DIARY OF A MAKER - Burned Out and Starting Over: My Honest Story of a Creative Business Reset

I dropped the ball with my online shop about nine months ago.

Why?

A mix of things:

• I was tired of trying without seeing any meaningful results
• I’d grown disenchanted with Instagram after its pivot to short-form video content — and honestly, I no longer enjoyed creating content for social media
• I was emotionally drained: J was living and working abroad, and my day job was demanding

During that time, I felt jaded, discouraged, and disappointed with how things had turned out with my business.

Then, about three months ago, I dropped the ball with my newsletter too. I reached a point where I didn’t feel I had anything valuable to share — and as a result, I just didn’t know what to write anymore.

After 11 years of running my business, I think I needed a proper break.

So, I took some time off from everything business-related.

I didn’t want to quit entirely — that felt like throwing away years of hard work — but I also knew I couldn’t keep going the way I had been. I didn’t have the time or energy for that, and I needed space to think.

During one of his visits to the UK, J and I talked about what the next version of my business could look like. That’s when I started forming a plan for Business 3.0.

The core idea?

Move away from physical products — which take up a lot of space, time, and effort to develop, store, and ship — and focus instead on digital products.

Business 3.0 is all about using my skills in illustration, product design, hand-lettering, and information organisation to create digital offerings — blog posts, tutorials, downloadable tools, and maybe even courses further down the line — that help people organise their lives beautifully.

But even after landing on this idea, I hesitated.

I wasn’t sure if I liked the new direction enough to put in the time and effort. If I’m honest, I was mostly scared of failing again. Of pouring myself into something that might go nowhere.

Then J finally came back after a year and three months away.

During one of our chats, he gently pointed out my lack of progress, and I explained it like this:

“I’m afraid of being heartbroken again.”

That was it. That was the truth.

Even though I’ve learned a lot from my previous two business failures (and seasoned entrepreneurs will tell you that’s the best way to think about failure: as lessons), those experiences still hurt. A lot. They left me heartbroken and unsure whether I was ready to enter a new “business relationship.”

So although I had a plan, not much happened for a while.

Then one day, J shared a YouTube video from a creator I’d never heard of before, and mentioned he’d also bought his book. I watched the video and liked it enough to go on and read the book, thinking: Why not? Maybe it’ll spark something.

The creator was Dan Koe, and the book was The Art of Focus.

Sure enough, something started to shift.

A little spark came back.

My energy slowly began to return.

I suspect J’s return has something to do with it too.

Now, I’m standing at the edge again — about to take that leap of faith and start a new business journey, while my day job provides the security (and peace of mind) of a steady paycheck.

And even though I’ve done it before, I still feel nervous. Uncertain. Worried I might not “do it right.”

But they say: Be scared and do it anyway, right?

Wish me luck — or better yet, wish me discipline and consistency.