Business & Pleasure: A New Era of Work and Worth
Editorial: Featured In The Retreat Newspaper
Author’s Note: This piece was first published in as part of an ongoing exploration of business as a conscious path, where pleasure, vision, and creative integrity are treated as essential to the entrepreneurial journey.
I’ve always believed in business as a regenerative force. But now more than ever, we need signposts, words, frameworks, and reflections that remind us what’s possible when we build from intuition, vitality, and care.
This essay is one of several in the print edition that traverses the terrain of entrepreneurship, money, and wellbeing. To experience the full issue in its intended analog form, visit their Newstand, The Retreat, April Issue, No. 23 | Business & Pleasure.
There was a time when I thought I had to choose between the two—business or pleasure. Like so many entrepreneurs, I internalized the belief that success required sacrifice, that the weight of my work had to feel heavy in order to be valuable. And for a long time, I played by those rules. I built, created, consulted, and poured myself into my work with the kind of devotion that bordered on being a “good” spiritual disciple. But something wasn’t right.
It wasn’t until I stepped away, closed my offers, deleted my social media, and let the dust settle that I realized the real problem: I had been working in a way that wasn’t actually mine. The world told me that business and entrepreneurship were about effort and strategy, and that pleasure was reserved for the moments after I had achieved success. But what if business itself could be pleasurable? What if creativity, intuition, and ease weren’t luxuries but the very foundation of meaningful, life-giving work?
Business, as it stands, is stagnant. We’ve been operating under the same industrial-age models of productivity and efficiency for far too long. Chasing after the false promises of systems and scaling while neglecting rhythm, beauty, and resonance.
As an artist, entrepreneur, and creative director, I see business as a living art form. Something that should be as fluid as a poem, as intentional as a well-curated editorial, and as nourishing as a beautifully made cup of tea. The brands and entrepreneurs that are thriving today aren’t the ones grinding themselves into exhaustion. They’re the ones who understand that business is about creating culture, not just selling products.
For me, the real shift happened when I let go of the need to constantly produce and instead, embraced my role as a curator of ideas, a spotlight for what truly matters. I no longer wanted to help brands market themselves, I wanted to help them mean something. And that required me to step fully into my own artistry, to trust that my presence and perspective were the most valuable things I could offer.
For decades, the business world has clung to a singular, rigid narrative: define your niche, streamline your brand, refine your elevator pitch until you can distill yourself into a digestible, almost insignificant soundbite. Success, we were told, belongs to those who fit neatly into a category.
The dreaded myth of the one-size-fits-all entrepreneur, but that model is collapsing.
We are no longer willing to contort ourselves to fit into a version of entrepreneurship that asks us to leave parts of who we are at the door. The new paradigm, the one that fuses business and pleasure, demands something richer, more dimensional. It asks us to bring our full creative force to the table, to blur the lines between disciplines, to operate from the truth that we are not just one thing.
The future belongs to those who embrace their multitudes. The artist who is also a strategist. The philosopher who understands branding. The thinker who doesn’t just build businesses but shapes culture with their visions. This is not about rejecting structure but about redesigning it to reflect how far we’ve expanded as consciousness.
Because the most compelling entrepreneurs, the ones we remember today, aren’t those who squeezed themselves into a single lane. They’re the ones who chose to turn the whole road into their canvas.
In this new era, business will be measured in more than dollars and cents. It will emerge as a vehicle for self-expression. If you’ve been feeling the pull toward something different, toward work that feels less like labor and more like artistry, here are some reminders I’ve picked up along the way:
You don’t have to monetize everything. Some of the most valuable things you create won’t be tied to an offer or a sales page. Some will simply be acts of beauty, curiosity, thought, or being. This is fertile soil. Trust that they are still worth your while.
Work in a way that feels like you. If you are naturally slow, like me, don’t force yourself into a fast-paced model. If you thrive on conversation, build work that allows for that. The more your work reflects your natural genius, the more easeful success in every area becomes.
Curate, don’t just create. Not every idea needs to be original. Some of the most powerful businesses and brands are simply exquisite curations of what already exists, presented in a way that feels fresh and deeply resonant for the times.
Honor the rhythm of inspiration. Creativity and business are cyclical, according to my research, a 7-year cycle to be exact. We will experience seasons of deep output and seasons of quiet gathering. Allow this natural ebb and flow.
Pleasure is an indicator, not an indulgence. If something feels deeply pleasurable, whether it’s a design, a conversation, a project, that’s a sign it’s aligned for you. Follow the pleasure, not the pressure.
So this is my call to the budding & seasoned creators.
We are entering a new era of work. One where intuition, artistry, and pleasure are not only valued but necessary. Where old models are crumbling, and in their place, a new paradigm is emerging. One led by thinkers, curators, and visionaries who understand that we do not have to be at odds with strategy and structure, and that business is not separate from creativity but an extension of it.
For those of us who have spent years contorting ourselves to fit into structures that never fully served us, this is our moment to break free and completely reshape the landscape we see ahead. To design businesses that are as nourishing as they are impactful. To shift from productivity to presence. From transactional to relational. And to integrate business and pleasure, as one.
Now the question is: How will you redefine it for yourself?
With gratitude & grace,
Jasmine
Up Next
Resonated with this piece? You might enjoy these next:
Erah Society
A space for modern seekers & founders.
Reimagining business, spirituality, and cultural well-being.
/ About this Substack
/ Instagram
/ Podcast
/ Business Hours
/ Watch Our New Show on Youtube
This line: "Follow the pleasure, not the pressure." (Yes! Let's make t-shirts ;)
This is what is desire and hope that I can be. This is the only way. Still what stops me is, how I get food to the table in this way? Well at the moment I have pause of my business and Im working for others. Just for the money. It works for now but I don't follow tha plesure, I follow the pressure.