3 lessons from my first year as a solopreneur
On Friday, LILI JADE turned 1 and I turned 32. An exhausting and exhilarating rotation. Here are a few things on my mind as I celebrate this milestone.
Embracing stillness
It can be uncomfortable to move slowly. The world tells us to push, rush, hustle so much we forget it’s in our nature to evolve gently. Unhurried, we bloom into renewed bodies, guided by the same intuitive current igniting all Nature.
This past year was an investment of time. Time to guide my decisions by sense and energy, pledging allegiance only to what helps me feel good / be good / do good.
It can be hard to move this way when the rest of your world still operates by stress as success. You begin to question the absence of pain—this doesn’t taste the same? No, but it’s much sweeter, I think.
Remaining playful
I have this tendency to live in analysis. It’s not so much a paralysis as it is a relentless current. A forceful energy that demands I reflect on each and every emotion or interaction with a gavel and a label maker.
Releasing this self-imposed, perfectionist intensity remains my primary mission of well-being in life and in work. I’ve found the strongest counterbalancing force is play and the people who remind me how to do it.
When I was younger, my cousins used to call me voroojak / وروجک which in Persian means something like little elf or gremlin. Cute, but mischievous—an energy I choose to honor.
Grounding in why
Every day as a solopreneur demands that you recommit. Some days this practice is simple—creative freedom is an intoxicating drug. Other days, things are just quiet enough for your fears and anxieties to take the wheel, stubbornly driving you back to places you’ve already left behind and for good reason.
Reconnecting with my why has been the antidote, the clarity that stabilizes all the ups and downs. Observing how it’s endured and deepened in this last year reminds me just how impactful this rotation has been.
So here it is, my why:
I want to help create a world that places well-being at the center. A world where we all have the resources and support we need to balance mind and body so that soul can lead. A world that remembers our inner nature is the outer Nature and that purpose should beget profit, not the other way around.
I’m working towards a future where the role of wellness coach goes extinct, and I believe I can help bring it into fruition in three layers:
Individual: People who are committed to their own healing create space for others to thrive. I’ve seen how even the smallest shifts in personal habits and boundaries can create waves of change within friendships, partnerships, and families. It has been my greatest honor to hold space for others as they realign with their well-being, finding their way to self-sustaining joy, purpose, and vitality.
Community: I strongly believe there can be no self-care without collective care. Healing takes time. It takes structures of support at home and at work. The more our communities become aware and fluent on topics of well-being, the healthier we will all be. In this upcoming year, I will have a renewed focus on supporting communities and teams find a better collective balance.
Society: Societal systems determine which among us thrive or barely survive. No matter how much work we do on our own, we can never truly be well in a society structured around greed, endless consumption, and the destruction of our natural world. In hopes of influencing change, I will be expanding LILI JADE to include strategic consulting for creators—for the people who make the products and policies that impact our well-being.
Thank you for bearing witness to my growth and life this last year. The year I chose to change my life, and then Life changed me.