What it means to be a Joy-Led Business Owner: A mini-manifesto (and special invitation)
As Joy-Led business owners we're not here to ‘sell.’
We're here to create.
From our souls, from our hearts, from the unique essence of us. Imperfectly. Time and time again:
...Beautiful, transformative containers that deeply serve others.
...Curated pathways to these places, so that people can discern whether our work is for them at this time in their work/lives.
The act of sourcing, creating, sharing and leading/living all of this can and must make us feel more alive.
That is what people feel. That is what inspires us to keep going.
The act of creating, time and time again, inevitably grows our business and impact.
And it expands us. It brings what lives in the shadows, into the light (perfectionism, and other pulls to conform, in all the ways they exists within us, and around us).
Every time we move something from our journals into the world, our creative power – and our capacity to serve – expands.
Living this creative cycle points to what we could never know by just ‘thinking’ about our ideas.
By jumping into it, like a child into a muddy puddle, we are participating. And the universe smiles back when we participate.
Yes, she does.
We call in support – seen and unseen.
As we step in, FULLY, as the already-whole, resourceful, creative beings we are, we discover even more deeply what it is we are truly here for.
For we are each here for a reason, at this dark, tumultuous time in human history.
In one way or another, we are here to shine our light.
This mini-manifesto is the essence of the work I am here to do with mission-led business owners.
I know this after living this in my own business for more than a decade.
Not continually. I’ve taken pauses. I’ve taken divinely-guided, and sometimes mis-guided, detours.
I’ve not always lived it consciously. It's only in recent years I've begun to excavate, articulate and lead others through The Joy-Led way of doing business.
But I now know that every step (and misstep) was leading here.
This weekend, as I digested the experience of leading my latest creation (a 90-minute peep inside the world of Joy-Led Business Creation) I realised many things. One of them: the next steps I feel movedto take with regards to my upcoming group programme The Joy-Led Visibility Salon. It begins on the 5th February, with a back-up start date of the 12th.
The Salon is an eight-week, intimate, transformative container in which we live the creative cycle this work is rooted in, to create and lead a workshop or experience that feels like YOU.
One that acts as a glorious pathway into the world of your unique work. One that speaks to your ideal clients and collaborators, and that you'll love delivering again and again.
It might be a 90-minute miniature workshop over zoom, or a more expansive full-day retreat in the forest. Online or in-person. For your people. Free of charge, or accessibly priced, to help them feel you and understand what your work could make possible.
As the group forms – an inspiring group of women walking this Joy-Led path together – each woman will discover what her unique experience/workshop wants to be.
Here are the next steps, if you sense this is a place that might deeply serve you and your business:
... I am having conversations with the women who are interested in joining until 30th January. The link to book a call is here. This is so you can explore, with my support, any early thoughts you have on what workshop/experience you might like to create. And if you have no idea, that’s fine too. I have ways to support you excavate the possibilities.
In the summer, one woman who had a call with me, and decided not to join that cohort, was so delighted by the experience of our time together that she sent me a beautiful miniature rose bush as a gift. I feel inspired to tell you that in case any part of you is thinking ‘this is a sales call.' Like I said right at the top: Joy-Led business owners are not here to 'sell.'
...The full invitation is here. Reading it will help you know if The Salon could be a fit. If you are annoyed by the length of it, or it jars in any way, it's likely you and I are not a fit to work together.
I share this because crafting invitations into our work that evoke a hell yes, or a hell no, is part of the Joy-Led approach. Anything else is not a good use of our, or others', time and energy.
It is almost identical to the version that called in the women this worked served in the summer of 2025, with the outcomes they created added as case studies.
...If you decide to join, and The Salon does not go ahead this February (it may not go ahead if less than 4 women join), your name will go in a draw. If your name is chosen, you'll have the option of experiencing The Salon one-to-one with me, at the same level of investment as the group version, beginning this February.
This represents a more than 50% discount on the one-to-one format (the one-to-one version is currently on offer at £5500 + VAT.) I'm creating this prize draw because it's an idea that won't leave me alone. Every time I follow an idea that won't leave me alone, I never regret it. This too, is part of the Joy-Led way.
...If you decide to join The Salon, and it doesn't go ahead in February, and your name is not drawn from the hat, you will have the option of joining the next cohort at the price it is on offer now. This is likely to be in May/June. I expect that by then, it will be on offer at a higher level of investment. If it is on offer at the same price, I will gift you £100 (+ VAT if applicable).
This offer (of the price match, and the opportunity to 'win' a more than 50% discount on the one-to-one version of this container) is only available to my email subscribers. If you aren’t already subscribed, you can do so here.
Again, the two links you need: The invitation and the link to book in my diary.
You can also contact me via this page if you prefer to schedule the old-fashioned way.
With love, and in Joy-Led creative power,
Claire
P.S. This blog is an email I decided to let live here. The response it received confirmed this: our work tells us where it wants to go next, if we’re willing to listen. Treating our work as a living thing – and letting it expand accordingly – is another part of the Joy-Led way.
P.P.S. If you’d like to join my email subscribers, you can do so here.
Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash