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July 17, 2025 • 16 mins

🔗 Mentioned on this Episode: Show Notes 👈


As a founder, you hold more than just the logistics of your business—you hold your clients’ dreams, hopes, and emotional investment. In this solo episode, we explore the often-unspoken emotional weight founders carry and how to protect your energy across the seasons of growth.


From the spark of a new idea to the complexity of scaling, we walk through the distinct energetic demands of each phase—idea, startup, launch, maintenance, growth, and scale—and offers a grounded strategy for navigating them with clarity and care. You'll hear how one boundary-setting moment changed the trajectory of my business, and how you can implement the same in your own leadership.


If you’re craving a way to grow your business without burning out—and still make the impact you’re here for—this episode is your reminder: sustainable success is built from the inside out. Learn how to align your actions with your energy and access my signature Seasons Success Method to guide your next step.



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Episode Transcript

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Sheila (00:01):
Most people think burnout only happens when you're
doing too much, but I've foundthat burnout often hits founders
who care deeply, who hold spacefor clients' dreams, even
through their products.
In this episode, I'll show youhow protecting your energy
across every phase of business,from idea to scale, is the edge
most don't talk about, and howit helps you lead with more

(00:24):
power, presence and peace.
Hi, welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sheila Botelho.
I'm committed to helping youreconnect to your purpose,
elevate your wellbeing and buildyour version of a happy,
successful life.
You know, I don't think we talkoften enough about how much of
our clients' hopes and dreams weactually hold.

(00:46):
When we bring a product orservice into the world, we just
think about it as business,business as usual and reaching
out with something that's goingto help the world but also is
going to grow a really beautifulbusiness and, as a result,
create an ecosystem for otherpeople to create more beauty in
their lives.
Whether you have been coachingyourself or you're launching

(01:08):
something scalable, like somekind of online program or
membership, or perhaps you havea product that you've developed
and you're taking to market, itreally doesn't matter, because
on the other side of that offerthere's a person, a person full
of dreams, handing over theirmoney and their trust in
exchange for the possibilitythat this might help them feel

(01:30):
better, do better or maybe justlive better, and that's a really
big deal.
Let's really think about that.
We have businesses because itlights us up to do the thing
that is so important to us to do, and it's because it's linked
to the transformation on theother side, and that
transformation is connected tosomebody else, another human

(01:51):
being, and if you're listeningto this podcast, I know you feel
the weight of that Because youcare.
You're a founder who wants yourpeople to win, and the thing is
, caring is a really beautifulthing, but without boundaries it
can lead you straight toburnout.
I've seen it over and overagain Founders with the best

(02:14):
intentions who pour so much ofthemselves into their work that
they start losing track of theirown wellbeing, and it's so easy
to justify.
I mean, I've been there myself,especially in the earlier
stages, when everything feelshigh stakes, when every single
client, every dollar, every DM,every testimonial matters

(02:35):
exceedingly.
Let me say this clearly, thoughthe more you give without a
structure to hold you, thefaster your energy will leak,
because we're not just buildingbusinesses here we're building
lives, and those lives needrhythms.
So let's talk through thephases of business through the

(02:59):
lens of energetic sustainabilityand intentional growth, of
energetic sustainability andintentional growth.
I'm going to start with the ideaphase.
This is the really excitingphase where creativity is
flowing so deeply and richly,and that's usually a place where
you need the space foreverything to land.
Spaciousness is anon-negotiable.

(03:27):
In fact.
You can't rush the download.
The best concepts come whenyou're not neck deep in
execution mode.
So this is when you protectwhite space, you take long walks
, you talk to people who get it,you reach outside of your
industry to get inspiration fromothers and you really let the
vision arrive.
That idea phase oh my goodness,it's such a beautiful place to

(03:48):
be and it could just be mymanifesting generator spirit
where I love ideas.
Raise your hand if you are oneof those people too.
I think that's really.
That is the business person.
That is the founding theme.
Really.
It is the visionary in all ofus that wants to bring forth
this new idea, and it can be theone that can take too long to

(04:13):
come to fruition because we wantto perfect it, or it can
actually move along prettyswiftly when we get the support
we need.
But the key is having the spaceto listen we need.
But the key is having the spaceto listen, listen to what your
idea is and ask enough questionsto listen to the people you're
wanting to serve, because whatthey have to say is going to

(04:36):
directly impact the business youcreate and this phase doesn't
have to take a really long time.
I mean, I often think about anauthor friend of my family's
growing up who took years andyears writing this literary
classic.
At least it was a classic inhis mind.
What ended up happening was hespent so many years writing this

(04:58):
book and it went out into theworld and I don't know how many
copies it sold because the wholetime was really focused on just
the product itself, the bookitself, and I don't know how
much feedback or resonance hegot from the people around him
while he was writing this book.
It was really important to himto write, so I applauded that.

(05:20):
But if you're wanting to dosomething for profit, you also
need to make sure that there'sgoing to be people on the other
end who actually want what youare creating, so that white
space is good for your ideas toland, but also to be able to tap
into the people who willpossibly be purchasing it.
On the other end, the nextphase is the startup focus phase

(05:44):
.
So you're building, you'rerefining, you're likely testing
things before they're perfect,which, of course, that is the
move I just want you to know.
You got to sell it scrappy,invite feedback and let it
evolve, and I think too many ofus can be so stuck in wanting it
to be absolutely the way wewant it to be when we launch it

(06:05):
that sometimes it can actuallyslow the launch process and also
really disconnect us from ouractual clients, who are waiting
on the other end.
What you need here, though,through this whole time as
you're letting this evolve, isenergetic containment.
You need boundaries around yourtime, around your energy and,

(06:27):
yes, even around yourperfectionism, like giving
yourself an amount of time toput something together before it
goes out, but know that youhave a deadline there, so that
you're actually going to getthis thing to market.
Only pour energy into thethings that are directly tied to
monetization or validation atthis stage, and this is the time
where you're letting people inother parts of your life know

(06:50):
that you are in a very, veryfocused phase of your business
that needs a lot of yourattention.
That doesn't mean it's going tobe the only thing you do,
however.
It's going to be the onlyprofessional thing you're really
focused on, and the rest ofyour time may need to be spent
in solitude or being able tojust take care of yourself in
the containers you have that arethere to support you, like

(07:11):
really close friendships orfamily relationships, taking
care of yourself by working outand eating well.
Getting enough sleep, like yoursleep, becomes even more
important at this phase, becausesometimes it's the hardest time
to sleep.
Your ideas are flowing throughyour mind and all of the things
that you need to do at any giventime, but you need to free up
space on your calendar fromother commitments.

(07:32):
It's a time, truly, when you'reletting those loved ones in
your life know that you'rereally focused right now and
that you'll make sure that youhave something on the calendar
once you're through this busyphase.
The next phase is the launchphase, so it's go time, and this
is where delayed gratificationreally becomes your friend.
There might be things you'dlove to be doing fun projects,

(07:55):
social outings or even creativetangents that don't tie into
your offers at all, and this isthe moment to hold the line.
A strong launch often requirestemporary sacrifices.
That doesn't mean it needs tobe unhealthy.
It just means you need to bereally strategic with your time.
But please always remember tobe building in the restoration

(08:19):
period during and afterward,because you need to keep your
energy fresh, and once you'vecome through the launch phase is
the maintenance phase.
So now you've got somethingthat's working Congratulations.
It's so great.
But maintaining it doesn't meanjust keeping it on autopilot.
It means really tending towhat's being created, like
serving the clients and reallygetting feedback and being there

(08:41):
for them and being on top ofthe delivery process right.
So think client delivery, userfeedback, system refinement.
It's also where I see foundersfinally exhale and sometimes
forget to breathe intentionally,so they want to just keep going
because, okay, now we got toreally keep going, going, going.
But this is the time where youcan book the trip, take a real

(09:03):
break, reconnect to your body.
This is a recalibration windowbecause, yes, your eyes are
fully on your business andhopefully you have a team there
starting to come and support youas well, but you need to refuel
in order to keep moving forward.
And then the growth phase comesalong.

(09:23):
So this is when you're addingteam, you're multiplying your
impact.
This can feel like a breather,also, because you're not doing
everything, but it also brings anew level of responsibility and
complexity, because you'reholding space not just for your
clients but for your team'senergy too.
So this is where leadershiphygiene is the order of the day.

(09:46):
Your nervous system becomes athermostat for the entire
business.
So, again, taking care of youis going to directly impact the
health and wellbeing of yourbusiness.
That's what my whole theory onself-care for business is all
about, because the health of thefounder is going to directly

(10:07):
impact the health of the entirebusiness and, frankly, as a
result, the health of the all ofthe clientele that you have.
The scale phase is one thatinvolves more people, more
visibility, more complexity, andhere's where I see founders
either thrive or flatline,because the support that got you

(10:28):
here is not going to take youto that next place.
This is where you need a biggercontainer.
You need more structure and,yes, even tighter boundaries
around your wellbeing.
We'll often see it with leaderswhere you see them having more
boundaries around their calendarwith who they have meetings
with, but they may still bespending many hours logging time

(10:52):
at the office or at thecomputer, when really what would
help them so much more is, inaddition to that, having more
time focused on their wellbeing,on those creative pursuits that
can actually open up newpathways in their mind of what's
possible.
Because you become theenergetic anchor, otherwise, of

(11:17):
something much bigger than you,right?
And so you want to make sureyou allow this to flow and
thrive and grow and you want tobe that North Star for the
business, but you don't want tobe holding it back from growth
because you're not ready andyou're too exhausted to really
move forward.
Let me tell you a quick story,so something a little different

(11:40):
from starting a really largebusiness.
I had a small business andearly on I gave everything.
I was showing up with my wholeheart every single time, and I
wanted my clients to win sobadly that I took on way more
responsibility for their successthan I ever should have.
And while it was coming fromlove, the boundaries were not

(12:03):
there, because I think lovewithout boundaries is truly a
fast track to depletion.
I mean, we see this in ourrelationships too, right?
So I remember this one momentso vividly Someone was asking me
to go beyond what I normallyoffered and I was really tired.
I felt stretched, but I alsodidn't want to disappoint them
and somehow, out of the middleof nowhere, I used this phrase.

(12:26):
It's my policy too, and I can'teven remember what the specific
thing was they were asking ofme, but basically that was my
way of saying no, we're notdoing that.
I didn't say no from a place offear.
I said it from a place ofclarity.
And you know what happened next.
The client respected it sodeeply In fact they thanked me.

(12:48):
They said I love that you havethat policy in place.
I'm going to create somethingsimilar for my business.
And it was one of the mostempowering moments of my early
career because I realized yourboundaries don't block people.
Your boundaries model what'spossible.
They teach your clients how tohold their own energy too.
And another story I'll sharefrom one of my clients in recent

(13:10):
years was a therapist who wasexpanding their practice and
they already were seeing a lotof clients and they realized in
order for them to really do thework that they wanted to do,
they needed to create adifferent model for how they ran
their practice.
They knew that they could bringon a whole series of other
therapists to basically licensetheir model of how they did

(13:34):
things, their methodology, butthey decided that was gonna be
too complex for them.
So they wanted to createsomething that was more of a
program that their clients coulduse in between and some
self-guided things, because theyreally felt that their method
was so impactful for theirclients.
They wanted to have it outthere into the world and they
were feeling really burnt out.
So they look for a differentway of delivering what they had

(13:58):
to offer, and that is anotheroption for how you can look at
your own bandwidth and reachmore people without expanding
the number of hours on yourcalendar.
And so what ended up happeningfor this client is they found
themselves being able to work inseasons and literally take
summers off, take more timeduring holidays with their

(14:21):
family, so that they couldreally serve those one-on-one
clients in the times where theywere directly working with them
with so much more grounding.
And so she was incredibly happythat she did this, because had
she not done it, she probablywould have burned out and maybe
left the career altogether.

(14:41):
When you look at burnout ratestherapy, coaching these are some
really high levels of burnoutthat people experience.
We often see it, obviously inthe medical community as a whole
and in certain types of workwhere people are giving so much
of themselves and they're beingneeded around the clock as well.
So I thought this was a reallybeautiful recalibration for this

(15:03):
person to be able to take backsome of their energy while still
helping with what was soempowering that they were doing
in the world.
So as you move through yourbusiness seasons whether you're
ideating, launching, scaling orsustaining remember every phase
requires a different level offocus.
Your energy is your greatestcurrency and the more you

(15:28):
protect it, the more you have togive.
It's really all about doingless of what drains you and more
of what aligns with you,because I've found a depleted
founder can't lead a thrivingbusiness, at least not for very
long, but a well-resourcedfounder creates legacies.

(15:48):
If you're nodding along andyou're ready to figure out which
season you're actually in rightnow and what you need most in
this phase, I invite you tocheck out the season success
method.
It's a powerful way toreconnect to your mission, map
your next move and create spaceto grow without running yourself
into the ground.
You can find the link in theshow notes and, as always, thank

(16:10):
you for listening, thank youfor caring, thank you for doing
the work that is impacting lives.
I'll see you on another episode.
Big blessings.
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