Well, good day to you. This is Allyson Scammell. And today we're talking about a hugely important topic to me personally, and that is entrepreneurial burn out. For so long. my journey to grow a thriving business, I busted my butt to do just that. Grow a thriving business, early mornings, late nights, weekends, holidays.
[00:00:27] You name it. Anytime I had it spare second, I was working on a new opt in or a social media post or fiddling with my Facebook ads. T en Lo and behold, all the work putting in, started to pay off and my business, I started to really grow in a way that felt great. And that was great, right? Time to celebrate.
[00:00:47] Yes. Yes, it was. And I was also severely burned out. So what commenced next was my journey to grow a thriving business without burning out. And today we're exploring why entrepreneurial burnout is not just bad for you, t's terrible for business, my top tips to prevent or manage and how to use entrepreneurial burnout to your advantage, We'll end on another challenge that will have you immediately dropping any unnecessary weight you may be carrying around for your business.
[00:01:25] So you can count on your business to give you energy deposits and not withdrawals. See you're going to want to stick around until the end. Welcome to she grows a podcast for soul guided women entrepreneurs, ready to be seen and get fully booked using their unique genius. And to voice and spirit guides each week, we'll explore how to create offerings based on what you do best.
[00:01:52] So you can have a wait list of ideal clients and bring in continuous income. I'm your host. Allyson Scammell. Let's get growing.
[00:02:11] Well, Hey, there, she grows nation. That is the name of this sisterhood, this global sisterhood we're creating of soul guided entrepreneurs. And today we're exploring a topic that is quite near and dear to my heart because I've suffered from it for so many years, really years since then I started my business and that is entrepreneurial burnout.
[00:02:35] Let's just call it E B O for short. And I think nearly every entrepreneur has suffered from Ebo at least once, if not many times on their path, because I know I have. So what is Ebo entrepreneurial burnout? Anyway, I define Ebo as the point in time when your business has exhausted you so completely, you feel unable to motivate yourself to continue on.
[00:03:03] You have lost that natural motivation. That you have when your business is exciting and you're full of energy, Ebo comes as a result of repeatedly overdoing it. And it's that point when it all catches up to you? It very much makes me think of that amazing quote from Rumi. Never give from the depths of your well, but from your overflow.
[00:03:32] So when you are to the point of Ebo, you are giving from the depths of your well, your tank is empty and you are just doing whatever you can to push yourself, to show up for your clients and customers. And because you're here and you're a soul guided entrepreneur. Your clients are soul clients. They are really connected.
[00:03:59] You energetically. And if you're giving from an empty tank and empty, well, they will feel that they might not know. They might not know your burnout, but on some level, they're going to feel this emptiness from you. And you're still going to deliver the goods and it's still going to be a positive exchange, but it won't be like what it could have been had your.
[00:04:28] Well been overflowing and you're giving to your client from this naturally motivated, energized Lee enlivened and Bolden lit up place of overflow that will hit your clients. It will just be like an energetic hug of service, love, connection and transformation. You'll be giving them. This is why Ebo is not just bad for you and uncomfortable, and just sort of sucks for you as the entrepreneur being completely burned out.
[00:05:07] It really is bad for business because your client no, on some level and they might not be able to name it, but they do know. And over time it's going to negative impact your business while giving from the overflow, creating from the overflow, being in service from the overflow is going to have the opposite effect.
[00:05:28] Your clients are going to feel that overflow and be that much more likely to hire you again. Give amazing testimonials and serve as a great referral to more and more clients. So before I get into the top tips to prevent or manage burnout, I just have to share some of the wonderful stories from my own journey.
[00:05:50] I was just really so seeds. I think that's the best word for it. I was so seized with growing a, what I define as a successful business. And of course, success always comes from your own definition of it. So I had a definition of success for my business that I really wanted to achieve. I want to do, to realize, and I really overdid it.
[00:06:15] I repeatedly over did it to get to that point of success and it caught up to me. I remember hiding from my husband who got so tired of me reaching for my laptop at any in between moment. So whenever there was a pause in the day or a transition, or there was a spare moment, I was grabbing my laptop, grabbing my phone, to work on an email, to do social media posts.
[00:06:45] And he just got so sick of it. I literally started hiding from him. I would grab my laptop and go into the guest bedroom and shut the door and do whatever it is I wanted to do. And then quickly come out. I was at, I was just here doing the dishes, I wasn't working on my business.
[00:07:02] Yes. And then I discovered my human design type and I am a projector and projectors are designed to create for about four hours a day. And if we are working more or creating more towards something, say building a business for more than four hours a day consistently over time, we will burn out. And I started to look back at my life and my stuff, 17 years working in government and going.
[00:07:30] And to work at an office for, long stretches of time during the day. And I realized that I had been burned out for years and years of my adult life. So this just wasn't something that popped up as an entrepreneur. It's something that had been with me, but now that I was an entrepreneur, I couldn't just force my way through, like I could in government and just show up and get a paycheck.
[00:07:54] I mean, I could show up exhausted. As a government worker and still do a good job and earn my wages. As a business owner, if I showed up exhausted, my clients felt it and it reflected poorly on my business and could cost me business. So it was a huge wake up point for me that I had to learn to manage this.
[00:08:17] And I do think that entrepreneurial burnout is something we manage because here's the deal. Even when you get to that point where you have a lot of your business figured out and you have referrals coming in, and things are feeling easeful with the business, there's going to be a launch. You're going to want to write a book.
[00:08:33] You're going to want to design a new program. You're wanting, you're going to want to do something different, right? And new, and it's going to take extra time. It's going to take extra hours. You're going to have to learn how to do it. You're going to have to pivot your business. And in those times of pivoting and transitioning and trying something new and learning curves, you're going to be working more hours at your business and more prone to burnout.
[00:08:58] So that's why I really see Ebo as something we manage and it's definitely something I have to manage every week, every month that I'm in business. And the more that I manage it, the absolutely hands down, the more joyful the experience is the better I show up in my business. The more I look forward to it.
[00:09:21] And to be honest, the more I love it. And isn't that one of the biggest reasons we all start our businesses because we want to love it. Yeah. We want to create, we want to be in service to others, but we just, we want to show up every day for work, doing something we love and loving that thing we do. And managing burnout is going to help you find that place and stay in that place.
[00:09:47] So I'm going to offer you my top four tips and I'm telling you people, these tips are tried and true. This is legitimately what I do to manage my burnout and these four tips work. So listen up y'all. Tip number one: to manage your EBO, your entrepreneurial burnout, and that is, get some unscheduled time on your calendar.
[00:10:12] So if you work in the service based business and you have clients, block out times on your calendar, that your clients can not get onto those times! And those times are for you to create, those times are for self care, those times are for whatever you feel like doing on that day in that moment. And with the goal of, one day a week unscheduled! And some of you might be saying, "What do you mean one day a week unscheduled?"
[00:10:46] I mean that you devote one day, let's say Fridays for me it's Fridays. Every Friday, I have an unscheduled. I try not to have any todos. I try to get all my client emails for the week done by close of business Thursday. I try to have as clean of a slate as possible on Fridays to do whatever the heck I want.
[00:11:10] And I'm Friday. Yeah. I usually do client emails and I do some work stuff, but I'm out in nature. I'm getting massage. I'm doing some creative writing for my business. Whatever it is. I feel like doing on Fridays. I do. And it took me a long time years even to work up to the point where I could take that one day, because when you're first building your business, there's so much to do.
[00:11:37] There's so much to learn. I launched my business full time when I was four months pregnant. So I grew my business and my baby at the same time. So I had a lot on my plate. Juggling. A lot of things, just like you are. I'm sure. So, if you feel like you just couldn't take a day right now, an unscheduled day, just to do whatever it is you want then honor that make it a goal that you're going to work up to and start with 15 minutes.
[00:12:03] So with an hour, start with two hours, block them off on your calendar. And nothing goes in there. Nothing goes in there except for when that time arrives. It's you in the moment doing whatever your heart is calling you to do. Let's move on to tip number two, to help you manage E B O that is to book self care in advance.
[00:12:27] So if you like to get a massage for self care, and I know some of this is really affected because of the pandemic and yeah. a lot of things we used to do are, you can't do now or it's difficult or whatever, but, if you can get a massage or get your hair done or get acupuncture or whatever it is you do, or maybe there's some stuff you can do virtually.
[00:12:50] Book it in advance. So book it in two, three weeks from now, get it in your calendar in advance because when it's there, you see it there and you start to really honor it. It is there, it is in my calendar. I'm going to build my week around that massage that I've had booked for three weeks. And then you are more likely to honor that commitment to yourself and keep that commitment because if you say, well, I really love to get a massage this week and if I get all my work done, I'll try to find them as soon as that's available on Friday, I'll call around.
[00:13:26] And if I find a masseuse that does have availability, I will take it then. So that's how you approach it. You will never, ever get a massage because you'll never, ever really feel as if the work is completely done. Okay. And I'm going to get to that in a second, but if it's been on your calendar, it becomes as the French say a fait accompli.
[00:13:46] So it's like, it's already happened. You have no option, but to accept it, but to do that self care thing for you, that massage, that acupuncture, that meeting with your astrologer, whatever it is, that thing that's gonna help you fill your well, fill your cup so you can really give from the overflow. And that's what we're trying to do here. Onto tip number three, to manage E B O the real boundaries around your time.
[00:14:22] Now I know you've heard it before the whole boundary thing, but I'm going to get really specific here. And I have a hunch that you might not be doing this. So putting real boundaries around your time, what does that mean? First? It starts with your work hours, getting crystal clear about what your work hours are and up holding them.
[00:14:45] Informing your clients when your work hours are and not ever answering an email or responding to a phone call outside of those hours, unless you work in emergencies, it's by an exception situation for those very rare emergencies that happen, but they don't happen often. So let's say you decide, I really want to work Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
[00:15:12] You have to commit to it for yourself first. No client is going to honor those times unless you honor it first. And that means when 1:00 PM rolls around you put your phone away, you close your laptop. you step away and say, okay, for the next, from 1:00 PM. Now until 9:00 AM tomorrow morning, I'm not going to work.
[00:15:36] I'm going to unplug from my business. I'm not going to respond to emails. I'm not going to post on social media, unless you're in a moment and you're feeling the inspiration. Yes, that's fine. But generally speaking, you are honoring those hours and not working. During your off time, that is so important.
[00:16:01] And that, for me, that's not something that I just did overnight. I had to train myself. I really had to train myself to stop working during my non-business hours and because we're entrepreneurs and we don't have a boss telling us when we need to show up for a business. And when we don't, you have to be your own boss and you have to tell yourself when to be at work and when not to be at work.
[00:16:33] Okay. So if you haven't yet, Decide, get really crystal clear about what your work hours are. Write them down and know that because you're the boss. You can always shift them, but you'll never really know what you want your work hours to be until you test it. So test a range of work hours for a week. See how it feels.
[00:16:57] If it feels good, keep it, if it needs to be adjusted, adjust it, but all always honor it. Okay. The other important part of putting real boundaries around your time is getting very clear about how many clients you can have in a week. How many. Podcast episodes or blog posts, you can write like how much you can really do in a week.
[00:17:23] So start with the big things. If you're having a service based business, start with how many clients you can legitimately have in a week to maintain that feeling of giving from the overflowing cup, not from the depths of the well, right. That's what we're looking for. How and how many of all, how much. And how much of all the other stuff you can do that you do grow your business.
[00:17:50] So whether it's Facebook lives or social media posts or podcast episodes or whatever it is, you do decide how much of that you can do. To continue to give from an overflowing cup and try to maintain that. And especially on the bigger things, the bigger ticket items that you have to do in your business, that requires more of your energy.
[00:18:13] So for me, I'm very clear about. That. So for me and my business, the things that require the most energy are client sessions, classes, podcast episodes, and Facebook lives. So I know my limits with those things. I know for me to show up at my best with my cup overflowing. Ideally, I'm only doing one podcast episode a week.
[00:18:38] I'm not recording two or certainly not three. Don't have more than six one On one clients. So for you, that might be, you might be thinking, Oh, well, that's not very many, but I'm a projector and my sessions are deeply energetic. Like I go, I connect in deep. I hold a ton of space. So when I start getting into seven, eight, nine client sessions and I've had weeks where I've had 15 client sessions, I am definitely getting into the depths of my well.
[00:19:09] I start to really burn out and listen, how did I know that? How did I learn that by burning out? So go ahead, test your limits. That's how you know, and then once you identify your limits, set up your systems, set up your schedule, manage your business in a way that you don't ever go over your limits ever go over your limits.
[00:19:33] And that is putting real boundaries around your time. All right, guys, are you listening? Are you listening? Pay attention? This tip number four is true gold it is solid gold to help you to manage your burnout. Okay. Tip number four is to notice if there are any loops playing, what does that mean? It means that you've.
[00:20:01] Have unscheduled time in your calendar. You've booked self care advance. You've put real boundaries around your time or on your work hours, about how many clients you want in a week, et cetera, and your stuff. So burnt out. If that is the case, you likely have a loop playing. That means that let's say you like to work till 4:00 PM in the afternoon, shut everything down.
[00:20:25]you start making dinner for the family. You start focusing on the household, other things. Maybe even you're doing something for self care, whatever you're doing, non-business stuff, but there's an unconscious loop playing in your brain and your subconscious that say you should be working. You didn't get that stuff done.
[00:20:46] You should respond to that client email. You're on the hook for your client success. Yes. So you better really show up for your business because if they don't succeed, you fail. These are some of the loops that I've heard that I've had in my life. And I've heard from clients. So there's a sub conscious loop.
[00:21:09] It's a thought it might not even be a thought you're realizing, you're thinking, but it's a loop that's playing over and you know what that loop does. It drains you, it exhausts you. So you want to notice if there is a loop playing and you want to get rid of that loop, I'm going to give you a big loop that I had playing.
[00:21:33] That was absolutely exhausting. nd my loop was what I had just mentioned earlier. I'm on the hook for my client's success. So that loop was playing in the evenings. When I was with my daughter while I was sleeping on the weekends, I had all my boundaries set up, but that loop was just giving me anxiety and this feeling of pressure that I really needed to show up and do my absolute best for my business, because I.
[00:22:04] Had to ensure that my clients succeeded. That was part of what they invested in when they invested in me as a coach. But here's the truth of it. Your clients, success or failures have nothing to do with you. You cannot claim responsibility for a success or a failure. You don't have control over that. The only thing you can control is you showing up.
[00:22:31] For your clients as your very best self. And you do that when you show up and give and are in service to them from the overflow. So getting back to my example of the loop. So my loop was something like I'm responsible for my client's successes. I got very specific about what emotions that loop was triggering.
[00:22:56] So that triggered anxiety, fear, stress, pressure, exhaustion, of course. And then I gave myself permission to feel those f for 90 seconds. I brought those feelings to the surface of my skin and I immersed myself in the feelings of those emotions. And then once the emotional wave started to come down, it's deep breaths.
[00:23:22] Deep breaths release. And then you look within and see if you can see, hear sense, or have an inner knowing that you have some sort of chord or rope or string. Attaching you to this loop. And even if you're not sure, go ahead. Just for the purposes of the exercise and imagine that there is a cord connecting you to the loop and cut the cord.
[00:23:55] Just cut it. Imagine a sharp scissors, a machete, a blow torch, whatever you need to cut that cord every once in a while, it's quiet, a powerful loop that you've had probably for lifetimes. And it's not going to want to cut. So just cut as much as you can. Most of the time, you probably will be able to cut the cord completely.
[00:24:20] And just notice after you cut that cord, how much lighter you feel? Ah, that's the process of letting go of those loops. And when you let go of the loops, your energy just gets lighter. You fill back up with life force, ah, feel yourself floating farther and farther away from burnout because you are getting more and more energized as you're.
[00:24:47] Well, Fills back up. So that tip number four is an important one. And that's something that you should be checking in all the time on a week, the basis. Do I have a loop playing in my business that I don't even know about, or I'm not mindful of that's draining my energy. And if you do, it's getting specific about what the loop is saying.
[00:25:12] The emotions, the loop is triggering, feeling those fields for about 90 seconds, then some deep breaths into the lower part of the belly release, and cut. That cord. All right. The last thing I wanted to explore today is how to use EBO to your advantage. So let's really get to the heart of what Ebo is.
[00:25:38] Ebo is directly linked to your shadow. There is a specific reason why we overdo it in our business and why we get to the point of burnout. And the reason why is because there's a shadow underneath there pushing you to overdo it similar to the loop, we just explored your shadow is talking to you. And your shadow is saying things like.
[00:26:10] You have to overdo it. Otherwise you may fail. You have to overdo it otherwise. Others may see you as a failure, you have to overdo it, or you won't have enough money to pay the bills. So your shadow are your fears speaking to you. And it's these fears that push us into this mode of overdoing. And it's the overdoing that leads to burnout.
[00:26:39] So when I went into my shadow and I went really deep in and I said, why am I overdoing it? What is my shadow saying, that's causing me to overdo it in my business. And it got down to this. You don't deserve to be happy. And I wonder if you're not relating to that. I think that a lot of our shadows have this tone, this thought.
[00:27:03] Of you don't deserve to be happy. So, yes, my shadow was saying you can go ahead and have a thriving business. You worked hard. Okay. But you don't deserve to be happy in the process. So go ahead and burn yourself out so you can have the thriving business, but feel exhausted all the time. So this is what we want to do with our shadow.
[00:27:24] We want to dance with our shadow a little bit on that. So first it's about identifying the thought, what is the thought that your shadow you're hearing from your shadow? What is it saying that causes you to overdo it to work when you're not supposed to be working to cancel your self care time? What is that thought or thoughts?
[00:27:47] There certainly may be more than one. If you have more than one thought, I start by identifying the thought that feels most painful. Okay. And once you get the most painful thought, I want you to just close your eyes, take a deep breath and imagine there's something inside of you saying that thought and just allow that thing, that person.
[00:28:12] That animal, that entity, whatever it is to present itself and tell you the thought. So, when I got back to my example, you don't deserve to be happy. And I imagined who was saying it to me inside of myself. I got a vision of me. In my late twenties, early thirties, when I was really unhappy and I was overdrinking and overeating and overdoing everything.
[00:28:40] And just to have all these terrible bad habits. And I was really unhappy, happy, and I had this vision of myself at that time in my life saying you don't deserve to be happy. And she was the metaphor or the representation of my shadow. So once you identify the avatar that inside of you, that's telling you your shadow thought, the next step is to speak to that avatar.
[00:29:08] Be friended, ask her to help you turn this around. So back to my example of me in my late twenties, unhappy telling me I don't deserve to be happy. The first thing I did is go to that girl. And I said to her, will you be part of me? Will you become part of me? And she willingly accepted and she said, yes, I will become part of you.
[00:29:38] So I imagined her not being a separate entity inside of me, but joining me, becoming me and she readily agreed. And once she became part of me, I said, what advice do you have for me? How can I stop this thought "you don't deserve to be happy?" so it can stop triggering me to overwork, help me to turn this around.
[00:30:05] And the advice I got from her was actually very specific and it gets back to my four tips that I offered you a few minutes ago. She said book one thing a week just for you. So whether that be a massage or an acupuncture appointment or a hair appointment or something like that, an appointment outside of the home where somebody else is taking care of you and do that once a week.
[00:30:33] And then she said, You need some form of exercise or movement in nature each and every day. Now these are things I already knew, and these are things that I have practiced in the past, but I've also let, because I'm a human fall off of my agenda and that's what happens. Right. We get busy. You go into a launch.
[00:30:56] Something happens. You have a big life transition and those things that you are vigilant about doing for self care, et cetera, fall off your agenda. Okay. She was reminding me what I already knew to be true, so I could prioritize these things one appointment a week just for me, and some form of exercise or movement in nature each and every day.
[00:31:19] And these are the things that will remind me that. Yes. Okay. Indeed. I deserve to be happy. And that will help manage my burnout so I can stay in that space of giving from an over flowing. Well, so yeah, to recap that it's identifying the thought coming from your shadow, that's triggering you to overdo it and overwork.
[00:31:46] And then asking that thought to a peer who inside of you is saying that thought and when some sort of avatar person or animal or object appears befriend that person, that thing inside of you, that avatar to become part of you and ask their opinion of what you can do specifically to help manage your burnout.
[00:32:13] My challenge for you this week is to see if there's a loop playing start with the loop. That's a little bit easier to start within the shadow. What is your loop saying with regards to your business that may be causing you to overwork? Can you identify the emotions that loop is triggering. Feel those emotions for around 90 seconds, deep breaths, then cut the cord to the loop in no time.
[00:32:44] You'll feel lighter and ready to work during work hours and not think about your business during all the non work hours. So you can really recharge. And if you do a loop check in once a week for the next six months, you will find that you are shedding so much unneeded weight that you're carrying around about your business.
[00:33:08] Weight of worries, weight of fears, because you just keep cutting loop after loop. And that's going to make you lighter and lighter and so much more. Energized and in such a better place to be in highest service, the highest good of your clients, and they will feel that and your business growth, joy and ease will reflect that.
[00:33:34] So dear friends, that is all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening and you're loving this episode. Go ahead and hit subscribe wherever it is you listen, and I'd be sorry. Oh, grateful. Like really grateful. Well for a rating and review, so more people can find us. And I'd love to know in your review, if you could give me in a couple sentences, what specifically have you received from this podcast?
[00:34:01] How has it specifically benefited you in some way, shape or form? Truly, I would be so grateful for that. And if you'd like help calling into your ideal people and ideal clients, then download my free PDF guide that reveals the five visibility blockers that are preventing your eye deal clients from finding you.
[00:34:24] Let me tell you something, your offerings are way too important to remain invisible. So this guide will help you be seen and get fully booked. You can find the link to download the guide on my website, AllysonScammell.com as well as in the show notes .