031 Boundaries, MS & Building a Business on Your Terms (with Stephanie Boyle)

The Invisible Illness Club | Chronic Illness, Auto Immune

Virtual assistant agency owner Stephanie Boyle shares how living with multiple sclerosis reshaped her work, motherhood, and mindset. We dig into boundaries without guilt, pacing work with alarms and self-check questions, co-parenting through flares, and starting a business small (on your body’s timeline). This one’s a masterclass in honoring limits without losing your ambition.

Key Topics

• The schedule that listens: using alarms and self-check prompts to pace work with MS
• Boundaries that stick (and why “no” often becomes a better “yes” later)
• Recovering people-pleasing: serving well without self-abandonment
• Parenting in a flare: resilience, honest language with kids, and asking for help
• Building a values-first business: starting with one client and growing sustainably
• Finding your people: support systems that celebrate your “no”
• Faith as a trust fall—releasing what you can’t control

Highlights & Takeaways

• “If I don’t take care of myself, I can’t please others.”
• Set expectations early: deadlines met, but on a spoon-friendly schedule.
• When guilt creeps in, remember a past boundary you kept—and how light you felt afterward.
• Compare less. Chronic illnesses—and capacities—are different in every body.
• Start small in business. Five hours a week can become forty.
• Choose community that congratulates your boundaries.

Quotable Moments

• “My faith is a trust fall. I’m trusting God will catch me.” — Stephanie Boyle
• “Hustle culture won’t get you there faster when your body needs slow.” — April Aramanda

Connect with Stephanie

• Work with By Friday
• Say hi on social:
  • Instagram: finished_byfriday
  • Facebook: assistancebyfriday

Connect with April / The Invisible Illness Club

• Newsletter: The Unseen Sisterhood
• Social Media:
  • Instagram: the_invisibleillnessclub
  • TikTok: theinvisibleillnessclub
• Need ops help? Tell Stephanie April sent you 💌