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Brand. Business. Becoming. with Bonnie Wicks is the podcast for entrepreneurs ready to build wildly profitable businesses that honour their authentic voice and nervous system.
If you're tired of playing small, copying other people's strategies, and building a business that burns you out, this show is for you. We explore what it really takes to create magnetic authority without performing who you think you should be.
Each episode blends high-level strategy with embodiment work, helping you:
• Build a personal brand that attracts premium clients
• Create offers that feel authentic and command top prices
• Develop unshakeable confidence in your unique voice • Scale without sacrificing your soul or sanity
Hosted by Bonnie Wicks, brand and embodiment coach for self-led entrepreneurs who refuse to choose between profit and purpose.
Ready to burn what's false and rise in your truth? Subscribe now.
Last week we talked about why your brand is your funnel. Today I want to talk about something that might make some of you uncomfortable , but it's the foundation of everything I teach:
** Business is personal. Whether you like it or not.**
Most business advice treats you like a machine that needs optimization. Input strategy, output results. Follow this blueprint, get that outcome. Scale faster, hustle harder, optimize everything.
But here's what they're missing: You're not a machine. You're a human with a nervous system, values, life circumstances , and a unique way of moving through the world.
And when you try to force yourself into a business model that doesn't honor who you actually are, two things happen: Either the business fails, or you do.
I know this because I've lived it. Multiple times. And I've watched brilliant entrepreneurs burn out, burn down their businesses, or build something successful that feels like a prison because they ignored this fundamental truth.
Today I'm going to share my story - not because it's particularly inspiring , but because it illustrates something crucial about the intersection of personal capacity and business strategy. And then we're going to talk about how to build something that works WITH your energy, not against it.
Because here's what I've discovered after watching everything work for someone , somewhere: There is no right way to build a business. There's only the right way for you , right now, in this season of your life.
Let me tell you about the woman I used to be
I was never the A-type personality. I didn't grow up with anyone in my family who really worked in traditional business. The most entrepreneurial we were was the markets - my grandparents had a host of failed businesses before that, but I was too young to remember them.
So I grew up wanting status. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. Big career, respect, money. The whole dream.
But here's the thing - I also grew up without safety, without regulation. I would go through cycles of crash and burn and couldn't sustain study. I'd start strong, then completely fall apart. I thought there was something wrong with me.
Then I met my now-husband, and I was introduced to a world I'd never seen before - profitable small business. Where you could own something modest and make really good money. This was revelation to me.
So I went out and became a BAS Agent - a registered bookkeeper. But I knew nothing about business beyond the technical skills. I fell into the trap of servicing the people around me locally, the people wanting to pay $40 an hour. And I didn't feel worthy of charging more.
[Pause]
When I had my first child, everything intensified. I felt the weight of other people's financial dependency on me at the same time as having an actual living, breathing creature completely dependent on me to live. It felt so heavy.
So when I fell pregnant with my second pregnancy, I decided to shut that business down. At the same time, I was also trying to get a candle company up and running. This was a major passion of mine!
I loved everything about it - from making the candles to designing them to trying to market them. But once again, this was a challenging business. I didn't know anything about e-commerce. I thought that if I built it, they would come. I thought my unique scents that I crafted myself was enough of a unique value proposition that customers would just flock.
They didn't.
So I went through a very deep and long journey into UX, conversion rate optimization, social media strategy, PR, and more. I was determined to make this work.
I shut this business down at the same time as my second pregnancy. When I lost that pregnancy at 13 weeks, I slowly built the candle business back up until... we decided to travel in a caravan.
[Slight laugh]
Not very conducive to candle making when you no longer have your large office space, just a tiny caravan. So that business was gifted to my mum.
When I was pregnant with my second child - successful pregnancy this time - I got the itch again. What is it with pregnant women and an itch to create and birth businesses?
I started freelancing copywriting, using ALL the skills I'd learned from bookkeeping and candle making. And this was so damn great. Until the start of this year, when it got heavy again.
I kept missing deadlines due to sick kids. I was fighting against AI. I was getting dysregulated again. There was an energy mismatch - while I loved writing copy, the simple fact was that this business model DID NOT suit this stage of my life.
I spent the last six months playing around with different ideas and energies until I came up with this one that FEELS so damn on fire. Like I'm expansive and lit up and just so energized.
And I know that while this feeling is addictive - that "boring businesses are often profitable businesses" - I'm sitting with it. Knowing that I've found a business that aligns with my energy and capacity and season of life.
Because here's what I've learned through all of this: I have seen EVERYTHING work.
I've seen people launch a group program as their first offer and make it work. I've seen people launch a $47 digital product and make it work. I've seen people launch high-touch 1:1 services and make it work.
There is no right way, full stop. Only the right way for you and your life as a whole human being.
E: Let me tell you what nobody talks about when they're selling you business blueprints: Your nervous system determines your business capacity more than any strategy ever will.
Every time I crashed and burned, every time I built something successful that felt heavy, every time I had to shut something down - it wasn't because the strategy was wrong. It was because I was fighting against my own nervous system.
Here's what I mean:
When you're in fight-or-flight mode, you can execute tactics, but you can't think strategically. You're reactive, not responsive. You make decisions from fear, not vision. You might be productive, but you're not creative.
When you're in freeze mode, you know what you should be doing, but you can't make yourself do it. You procrastinate on important tasks. You second-guess every decision. You feel stuck even when you have clarity about next steps.
When you're in fawn mode, you say yes to everything. You undercharge because saying no feels dangerous. You take on clients who drain you because disappointing them feels worse than depleting yourself.
And when you're in a regulated state? This is where the magic happens. You can see opportunities instead of threats. You make decisions from abundance, not scarcity. You trust your instincts. You can hold boundaries without guilt.
The problem is, most business advice assumes you're operating from a regulated state. It assumes you have unlimited capacity, clear thinking, and the ability to execute consistently.
But if you're a parent, if you've experienced trauma, if you're highly sensitive, if you're neurodivergent, if you're human - your capacity fluctuates. Your energy has seasons. Your nervous system has limits.
And instead of building businesses that honor this reality, we've been taught to push through, to force it, to hustle harder when we're struggling.
That's not strategy. That's self-abuse.
This is why I crashed and burned over and over. I was trying to build businesses that required me to be someone I wasn't, to have capacity I didn't have, to operate from an energy that wasn't sustainable for me.
The copywriting business is a perfect example. I loved the work itself. But the business model - tight deadlines, constant client management, being available for quick turnarounds - required a level of predictable availability that I simply didn't have as a primary parent with young children.
Instead of admitting this and adjusting the model, I kept trying to force myself to be more organized, more efficient, more available. I was optimizing the wrong thing.
I was trying to change myself to fit the business instead of building a business that fit me.
So how do you build a business that works WITH your energy instead of against it?
First, you need to get honest about your actual capacity, not your aspirational capacity.
Your actual capacity includes:
How many focused work hours you realistically have per week
What seasons of your life require more or less energy
What types of work energize you versus drain you
What kind of structure supports you versus stresses you
What your nervous system needs to feel safe and regulated
For me, my actual capacity right now is:
Daycare Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday - so Thursdays are blocked
I'm the primary parent, so I can't fill my calendar with back-to-back calls that I can't reschedule if kids get sick
My energy moves in cycles, not linear productivity
I need variety and creativity to stay engaged
I need to feel like my work matters, not just pays bills
So I built a business model around this reality:
Group programs instead of extensive 1:1 work
Batch content creation during high-energy phases
Async support systems that don't require real-time availability
Pricing that honors my limited availability instead of competing with people who have unlimited time
[Building energy]
Second, you need to understand the difference between challenges that grow you and challenges that drain you.
Growth challenges feel uncomfortable but expansive. Like learning to set boundaries, or pricing at your worth, or showing up more visibly. These stretch you into who you're becoming.
Drain challenges feel grinding and contractive. Like constantly fighting your natural rhythms, or doing work that doesn't use your gifts, or building something that requires you to be someone you're not.
The goal isn't to avoid all challenges. It's to choose the ones that expand you rather than contract you.
When I was doing copywriting, the challenge of writing great copy was a growth challenge - it stretched my skills and creativity. But the challenge of managing unpredictable deadlines with unpredictable child care was a drain challenge - it required me to fight against the reality of my life circumstances.
Third, you need to design for your worst days, not your best days.
On your best days, you have energy, focus, motivation. You can execute any strategy. But what about when your kid is sick, or you're going through a difficult period, or you're just having a human moment?
Your business model needs to be resilient enough to handle your human moments without falling apart.
This might mean:
Building buffer time into all deadlines
Creating systems that can run without your constant input
Having multiple revenue streams so no single one breaking crashes everything
Designing offers that serve people even when you're not at peak performance
[Slowing down, more intimate]
Here's what I wish someone had told me years ago: Building a business that honors your humanity isn't settling for less. It's the foundation for sustainable success.
When you stop fighting against your natural rhythms and start building with them, you don't just feel better - you perform better. You make clearer decisions. You show up more authentically. You attract the right people and opportunities.
You stop burning out and start lighting up.
WHY YOUR CAPACITY DETERMINES YOUR CEILING (4 minutes)
BONNIE: Here's the part that most business coaches don't want to talk about: Your business can only grow to the level you can handle without losing yourself.
If your business model requires you to be constantly available, but you value presence with your family, there's a ceiling.
If your business model requires you to be "on" all the time, but you're naturally introverted and need regular solitude to recharge, there's a ceiling.
If your business model requires you to make quick decisions, but you process information slowly and need time to think, there's a ceiling.
This doesn't mean you can't grow. It means you need to grow in alignment with who you are, not in spite of it.
Most business advice focuses on breaking through external barriers - better marketing, smarter funnels, more efficient systems. But the real barriers are often internal - the limits of what you can sustain without sacrificing your mental health, your relationships, your values, or your sense of self.
[Pause]
This is why I've restructured my business multiple times. Not because the previous versions weren't working financially - they were. But because they weren't working holistically.
And here's what I've discovered: When you build something that truly aligns with your capacity and energy, you don't hit the same ceilings. You might hit different ones, but you have more resources to navigate them because you're not depleting yourself just to maintain the baseline.
The copywriting business hit a capacity ceiling because the model required more availability than I could sustainably provide. But this current business - where I can batch content, work asynchronously, and serve people through group programs - has different growth potential because it works with my energy instead of against it.
Your capacity isn't fixed. It can expand. But it expands through alignment, not force. It expands when you're working in your zone of genius, when you're energized by what you're building, when you feel supported rather than depleted by your business model.
WRAP-UP & NEXT STEPS (2 minutes)
BONNIE: Here's what I want you to take away from today:
First, business is personal whether you acknowledge it or not. Your nervous system, your capacity, your life circumstances - they all impact your business results more than any tactic ever will.
Second, there is no universal right way to build a business. There's only the right way for you, in this season, with your current capacity and circumstances.
And third, building something that honors your humanity isn't settling for less - it's the foundation for sustainable success.
Next week, we're diving into "The Identity Expansion That Changes Everything" - how to grow your business by growing yourself, without losing yourself in the process.
If this resonated with you, please share it. Tag me @bonniewicks on Instagram - I love hearing how these conversations land for you.
Your business should enhance your life, not consume it. Your success should feel sustainable, not exhausting. And your growth should honor who you are, not require you to become someone else.
I'm Bonnie Wicks, this is Brand. Business. Becoming., and I'll see you next Tuesday.
Ready to rise? Let's light it up.