My space is for those who want to be an unprofessional entrepreneurs.
I help my clients build businesses unprofessionally through feel good marketing and content repurposing their way to their own dream lives. If you follow me on any platform, you will have heard me talk about running a feel-good business, making sure you’re marketing in a feel-good way and doing it unprofessionally.
But I wanted to put together this blog post to clear up an misconceptions and make it crystal to clear to everyone in my space what it actually looks like to be an unprofessional entrepreneur and what it doesn’t look like. Starting with the latter:
Textbook Definition of Professional:
Google says “professional” means engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as a pastime. It’s all about the job you work in a certain industry. But for some reason in the online space, being “professional” is often associated with how you look, how you appear at first glance in your branding and photos.
Mind Tools goes on to say that “Professionalism involves consistently achieving high standards, both in the work you do and the way you behave.” But in my world, how you behave has no reflection on the quality of work you put out. You can go to all night ravers on the weekend and still help your clients see massive results during the week.
I don’t think that we need to hide any parts of ourselves from your brand or the online space in order to be successful. I show up on Instagram stories in a towel and still sign multi 4 figure contracts. Which is how I became labeled as the unprofessional entrepreneur.
Becoming Unprofessional
I started telling my audience to be more unprofessional as a fuck you to the system but then as I became known for it, I got uncomfortable with being labeled it.
My internal thoughts were “Wait, I don’t want people to think badly of me. I don’t want you to think that I’m a bad person or working with me will be a bad experience.” I just don’t want to wear a bra or wait until I look “presentable” to go on camera and share what’s on my mind.
There was an internal battle within myself when it came to being labeled unprofessional. When I first did my branding with Wildly Creating, my friend Sonia, she called me the Peaceful Rebel and it’s honestly so accurate. I naturally rebel from any type of structure, system and being told what to do. Rebel felt edgy and fun.
But when it came to being labeled as unprofessional, I really struggled with what others would think of me.
Even though in my day to day, I don’t care what other people think and I’m do my own thing, there’s this internal voice telling me to not take it too far. Likelike don’t mess up at the party or you won’t be invited back. Make sure you wear something appropriate for the occasion or people will question who’s this weird Canadian girl showing up with her giant hair and giant tits?
Claiming the title unprofessional required a lot of debunking around my own internal shame with the words professional, unprofessional and being unprofessional. But now that we’re here I couldn’t be happier. My community has been very vocal about how much they love the unprofessional spin and that they also see themselves as unprofessional.
What it Means to Be an Unprofessional Entrepreneur:
I wrote this on a call with a friend one day and I think it perfectly sums up being an unprofessional entrepreneur.
“To be unprofessional is to prioritize experience over image.”
As a business, being unprofessional means you can show up with no make up, no bra, with depression and in your struggles, yet you still turn up for your clients. Your clients receive beautiful onboarding that makes them feel safe, they’re supported through your programs and leave better than they came in.
Being Unprofessional is not:
To be an unprofessional entrepreneur does not mean to be late, rude, greedy, demanding, to take people’s money and do whatever you want once people pay you..
Being unprofessional, you still have deadlines, turnaround times, promises to keep. But you can show up comfortable, with kids in the background, straight out of bed if that’s how you perform best.
You don’t need to be in a home office, with a blazer on and your hair perfectly in place. Being an unprofessional entrepreneur is to let yourself be human. To put the human that you are first before the image of your business and know that your people will come to you and happily pay you for your brain and your energy, not your looks.
Call for ALL the Unprofessional Entrepreneurs
If this blog post is resonating with you, you’re nodding your head and you’re thinking “yes, I’ve found my people.” Welcome to the space for Unprofessional Entrepreneurs.
This is where we get to hang out and discuss all the good shit, all of the magic that comes from running a business unprofessionally and putting yourself and your clients over the busy work. There’s 2 main places I want you to check out next.
The first is the podcast by the same name Unprofessional Entrepreneur. Subscribe, rate, review, whatever your platform of choice requests of you but listen to some episodes and find other entrepreneurs doing unprofessionally in my guest episodes.
Then head over to my instagram and get in my DMs because I want to get to know you! Tell me how you found me, what’s your fave pod episode and what makes you an unprofessional entrepreneur.
About Felly Day
Felly Day VA is a dual business whose goal is to help ambitious service providers and coaches grow through digital marketing in a way that feeds their spirit.
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