When work feels like home: diary of a creative business owner

Designer, mentor and writer Sarah Robertson shares her experience of building a business that has become her sanctuary. She illustrates how she engages sense, space and story to breathe life into a creative practice that feels like home.

For many, work is considered a necessary burden, a means to an end. But what if we could transform this way of thinking? What if we could view our work as nurturing and uplifting? Renowned theorist Brian Sutton-Smith, who spent his lifetime exploring and researching the significance of play, once stated: ‘The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.’ I find this to be a powerful message because work is so often associated with negativity when, really, our jobs can bring a wealth of positivity into our lives.

Senses: the path to a you-shaped business

The journey to building a business that feels like home has layers. It took me a long while to see that it was possible to love my job, and for it to love me back, and that I could pursue a meaningful and purposeful calling that felt stimulating and rewarding. In their book, Creative Confidence, brothers David and Tom Kelley suggest that ‘passion doesn’t preclude effort, it requires it’, so this is less about the idea of never working a day in your life and more about finding a vocation that inspires you to take action.

To connect with what we do for a living, I believe it can help to tap into our sense of self, our likes and dislikes. In my studio, it's important for me to create a sense of comfort before I get down to supporting my clients and focusing on projects. This can look like making time for moments of stillness, and one of my cherished rituals involves making a soothing drink in a handcrafted mug, lighting a candle with a scent to complement my mood, and sometimes choosing a playlist depending on whether I'm writing, planning or designing.

There's an inexplicable charm in this practice that transcends the ordinary, morphing it into a sensory experience. A habit that, as simple as it may seem, is a profound act of self-care, serving as a gentle reminder of the importance of treasuring the tiny instances in life. I am telling myself that my work matters, that I matter.

Spaces: a caring environment for creativity

The spaces we inhabit play a pivotal role in shaping our experiences. A sterile office can stifle the creative spirit, while a studio that radiates warmth can catalyse innovation. A calm atmosphere always helps me shift into the right state of mind, and the smallest of touches can make a difference; a lamp casting a warm, inviting glow, a cosy blanket draped over my chair, or the vibrant green of indoor plants.

I consider my desk an “inspiration station”, a spot where I can fully embrace the pleasure of my client projects rather than regard them as a duty. After all, our jobs need not be the antithesis of fun! So I surround myself with my favourite crystals, stationery, and the books and tools that spark my curiosity and creativity. There's colour and texture, and it feels lively and playful.

Seemingly insignificant items can transform a mundane workspace into one that is reflective and supportive of us, and nurtures our individuality. And I wonder if it might be possible to fall into a deeper state of flow when our spaces are a true expression of our personalities.

Of course, stepping away from your place of work is also integral to creating a business that feels good, and finding a network to share in your successes and setbacks can foster a sense of belonging akin to the comfort of home. Whether you're in the company of others in a co-working area or savouring a coffee in the company of your local café, there's immense comfort and connection to be found in our communities.

Stories: crafting brands that feel like home

When your brand identity encapsulates your vision, values, and unique voice, weaving passion and purpose into your narrative, it builds a bridge. A link between you and your audience and a deeper relationship with yourself.

If I notice a feeling of disconnection in my design practice, I centre myself by revisiting my ‘why’. Reminding myself that collaborating with independent businesses to define their vision, craft beautiful visuals and discover their voice is at the heart of what I do, keeps me firmly rooted in a place of stability. This is where foundations can be found or made, and sparks of excitement and expansion can begin to grow. And it was this desire for groundedness that drove me to launch These Are The Days in 2020. Before this, I managed a design agency with my partner, and although we worked together successfully for many years and I enjoyed the challenge, the business was beginning to eclipse me. It felt unsustainable and required me to work increasingly harder and faster without nearly the same creative freedom I once enjoyed. What I longed for was a slower pace, a rhythm that supported my head and my heart, a business shaped around the contours of my life.

In his 2020 TED talk, Ethan Hawke articulated an idea that echoed with me. He said: ‘If you get close to what you love, then who you are is revealed to you, and it expands.’ What this makes me think about, and what I want to leave you with, is that home is love. It seems logical then that genuinely enjoying what we do is central to feeling fulfilled by our work. It's a process of curiosity and discovery, a journey that allows us to unfold into a safe space where we can fully express ourselves through what we do. And I can't think of a healthier narrative than that.

This piece was first published in Homecoming, heiter issue 2. Discover more stories and features that talk about “finding home” here.

How to make your small business marketing more like you

When I look back at how marketing felt in the early days of my business, I remember two things most vividly. I felt like I had to do a whole other job next to my business, next to the things I wanted to be doing—a job that I was not exactly equipped to do. And having to market my business felt like I had to put my own needs and desires aside. I told myself to push through and force myself to follow the rules the marketing gurus came up with.

Needless to say, that way of marketing didn’t really work for me. Even though I took courses, listened to podcasts and tried many different kinds of content and marketing plans, I could never stick with them. I felt burned out, uninspired, and frankly pretty gross too.

In this post, I’ll share how I shifted my marketing, and how you too can make your small business marketing more like you.

Since those early days, I’ve heard similar stories from other small business owners and creatives. Marketing feels like a necessary evil. It feels like playing a game that they don’t know the rules of. They feel like they need to throw their values out the window in order to keep up with the platforms and algorithms.

The change for me came in a moment of feeling thoroughly fed up. It was 2021, and I had just tried yet another marketing strategy that was supposed to help me grow my business in all the ‘right’ ways. I yet again felt overwhelmed, uninspired and resentful about having to share about my business (the business I loved!) this way.

What followed was a shift in my marketing in which I radically stopped doing the things I didn’t enjoy, and doubled down on the things I did. I looked at how I could incorporate more of my own strengths in my marketing. And I kicked the strict schedules to the curb, and landed on a spacious and sustainable frequency for the marketing I did.

I discovered three things that I’ve since shared with many of my clients and the participants in my gentle and effective marketing programme Grow.

#1 Choose the marketing platforms and channels that you’re most comfortable with

This is my permission slip for you to use only the marketing platforms and channels you enjoy. If it’s not working for you, your strengths and joys, you can either outsource it, or focus on other channels instead.

When I decided which channels and platforms to keep using and which ones to leave, I thought about where my strengths lie, and what gives me joy. But I also thought about whether a platform rewarded my presence, and thereby ‘forced’ me to spend a lot of time on it, whether it’s easy to discover my content, and how long the content lasts.

#2 Settle on a marketing schedule that works for you

One of the reasons that social media doesn’t work for me is that platforms like Instagram reward content creators for posting often and spending (a lot of) time on the platform. Although I’ve made some lovely connections through Instagram, having to post there multiple times a week put too much pressure on me.

I don’t do any marketing weekly—at least not live. My Pinterest pins are scheduled, and my newsletter goes out twice a month. For me, this is a schedule that works.

Many of the small business owners and creatives I speak to run their business next to a 9-to-5, a family, other care responsibilities or with a chronic illness. And they don’t have big marketing teams working for us.

The only way you will be able to keep up with your marketing and not burn out doing so, is to create a schedule that is sustainable for you. If looking at your schedule makes you feel pressured or overwhelmed, you need to decrease the frequency on something, or take it out completely.

#3 Lean into your creativity and authenticity

Once I started making my own rules for marketing my small business, I was surprised by how good marketing started to feel. Previously, I wasn’t even able to say the word ‘marketing’ without cringing. Now my marketing became a joyful and authentic way of sharing about my business.

Because I was now marketing using platforms and channels that drew on my strengths and joys, I did not only feel much more intentional, but also more confident. It became easier to share about my business, to come up with topics to write about in my newsletter, and connect with my audience through lovely resources.

And I’m saving so much time! Because marketing feels easier, it takes less time—and marketing has come to feel organic to my business rather than an additional job that I have to do.

Which of these strategies will you try first?

Grow is my 4-month hybrid group programme in which I support you to market intentionally and confidently, in a way that is all you. Grow is truly designed with your humanness in mind. Not only is the programme hybrid, creating a balance of accountability and working at your own pace, the marketing strategy I teach you is rooted in you, in your business, in your life.

Grow will run from 15 March to 15 July 2025, and is for sale from February 27th to March 14th. And, if you join the waitlist, you get a 10% discount during the early-bird window (24-26 February), and some of my favourite marketing bonuses. Find out more on the sales page, or send me a message with any questions you might have. I’d love to welcome you to the programme!

Astrid is a mentor for small businesses, supporting them to build a slower, gentler and more profitable business. She's on a mission to change how we feel, think and talk about business, and about kicking the hustle and productivity culture to the curb. Astrid supports small business owners and freelancers through 1:1 mentoring, courses, programmes and her writing.

Image by tobetold by Lena Kinast