What is that? Fibromyalgia.What is that? That just sounds like
a weird vegetable, like randomthings, right? If you're in that
newbie phase and you'rethinking about starting a business,
aligning your needs is soimportant because right now you're
(19:31):
going to be trying a lot ofdifferent things. You're probably
going to a lot of differentdoctor's appointments. So if you
create a business right nowthat's all about, like, you needing
to be accessible to clientsall of the time, more than three
times a week, you might besetting yourself up for burnout,
right? If you think about,like right now, as a newbie, I might
(19:52):
be in this place of notknowing what's going on. I have a
lot more appointmentshappening, a lot more discovery happening.
But in the future, future me,future you, what would you want?
Like, what would you want yourlife to be like? Even if you are
in the season of new things,which you want more time, capacity
(20:12):
and freedom. The otherquestion you can ask yourself to
make sure you're aligning yourdecisions to the type of business
you want so you can make moneynow and in the future and not burn
out in between, is to bethinking like, would I do this even
if I didn't have what iscurrently going on? My chronic illness,
for example. If you wouldnever want to start a virtual assistant
(20:37):
business, no matter what, butyou start one now because you're
like, this is the only way Ican make money. Is it gonna be sustainable?
And will you make money? Ihave found that you might make some
money, but it won't be longterm. It'll be reft with frustration
and confusion and constantlyfeeling defeated versus what's something
(21:00):
I can do that I enjoy now andI would enjoy even if I didn't have
a chronic illness, like, whatwould I do? What would it be like?
Would I teach people how to goforage the for the forest? Would
I teach people or help peopleon, like, how to market their business
in a way that feels good tothem, but also feels good to you
(21:22):
because you get to show themhow would you do that? So really
aligning what you are excitedabout, what you can be passionate
about, what people actuallywant and need, and it's easy to deliver
in a flexible way, will helpyou make money with chronic illness
and autoimmune diseases as anentrepreneur. So the three things
(21:43):
to recap. One, leverage whatyou already know and are good at.
So go back and think aboutthings that you're good at. This
is challenging for some of us,because many of us start to discount
the things we already knowbecause it's hard because we're living
with chronic illness. Anddepending on what phase you're in,
if you're newbie chronicillness, it feels like, oh, this
(22:06):
just doesn't work for me. AndI want to offer you that maybe it
doesn't work for you the wayyou're doing it, but there is another
way of doing it that couldwork for you. If you're in the awareness
phase of chronic illness, orare you in the OG phase of chronic
illness? This is even moreimportant of how you need to leverage
what you already know thatyou've experienced as a chronic illness
warrior to help you develop abusiness, a marketing strategy, spending
(22:31):
and investment strategy thathelps you leverage those things so
that you can actually grow abusiness that works for you so you
actually make money long term.I also feel like a business needs
to be able to leverage whatyou know in the context of when you're
not working, it's stillserving you, it's still creating
leads and opportunities foryou to sell, right? So leverage what
(22:55):
you already know. Take theskills you've learned as an as a
chronic illness warrior andsee if some of those things can translate
into how you can uplevel whatit is that you decide to do or offer
in your business. Number two,shift and embrace a new aspect of
your identity. You can makemoney and you can have control of
how that looks like. Eventhough you might be in survival mode
(23:18):
or you're hoping to step intothriving, you get to start stepping
into thriving by the choicesyou make now as you identify as someone
who knows how to make money,even if you haven't done it yet.
Number three, align your needsto what you already have going on
right now. Align your yourbusiness to serve your life right
(23:39):
now and what it's going tolook like in the future when you
may still be in the samecircumstances or have better tools
of managing where you areright now. And use this question
to really help you be inalignment. Even if I didn't have
this chronic illness, I wouldwant to do such and such, right?
This helps so much around themindset of not feeling limited and
(23:59):
not feeling like you're out ofchoice. Because when you come from
a place of like, I would dothis regardless, you will find out
a way to do it even in thecircumstances you're in and be so
amazing at it and make so muchmoney because of it. So those are
my, my suggestions for you onhow you can make money as an entrepreneur.
These three things haveliterally helped me make over six
(24:21):
figures in my business. Itdidn't start at six figures. It started
at you make making two or twoto $5,000, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30
to 60. Like it didn't happenovernight. It did take time. But
I'm so proud that these thingshave literally been the way I've
actually created money formyself to make a livable income for
(24:42):
myself and my family. That's awrap for this episode of Business
With Chronic Illness. If youwould like to start and grow an online
coaching business with me,head to the Show Notes to click a
link to book a sales call andlearn how to make money with chronic
illness. You can also checkout our website@ww.CraftedToThrive.com
(25:04):
for this episode's Show Notesand join our email list to get exclusive
content where I coach you onhow to chronically grow a profitable
business while living withchronic illness. Until next time,
remember, yes, you are craftedto thrive.
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