Deeply personal essay headed your way friends!
Running your own business looks chic on Instagram doesn’t it? Chic in the way a pointed toe kitten heel knee-high boot feels edgy but also murders your feet if you don’t pace yourself (and avoid grass). The reality, though? It's half creative high, bad bitch boss, and half “I need to keep myself off payroll again to this week to pay for other things” kind of grind. Trust me, I know.
After years of running NOTO Botanics, opening a store, building Studio Noto, I’ve learned that “being your own boss” is less glamorous power trip and more 24/7 moodboard-slash-stress over making monthly goals marathon. You’re CEO, customer service, product developer, photographer, sales rep, operations, creative director, and sometimes, regrettably, repairman. And you learn that success isn’t just growth-lust. It can be staying small, staying sane, staying true to the taste that made you start in the first place (I learned that the hard way).
“Being your own boss” sounds like a dream until you’re ankle-deep in shipping tape at midnight, answering an SOS email from your bookkeeper (Heather, I love you- you’re a god send) on your phone while also figuring out why the store bathroom sink is suddenly clogged. The dream is real, but so is the mess.
When I started NOTO Botanics, I had no blueprint. No generational wealth. No team of experts waiting in the wings. Just a core collection of products, a vision, and the blind ambition in believing I could make something out of nothing. Almost ten years later, I’ve built a sometimes-healthy-ish business, opened a shop, launched Studio Noto, and created a life that both thrills, fulfills, worries, and exhausts me in equal measure.
I’ve been the creative director, the formulator, the box packer, the email marketer, the strategist, the social manager, the janitor. Some days I feel like a CEO, other days like an unpaid intern. That’s the duality no one prepares you for the reality of being your own boss.
The Dance Between Growth and Maintenance
Every business has seasons.
There’s the growth season: launches that sell out in a week, collaborations with people you once fangirled from afar (
hi! ), seeing NOTO Botanics in a magazine I used to collect as a kid (When we had our L’Officiel mag interview I cried). The high is electric. I’ve been the founder handwriting thank-you notes at my kitchen table, fueled by double espressos and adrenaline, marveling that strangers were buying something I made with my own hands. Later, I was the founder pitching national retailers, holding my breath as they flipped through line sheets . Growth is intoxicating and it can take you through a fast currant.
But then comes the maintenance season. The part Instagram doesn’t love to glamorize. Cutting overhead. Letting people go. Saying no to opportunities that would stretch you too thin. Learning to survive instead of sprint. I’ve canceled launches, trimmed operations, downsized from a team of 10+ to 2+, and made decisions that didn’t feel celebratory but were necessary.
It’s not failure. It’s stewardship. It’s learning that scaling back is just as much success as scaling up. The strength of a brand is not in how fast it grows but in how gracefully it endures. Understanding that everything in life moves like a pendulum, swaying high in one direction, then high in the other, and at times sitting still in the middle with little vibration.
Lessons from Mr. Armani
When Giorgio Armani passed away this summer, I thought about this duality again. Armani was the sole owner of his company until the end : 99.9% ownership, an empire completely under his control. A notorious perfectionist, yes, but also deeply empathetic. He was creatively involved in everything, from the cut of a jacket to the music in a show. He built a legacy by staying present, staying stubborn, and staying human.
He once said, “Independence is what’s most precious to me: passion, risk, tenacity, consistency.”
That line could be tattooed on every founder’s arm. Independence isn’t glamorous. It’s messy. It’s being in the trenches every single day. But it’s also what gives a business soul. Armani was proof that control, when balanced with empathy, isn’t tyranny… It’s devotion.
And his final confession, that his only regret was working too much, and not spending more time with loved ones — hit hard. It reminded me that even giants wrestle with balance (balance doesn’t exist!). Even Armani, who created a global empire, wished for more evenings at the table with friends. And that luxury is true success to me.
The Reality Behind the Polish
There are days when impostor syndrome creeps in, walking into a meeting convinced someone will say, “Who let you in here?” But impostor syndrome doesn’t pay the bills. Showing up anyway does.
And there’s the comparison game: scrolling through peers who seem to be scaling endlessly. What I’ve learned: many of them are struggling, too. Some of the glossiest brands are one bad quarter away from collapse. Polish is not reality. And struggle is not failure.
The Good Parts
For all the chaos, there are transcendent moments.
The first time I unlocked the door to the NOTO flagship after we painted, built, and curated every inch by hand, seeing strangers pause, look around, and feel the atmosphere, I knew the work was worth it. Or the times someone writes me to say a NOTO product changed their skin, or a Studio Noto essay gave them language for something they’d been carrying silently. Those moments are pure currency. Like actually, truly, 100000%.
And then there’s the freedom. Not the myth of working from hammocks, but the deeper freedom of owning your world. I’ve been able to create a store that feels like an installation, a Substack that feels like a concept shop of ideas, and a home in Italy where I dream of hosting residencies. That kind of self-designed life is rare, and it’s why I’ll never trade the mess.
Also, because at this point I don’t know if I even have the skills to work for someone else…so truly, there is no plan B for me. I have to make this work for myself.
What I’ve Learned
Organization is survival. Google Drive, using my Planner, slack, obsessive lists, not glamorous, but necessary.
Scaling isn’t always success. Bigger isn’t better if it burns you out. Cutting back can be brilliant. I don’t miss the days where I only had zoom meetings from 9-5.
Hire carefully. The right person amplifies your vision; the wrong one drains it. TRUST ME. I am STILL trying to recover from those mistakes.
Rituals are non-negotiable. Journaling, taking a bath, taking time to not work. These moments are fuel, not indulgence.
Remember why you started. I go back to those first orders, those first handwritten notes. Connection, not growth, was always the point.
Remember no one knows your story better than you. Don’t second guess yourself because you think you don’t have enough education, leadership skills, etc. No one knows your brand better than you. Make sure you don’t forget that and let other people tell your story.
Being your own boss is not a straight climb. It’s a looping dance of growth, contraction, reinvention, and a lot of survival (A LOT). Some days you’ll feel like Armani, building a legacy with elegance and control. Other days you’ll feel like you’re duct-taping it all together. Both are valid. Both are part of it.
The slippery slope is thinking that slowing down means failure. The truth is, scaling back is survival. Reinvention is resilience and personal growth. Struggle is a sign you’re in the arena, not outside of it (something I need to remind myself often).
Armani once said, “I always did it my way.” That’s the gift of being your own boss: building something that is undeniably yours, messy and magnificent. If you’re in it — if you’re up late with invoices, or watching someone’s face light up in your store — you’re already doing what most people are too scared to try.
And giving yourself a chance in this weird ass world is worth everything, isn’t it?
- XO G
Explore more from my studio:
The Planner by Studio Noto — A tactile roadmap for the life you're shaping.
Things I make to make you feel great — Wearable, burnable pieces of the world I’m building.
Creative Consulting + Direction — Built my own brand. I can help you shape yours.
Find me here too! : Instagram @glorianoto and @studionoto.world