Hi there! Hannah here 👋

For many years, I could not place why I never fit into traditional workplaces. I had my guesses, yet not once was the reason that I’m lazy, disorganized, or rebellious.

So what was it?

First, I want to share that I’m not alone in this, and neither are you. Research backs it up. Across thousands of studies, the same patterns keep appearing: people struggle in traditional workplaces for surprisingly consistent reasons:

• Neurodivergence (ADHD, autism, dyslexia): an estimated 15–20% of the population is neurodivergent, yet unemployment in this group runs as high as 85–90%. Workplaces were simply never designed for how these brains work.
• Values misalignment: 44% of people have quit a job due to a toxic culture.
• Lack of flexibility: 1 in 3 workers can’t balance life and work under rigid structures.
• Burnout from measuring "busyness" over results: 80% of employees were at risk of burnout in 2024.

But knowing the general reasons still didn’t explain it for me specifically. So I went deeper. And what I found might explain something for you, too. First, here's what I believe makes up my pie chart of unconventionality....you might find it fun to create your own!

Basically, I think it’s because I accidentally spent the last two decades rewiring my brain.

But before I get into that, I want to introduce you to two concepts that might just explain something you’ve never been able to put into words...

There are two concepts I want to introduce you to. They might just explain why you've never quite fit the traditional workplace model... and, more importantly, why there may have been nothing wrong with you in the first place.

1: Monochronic cultures

Monochronic cultures treat time as a finite resource to be managed and protected.

One task at a time. Calendars are sacred. Meetings start on the dot. Looking busy often matters almost as much as actually being productive. Time is money, and wasting it is practically a moral failing.

Many workplaces in Northern Europe and North America lean in this direction.

See if any of these feel familiar:

• You finish everything by 3 p.m. but feel guilty leaving early.
• You have a brilliant idea on Sunday evening but force yourself to wait until Monday because "that's when work starts."
• You've been told to "look more available," which somehow means replying within four minutes.
• You skip lunch but proudly sit at your desk for nine hours.

If so, you've probably spent a lot of time inside a monochronic system.

2: Polychronic cultures

Then there's the opposite approach: in polychronic cultures, time bends to accommodate people and relationships.

In many parts of Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and South and Southeast Asia conversations run over. Plans evolve. A coffee becomes lunch becomes an opportunity. In Mexico, showing up slightly late to a social event isn’t rude; at times, it can even be expected. In Thailand, a meeting might not start until everyone has eaten and properly caught up. In Morocco, tea comes before business, always. To someone who grew up with monochronic conditioning, this might feel chaotic, but in reality, things are organized around humans rather than hours.

The clock is still there. It's just not in charge.

Maybe this sounds more like you:

• Your best ideas arrive in the shower or halfway through a walk.
• You solve work problems while cooking dinner.
• A “quick call” that ran two hours over led to your biggest opportunity of the year
• You work in deep, focused bursts and then switch off completely.
• You're inexplicably brilliant at 10 p.m. and borderline useless at 10 a.m.

Neither of these is better or worse.

But most workplaces were built entirely on one of them, and never stopped to ask whether it worked for everyone.

The monochronic corporate world didn’t just feel uncomfortable. It felt like wearing someone else’s shoes and being told the problem was my feet 🙄

Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea...this doesn't mean I'm laid-back.

I'm actually incredibly meticulous. I dot every "i" and cross every "t" to the very best of my ability. I care deeply about quality and follow-through. I don't miss deadlines and I don't wing it. I just don't believe productivity has to happen between arbitrary hours while sitting in the same chair. And I think a lot of you are the same.

You've been praised for looking busy rather than creating impact. You've felt guilty taking a walk at 2 p.m., but perfectly fine working until midnight because inspiration struck. You've been made to believe that discipline looks one very specific way.

Maybe it doesn't.

Maybe the real question isn't whether you're Type A or Type B.

Maybe it's this:

Are you a slave to the clock... or aren't you?

For years, I thought I just needed more discipline. In reality, I think I was experiencing a kind of cultural dissonance. Maybe you are too. That's when I realized the problem wasn't my work ethic. It was the environment I was trying to squeeze myself into.

Then I started my own business, and everything changed.

• Nobody cared whether I wrote a newsletter at 7 am or 10 pm.
• Nobody cared if I brainstormed wandering the streets of Bangkok, worked from a café in Mexico, or took a three-hour lunch that turned into an incredible networking opportunity while in Sicily.
  ​👉 They (aka my clients) only cared that I delivered.

The beautiful thing about freelancing isn't just the income.

It's the permission.

Permission to work when your brain works best. Permission to take a midday walk without guilt. Permission to build a career around outcomes instead of optics. Permission to stop apologizing for being different.

Maybe you've been trying to thrive in an environment that measures the wrong things. The good news is that you can change your environment. You can change how you work, and you can even change your location when your work allows.

Maybe you don't need more discipline. Maybe, just maybe, you need more freedom.

And if that idea excites you, I have some very good news...

🎉 The FREE 5-Day VA Challenge is back. 🎉

After an 18-month hiatus, we’re bringing back the event that put us, and thousands of our students, on the map.

❌ This isn’t just another freebie.

It’s the challenge that has helped launch tens of thousands of freelance careers for over a decade. It’s where people discover the skills they can sell, craft a compelling pitch, start networking, gain confidence, and in many cases, land their very first clients.

We’ve rebuilt it from the ground up for today:

• fresh content
• modern strategies
• thoughtful use of AI
• and (most importantly) practical action every single day!

👉 It’s 100% free.

👉 It’s fully asynchronous, so you can complete it whenever it works for you.

👉 And it’s designed for one purpose: to help you stop wondering if freelancing could work, and start proving that it can.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to begin, this is it, my friend.

I’d love to have you with us.

The hard facts:

• Free
• July 13th -July 17th
• 1h per day on your own time
• A private support community to share your daily tasks & get feedback from me
• Action-focused from day one
• A life-changing experience!

See you on the inside 😎

Hannah

P.S. Already in the challenge? Amazing. 🎉 Forward this email to someone who's always felt like they don't fit the traditional workplace. It might be exactly what they need to hear.