How I Built a Business That Pays Me While I Sleep

I Was Drowning in Client Work Until I Built This

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

I thought I had made it when my calendar was full and my inbox was on fire.

Client calls are booked till next year.
Design work only I can do.
Money coming in.

Hustle mode: activated.

But behind the scenes? I was dead tired. No breaks. No boundaries. And definitely no backup plan.

I wasn’t running a business. I had built myself a job, with no off switch.

Here’s how I flipped the script and finally started building something that runs (and earns) without me glued to a screen.

I Was Fully Booked and Fully Burnt Out

The early days felt productive. I was saying yes to every project, juggling five clients at once, sending files while feeding my baby, and thinking I was doing great.

But every “yes” came with a cost.

No sleep. No space. No system.

I was trading time for money, pixel by pixel. And I was proud of it, until I realised I couldn’t step away for even one day without the whole thing falling apart.