Episode 189 - How I Run A Successful Business With Chronic Illness
What happens when you are ambitious, capable and building a successful business, but your body has limits you cannot simply mindset your way out of? In this episode, Clara shares the physical realities she is currently navigating, including POTS and chronic pain from an old spinal injury, and how those experiences have changed the way she works and runs her business.
This conversation explores what it means to build a business around your actual capacity rather than constantly fighting against it. Instead of forcing herself into a business model that requires more energy than her body can sustainably give, Clara shares why she has intentionally created structures, systems and ways of working that allow the business to continue succeeding while respecting what her body needs.
This is not a conversation about lowering your ambition or expecting less from yourself. It is about questioning the belief that success has to require self-sacrifice. For women business owners navigating limited capacity, changing energy levels or simply wanting a more sustainable relationship with work, this episode offers a different perspective on what a successful business can look like when it is designed to support the person running it.
Tune in to hear:
What running a successful business with chronic illness and limited capacity actually looks like.
How POTS and chronic pain have changed the way Clara works.
Why Clara built her business around her body instead of continually fighting against it.
How to rethink business success without equating ambition with constant output.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
Why limited capacity does not automatically mean limited ambition.
How your business model can either support your wellbeing or continually work against it.
Why forcing yourself to operate like someone with completely different capacity can make business unnecessarily difficult.
How systems, structure and intentional business design can reduce the amount you personally have to carry.
Why sustainable success can mean building around your reality rather than continually asking yourself to override it.
Themes & Time Stamps:
0:00 – Running a business with chronic illness & low capacity
0:49 – Being autistic: "generator with projector energy"
1:56 – Living with POTS, Irlen syndrome & a spinal injury
3:18 – What POTS actually feels like day to day
5:16 – Why flare-ups are unpredictable for business owners
5:47 – Current POTS flare-up (triggered by a flight)
7:20 – Step 1: Building more breaks into your business
9:11 – Step 2: Clearing your plate of non-essential tasks
10:32 – The podcast recording disaster story
11:20 – Step 3: Working from the couch when you're unwell
12:26 – Businesses don't run themselves — accepting reality
13:21 – Step 4: Building 13 months of financial runway
15:59 – Final thoughts for chronically ill entrepreneurs
Resources:
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Other Resources:
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