What Fantasy Fiction Taught Me About Building a Better Business

Are there any other business owners out there who find themselves completely enchanted by fantasy fiction?

I’m not just talking about the BookTok conversations around the latest Sarah J. Maas release, though I do love me some SJM. I mean the kind of reader who loves stepping into a fully imagined world, getting attached to fictional people with questionable decision-making skills, and occasionally looking up from a book wondering why reality does not include more cloaks, quests, or morally complicated fae.

I fell in love with fantasy fiction back in high school through J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth adventures. At the time, those books were an escape from the less-than-magical realities of being a chubby introvert in a world that did not quite know what to do with me.

What I did not realize then was that fantasy was doing more than helping me disappear for a while. It was teaching me how to imagine something different.

And that might be one of the most useful skills a business owner can have.

Decades later, I found myself rediscovering that teenage love of fantasy worlds, now with a generous side helping of fantasy romance. What once got me labeled as a nerd now somehow makes me trendy and cool, which is hilarious, because apparently all I had to do was wait long enough for the world to catch up.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized fantasy fiction has a lot to teach us about business, especially if we are building work that is meant to support our actual lives instead of swallowing them whole.

Fantasy teaches us to imagine a different world

Fantasy begins with the question, “What if?”

• What if magic existed?
• What if the smallest person in the room carried the most important burden?
• What if the old rules were wrong?
• What if the world could be remade?

That same kind of imagination matters in business.

Not because your client onboarding process needs a dragon, although how cool would that be? But because building a business requires you to imagine something beyond the default path.

You get to ask:

• What if work did not have to look the way I was taught?
• What if success did not require burnout?
• What if my business could be simpler?
• What if I built something around my strengths, energy, values, and real life?

So many of us start businesses because we want more freedom, but then we accidentally drag old work expectations with us. We recreate the urgency, the overgiving, the constant availability, and the belief that rest has to be earned.

Fantasy reminds us that the world we inherited is not the only world available.

Sometimes we get to build a new one.

Storytelling is not just for books

A good fantasy book pulls you in because the world feels alive. The characters want something. The stakes matter. The details connect. The story gives you a reason to care.

Business storytelling works the same way.

Your clients and customers do not just need to know what you do. They need to understand why it matters, how it helps them, and why your way of doing it feels different.

That does not mean turning your brand into something overly dramatic or complicated. It means being honest and clear about the story your business is inviting people into.

Are you helping them simplify?

Feel less overwhelmed?

Make a brave change?

Finally understand their tech?

Build a business that fits their life?

Your brand story helps people recognize themselves in your work. It gives them a way to say, “Yes, this is for me. This person understands the problem I’m trying to solve.”

That kind of connection matters more than clever marketing ever will.

The underdog story is powerful for a reason

Fantasy is full of underdogs.

The overlooked. The underestimated. The person who does not yet understand their own power. The one who has been told they are too small, too strange, too ordinary, too late, too much, or not enough.

That story resonates because so many of us know what it feels like.

Especially women business owners.

We have been told to be realistic. To be grateful. To play it safe. To stay small enough to be acceptable, but successful enough to be impressive, which is truly exhausting.

But business often asks us to reclaim the parts of ourselves we were taught to dismiss.

1. Our voice.
2. Our judgment.
3. Our creativity.
4. Our ability to make decisions.
5. Our right to want more than survival.

That does not mean every business owner needs to become the chosen one with a sword and a dramatic soundtrack. It means we are allowed to stop treating our own ideas like side characters.

Community matters

Fantasy creates fandoms because people love gathering around a world that means something to them.

The same thing happens in business.

You are not just selling a product or service. You are creating a point of connection. You are showing people what you believe, what you value, and what kind of experience they can expect when they enter your world.

That is true whether you are building a newsletter community, serving clients one-on-one, creating digital products, teaching workshops, or helping people finally untangle their tech stack without wanting to hurl their laptop into the sea.

People want more than a transaction. They want trust. They want to feel like they are in the right room.

That is why community-building matters. Not in a forced way, but in a real human way.

Your business becomes stronger when people feel seen, supported, and invited into something that actually matters to them.

Trends change, but your deeper work still matters

One of the funniest things about loving fantasy fiction is watching it move from “nerdy little corner of the bookstore” to full cultural phenomenon.

The thing that once made some of us feel odd now has entire online communities, midnight releases, collector editions, and people proudly discussing fictional kingdoms as if they have voting rights there.

Trends shift.

What is dismissed today may be wildly popular tomorrow.

Business works that way too.

Tools change. Platforms change. Social media changes. AI shows up and suddenly everyone is supposed to have a strategy, a workflow, and possibly a strong opinion about prompts before lunch.

But underneath all that change, the deeper work still matters.

• Can you solve a real problem?
• Can you communicate clearly?
• Can you build trust?
• Can you adapt without abandoning yourself?
• Can you create something useful, thoughtful, and sustainable?

Those skills do not go out of style just because the internet found a new shiny object to chase around the yard.

Joy is not a distraction from business

Fantasy also reminds me that joy matters.

Not as a reward after every task is done, because let’s be honest, every task is never done. The list simply grows like you’ve fed it Miracle-Gro.

Joy matters because it keeps us connected to ourselves.

When you are building a business, it is easy to get buried under strategy, content, client work, admin, tech, marketing, and the endless tiny decisions that come with being the person in charge.

But your interests, your curiosity, your creativity, and your weird little enthusiasms are not separate from your business. They are often part of what makes your work feel alive.

The things you love can teach you how you think and show you what kind of stories move you. They can remind you what you value while reconnecting you with the parts of yourself that are overworked and stressed.

And sometimes, yes, they can even help you see your business differently.

What fantasy helped me understand about business

Fantasy fiction taught me that the world as it is does not have to be the world as it stays.

Stories matter.

Underdogs are often carrying more power than anyone realizes.

Communities form around shared meaning.

Trends change, but the desire for connection, imagination, courage, and transformation does not.

And it reminded me that joy, creativity, and curiosity are not frivolous. They are fuel.

So if you are a fellow fantasy-loving business owner, maybe your current read is not just an escape. Maybe it is also reminding you of something important.

You are allowed to imagine a different kind of work and build a business that fits your life, and to stop treating your own dreams like impractical side quests.

Your next big business shift may not arrive with a prophecy, a glowing sword, or a raven tapping ominously at the window.

But it might start with one small question:

What if this could be different?

Ready to build a business that fits your real life?

If your business has started to feel more like a maze than a magical realm, it may be time to look at what is working, what is draining you, and what needs to shift.

You do not have to build your business around burnout, overcomplication, or everyone else’s version of success.

You can build work that supports your life, honors your strengths, and gives you room to breathe.

Click below to explore what that could look like.