What I Learned From Writing a Business Plan (Even Though My Creative Self was Screaming Inside)

Business

Jan 30

You don’t like being told what to do.

Nope. I absolutely do not. And unfortunately, it’s one of my biggest faults.

So if I am being completely honest, when I was advised to write up a new business plan for Dots & Dust, my whole body went tense.

Projections, timelines, decisions — none of it felt sacred or slow or creative. It felt stiff. Clinical. Absolutely against everything that I was so tired of seeing in the world. None of it would feel like watercolor bleeding into paper or words spilling out into a love letter.

Every creative part of me wanted to say, “This is not what I was made for.”

And yet, I wrote one anyway.

Not because I suddenly became a “business only” minded person. Not because I stopped believing in intuition or trust or rest. I wrote it because the season I am now in asked me to.

Resistance Isn’t Always a Sign to Stop

I used to think resistance meant I was on the wrong path.

But this time, resistance sounded more like fear wearing a familiar voice. Fear of being boxed in and losing my softness. Fear of turning something sacred into something transactional. Fear of letting someone control my life like I have unfortunately let a lot of people do to me in the past.

What I learned is that resistance does not always mean don’t do it. Sometimes it means this matters enough to scare you.

The creative part of me was not wrong to protest.

She was just trying to protect what she loves and her identity.

Structure Can Be an Act of Care

I went into the business plan thinking it would flatten my creativity.

Instead, it did the opposite.

Putting things on paper (offers, timelines, goals) did not make my work less soulful. It made it feel held. Like building a trellis for a climbing plant instead of asking it to grow in midair.

Structure, I learned, does not have to be harsh are super elaborate.
It can be gentle.
It can be flexible.
It can exist in service of creativity, not at its expense.

Clarity Brought Unexpected Peace

One of the biggest surprises was how much peace came from naming my dreams and putting boundaries on them.

I was able to see what I am actually offering this year, what can (and will) wait, and what is not mine to carry.

As the founder and owner of Dots & Dust, I have the final say what goes and what does not this year. And it felt good knowing that I could make those decisions and that my plan did not have to feel as stiff as the boring ones you find in those business books.

I could see that most of my overwhelm was from holding everything loosely in my head with no container.

The plan does not demand perfection.
It simply asked, “What is reasonable in this season?”

And answering that question and holding firm to it felt like exhaling.

Creativity Still Gets to Lead

Here’s the thing I was most afraid of: that once I planned, I would have to follow it rigidly.

But the truth is, creativity still gets to lead. Most importantly GOD GETS TO LEAD. This plan is to help alleviate the stress, but it is not set in stone.

Now, intuition and planning walk together.
Faith and practicality sit at the same table.
The plan gives me a path, not a prison.

I can adjust.
I can respond.
I can rest when needed.

The difference is that I’m no longer wandering without direction.