Meet Lisa Mullis | Brand messaging specialist (copywriter and business mentor)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lisa Mullis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I gave up on the idea of work life balance years ago. Balance implies a state of equilibrium and equality among the elements that comprise the equation. Ultimately, it’s an impossible ideal that for many years led me down the road of many sleepless nights, lots of parental guilt, and bouts of comparison-itis.

After nearly 20 years as an entrepreneur, I think of my work and life as a blend of professional and personal priorities that are constantly shifting and blending. The advance of technology such as high-grade video conferencing and high-quality smartphone apps allows work and life to mix more easily than ever—and that’s not a bad thing. It’s all in how you define your boundaries and honor them and that looks different for everyone.

What might be more important than work life balance is self-care. We talk about self-care in our personal lives but we rarely talk about self-care in business. Things like scheduling enough time for your projects, saying no to clients who take advantage, factoring in rest periods throughout the day (my favorite are Work Walks), finding the right kind of mentors and colleagues and providers who are there to help you through your professional sticking points, and having a good relationship with the money you earn.

What should our readers know about your business?
If success in entrepreneurship is a race full of hares, then I’m the turtle. It’s been slow and steady since I began the journey in the late 90s. Given the amount of experience I’ve accrued and if you look at some of my peers, you’d think I would be running a multi-million dollar company by now. The predominant message in the space in which I operate, online business, is to scale and do 6-figure launches and grow big audiences and make passive income. There is much hype around pursuing the luxury lifestyle and having a “business of your dreams” and how this is achievable in six months or less.

What’s forgotten in this soupy mess is that business can be hard and it can take a while for things to root and grow—and it’s okay if it does. Growth looks different for everyone and success should be something you define for yourself instead of pursuing someone else’s definition of it. This is what I want people to remember and why my approach is heavily weighted towards the realities of business—revenue models, infrastructure, market research, productivity and sustainable systems—even while I’m helping clients develop the language they need for marketing themselves.

Mine is not a “rags to riches” story or a sudden windfall of opportunity leading to massive breakthrough. My story has been a steady strum of effort, recalibration, and the willingness to keep learning. (I also had a lot of privilege going into business, being a white cis gender woman who got to go to college, and I don’t discount those advantages.) My message here is that you don’t need to do it all or have it all to have a business that brings you great joy and satisfaction.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my mentor and friend and Ilise Benun. Ilise has been part of my business life for more than 15 years in various ways and our professional relationship continues to evolve with new opportunities for learning and collaboration. She is someone I admire professionally and personally for how she’s structured her work, her values, and the impact she’s having on others.

Website: paraphrasecomm.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paraphrasecommunications/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhmullis/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paraphrasecomm/

Other: Free resource, High-converting Homepage Copy + Layout Template: https://training.paraphrasecomm.com/hchp-master

Image Credits
Shelly Peterson Photography