Build A $1Million Online Business Without Hustle Culture! With Noor Barrage

Sophie

Be honest with me. How many times have you seen someone on social media brag about surviving on 3 or 4 hours sleep? Working every hour of every single day and acting like that. That is something to aspire to. And how many times have you thought, even for a second, that maybe you should be doing the same? Yep, I've been that too.

Sophie

I have lived that, and it took fanning out multiple times and dating with autoimmune responses that I'm still navigating today. To realize that that narrative around hustle culture is not just toxic. It is genuinely dangerous. Welcome back to another episode of the Free to Method podcast. My name is Sophie Baker stuff. I'm your host and today's episode is one that I think you need to hear, especially if you're building a business and wondering why the hustle culture approach isn't working for you, or worse, why it's working on paper but making you feel absolutely terrible.

Sophie

My guest today is Knorr-Bremse, and you might know her from LinkedIn, where she's though a community of over 21,000 people in just 13 months. She's known as the systems Guy, which is a self-proclaimed title and honestly, perfectly fitting and no spent years scaling companies to seven figures, working her way from sales rep to CEO to partner, and going through her own cycles of burnout in the process.

Sophie

Now she how CEOs and entrepreneurs build businesses that actually feel good, built on the right structures and systems so you can have a life outside your work without sacrificing the results. And this conversation, honestly, was on such a level like it went on for so much longer than we planned to record. Slow because we have exactly the same values in this conversation.

Sophie

We went so deep on why so many of us end up burned out before we even question whether there's another way of working, and the reality behind the shiny highlights reel that you see from big creators online. Then we look at how to actually build a sustainable and scalable business without killing yourself in the process. And we talk about systems not in this scary corporate restrict your creativity kind of way, but in a way that's like, how do you actually get your time back to do some of the things that you love doing?

Sophie

Because not all of us want to be working 24 seven every single day. Now, before we dive in, I do just want to mention something because you are listening to this and thinking, okay, but how do I actually start building a business that gives me freedom because you're worried about burning out? You don't want to hustle culture. I'm running another edition of my Freedom Business Bootcamp.

Sophie

I ran this very recently, and honestly, the first one was incredible. We had so many amazing people turn up and realize that they'd actually never actually ask themselves what they want in their life. Now, in this session, we're going to do a visualization exercise that is going to help you identify what do you want your ideal freedom life to look like.

Sophie

And then we're going to map how your freedom fast business idea and the offer that you're going to power of the world to make sure that it fits the dream lifestyle that you want to create. Because why on earth would you build a business that doesn't align with the lifestyle that you actually want to be living? We delve into so much more detail on how to actually go about creating that in this episode, but if you want to learn how to put that into practical action, stats, come and join.

Sophie

The bootcamp is completely free and it is the starting point. That is basically what this episode is all about. The link to come and get your thoughts is in the show notes, so make sure you grab your space. So let's get into this episode. I'm really, really excited and energized by this recording today because really, men know I have so much in common and we are on a mission, both of us, to change the narrative around hustle culture and what it means to actually work hard to achieve our own visions of success.

Sophie

So let's jump into it, I know. Welcome to the Freedom Method podcast. How are you?

Noor Barrage

I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. How are you?

Sophie

I'm good. Thank you. And you are welcome. It's nice to chat to you. And I want to jump straight in and ask a big question, because I've seen that on LinkedIn you are known as the systems go. And I want to understand where did you get this name.

Noor Barrage

Noor Barrage

And I was doing some research and I was looking at people in the space, and I came across someone who had called himself the systems Guy, and I thought, oh, that's that's really, really cool. And I had kind of looked at some of the content, resonated with pieces of it. I started looking around for like a systems woman or a systems girl or, I don't know, the female version of that.

Noor Barrage

And I couldn't find one. And I thought, oh, like, this is this is really, really cool. It's it's very simple. It I, you know, I think it's part of my, brand as what I am like, female and I mainly work with, with other women as well. And then I thought, okay, that could be like an interesting thing.

Noor Barrage

And I knew that if I, if it didn't hit or, you know, if I eventually changed my mind, I could just remove that. But I pop that into like the first thing, it's the first thing that I had written as my headline on LinkedIn. And then it kind of stuck. And then people now, like, I guess, know me as far and I've had people who don't know my name but will call me like the systems gal.

Noor Barrage

And I'm like, okay, like, that's that's pretty cool. And I yeah, I think it's a nice way to just highlight and indicate, you know, what I talk about and like what I stand for and stuff. Persistence is such a it's such a broad term and it does, it embodies so much. So, yeah, I still I still like it.

Noor Barrage

And I don't think I have plans to, to change anytime soon.

Sophie

I love it, and I love a self-proclaimed name. This the best. And you said, you said something there that it really encapsulates kind of what you stand for. So I'd love to hear kind of more about you, what you do and what you do stand for.

Noor Barrage

Yeah. So I have been in the business world for, 6 or 7 years now, and in that time I have had a few ventures myself. But I the bulk of that time I spent building a company, so I started as a sales rep and then kind of worked my way up quite quickly to, managing and leading the sales team and then eventually fell into operations and, CEO of the company.

Noor Barrage

And then I became a partner and in that time, I felt a lot of, I felt a lot of pressures from the online business world as to how I needed to operate, how I needed to show up. What? Being someone pretty high up in a business, meant what it looked like, what success looked like. And I tried for a really long time to kind of fit into that little mold of what I should be, who I should be.

Noor Barrage

And it didn't work. To make a long story short, I went through a few cycles of burnout, and I just, I just wasn't very happy. And I think it wasn't something that at the time, I had the language to, to articulate how I was feeling, why I was feeling that way. And, eventually I, I decided to leave that business, because I realized through a few very unique people in the online business space and kind of looking at them and interacting with them, that it didn't actually have to be this way.

Noor Barrage

And I guess the beauty about being in business and entrepreneurship in general is that you get to define what that looks like for you. But I think so many people don't know that or don't feel like they can, but like myself, feel like they have to fit into this little tiny mold. So, what I guess stand for now and what I talk about now online, is very untie that mold.

Noor Barrage

So I'm very anti hustle culture. I think that we can build businesses, we can build personal brands. We can build movements in community without sacrificing ourself in the process. And I think that the majority of us as humans are not two dimensional beings. There is so much to us outside of business. And I think there's this notion that if you are serious about being an entrepreneur and building something that is bigger than yourself, then that is it.

Noor Barrage

You can't do anything else or you shouldn't, because if you do, it means that you're less serious about what it is you're trying to build. And that was something that I found really, really difficult and I really grappled with for a really long time because I have a degree in literature and philosophy. I'm not reading. I love the theater.

Noor Barrage

I recently have fallen into doing ballet. Like there's so much more that I am excited by aside from business. But that doesn't mean that I don't love what I do, and I'm not passionate about what I do. So essentially what I do now is I help people, build with intention. Systems are really at the crux of how I do that.

Noor Barrage

So I believe that if you have the right structures and systems supporting you and the people around you, if you work with people, even if that's assistance or, you know, agencies, third party, third parties, if you have those things in place, you actually can build a much more freedom than what we are traditionally told in what we see online, which is just hustle, like hustle, just make it happen.

Noor Barrage

And all of these, like really weird, obscure things that we're told. And that's essentially the work that I, that I've been doing for, a year and a half now.

Sophie

Amazing. I love that because I feel like we're on a very similar, mission to change the way that people think they act in their business, because exactly what you just said. It doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to get to the point of burnout. And I know that both of us have gone through, our own versions of burnout, our own passions of like succumbing to that hustle culture narrative that is so prominent online.

Sophie

And quite honestly, it's dangerous. It's scary. It's really it's really toxic. And unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize that until they've had to go through the burnout and go through all of the challenges that come with wearing yourself down so much from trying to live up to somebody else's version of success. Do all of the things that you think you should be doing, and it gets to a point for many people where they have to burnout to learn that lesson.

Sophie

And one thing that I think both of us are trying to do is like, share that. It doesn't literally doesn't have to be that way. You could build with intention, learn from your mistakes if you like going through those burnout. So maybe they're not even mistakes. It's all just a lesson, right? But it's for me personally, it's had a massive detrimental impact on my health, of going through these burnout cycles.

Sophie

I had multiple burnout, and I really just want to spread that awareness because I think I hate nothing more than when I jump onto LinkedIn and someone is bragging about the fact that they are having, four hours sleep, that they are working all hours of the day. They probably don't have any systems in place to support them because that's why they're having to work in that way.

Sophie

But they're trying to show that that success, that's what it should be to be an entrepreneur. And I think that that's narrative is super, super damaging. Yeah. And it it scares me, honestly, that so many people are promoting that as like a normal way to run a business when. Yeah, as you say, it does not have to be that way.

Noor Barrage

Yeah, it is, it is I think, scary is the right feeling. It is really scary because a lot of these people have really large audiences. I don't have a massive I don't have hundreds of thousands of people in my ecosystem, but I have a few. And I feel a tremendous responsibility. To, I don't want to say exposed because that sounds a little bit aggressive, but, to be really, really honest, and with the work that I have done as well, the company that I was at for for four and a half years, they were a coaching company that helped, people grow online using social media.

Noor Barrage

And because of that, I have been behind the scenes of some of some pretty, pretty big creator like businesses. And what we see online is X amount of revenue hit in whatever amount of time. And we see growth and we see all of these opportunities, speaking engagements, we see. On being flown out by Adobe or whatever it is.

Noor Barrage

What we don't see is the conversations that I've had behind the scenes with these people where they are exhausted, where they have all these health issues as well, and they're like constantly getting bloodwork because they can't figure out what's wrong. And they are sleeping three, four hours a night and they don't show up like they want to show up internally for their team because they're really reactive and they're running on no sleep and they're exhausted.

Noor Barrage

And unfortunately, none of that is showcased online. And no one really talks about that. And we talk about the wins. We see all the highlights. But we don't see what's really happening behind the scenes. And I think if more people saw the behind the scenes stuff, we would be having more conversations of is that person is that success?

Noor Barrage

Is that is that really how we're measuring success or revenue, or is it your health? Your central nervous system is not completely obliterated. You are happy. You have time for relationships and time to invest in relationships and functioning, high functioning relationships. You show up in a way that you're proud for your team. You know, like we don't really fixate on those things we fixate on like the ten K months, the 50 K months, and all of this stuff, that we fail to, to kind of pull back the veil.

Noor Barrage

And I think that's something I'm really passionate about as well, is just being really, really honest with what's actually happening behind the scenes. And it, I think that's something that really frustrates me about the LinkedIn online space is, most people aren't showcasing the low points and there are a lot of low points. And usually, when we see those like highlight reels, there's a lot of low points that came before and during the highlight reel.

Noor Barrage

But like us, no one's talking about that stuff. And so all we see is I slept three hours and then I hit this revenue month, I hit this new, you know, milestone. And then when when you see that in your brain, your brain goes, okay, so in order to be successful and hit that milestone, I then have to sacrifice sleep, sacrifice loved ones, sacrifice myself, my health, you know, etc. and it's just not the case at all.

Sophie

You know, even as you're talking about, my whole body is.

Noor Barrage

Just having like a visceral reaction.

Sophie

When I put.

Sophie

It, it tends not because I been like, and I am still living with the health stuff, like I have so many, the only way I can describe it without going into the detail is, is auto immune response in my body from like from having so many years of chronic stress, so many years of, living in hustle culture.

Sophie

And that's not just in the entrepreneurship world. This was also my 9 to 5 hours. I worked in a environment that was a lot of pressure and, for no reason, for no reason with buying what I was buying clothes like is so stupid. When I think of how much strain I put on my body for the fact that I was literally just buying buying products, that people then go and buy themselves, that hundreds and thousands of pounds like it makes no sense to me anymore.

Sophie

In hindsight. But it's, it's it's really damaging. Like when you have kids, I don't think when educated enough. One of the problems is that I don't think we're educated enough around our nervous system and the impact that that actually has on our health and like the mind body connection. And there's a massive, misunderstanding around that narrative as a baseline in general.

Sophie

Because we're not educated on that. We don't understand the impact that stress has on our body and not we can maybe understand it from like a really surface level. But when you live in a state of chronic stress, it puts so much strain on every part of your body, and your body eventually says no. Your body eventually is like cut off, like you really.

Sophie

And you walk down. This is too much and it will hard stop you. And that has happened to me multiple times in my cycle in the past, like six years, that I have been running my own business. Because I did, I didn't understand that the success is actually the journey and enjoying the process and trying to, see what you can offer somebody else rather than what you can get for yourself.

Sophie

And it's taken me away. It took me a really long time to come to that realization. And so many times that I, I kept being like, sidetracking, even though that might not have been what I wanted to do. I saw it on online because someone else was doing something. I was like, I should do it like that. Or maybe that's why I haven't had the success yet.

Sophie

Or maybe that's why this x, y, z isn't working. Maybe I should try this. And then I was kind of like. I always describe it as trying to force a square peg into a round hole, and it just doesn't work, like when you were trying to force a strategy on yourself that doesn't align with your energy, your capacity, or even not what you want to do.

Sophie

It's that there's a very small chance that it's going to be successful for you. And even if it is successful for you on paper with like the financial reward or whatever you deem to be successful, it's going to have enough unpaid. It's because you've forced, like you've tried to force yourself into a position that you shouldn't really be in.

Sophie

And for me personally, that's had like a really detrimental impact on my health that I'm still dealing with. Like when you were mentioning going for the blood tests and things like that, trying to figure out what's wrong, still going through those processes now. And I've been dealing with this for probably, well, a long time, honestly, I've been dealing with this and there's still no real life conclusion as to what's actually wrong, because it's just my body's reacting to quite clearly, pressure that I've put on it.

Sophie

And I'm not even consciously stressed right now. This is just a build up from many, many, many years of allowing myself to stay in a constant stress state and this is, again, yet what I'm so passionate about talking about this as well, because I don't want someone else to go through what I'm going through. Honestly, it's not fun.

Sophie

It's actually quite debilitating that sometimes I wake up and I'm like, I can't even function because my body isn't working properly, so it's no fun. I don't wish this on anybody else, and I really would love for more people like us to spread this narrative and start talking about like, the reality is, even if it's not your reality right now, like the things that you've learned in hindsight, for example, which is generally what I tend to share online because, yeah, through right now, sometimes I don't even understand.

Sophie

So it is. Yeah. It's a, it's a, I guess it's, it's a process, but like, why do you think so many people let it get to the point of burnout before they realize that this isn't actually a sustainable way to operate?

Sophie

Yeah.

Noor Barrage

That's such a good question. And one that I'm I think hindsight is a really funny thing because, like yourself, like I was in that state for so long and I don't think I really understood that there was a different way because I didn't see that modeled and say something that I've been actively trying to do for, like my past self mainly, is to model that.

Noor Barrage

And it's really hard because you're essentially unlearning like decades of, what we've been taught, which is it's normal to work to the point of exhaustion. If you want to. Like, I'm a very Type-A person, like, innately, I, I consider myself like a high achiever. I like, get a lot of satisfaction from, like, doing things and achieving things.

Noor Barrage

And for someone like myself, I think my issue and I can only speak to my experience and I guess everyone else, everyone is, is different and has their own ways of of going through this. But I think I if my issue was that I was going through this weird time where I was, I was killing myself, working towards a goal that wasn't even mine.

Noor Barrage

So I was like, I really love business and I think I'm good at it. And in order to be successful.

Sophie

And.

Noor Barrage

Here are the things, you know abstractly that like I should do and here's what my life should look like because I was surrounded by other people who are like a little bit farther ahead than me, and they all looked like they all met those criteria. So I was like, okay, so it's it's kind of normal to like, really be stressed, like chronic stress all the time.

Noor Barrage

It's normal to like, be working nonstop, to be available nonstop to on weekends, be like on my phone, constantly replying to slack messages. It's normal to, like, get together with people that I've met in the online space, but only for the purpose of like, networking. Like, I can't I can't meet up with people if that isn't like an agenda of like, I can get something from you and you can get something from me.

Noor Barrage

All of these things were like normal, you know, revenue was like a big, a big one because we did, like, business coaching, consulting. So I have to be achieving X amount like every single month. And like, I have to be growing like, I can't just that can't just be my, like, norm. Like I have to always be moving past that.

Noor Barrage

And then it got to a point where I was like out like on the outside. I'm smashing it. Like everyone's telling me that I'm doing so well and I'm going places and I'm getting a lot of positive feedback. But I didn't feel good and I was like, I it was a lot of therapy, I'll be honest. And a lot of like inward work where I was like, what is it that I actually want?

Noor Barrage

Like, forget what other people are telling me I should do and how other people are telling me I should live my life. Like, what is it that I actually want? Like what is going to make me happy? And I was like, I don't think I want to work all the time, which is such a like weird thing to say because like, if we're being honest with ourselves, like really, really, really honest.

Noor Barrage

And I think this is the issue. It's a lot of people aren't that. Yeah, a lot of people are not there and will not be honest with themselves because it's so ingrained in us. And like sometimes I still feel like a tiny semblance of like shame for being fat, for saying online to how many, you know, thousands of people see that.

Noor Barrage

But I actually don't want to be working all the time. And I also don't want to talk about business all the time. And there's still something embedded like deep in my psyche that's like, but people aren't going to take you seriously. And I have to go back and like, pull myself out and go, no, you're trying to model an intentional way of like living and working, and that means that you have to be honest.

Noor Barrage

And the truth is, I don't want to work all the time. Like I have a lot of interests outside of business. Yes, I do love what I do and I'm good at it, but I don't want to do it all the time like I my partner is not in the business world. I don't want to talk to him about business all the time.

Noor Barrage

Noor Barrage

Well, I was like aggressively trying to, make myself read more business and personal development books because everyone in my space was like, you should read this book, that you should read this book. And I was like, I just want to read like archetypal like like I just want to read like fantasy and like contemporary fiction. Like, I don't want to be reading business or personal development all the time.

Noor Barrage

But I thought people would be like, oh, so weird. And I'm like, I don't care. So I think, I think the first step is like the answer your question. I think people get stuck in this. People fall into this because I don't think that we are taught to ask ourself that question and be completely honest with ourselves.

Noor Barrage

The question is like, what do you want your life to look like? How do you want your life to feel? And so many of us, go from school to university or school to work, and we don't have time. We don't have, like, space to really sit with that question. And I think most people just want a happy, peaceful and slower life.

Noor Barrage

But we're taught that that's lazy, that that's not okay, that that's weird. And so there's this element of like shame with maybe going, I don't want to make 100 grand a month because what I, what I would have to give up to get there is not worth it to me. Like my health, my relationships, my time, my sanity, my sleep.

Noor Barrage

I'm not willing to forgo those things, even for a short period of time to to get to some arbitrary number. I would rather support myself, save, you know, work five hours a day, you know, with people that I really like and respect and not have to speak to the crazies and chill with my partner and go to the theater and take a ballet class and cuddle my dog.

Noor Barrage

Like that, to me, is a good life. I don't want to be jetting to New York to give a talk and then sleeping one hour on a redeye and then coming back to London and then working 12 hours and then doing this thing and meeting this like that to me does not sound good at all. So I think that's why, and that's why I always encourage people like when, when other people do, cause with me, when I do, like advisory or consulting, the first thing I ask them is like, what is it that you what is it that you want?

Noor Barrage

What's your goal and how does that look and how does that feel? And that like, like.

Sophie

Yeah, it's a weird question. And then think about it.

Noor Barrage

You know, and they're like, well, you know, we made this amount. I'm like, no, no, I'm not asking about numbers. And I'm asking you what you want your life to look like. What does it feel like? Does it feel, you know, high cortisol stress like it's like paint that picture for me. And they're like, what the hell? Like, this is meant to be a business.

Noor Barrage

Like, cool. Like, why are you asking me this? But that from that, we extract everything else. But it's something that a lot of people don't ask themselves and don't really sit with. And, and sometimes it's really hard to be completely honest. And, like, we don't, we don't know. And if you had asked me maybe like two, three years ago, what's the answer to that question?

Noor Barrage

I probably I wasn't being honest with myself, but I didn't know at the time I would have told you something completely different. Like, yeah, it's speaking engagements and like, just like, you know, working a lot and like walking on the beach. I'm like, if I'm on the beach, I don't want to be walking like, when did we normalize this?

Noor Barrage

Like, you know, you're replying to slack messages on the beach. It's like, no, I want to be reading my book. Like, I don't want to be talking to you if I'm on the beach. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know what you think about that. And like, from your experience, why you feel, there are so many people that I guess are stuck in that, like, burnout cycle.

Sophie

I agree with everything you've said, and I also don't want to work every hour of every day. I live on an island. I want to go to the beach with my book. And I think, I think there's two things. I think one is like a lack of awareness around, that that's even like, is that even something that you're allowed to do?

Sophie

Do you know, like, are you even allowed to ask yourself what you want? Because we I think we're, we're roughly the same as I'm 34. You just mentioned you're in your early 30s this while so I think like the generation before us never really had those choices. Right. Like, I think we grew up in, in the millennium millennial yet millennial.

Sophie

Yeah. And we've got a lot of choice. And I think the generation before us didn't have the same choices that we had, unfortunately. And I think a lot of it is like a generational thing where we've been conditioned by the people in the generation above us. So to feel like we have to live a certain way. And this is how it is and this is this is society's expectations.

Sophie

This is the box that we put in because they lived that way, and that was the box that they were in. It wasn't the opportunities that there are today. And I think that carries through, and that if you then the second point is if you thought then expanded into something else that's possible for you, how on earth is meant to know, you know, like it's it's no one's fault if you don't know what you don't know at the end of the day.

Sophie

So it's I think, one, because people think that that's the only way to be because that's all they've been modeled and that's all they've been shown. And to him, they're not seeing it. They don't even know where to look for it. They don't even know that. That's a question that they can ask. And I think like for me personally, I didn't even know, like, let's hop in and I'm out now for five years and I, I've lived all over the world and like, I would not have known that was possible for myself, I don't know.

Sophie

Sophie

I have always been someone that thinks bigger than like the average person, I would say. And like I've never. I was a bit of a rebel child where it was just like I said no to everything was I. I'm not following the rules kind of nature. So I've always had that kind of part of in me that would suggest that I was going to go and live a slightly abnormal lifestyle.

Sophie

But did I know what that looked like? No, not until I was expanded into it. So even going going through my own, burnout cycle, it was I built my business when I lived in London through Covid, and I built my business based on hustle culture, because that was all I really knew. And at the time, everybody else is building businesses from their homes.

Sophie

Sophie

And that just didn't. It didn't work, obviously. Like, like slowed my pace of life down. I now want to go and explore the beaches, the temples. I want to go meet new people and go and eat all the nice food. But I can't do that if I'm hustling. So I think sometimes, again, if you if you don't, you don't know what you don't know, right?

Sophie

So like I didn't know that that was what building a business was going to look like in Bali. So until I expanded into that, it's like, okay, that's what it looks like. And I think that's why it's so important to have these conversations like even just seeing one of our posts on LinkedIn talking about this subject or even listening to this podcast that's an expansion and said, oh, like I've always wondered why I like this, this hustle vibe or like work.

Sophie

And I didn't feel good for me. Maybe I need to explore this. And I actually hosted a masterclass. So my method that I teach is very similar to what you just described in the sense of like, what do you want? What do you want your life to look like? And then let's work from that. And then I hosted a masterclass literally last night where I taught that method to people that were just starting that business.

Sophie

Pretty much every single one of them was like, I've never even thought about, like, the freedom I want. And I've never. And then I did, like a little visualization exercise with them to help them, like, step into, like, what could that look like for? And every single one of them described like, like peace, tranquility, you know, like feeling of calm kind of thing as the goal that they wanted.

Sophie

But yet they were building a business. They were trying to build a business that maybe doesn't actually align with that goal. And I think it's like it's the number one question that you should be asking if you're going to build a business. Because business is hard as it is, why are we making it harder for ourselves? Like, why are we going to make ourselves miserable in the process?

Sophie

And if we put in all of this effort and work into building something that is quote unquote successful, but then we can't actually enjoy that success was the point. Like, life is way too short for that, and I don't think people put two and two together that that's that's what they're doing. And going back to what you said about like being around like big creators and seeing the back end of that.

Sophie

I feel for them, honestly. I feel sorry for them, like because they've got quote unquote success on paper of like, what what we think success looks like. They must be miserable. Honestly. They must be miserable. They found out they're tired. And how are they even if you're making six figure months, how on earth are you? What's the point?

Sophie

Like, what are you doing with the money? Is is. And then then you get so sick that you can't even go and spend it like I don't understand what the logic is. It's, so yeah, I, I fully resonate with everything that you've started and it's in. Yeah. It's a, it's a big problem I think in the, in the creative landscape, in the entrepreneurship landscape.

Sophie

And I think that there's also this, this misconception around like what hustle is and what hard work is because I think they're two very separate things. And helpful culture to me is like killing yourself essentially for for what you're doing and burning yourself to the ground and not looking after yourself, not prioritizing you as the human you as the founder of whatever business is that you're running and just going all in on the actions that you're taking to achieve, like a vanity metric.

Sophie

Whereas if you are working hard, you can still work hard because you could like set a timer for, like you said, 5 or 6 hours a day. You can still go all in on that five, six hours a day, but then you still got the rest of your day to go out and do what how you want and really live and look after yourself.

Sophie

And I think a lot of people get confused by that narrative of like, oh, we're on the House of culture. That means we shouldn't be working hard. That's not the case. Like, you can still work hard. Just don't kill yourself in the process.

Noor Barrage

Yeah, 100%. And like, I think this whole thing of, like, hustling is hilarious because or it's not hilarious is very dangerous. But, one of the things that I do with, the CEOs I work with is we, we look at their calendar because one of the things that people come to me with is like, I'm so busy and like, usually there's the bottleneck is like, I can't break past a certain point when the business is stuck.

Noor Barrage

And the thing that they think is the issue is like time. It's like, I don't have enough time. I'm so busy, I can't do the things I need to do in order to move the business forward. It's never time. Like, I've been doing this like for six years now. It's another time. So we look at that calendar and they're like, you know, I'm just I'm working like 16 hour days.

Noor Barrage

And I'm like, you know, like like I can see your calendar and like, you're probably doing maybe two, three hours of work a day and the rest is like fluffy things. It's like there's no communications cadence for the team. So they're on slack all the time, and that's eating up a lot of their bandwidth. They're doing like silly calls that they don't need to be on.

Noor Barrage

Because they have so many open loops in their head because they don't have like a project management tool or anything like that. They sit down to like, do a piece of work and the head is like somewhere else, so they actually can't do it, and it takes a lot longer than it needs to take. So I think this whole thing of like hustling, like, is just it's it's a culmination of busy work and a lack of infrastructure.

Noor Barrage

That means that people think they are working 16 hours. They're not. They're just incredibly inefficient with their time. If you input the right structures, then I often, in my experience, have found that like that, like, oh, so much time now I can do all of these things. And I'm like, yeah, like it's great. What happens when you have structures around you?

Sophie

100%? And I'm definitely guilty of that. Right? I think everyone's guilty of that to some degree. And I think a lot of people are scared of systems, scared of like processes, because it feels like very corporate. And if you're a one man band person, setting up that whole, sorry, one man band business, setting up those systems takes away time from like, making money.

Sophie

But actually that is a money making activity. Fix is going to give you more time and do the moneymaking activities. In some cases it can support those things. So taught me a little bit about like what kind of systems you would put in place into like a one man band business to really support that structure so that they can grow their revenue and they can achieve the financial goals, but still have the capacity and have the space to show up for themselves as well.

Noor Barrage

Yeah. Such a great question. I would say the first thing is what we mentioned earlier is figuring out like what the goal is. Like, what is it that you want to get to if it's, you know, I want a life where I work three days a week. Of those three days, I only really need to speak to clients.

Noor Barrage

And no 1A1 and a half of these days. Like, I have a, like, meeting heavy day, and then like, half of another day where I do like, calls and stuff. So, like, figuring out what the goal is and being really honest and really specific as to like what that looks like. And then we reverse engineer everything. So for me, there's a lot of like nice to dos, which in business is, you know, there is a never ending list of things that you could do.

Noor Barrage

Like, I could be on YouTube, I could be on TikTok, I could be on Instagram, I could be on I could have like a newsletter that goes out once a week and has this nice structure. And then I send out 2 or 3 emails outside of that, like there's a never ending list of things to do. But you don't have to do all of those things to get to your goal.

Noor Barrage

So the next step after that is eliminate everything that is not going to contribute to you getting to that goal. So for me, something that I struggled with, I think at the beginning of this year, was for months people had been telling me nonstop that I had to do video content. They were like, you need to get on YouTube.

Noor Barrage

You need to get on Instagram, you need to do this. You need to do this. And I was like, yeah, maybe I should, because, you know, everyone's telling me that I should do this. And like, I get it, like, you know, video content that you can build trust and it feels a little bit more intimate than what I do on LinkedIn.

Noor Barrage

So I started doing video content, and then I was like, I kind of stopped myself off to, like, a filming block. And I was like, why am I actually doing this? Like, what is this? What is the purpose here? And I was like, I'm not looking for more clients and I get enough inquiries while LinkedIn. So if the goal was like, LinkedIn is not working for me and I need to bring in more business, then it would make sense to explore another platform.

Noor Barrage

But I was like, I don't really know, like what the purpose heroes. And like, I don't love this. Like, it's not like I'm a natural writer. I'm not a natural. Like, presenter, whatever you want to call it. So I was like, this is really silly. Like, I'm spending so much of my time doing this. I'm editing the videos because I'm really anal about this, and I didn't want my assistant to do it.

Noor Barrage

And it's not fun. Like, I'm not enjoying this and it's not contributing to where I want to be. Like, I want to I want to spend less time at my desk. And this is not helping. This is like adding to like the things that I need to do. So I was like, I'm just going to like remove this.

Noor Barrage

And then I had so much more time to like, get on Substack, which is something that I had actually wanted to do. And Substack was great for me because one of the things that I wanted to do as part of, like my vision for myself, is build a movement behind what I call intentional productivity, rather than like being great work because, you know, sitting at a desk for 15 hours a day, and Substack is allowing me to do that.

Noor Barrage

So that made a lot of sense. So I would say having a clear, goal and prioritization system is like the first thing. So understanding what it is you are trying to do, like where is where do you want to get to. And then reverse engineering that. And I go by quarter and then I break that down by month.

Noor Barrage

So if I want to build a more hands off business, then I need to have an offer that allows me to bring in revenue and is not so time intensive, because the main thing that I do right now is like advisory and consulting work, but that's dependent on me being present and like speaking to people. So that's like the focus of Q2 and Q3 for me.

Noor Barrage

So breaking it down into projects, I would say is like the second also know the first step. The second thing is having a place to house this project. So having a really, really simple project management, tool, I think systems, as you said, get a bad rep because the things that people associate with them are like tech inflexibility, like systems put like restrictions on me and like what I can do, and I want to be creative and all that stuff, but it's actually the opposite.

Noor Barrage

The right systems give you so much more freedom and really protect your time and your energy, which is so important in a world where we're constantly distracted. To put it bluntly, like there are so many distractions, like our phone is a massive distraction. Social media, etc. so I use notion, it doesn't have to be something like super techie.

Noor Barrage

It can just be a simple like Kanban board where you know what you're doing. You have like sub items for each project, clear deadlines. If you work with an assistant or and you have a team, then in putting like who's doing what. And then like having some category I like putting categories because I do an audit every, week where I look at where my time has been going.

Noor Barrage

And so if I have categories like and broadly speaking, it's like sales, marketing, marketing being like content creation, social media, delivery operations. I think that's it then. I know, like where my time is going. And I also use a calendar, which is, I would say the next bit of this, my calendar is like my lifeline, like everything I do goes in there.

Noor Barrage

And I think when people see my calendar, they're like, that's really aggressive. But I start the week and I make sure that the things that are really important to me are already in them. So, like, date night with my partner is I'm, if I'm seeing friends and have, like, things going on that's in the, movement, like my ballet classes, like my unwinding time in the morning for, like, my wind up time in the morning and then wind down in the evening like, no tech, nothing.

Noor Barrage

Those are in there. And then and then I block my meetings. So once I've put, like, all the things that makes sure that I can show up and operate in a capacity that I'm really, like, proud and happy with, then I'm like, okay, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I do calls, ideally in the morning and then in the afternoon.

Noor Barrage

I don't have calls Tuesday. Thursday I don't speak to people ever. And, that's like focus time, creative time. And all that stuff. So that's how I structure my day. And I obviously use my project management to pull from that. So I have like action blocks where if my accountant is like, I need this from you, I'll like put that into my calendar and be like, okay, like he needs this from me, blah, blah.

Noor Barrage

So it doesn't have to be super complicated. Like for me, it's project management system, a calendar, and calendar is a free, which is great. And then having a clear like goal and prioritization framework that allows me to stay focused and ensure that everything that I'm doing leads or stems from those goals. And that makes it really easy to then say no to things, because one of the things that I kind of struggled with as my LinkedIn presence started growing is I started getting a lot more opportunities coming my way.

Noor Barrage

And I think part of me was like, you have to say yes to everything, because then it's like ungrateful and like, I don't know how long this is going to last, or if it's just like, you know, ride the wave and then like, things will die down. So I started saying yes to like, every coffee, like, you know, let's do a coffee chart and all of these things.

Noor Barrage

And I was like, I'm really tired. Like, I'm saying yes to so many things. And I feel like I'm not going as deep with people that I'm interacting with because I'm just doing so many of these, like 15, 20 minute talks with some people who, like, really have nothing to do with what I talk about, but who just want to, like, pick my brains and stuff.

Noor Barrage

So, so you have to, like, be mindful of those things. And I think having that clear goal setting prioritization framework allows me to be like, no, this doesn't this doesn't make sense for me right now. So I'm going to like politely decline. And then there's like a lot less guilt because I'm on my path and I'm just like, cracking on and keeping my head down and everything else is just noise.

Noor Barrage

And I think you have to get really good with tuning out the noise and protecting yourself from the noise, because as we both have experienced, it can be really easy to fall into that cycle and be like, oh, like, everyone was telling me to do this and like, maybe I should be doing this and like, oh my God, the amount of like, AI has replaced my entire thing.

Noor Barrage

And I'm like, am I doing something wrong? Like, shall I be, you know, like like using AI more? And then I'm like, no, I'm like, this is all over inflated. And also if what's what this person saying is true, then he is in a bit of a pickle, will be in a bit of a pickle. So yeah.

Noor Barrage

So that would be my advice. I would just keep it really simple. It doesn't have to be some like massive operation or like notion does everything that you would need if you are a one man show or a one woman show and even like I worked with an assistant for about eight months and she was great. And she was on notion and she was part of like my project management system.

Noor Barrage

So it doesn't have to be something complicated at all.

Sophie

You have you had so many great things in that. And I'm back notion also like notion is my number one tool. I love it so much. My whole life and business is in notion, and I could genuinely couldn't live without it. And I think, yeah, systems don't need to be overcomplicated at all. And I think what scares people is that it's like putting yourself in these, in these within these barriers.

Sophie

Right. But although we want freedom, freedom needs some level of barrier to be contained within. Yeah. Otherwise it can like swirl into chaos. And I think, people get scared of that in case it takes away the freedom. But it gives you so much more freedom because you mentioned earlier about like openness. You can close them. People start to like that.

Sophie

And openness what and making to make decisions is drains for energy. So I love everything that you shared there in terms of, advice. And I also loved what you said around you tried to start creating the video content on the net to ask yourself why. And I think that that's a really big thing. And something that I just want to touch on is we had we had told this narrative of like, oh my God, you should be on TikTok, you should be on Instagram, because that's where everybody is.

Sophie

And da da da da da. We should be creating for all of these platforms. And like you say, we could go down the rabbit hole of like trying every single box in China. And I've definitely been guilty of that in the past. It took me a really long time to give myself permission to only show up on, like, one page, which is like ten.

Sophie

And I do have other small marketing tactics going on in the background. But generally LinkedIn is my number one channel. And since I've channeled all of my energy and attention into that, the growth has been like so much faster than any other channel where I've been trying to dabble in X, Y, Z, and I think it's a lot about I always kind of give the advice that you have to market either to your strengths or like, within a way that you would consume.

Sophie

So you mentioned the R writer. I also love writing. So LinkedIn is my natural platform. Like I don't mind creating video content at all, but it's not my I hate the editing part of that is not my forte. I also, I'm not that creative to think about, like how to structure it and make it look really cool, but writing?

Sophie

Give me any things to write about. Iowa and very quickly. Yeah, it's just natural ability. And since I've leaned into my natural ability, their results have definitely paid off. And the other thing I tend to suggest to people is like, how do you can Shane? Because I don't look at Instagram and TikTok like I don't. I have no idea what's going on on those platforms.

Sophie

I make stories every now and again, but generally I don't. I don't see your Instagram posts. So like, how on earth am I meant to create good content for those channels? And what would the point be? Going back to what you said around? Like you get clients on LinkedIn, so like what are you using these channels for? It needs to have a valid reason, and it needs to fit within your remit in order to actually work for you.

Sophie

Otherwise you're just adding on something unnecessarily and like doing the busy tasks that you don't need to do. And I think people need more permission to step away from those, because even today I had a conversation with a girl who was like, oh, I'm thinking about coming back into my business after an extended period of time off, but I just can't bear the thought of creating content for Instagram.

Sophie

I was like, well, don't. Then, like, she's a copywriter. I'm not leaning into your writing skills and like, do something around that. Or if you're going to go down the route of Instagram, do carousels. You can write the carousel and dump it in a template like it's not. It's not as hard as you're making it sound. But yeah, it will just don't realize that.

Sophie

And I think they need a lot of permission to, to, to to not do the things that they've been told to do. But yeah, it's amazing that you found so much growth on LinkedIn. I know that it's bought quite a lot of opportunities for you. And what advice would you give to someone that is, struggling to lean into a channel and trying to, like, disperse that energy?

Sophie

Like, how do you generally advise people to choose the channels that their, their marketing?

Noor Barrage

For me, it was really easy when I, when I started and I had chosen LinkedIn or I was, I was in the process of choosing LinkedIn because I knew that I, I think the first thing to acknowledge is if you want to build intentionally, you have limited time and bandwidth, so you cannot do everything to a good standard.

Noor Barrage

And I didn't want to be one of those people who just, like, pumps a load of content on. It's shit. Like, I didn't want to do that. It's like if I want to build something for myself and I want to build this movement, and I want to challenge the way that people see business and work and life, then I need it needs to be good.

Noor Barrage

Like it can't be. This. I'm going to be omnipresent, but it's going to be really shit, quality. And so for me, I have like a lot of gripe with Instagram because. Almost everything on that platform feels really inauthentic to me. And this is coming from someone who has been behind the scenes of a lot of creators. And my issue is a lot of I've met a lot of people who are quite big on on Instagram primarily.

Noor Barrage

And I was like, like, you know, I'm this person, is this, this, this. And then I meet them and I'm like, it's a different person. And I, I've never wanted to do that. And so I think I had this mental block when it came to Instagram where I was like, I don't want to perform for this platform. And if that's what it takes to to get your content out, that I don't want to do that.

Noor Barrage

And so LinkedIn for me just felt more natural. It felt like, I guess it felt more comfortable and more safe because I am happy to write and I get to sit behind a screen and I'm guarded to a degree, more so than I felt like I would be if I were to be myself on camera. So that's what made sense to me.

Noor Barrage

I also think thinking about where your ideal client or your ideal audience is like, I work with business owners, solopreneurs, C-suite. They are all on LinkedIn. Most of them are not on Instagram for work. They are on Instagram for fun. So for me, my audience, it made sense for me to to be on LinkedIn. And it was also something I enjoyed.

Noor Barrage

And I think that's really important because AI systems will get you so far in terms of consistency. But one of two things will happen if you force yourself to do something that you don't like. The first is that you stop doing it after a period of time because you just are not happy, you're not having fun. And so that's number one.

Noor Barrage

The second is that your content gets really shared and it becomes really like what everyone else is writing. You start to be like, really? You're not writing like from yourself. You're writing to perform. You're writing for other people. You're writing what you think people want to read. And I see that a lot on LinkedIn now. I'm sure you do as well, whether like a lot of people who I used to really enjoy reading that stuff and I used to follow and I used to get excited when they popped up on my feed, and now I see their stuff and I'm like, unfollow or mute or like, whatever it is on LinkedIn, what you tell

Noor Barrage

the platform that you're not interested in that stuff anymore because I'm like, I've read this post five times today and it was like the same shit on the same structure, on the same bloody infographic, and I'm just over it. So I think it's really important to pick something that is sustainable for you. If you are naturally super creative and you love video and you love like orchestrating video and like a story and then fabulous, you know, tick tock, Instagram, YouTube shorts like that stuff for you.

Noor Barrage

If you're like, no, I'm much more of a writer. I, you know, I prefer to do this sort of sit at my laptop and just like, pour away and like, it's therapy. Then, you know, LinkedIn and Substack and emails and that stuff is, is really, really good. So I would say pick something that you can do, you'll be able to like, sustain for a long period of time.

Noor Barrage

And something that makes sense given your audience and like, who you're trying to attract. If you're, you know, working with business people, LinkedIn is fantastic. But again, if you're working with more like creatives, agencies, then maybe something like Instagram makes more sense.

Sophie

Yeah, it's all about just leaning into like what's right. Right. There is no right or wrong answer. And anybody that tells you, oh my God, you must market on this in this way is for me. I'm massive red flag because it's all down to you. And I think, yeah, it's really important to lean into, like your own energy, your capacity, and most importantly, like you said, well, you've got to maintain consistently because essentially, marketing compounds over a long period of time has to maintain has to maintain a level of consistency for you to actually get results from it.

Sophie

And people in this world give up right easily because they don't see the results. And they're like, oh, let me try something new. And I've definitely been guilty of that as well. But you see the results when you stay somewhere for a period of time and you keep consistently repeating and repeating the same message. So yeah, you consistently it's why you should be marketing.

Noor Barrage

Yeah. And I think that's such a good point as well. Like I think consistency is so underrated. I, I had someone I went to an event like a, it wasn't an event like a little meet up with some people on LinkedIn in London a few months ago. And there was this guy who asked, he was like, oh yeah, like, what's your LinkedIn?

Noor Barrage

I kind of gave him my name. And he looked up and he went, Holy shit. Like, you have a load of, you have a big audience. And I was like, young, like, you know, I don't I try not to look at the numbers because it kind of freaks me out. But yeah, sure. And he's like, how long did you say you've been doing this?

Noor Barrage

And I at the time it was about a year that I'd been on LinkedIn. He was like, like mind blown. And I was like, yeah, I don't really have. I think if you're in different industries, like the numbers, you know, you look different. You mean different things. But he was like, so this is this is going to piss you off.

Noor Barrage

So maybe this is a good like closing comment.

Sophie

You can just go.

Noor Barrage

Noor Barrage

On his LinkedIn. I just kind of looked at him and I was like, have you been doing this consistently for ten years? And he went, well. And I went, have you been posting every single day for six years? For ten years? And he went, no. And I'm like, do you post every single day now? He was like, no, I post like you know, once, you know, sometimes twice.

Noor Barrage

And I'm like, okay, I posted every single day for about 6 or 7 months. And then I posted six days a week till now, till like today, until we're talking. I didn't miss a single day on my birthday. I posted on Christmas. I posted, I posted without fail. I never recycled content. I'm always posting new stuff like it's me writing new shit.

Noor Barrage

I also don't use AI to write. I write all my stuff and I'm like, when you can say that you have done that. If you still have not grown, come back to me and then we can talk about whether it's fair or not. And he was like, oh, and I just think, I think that's like, again, a lot of people are like, they post, you know, for a week and they're like, oh, I haven't gotten like, you know, a thousand views.

Noor Barrage

This is so annoying. And I'm like, I didn't get like, no one saw my stuff. My first few posts I posted every single day at the same time, without fail, over the Christmas period where, like, LinkedIn was like a ghost town. But I was like, this is great because like, there aren't as many people on the platform and I'm just testing to see what works and trying to find my feet.

Noor Barrage

So I just think a lot of people aren't willing to do the hard work, and consistency is so underrated. Like it's not that hard. You have to. I think Alex Homsey, who like I have a gripe with that. Like sometimes he says things and I'm like, that makes sense. He said something like, you just have to outperform most people like you have like in terms of your, your consistency.

Noor Barrage

And it's it's really not that hard to do it. It's like most people give up, as you said, way too early. And that really frustrates me because people will often remark on like, my grace and I'll be like, you grew so fast. I'm like, did you do like, here's what I did, and I like, and I'm like, it's not.

Noor Barrage

I didn't like, swallow a magic pill. And like, that was no secret formula. It was just I was willing to put in the time and the energy and the effort over six months and a year and a half now, and most people not willing to do that. So, like, if you are willing to do that, you will grow, you will get results.

Noor Barrage

And if you're constantly iterating and being like, oh, that didn't do very well. Like, why not? Like what else? What does well and you can approach it and like with a critical mind, you know, you'll grow and you'll do well. And it's it's not rocket science.

Sophie

It's not rocket science. But a lot of people don't like is. Yeah, yeah, that story did piss me off. Your wife.

Noor Barrage

I, I thought it well.

Sophie

I thought it was two, but I like I love your response to it. It's amazing. And I told you. Right. Like if you do something for long enough and that's a good, a good point in what you just said around, like you were working hard. You put the hard work in, but you weren't hustling us.

Noor Barrage

Yeah.

Sophie

No killing yourself to do it. You were doing what needed to be done, and you made that your priority and you weren't dispersing your focus. You were focusing on one channel and you were giving it up in the process. But you still worked hard and you still got results. So I think there is something to be said. And one question I did want to ask you before we just close and it's quite a big question, is do you think a business can scale to multi seven figures without that element of like that hustle culture.

Sophie

Like is that a realistic thing to suggest possible if you have the right systems and things in place?

Noor Barrage

Yeah I do and I've seen it done before. I think it absolutely is true. It's possible. I think it just requires, extreme focus to like, no to everything else that is not this path. And that's really, really, really, really hard to do. And as you get bigger in the business world, as you start to become more known, it becomes harder because like to stay on that path, because you get more opportunities and you get more people and you get more events and, you know, things, coming your way.

Noor Barrage

And it can be really hard to go, you know, this is something that maybe I wanted once in a blue moon, but this isn't what makes sense for me right now. Like, I've been approached, with a few, like, brand, like paid brand work, and I've only said yes to one, because it just didn't align. And I was like, I have my list of, like, the brands that I am happy to say yes to, and those are the things that like, makes sense given what I'm trying to build and like what tools I use right now.

Noor Barrage

Like I don't want to promote something that I don't like love, especially because I think people who follow me know I'm very protective over my tech stack, and it's very, very small and I want to keep it very, very small. So if I'm like, you know, yeah, five is great. I'm like, I don't want to use vibra. So like, why am I promoting five or why am I operating this thing that like I'm just not using right now?

Noor Barrage

I'm so I think it's possible. It's really, really hard. And it requires skill sets that most people, don't have honed and like really struggle with. So things like focus, things like time management become really, really, really important when you are scaling and you're scaling to that degree. And I also think it's something to note as well as like people talk about scaling as something that happens overnight and it doesn't and it and it shouldn't as well because if you scale too far, it's like building a house.

Noor Barrage

If you don't build a solid foundation and you start building the roof, the roof is going to collapse. So scaling is something that makes sense when you have the right structure in place, and when you have the right structure in place, then it's something that happens at like generally a steady pace over time. But it's not like I hustled so hard in one month and now I'm not seven figures.

Noor Barrage

And if you look at people like, Laura Acosta on LinkedIn is a good example, and I've worked with her, closely. So I can say this, she launched her first product, I think it was two and a half years after she started on LinkedIn. And people will see that and they'll see the launch of literally Academy and go like seven figures overnight.

Noor Barrage

What the hell? But that's two and a half years of how building an audience and how building that skill set and how building and like developing and honing in on like her knowledge base and the work that she did, you know, as a freelancer, as an agency like behind the scenes, like, like getting all the information she needed to then build out this product on people go like fast launch, massive success, but they don't see the years behind the scenes of like what needed to happen for that to be an overnight success.

Noor Barrage

There's no overnight success. It's just people fixate on that and don't look at the years of work that happened before. So yeah, so it's possible, systems are essential. I've seen people get to seven figures without the right structures in place. And they hit seven figures, and then everything breaks, and then they go back to making, like ten k a month because it everything collapses.

Noor Barrage

They have to give out refunds. They like it. It just all goes to shit. And I'm like, why would you push yourself, kill yourself? As we were saying, to get to that milestone, only to go all the way back to almost the beginning, like, I just don't get it.

Sophie

It's wild, it's wild, and yeah, you, if you speak my language, we are literally on the same page. And I loved that you used the analogy of the house, like, I literally that's my go to saying, it's like you go in the house about where in the foundations first, like everything. Yeah. I kind of stand for is like trying to build yourself a long lasting, sustainable and scalable business.

Sophie

And that doesn't mean you scale tomorrow or have the overnight success because it doesn't exist. But you can build something with solid foundations. It's going to last you into the future. And then it's also way easier to pivot in the future if you ever need or want to. So I think I love I love everything that you've shared.

Sophie

I'm conscious that we we've gone way over time, but I feel like we could talk for hours about this subject. So I really appreciate all of your insights. I really resonate with everything that you said. And just to close, I've got one question for you, which I like to ask every guest, and I think it's very relevant for this particular subject is, what does freedom look like for you?

Sophie

I mean, for you, in this current season of life that you're in.

Noor Barrage

That's such a good question. I feel like I'm going to, like, reflect on, like by myself later and flesh that out. Peaceful, like peace is something that I'm thinking about a lot lately. My sister has just found out that she's pregnant with her first little baby, and I'm. I'm thinking about when the baby arrives at the end of the year.

Noor Barrage

Like, what I want my life to look like and what energy I want to, like, have exuding from from myself. And I think peace is something that I, really thinking about and really trying to protect a lot more, especially, as we said, with more growth in the online space and with having a personal brand or like an online presence, whatever you want to call that, that there is a lot of noise and there's a lot of opinions and there's a lot of, there's a there's a lot of opportunities that come your way and like, work that comes my way where I'm like, like, I could do this, but it would.

Noor Barrage

It would mean more hours. It would mean less flexibility. It would mean that I need to be on calls more, which I find, like quite energetically draining. So I'm, I'm going to say no, because I don't I don't need that right now. I'd rather protect my peace and spend more time writing and building and, yeah, doing the work that I really like with the few people that I get to work with.

Noor Barrage

So I think pieces it's probably what I would say.

Sophie

I love that that's amazing. And I love the congratulations to thank you.

Noor Barrage

For.

Sophie

Like, saying and I hope in by the end of the year you're able to to get to exactly where you want to be with that new Virgo is so exciting, and I really appreciate you taking the time to chat to me today and sharing everything that you've shares. If anyone wants to connect with you five, how can they reach you?

Noor Barrage

LinkedIn is probably the best place. Yeah. And I have, I'm active there, like, pretty much every day. I am trying to be better with replying to DMs, but I think with more like volume is harder and it is me and that, like, I don't have anyone else, who has access to my LinkedIn so that LinkedIn, that's the best place.

Sophie

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining me today.

Noor Barrage

I really think, you know, thank you so much.

Sophie

Well, that's going to say funding. Yeah. Yes.

Sophie

Thanks for listening. Episode of the Freedom Method podcast. And I honestly could have talked to for hours like we were on that call then for an hour, but we just get it. We just get each other, we get each other's mission. And as we said, the anti hustle culture thing is not about being lazy or not working hard is actually just being about really intentional in the way that you are working.

Sophie

And building a business is actually sustainable for you to maintain, and having systems that protect your time and energy so that you can show up well. Shop consistently in not just your business, but in your relationships and for yourself as well. If this episode hit a nerve and it might have done because this topic isn't widely spoken about, yeah, I will get you.

Sophie

Come and join my Freedom Business boot camp, because this is where we're going to take everything we talked about today and make it into a practical reality for you and for your online business. If you haven't started your business, it's going to be a really great way to start from the foundations up. Like we mentioned in today's episode, really look at what do you want?

Sophie

What does your ideal life look like and build yourself a business that allows you to get there. This is what we're going to be working through in that session. I'm going to teach you how to vote, an offer that aligns with that goal, and also how to target people to sell your offer to. The link to register for the bootcamp is in the show notes, and I would love to see you there.

Sophie

And if you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. Leave a like or subscribe if you haven't already. It genuinely helps more people find the show and then come to find me on LinkedIn, nor on LinkedIn because we are there every day and I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode.

Sophie

I'll see you next time.