Giving The Empire A Soul - Why I Had To Tear The Website Apart
They say when you're building an empire, you should start with the "bricks and mortar." For the last few weeks, I've been focused on the bricks: The shopify links, the structured PDF'S, the professional descriptions. I made it look perfect. I made it look right.
Then I realised I'd made it look cold.
For the last 24 hours I've been sorting the website mess. But I wasn't fixing broken links; I was adding a soul. I realised that if I'm asking you to join us on this journey - this terrifying, exhilarating, 28- shift countdown - then I need to tell you the truth about why we're here.
The Kitchen and the Awakening
My husband and I met through catering. It's the thread that wove our lives together. For him, it was a career he loved for a lifetime. But a recent ADHD diagnosis changed the lens. Suddenly, his eyes opened to a hard truth. You can love something that is simultaneously ruining you life. The 50-hour weeks, the sensory overload, the missed weekends, the grind. - it wasn't work anymore; it was a barrier to the person he wanted to be.
As for me? I've always been the shy one. I never thought catering was "me," yet I stayed. It gave me the confidence I lacked, but it never felt like my calling.
Finding Our Voice In The Chaos
Everything changed after the diagnosis.. I asked him "If you were diagnosed earlier and given the support you needed to stay in school what would you have done" His passion is computers and gaming. When he said he wants to design a game, that was the spark for both of us. I became obsessed- not just with the "how" of getting him out of the kitchen, but with the Story of our escape.
I've never been a "social media person." The thought of putting myself out there used to feel impossible. But as I started narrating our "Great Reset" - the 40ft container, the sticker wall, the 8 years of mess - I realised something.
Telling this story is my passion. I am a planner, a narrator, a "Neuro-Architect" who loves to find the rhythm in the noise. While he is learning to speak the language of code, and game design, I am learning to speak the language of us.
Eco Empire Studios vs The Snug Home
In my green journal today, I mapped it out. On the left, Eco Empire Studios: The container, the focus, the "Engine Room" that will fund our future. On the right, The Snug Home: The sanctuary where our children have privacy, where the screens go off at 6.30 PM, and where we finally learn to breathe. To make this sanctuary sustainable, I have also created The Sanctuary Shop.
This is the digital and physical wing of The Snug - Where we drop-ship the physical tools we trust and sell the digital 'Blueprints' I've designed. This shop isn't just a side project; It will work alongside Eco Empire Studios and become another source of income that allows us to leave the kitchen work behind and invest entirely into our family's peace.
This adventure is scary. It's raw. It's a container transformation and a shift countdown to a life we haven't lived yet.
I've stripped back the "clinical" feel of this site because this isn't a textbook on ADHD - it's a map of our survival and our revival. Thank you for being here for the "messy" parts. The soul is back in the machine.
18 Shifts to go. Lets build something real.
If you're looking for the systems I'm using to keep our heads above water during the reset, head to THE BLUEPRINTS page now.
Current Status: Day 10 of 28. 18 Shifts left until the kitchen chapter ends and the Studio opens.