Why Small Business Is a Radical Act for Our Bodies

For many years, I lived with unexplained pain. My energy drained before even getting out of bed. I spent a decade searching for answers before being diagnosed with hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD), a connective tissue disorder that affects everything from my joints and muscles to digestion and energy.

Being diagnosed with a genetic disorder came as a big shock. But it did give me the language to finally explain what I’d been experiencing, and forced me to take stock of what it meant for my life and my work.

For me, living with a chronic condition means spending 3–5 hours a day managing my health. Physiotherapy, heat therapy, massage, bracing joints. If I told a traditional employer I needed half my working day just to keep my body functioning, I might have been dismissed outright.

Yet, I run a business. I work with clients. I build products. I contribute value. And that’s why I so deeply believe in the importance of small business.

The Problem with Traditional Work

The 9–5 model is built on assumptions many of us don’t fit into:

• That you can sit at a desk for eight uninterrupted hours.

• That you can commute daily without consequence.

• That your energy, health, and focus can be switched on like a light.

For people with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or mental health conditions, these assumptions do not always ring true. The result is that brilliant, capable people can’t find a space in the workplace.

A 2025 poll by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found:

• 60% of employees with chronic conditions haven’t disclosed their condition to their employer and are carrying invisible struggles at work.

• 36% have skipped medical appointments or delayed care to avoid interfering with work.

• One in three (33%) say they’ve missed out on projects or hours, while a quarter have missed promotions and one in five have even received negative reviews directly tied to their health.

• Fewer than half of workers say their employer is very supportive of basic accommodations like breaks or paid leave, and only 37% report flexibility in scheduling. Just 27% are offered remote work, even when their jobs could allow it.

Traditional employment isn’t always built for fluctuation, rest, or recovery.

Small Business as Disruption

This is why I see small business as disruptive.

For people like me, small business is a way of carving out space in a world that wasn’t designed for us. It means I can:

• Work from a desk setup designed for my body.

• Structure my schedule around my health, resting on bad days and working in focused bursts on better ones.

• Build income around my energy.

In a culture of scale, running a business that prioritises wellbeing is a refusal to accept systems that exclude us. But for many of us, small business provides a way to contribute meaningfully when traditional employment might not have been accessible.

Of course, not every condition or circumstance makes entrepreneurship the right answer. Some people thrive with the stability, routine, and security of traditional work. That’s important too. Work should be flexible enough to meet different needs.

I’ll also note that I’m writing from the UK, where I’m deeply grateful for free healthcare. I am aware of the financial weight that chronic illness adds for people in the U.S. What I can say is that structures often don’t support us to fully take care of our bodies in the ways we need.

What Illness Taught Me About Business

Chronic illness has taught me that you can rest and still build. Progress doesn’t vanish the moment you step away, IF you have solid foundations and workflows in place.

With limited time each day, I’ve learned to make the most of each hour. Systems, processes, and boundaries became non-negotiable. I stopped chasing every new guide or trend. Instead, I focused down, cut distractions, and built from what was actually working — learning so much along the way.

I’m not going into specific systems here (this post isn’t about that). But I wanted to share the principle, that resilience isn’t built on pushing through or squeezing in more time, but building structures that allow you to step back.

A Broader Invitation

My story is one of many. There are countless people with chronic conditions, disabilities, mental health challenges, caregiving responsibilities, even those who want to step away from the 9-5 to take time to become parents.

I’ve seen it with friends who are parents, with caregivers balancing family and work, with neurodivergent entrepreneurs who build environments that honour their focus patterns. Small business allows us to design environments where we can contribute, create, and thrive without erasing the realities of our lives.

The pandemic proved that work could be organised differently — remote, flexible, adaptive. And yet, many workplaces have doubled down on returning to “normal,” even when that normal excludes millions of people.

This is why I believe small business is not just personal, but political. It’s a quiet but radical act. It challenges the notion that value can only be measured in full-time hours, office attendance, or relentless output. It proves that creativity, contribution, and leadership can flourish in different shapes.

And so I leave you with questions:

• If you run a business, how might you design it to honour your energy?

• If you’re in traditional work, what flexibility would allow you to thrive?

• What could change if we stopped measuring value in hours alone?

This piece is part of my ongoing exploration into branding and business as cultural commentary. I’m Hannah Shaw, founder of Studio Founded — a design practice and resource library for founders.