Before we keep going, a little about me.
I briefly mentioned this earlier, but I've spent my whole dang twenties hustling for my career, for my business. Didn't dream of a wedding, the house, the kids, just the career. And business wasn't something I fell into. I was, like, born into it.
Backstory: My grandparents owned a 10-acre tropical plant farm – my dad bought it when I was born to support our family. I could name every plant variety and species by the time I was 3. I've potted and repotted more fiddles than your lil' heart can even imagine. I'd be at the kitchen table at 5:30 am with my dad going over “the books” by high school. We'd sip coffee and chat about what we made at the farm this month compared to what we did a year before. Shocked at his constant success and profitability, I'd ask him how he did it. He'd always tell me, “There's no such thing as luck. Luck is when opportunity meets ambition.” (He has lots of wise sayings, we call them “Troy-isms”.) I fell in love with that idea and business.
And, I still love that idea and business. However, I overcomplicated the crap out of it, which brings us back to:
Jess: "I was praying for for you the other day and God said, “okay but HypeGal is gonna be over soon”.
PART 2: A WEEK OF ANXIETY. A WEEK OF APATHY.
Excuse me, what? As I imagine a decade worth of my life's dreams and work being flushed down the drain – not to mention my pride. And, hey, I know I rarely talk about my faith in emails, and if you're not a believer, I get it, but I am, whole-heartedly, which is why the next part is so important.
God OFTEN delivers big messages to me through people I love, love Him, love me, and that I trust without question.
So, I leaned in. Read the text a few more times. Told Jess she misheard God. And lived in denial for a week or so. Naturally.
But, nah. He was speaking to me, too, lol. So, I decided to err on the side of, “Okay, what if she did hear correctly based on this discomfort and angst I'm also feeling?”, and took a leap of faith to create as much space as I could for clarity. To hear Him. To be uncomfortably obedient if it came down to it. Blehhh.
AKA I detoxed from ALL social media and marketing-style activities for 30 days instead of using it as a way to “numb out”, distract myself, or outwork what God was trying to do in my life.
But getting off of social media and letting go of marketing myself wasn't the hard part.
It was the week of anxiety, trying to figure out my own solution to this problem, applying for jobs “just in case”, followed by a week of apathy and depression.
You see, I have this control issue with my life. So, if God tells me my business aka my income aka my hopes and dreams is ending, well then I have to spend all my time fixing that, right? Wrong, Karsen, you were wrongeth.
But there was grace for that because I have truly never felt more out of control of my life, my goals, my future, or my income than those few weeks. I know there are much bigger issues in life, but shoot dang, I did not realize how much of my identity, worth, and soul was tied to being a business owner.
PART 3: PEACE + A GOOD DAD.
So, during these last 30 days, if a worrisome thought about what God spoke sent me into a panic, I decided to pull a Philippians 4:6-7:
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
Long story short: I did a lot of “thank you for…”, “but please, Lord…”.
Now, I'm really not going to give you a Bible lesson on the goodness of God, but man, He is. He's not mean. Or rude. He's not the author of confusion or misery. He wants good things for you, for us, for our lives.
BUT. He's also a GOOD FATHER. Which means, when His kids are overcomplicating the living heck out of something He's created to be good and peace-filled for them (aka when they've made an idol of their business, have added unnecessary elements to it bc they've bought the world's lie that what He's given them to steward isn't “good enough” and they need to add more courses, coaching, and keep up with how the social media Joneses are scaling their brands, and have neglected their marriage and home in an effort to do so), He course corrects. Imagine that.
Not me speaking from experience or anything. But, the more I surrendered to this possible truth of my business ending, and the more I trusted that He'd never take something away to harm me, and the more I chose to believe that He's good even when it doesn't make sense -- the more peace that followed.
ALSO. During this time, I'm working on client projects, mind you, because I'm booked out for a few months, which was also super confusing. My business is … pretty successful in the world's eyes. But…it's ending? CoOl. Love that for me.
So, I'm chugging away at my client copy work, and suddenly, I'm loving it more than ever. The thing that “wasn't good enough”. The part of my business I thought I was “so beyond” doing because no one is doing 1:1 work anymore because it limits you. It's all about the passive income. Having more. Doing more. Adding more, duh.
And here I am, now…
Loving the clients I'm working with.
The projects I'm doing.
Getting THE BEST FEEDBACK from my clients.
They're wildly happy with me. Hardly any changes.
Inquiries are flowing in. I'm booking new clients pretty consistently during this time.
I even got my work week process down to 20 hours. Fridays off, too!
So, I'm like… kinda confused but one thousand percent peaceful still. My thoughts look like, “Okay, God, let's review. HypeGal is ending, apparently, and I've accept that. But, I freaking love my client work now, and I'm sorry I took it for granted! I'm getting new inquiries. Dreamy clients. Not stressed. 20 hour weeks. I'm spending time with my husband. My house is clean, bro. Can I keep this orrrr?”
PART 4: ADIOS TO HYPEGAL THE BRAND.
So, I straight up asked Him. I was like, “What do you mean by ”HypeGal is gonna be over soon?". And that's when I felt certain as ever that it's not the thing I'm called to build anymore. And, it made so much sense, because I truly didn't want to, I kind of just felt like I had to, to keep up with the way online business works.
The courses I wanted to add to it? Nope.
(I'm wrapping up Email Marketing 101 with my amazing BETA students rn, but don't know if I'll live launch it, tbh.)
The coaching I thought I needed in order to scale? Mmm, no.
Memberships or anything else of that matter. NOoOoO.
AND LISTEN. This is my story, my journey of obedience. If you feel passionate about adding offers and elements to your biz that you feel incredibly aligned with – HECK YAH DO IT.
But, as for me – I'm nothing if not obedient to what God's inviting me into no matter how pride-shattering, weird, uncomfy, or odd it may be to the world or to myself. Even saying that scares me because like… I want to remain comfortable, you know?
PART 5: WHAT'S NEXT?
I'm going to keep on keeping on with my 1:1 copy work because it's the part of my business I feel aligned and obedient with unless He says otherwise. And, I'm really pumped about it. It's where the peace is, I'm really freaking good at it, and I've refined my process. Let's gOoOo.
Everything else? I'm laying down. ‘HypeGal’ the brand included. It just felt right. Now, I'm what I thought I'd never be, lol, “Karsen Murray”, … the personal brand? The gal? Who knows. It'll all work itself out.
So, honestly, nothing alarming is changing on your end in re: me and what I have to offer you. But, I thought it'd be cool to share this story just in case there's anyone else out there reading this who also has found themselves in a similar situation of discomfort and angst in biz.
Maybe all you need to do is get really honest with yourself.
Ask yourself WHY you're adding those offers to your biz?
Why you do you want to make that amount of money?
What does success and freedom really look like to you outside of business?
Wanna know a secret? I'll “only” make $60,000 a year with the business model God has for me. AND THAT'S IF I hit my goal of taking on 2 clients a month for a year. I won't be the 6-figure success the online business world wants me to strive for.
But success to me doesn't look like an extra zero. I never cared about it in the first place before someone told me I should. Success to me looks like peace, obedience, time freedom, mental freedom, more evenings with my husband than my laptop, hobbies, long weekends. And sure, you can still have all that and the extra moolah, but sometimes (maybe) you won't. And, if so, can you be okay with that?
We've gotta stop letting other people define what's best for us. Stop letting them tell us what our businesses should look like. How much money we should strive for. Especially as Christians. Deal?
I'm just the gal who got caught up in dreaming with the world instead of with God, and I'm SO SO SO thankful that even as painful as course correction and transition is, He re-routed me.
I hope and pray nothing but peace and success for you and over you, my friend, I truly do. Thanks for the read.
Let me know if you have any q's! I'll continue to keep you updated.
All the love,
