I Was So Busy Working That I Forgot to Build a Business
One of the biggest lessons I have learnt during my eleven-and-a-half years as a freelancer is that there is a profound difference between working in your business and working on your business. For years, I thought they were the same thing. I believed that if I worked hard enough, delivered excellent work, and looked after my clients, everything else would eventually fall into place. Success, in my mind, was measured by one thing: the balance in my bank account.
So I worked.
I took on every project I could. I worked evenings, weekends, and holidays whenever clients needed me. I invested almost every waking hour into serving the people who had entrusted me with their work.
What I wasn't doing was building a business.
Busy Isn't the Same as Building
Working in your business is all about delivery.
It's editing another dissertation, writing another annual report, meeting another deadline, or answering another email. It pays today's bills, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's how every freelancer begins.
Working on your business, however, is something entirely different:
It's investing time in your website when no client has asked you to,
It's learning a new skill before anyone is willing to pay you for it,
It's creating products and services that can generate value beyond a single project,
It's refining your brand, writing articles that demonstrate your expertise, improving your processes, and building something that continues to work for you long after you've logged off for the day.
For years, I convinced myself I simply didn't have time for those things. The truth is, I wasn't making time for them.
The Advice I Didn't Want to Hear
Throughout those years, my hubby gently reminded me that I needed to spend more time working on my business instead of simply working in it. I nodded politely and then carried on doing exactly what I had always done. After all, I was busy:
Clients were coming in,
The work kept flowing.
Why would I spend valuable hours writing blog posts or improving my website when I could be earning money instead?
Looking back now, I understand what he was trying to tell me.
He wasn't asking me to stop working.
He was encouraging me to build something that could outlive today's workload.
The Wake-Up Call
Then the market changed.
Many of my long-standing clients had always returned because they trusted my work. Others referred me to colleagues and friends. Without even realising it, I had built a business that relied almost entirely on repeat clients and referrals.
Then artificial intelligence entered the mainstream. Suddenly, many businesses realised they could create something that looked "good enough" for a fraction of the price:
Some clients disappeared, and
Others significantly reduced the amount of work they outsourced.
The lesson wasn't that AI had replaced me.
The lesson was that I had built a business around selling my time instead of building a recognisable brand.
I had become so busy delivering work that I had forgotten to invest in the future of my business.
Rediscovering Why I Started
That realisation forced me to stop and ask myself a question I should probably have been asking all along.
What do I actually want to build?
The answer surprised me. I discovered how much I love writing personal essays. I rediscovered the joy of creating. I found myself developing new services, planning workshops, sketching ideas for resources, experimenting with recipes, and writing simply because I had something worth saying.
Perhaps most importantly, I began finding my own voice. Not just as an editor. Not just as a consultant.
But as Lia.
More Than a Business
For the longest time, I didn't really have a recognisable brand. People knew what I could do. They didn't necessarily know who I was. Those are two very different things:
Today, I'm still editing,
I'm still writing, and
I'm still helping clients communicate clearly and confidently.
But I'm also building something bigger than today's deadline. I'm building a website filled with essays that matter to me. I'm creating resources that continue helping people long after I've finished writing them. And I'm building a business that reflects my values, my personality, and the things I want to be remembered for.
The Lesson
Working hard has never been my problem. For years, I believed that working harder was the answer. Now I know that working harder simply kept me employed. Building a business means creating something that introduces you before you ever step into the room. It means creating something people remember long after they've closed their laptop.
It means asking yourself not only What do I do? but What do I want to be known for? That's the difference between working in your business and working on it. If there's one thing I've learnt after more than eleven years as a freelancer, it's this:
Never become so busy making a living that you forget to build the life—and the business—you actually want.
Ready to Build Something That Lasts?
Whether you're writing a dissertation, preparing an annual report, developing website content, or looking for a trusted writing partner to help bring your ideas to life, remember that the words you put into the world become part of your brand.
Invest in them.
If you'd like to see how I can help you communicate more clearly, tell your story more effectively, or strengthen your professional writing, I'd love to work with you.
Explore my services here: https://www.liamarus.com/services