Letting Go of the Old You to Lead What’s Next | EP 497

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If your business has been successful but something quietly feels… off, you’re not alone.

In this episode, I’m unpacking what it means when the version of your business that once lit you up starts feeling too small—and what to do when your growth isn’t visible on the surface yet. I’m sharing what can be an underlying reason seasoned founders stall, even with clear ideas, and the overlooked shift that can reignite your clarity, alignment, and momentum.

Whether you’re letting a new direction take shape behind the scenes, or trying to do too much out of fear of letting something go, this conversation will help you find the edge that leads to sustainable expansion. It’s time to stop looping—and start leading from your next level.

Text us! What landed for you from this episode?

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Episode Transcript

Sheila (00:01):
So many people I work with are quietly craving their
next evolution, but they keepstalling, stuck in a version of
themselves that no longer feelsaligned.
Today, I'm sharing some of theshifts and support that I offer
my clients to help them releasewhat's no longer true so they
can step into the business andlife their future self is ready
to lead.
If you've been sensingsomething new emerging, but

(00:24):
you're still holding on to arole that's run its course, this
conversation is for you,because the version of you that
brought you here isn't the onewho will take you where you're
meant to go next.
Hi, welcome to the Connect withSheila Botelho podcast.
I'm committed to helping youreconnect to your purpose,

(00:44):
elevate your wellbeing and buildyour version of a happy,
successful life.
Today we are unpacking what itactually feels like when the
business you built starts tofeel too small for who you've
become and what to do, when youknow it's time to lead
differently.
Let's talk about something Isee happening all the time in
the entrepreneurial space,especially with people who've

(01:10):
been doing this for a while.
They're not brand new, notstill figuring out the basics,
but seasoned business owners,people who've built something
that's worked, probably evenreally well, and yet now they
find themselves standing at thisthreshold where something feels
off, not broken, but not fullyalive either.
It's that sense that whatyou've been known for, what's
been bringing in the money, whatpeople recognize you for, might

(01:33):
no longer be the thing thatreflects who you are now.
And not because you're confusedor inconsistent, but because
you've simply grown, and thatgrowth isn't always visible on
the surface yet.
But because you've simply grownand that growth isn't always
visible on the surface yet, whatused to feel aligned and
exciting might start to becomefeeling heavy or even boring, or

(01:57):
like you're dragging it alongbehind you instead of it pulling
you forward.
And instead of making the pivotor choosing the next thing, or
just saying it out loud, you endup looping or just saying it
out loud.
You end up looping, editing theidea, rewriting the sales page,
sitting on that podcast draft,tweaking the color palette,
working with a new coach onmessaging, when the real thing

(02:21):
that's off is not the words,it's that you're trying to speak
a new vision with an old voice,and I get how hard that is to
even admit, because when you'vebuilt something successful, it
can feel reckless to change it,like you're betraying this past
version of you who fought sohard to get here, like you're
risking the team that depends onyou, the clients who love what
you've built, the reputationyou've spent years earning, love

(02:46):
what you've built, thereputation you've spent years
earning.
But here's what I think mostfounders don't often say out
loud enough you can't keepbuilding forward.
If you're consistently lookingback for validation.
You'll end up playing small inthe name of consistency, when
what your business actuallyneeds from you is your integrity
and your willingness to tellthe truth about what's next.

(03:06):
And that doesn't mean youburned it all down.
That doesn't mean you walk awayfrom the success you've created
, but it might mean you needspace and clarity and, most of
all, capacity.
One of the things I seehappening a lot is people
thinking they should be ready toshift just because the idea is

(03:27):
clear, the new offer, theevolved brand, the deeper body
of work.
But their body is not ready yet.
Their nervous system is stillcatching up to what their mind
already decided three months ago, and it's no wonder they're
stalling or procrastinating orquestioning themselves in
circles.
This is one of the first thingsI look for when I'm supporting

(03:49):
a client.
It's not just what their nextoffer or structure or visibility
plan is, but what kind ofenergetic space they have to
hold what they're moving into,because if your calendar is
packed with calls that drain youwith projects that should have
been closed out six months agoand conversations that you've

(04:11):
been avoiding, there is no spacefor something new to land.
It's like trying to renovate ahouse you're still living in.
You need time out of the space,you need perspective, you need
to see things from the outsidein again, and in fact, my
sister-in-law is doing just that.

(04:32):
She has all of this renovationwork happening in our house and
she's about to go stay in anAirbnb for a couple of weeks.
Because she's smart, she knowsin order to really keep moving
through her life and feel goodand not feel overwhelmed, she
needs to be in a clean, quietspace.
And so imagine if you're notdoing this in your business,

(04:54):
right, you're trying to renovatethe whole thing that you're
still living in.
Now this is what happened withone of my clients.
She's built a beautifulbusiness, very successful,
successful systems, running teamin place, and she kept
rewriting the plan for a newsuite of offers that she wanted
to launch, and it was trulybeautiful work, deeply needed in

(05:14):
the world.
But every time she got close toputting it out there, something
stopped her.
And what finally moved theneedle was when she had some
beautiful people in her life say, hey, we're going away this
weekend and you're coming, andyou can't say no.
And so she did.
She took advantage of it.

(05:35):
It was really a hard decisionfor her to actually leave.
She felt like how could Ipossibly take this time away?
But she did, and in thatcompletely different environment
, off-grid, no business talk,like these were people she did
not do business with.
She went away with.
There were no tasks, she justhad space.
And in that space she realizedthe reason she hadn't launched

(06:00):
wasn't confusion, it wasactually grief.
She realized she needed to saygoodbye to a version of herself
she hadn't fully acknowledgedwas done.
She hadn't failed.
This former version of her wasnot irrelevant.
She'd just completed that cycleand she needed to hear her own

(06:23):
voice again, without thepressure of needing to produce
something.
And I know for so many people,listening that is what's missing
.
That kind of reset doesn't justhelp your business, it realigns
your inner compass.
That's why I created my VIPdays.
These are immersive,intentional spaces where you

(06:44):
step outside of your normalenvironment, mentally and
sometimes physically, and youreconnect with what actually
matters Not the busy work, notthe shoulds, but the deeper why
behind your work, your voice andyour wellbeing.
It's high-level strategy, yes,but woven together with

(07:04):
reflection, perspective shifts,nervous system support and time
to move through the decisionsthat keep getting put off.
You'd be surprised how thisexperience can be the place
where a big decision is made,not just talking about it, but
actually doing it Making a phonecall, ending a contract,

(07:25):
initiating a new collaboration,sending the message that's been
sitting in drafts for threeweeks or even months.
That level of implementation isonly possible when you feel
safe enough to stop pretendingand you have support in the room
while you're moving throughwhat can often feel like a mini

(07:45):
identity death.
That's what real transformationrequires, and no one should
have to do it alone.
One of the clients I work withwas in this exact spot
profitable business, consistentgrowth, an amazing team, and she
was starting to see a newdirection.
She wanted to head in, and itwasn't a wild departure.

(08:06):
It was rooted in her zone ofgenius, but it required stepping
into a different version ofherself as a leader, a more
discerning version, a moreboundaried version, and as we
unpacked it, it became clearthat she really wasn't even
unclear.
She was resisting letting go ofwhat was familiar.
She had done things a certainway for so long that shifting it

(08:30):
even into something betterbrought up this fear that she'd
somehow lose her footing.
And that's where we so oftenget stuck it's in the belief
that implementing something newwill mean we can't be trusted to
hold it all.
But more often, what's actuallyneeded is to create capacity
first.
More often, what's actuallyneeded is to create capacity

(08:51):
first.
That's why so much of the workwe did was about clearing not
just her schedule but also theenergy she was carrying from
unmade decisions, conversationsleft hanging, responsibilities
she no longer needed to carry.
And when we finished, she hadher roadmap, but, even more
importantly, she had her energyback.
Her clarity wasn't justintellectual, it was really

(09:13):
embodied clarity, and her teamfelt it, and so she also saw her
messaging shifted, naturally,because her presence had shifted
.
And that's what happens whenalignment is no longer just
something you're talking about,but something you're leading
from, and alignment is no longerjust something you're talking
about, but something you'releading from.
Now, what I want to bring intothe conversation here is
something that I see a lot, andI'm going to say this in the

(09:35):
most gentle but clear way I can,because it's a pattern that
takes so many people out oftheir momentum before they've
even seen what's possible.
And it's the pattern of tryingto do too much at once out of
fear that if you just pick onething, you're abandoning the
other.
And I say this with so muchcompassion because I've sat with

(09:58):
clients who are in tears overthis feeling, pulled between two
powerful ideas, two identitiesor two potential business models
, and they're afraid thatchoosing one means letting the
other one completely die.
But what usually ends uphappening instead is they
attempt to move forward withboth and their energy becomes

(10:20):
completely diluted.
Their team doesn't know what toprioritize, their messaging
becomes inconsistent and theircalendar starts to fill up with
twice the commitments and, as aresult, implementation gets
harder because no one, includingthem, is really sure what way
they're headed.
And what I've seen in thosemoments is that clarity often

(10:42):
comes from committing to onlyone thing at a time for a
defined period of time notnecessarily forever, but long
enough to give it the attentionand space it needs to actually
grow.
The problem isn't havingmultiple good ideas.
That is a beautiful thing.
The challenge is when we letthe fear of missing out create a

(11:05):
situation where we can't fullynourish any of them, and then,
well, you can only imagine whathappens.
Everything starts to spiraldownwards.
That's when I hear the clientssay things like maybe I just
need to shut this whole thingdown, and what they're really
trying to express is howexhausted they feel from being
pulled in too many directions.

(11:27):
It's not that their business isfailing, it's that the way
they're operating inside of itis unsustainable.
And that's when I invite themto take a pause.
Just take a pause.
Don't quit, don't abandon it,but get realigned and
recalibrate with what you reallyreally want, because simple
doesn't mean small and focusedis not boring.

(11:50):
In fact, the most magneticbusinesses I know are incredibly
focused and the most resourced,joyful founders I know don't do
everything.
They do a few things reallywell, and that's a shift most
people miss in the noise ofdoing more, growing faster and

(12:11):
showing up everywhere.
When the internal structure ofyour business matches the way
you want to feel in your life,that's when you're seeing real
growth happen, and that's whatwe do inside this work together.
So, wherever this lands for youtoday, whether you're circling
an idea, holding a new directionclose to you or feeling the

(12:31):
tension of being pulled in toomany directions.
I want to invite you to listento what's underneath the
pressure.
The part of you that alreadyknows something needs to change.
Give that part some airtime.
You don't have to make amassive shift today, but maybe
you give yourself some space.
Maybe you take a full day toreflect, or maybe you send that

(12:53):
message.
Make that decision, clear onething from your plate that no
longer reflects where you'regoing.
And if you want to do that,work with support, deep, clear,
grounded, strategic, but alsorooted in your humanity and
wellbeing.
My VIP days are open for thosekinds of transformations.

(13:13):
They're private, they'reimmersive and they're built for
people who are ready to leadfrom their next level, not their
past patterning.
You can send me a message.
If that feels like your nextaligned step, we can talk about
what you're navigating and whatit would look like to create the
kind of space where your futurevision finally has room to

(13:36):
breathe.
You can text me in the shownotes.
Until then, take care of yourenergy, not just so that you can
keep going, but so you can moveforward in a way that actually
feels like you.
If this episode spoke to youand you're feeling called to
create your next chapter withmore clarity and ease, you'll
find the embodied success methodand meditation linked in the

(13:58):
show notes.
It's my gift to you.
Thanks for being here and I'llmeet back with you here soon.
Big blessings.