Things You Can Say Here That You Can’t Say on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is great. Until it isn’t.
It’s great for finding work, keeping up appearances, and pretending you're absolutely fine when you're not. It’s not so great for saying how you really feel about running a business.
Because over there, the rules are different.
You have to sound “professional.”
You have to sprinkle humblebrags with enough emojis to prove you're human.
You’re allowed to talk about burnout - but only if it’s overcome and presented in a carousel.
You can share your failures, but only if they now make you 6 figures.
You can talk about mental health - but only if you round it off with a neat little lesson and a brand value.
Basically: it has to be polished, palatable, and performative.
And that’s why Business Stuff exists.
Because sometimes you want to say things that don’t sound like a marketing department wrote them.
Sometimes you want to talk about the parts of business that are awkward, messy, uncertain, or just… a bit much.
So here’s a starter list of things you can say here - things most of us have thought at some point, but don’t say out loud.
👀 Stuff you can say here (and not on LinkedIn):
“I have no idea how VAT works and I’ve been self-employed for years.”
“Some months I earn £8k. Some months I earn £800. And I’m still not sure which version of me is the ‘real’ one.”
“I hate Slack. There. I said it.”
“I took on the wrong client and now I’m too tired to replace them.”
“I feel jealous when other people post about their wins - even though I know I shouldn't.”
“I raised my prices and now I’m scared no one will book.”
“I miss being told what to do.”
“I still feel like I’m making it up. Every. Single. Day.”
“I resent marketing my business because it feels like shouting into the void.”
“I’m sick of pretending that I love running a business. Sometimes, I don’t.”
🤝 If you nodded at any of that…
You’re not broken. You’re just doing business without the filters.
And that’s what this newsletter is for - to say the stuff we don’t always feel allowed to say, and to remind you that you’re not the only one thinking it.
We’re not here to trauma-dump every week. But we are here to normalise the stuff that doesn’t make it into the polished highlight reels.
Because the more honest we are about the messy middle - the weird clients, the slow months, the awkward cash flow stuff - the easier it gets to run your business without feeling like you’re secretly failing.
📣 Your turn
If you’ve got something you wish you could say out loud but haven’t - send it in. Hit reply. No judgement, no names used.
Next week I’ll share a few anonymous replies (if you're brave enough), plus some of the most common “things freelancers say in WhatsApp groups but never post publicly.”
Because that’s where the real business chat happens, isn’t it?
More soon,
Vicki