CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast

Breaking Free from Old Stories to Build a Business You Love | EP 440

• Sheila Botelho

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In this episode, we unpack the mindset shifts essential for scaling without burnout. We talk about the stories we tell ourselves about growth, exploring why old beliefs often limit new possibilities. Listen in to learn insights on how to reframe these stories and create structures that support sustainable, meaningful expansion.

If you're ready to envision a different kind of success—one that aligns with your values and feels less chaotic—this conversation is for you. Start implementing practical ways to build a business that thrives and brings you fulfillment without the grind.


PS: Thanks so much for listening. I would love your review! If you enjoy what I share in this episode, rate, Review & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:


https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/connect-with-sheila-botelho/id1527363160 I would really appreciate it. Thanks!


Sheila:

How are your systems and structures serving you? Are they set up for you to move to the next level? Because this is what you need to be looking at before you actually want to expand. First it's the dream, then it's set the structures and then it's like hit, go Hi.

Sheila:

Welcome to the Connect with Sheila Botelho podcast. I'm an entrepreneur, self-care strategist and creator of the Season Self-Care app. I'm committed to helping you reconnect to your purpose, elevate your well-being and build your version of a happy, successful life, and one of the ways I love to help people feel happy and joyous in their life and business is by setting up supportive systems, and this is how we create sustainable success in all areas of our life. Today, we're focusing on business, but really some of this can be translated into other areas of your life as well, and the reason why I want to have this conversation is because it's one that comes up a lot what got you to this place of success in your business? The level of revenue, impact, clients is going to be a little different for when you want to go to the next phase, and so, as a result of that, we need to start looking at what are the stories that got you to this place and what are the stories that maybe are happening right now in your mind as you're anticipating moving forward?

Sheila:

Sometimes we have stories in our mind that are holding us back right. Sometimes we have beliefs about what's possible for us. We may believe things are possible for everyone in different ways, like, oh well, of course they can achieve that thing because they've done it before or because they have something special and maybe I don't have that thing, I don't have that knowledge, I don't have the same experience or network, and you know what? These are stories. These are stories and we get to change our stories. Now it's not as easy as just saying, oh okay, I'm going to change my story. There needs to be some inner work done in that regard, and this is what I get into in many of my times with clients, whether I'm doing live or group coaching, one-on-one or in person and what I find is that people will expand all of us will expand to our level of what is possible for us. And sometimes you may find there's like a dream or a goal that's inside of you that just kind of starts to blossom and you start to think about it. You start to imagine what that could look like, and then stories will come up to either support it or to negate it, and often the reason why people come to me to work through these things is because they keep stopping themselves, and there are many reasons for this, many, many reasons past history.

Sheila:

Often it is connected to self-trust, the ability to say we're going to do something and then to actually go forward and achieve it, and how often have we let ourselves down those kinds of things. They're very prevalent for all of us. It doesn't matter where we're at in our life, right, whatever kind of level of success, and so one of the ways, though, that we can set ourselves up really beautifully to keep taking those steps forward in a way that is supportive is by having supportive structures and systems in place. Now you've come to this level of success in your business, you obviously have some beautiful standard operating procedures and, perhaps, people and team members that are supporting you, and there comes a time where you need to shift and expand the capacity of that, so that you can welcome, in different streams of revenue, new clients, a new level of clientele, perhaps, and so what this involves, though, is looking at how we do everything, and perhaps you found yourself that you are wanting to expand and you're launching all the time. You're caught up in the hustle culture and you wonder if there is another way to be able to grow and expand that actually feels good, that actually fuels your soul, be able to grow and expand that actually feels good, that actually fuels your soul. And I'm here to tell you there are ways to do this. But if you've not done it before, it can feel very foreign and impossible.

Sheila:

And I've had a number of clients come to me who have been so busy in their business that they've not been able to really expand to the new levels of growth that they really desire, because their hands are in all areas of their business and they haven't been able or allowed themselves, given themselves permission to let go of pieces of their business and let others step in so that they can shine in the area that they're meant to be shining in, so that they can shine in the area that they're meant to be shining in. And one such person had a brick and mortar location and they were wanting to go online, spend more time online and still serve clients inside of their brick and mortar, but have other people coming in in more supportive roles. And because it was their own personal brand for many years. People obviously wanted to work in close proximity with this person, and so they had some stories about well, what is possible? What will people actually do? What will they pay? Will they stay if I change things? Because people get used to a certain way of doing things?

Sheila:

But here's something I wanna invite you into that I invited this client into, and that is people actually do like change. They do. I mean, is your hair the same style as it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago? Think about it. We do like change, we like to have agency over the change, and we all do have some agency over certain changes that we personally decide to make. Sometimes we like things to stay the same. We feel safer for things to stay the same, but for us to say, oh, people are not going to like any changes I make.

Sheila:

That is not necessarily true, and one of the ways you can see that is when you look at beautiful brands over the years and how they've shifted. Fashion styles, business logos, types of menus at restaurants there's so many things that shift and change. My goodness, don't you love it when you go to a place to eat dinner and you see new things on the menu Like, oh, doesn't that look interesting? I really believe that we were designed to grow and change. If we didn't, aging wouldn't happen. We'd all still look like babies, right? We're meant to change, and so when you enter into making shifts in your business with this thought that it actually is possible to change, then beautiful things can happen for you. You actually have the energy of excitement around the thing that you want to change, and then you get to work on finding the structures and the people to help you bring it to life. And so one of the things that I love to touch on and love for you to kind of do your own self audit around this do you feel in your business that your growth has been continually, consistently growing? Do you feel like it's kind of leveled out a bit? I mean, this happens in every business and that's just part of the life cycle of a business right. But as you think about it, think about why maybe your growth has stalled. Often, growth is completely connected to where the founder is at of the business right. If you're happy with where you're at, it's very easy to want to stay there, and I find in my work.

Sheila:

Many women reach a plateau in their business without even realizing it, because they've been held back by an old story about what's possible, like maybe it's the idea that they should stay at a certain level because it's safe. Here I don't want to shine too brightly. No one in my family has earned more than this. I'm already earning way more than my family ever did. I've accomplished way more. It feels weird to earn more than you know, my ancestors, my, my parents, whatever the case. Um, or perhaps there's been a belief system infiltrated in your mind over the years that you know to want more is greedy. But I really invite you to think about this. This is a belief, this is a story. I really believe that society has conditioned high achieving women to equate success with constant busyness or external markers, like in our era, like flashy follower counts and launches, and over time it can feel really empty. So what does more look like to you? And let's look at also the historical societal idea of women having more. How does it feel for you? Does it feel safe? Does it feel normal, like? These are all things to consider, because it's not been that long since women can actually own and operate businesses and, my goodness, get their own bank loan or even vote.

Sheila:

Think about it. You've been feeling, but we get to turn them around. We get to turn them around, and there is a whole lot of data on the burnout of women. You can go look it up for yourself. But there are studies showing how burnout is more prevalent in female entrepreneurs, who are constantly in launch mode, feeling that you must hustle harder to sustain the success, and comparing it to your counterparts. And just so you know what is burnout.

Sheila:

Well, let's talk about this Feeling exhausted, struggling to keep momentum, sensing a disconnect from your original passion and purpose that drove you to start in the first place. These are some signs that something's going on, and, yes, it can be all part of just the growth cycle of a business, but that's why assessing where you're at is so, so important, and data also shows that there's the constant pursuit of more in a traditional sense, just like showing more can lead to diminishing returns. Right, and so this is really interesting because these are key markers to look at when it comes to when you want to grow and scale your business, because it's the way you have been shown how to grow and scale. It can start feeling less and less satisfying, and so here is the type of growth that I really, really love, and that is sustainable growth. So this means you have supportive structures and, instead of focusing just on doing more, you can focus on creating more meaningful impact in less time.

Sheila:

And when you have a structure set up, you're able to, slowly over time, or faster like it can go as fast or slow as you want like, let's just say, but to have your monthly recurring revenue increasing, when you have systems and structures set up to be able to do that, it's really, really powerful. And then also calling in the proper type of support that you really really need becomes important. Like having a conversation, doing a VIP day with somebody, for instance, having a coach who can actually guide you through to what are the next levels of support that you need for the stage of business you're at Having conversations with your bookkeeper, your accountant, your CFO, getting a CFO if you don't have one, a fractional CFO, which there's many that are cropping up now for smaller businesses to expand, and then staying on for the larger businesses, which is really beautiful. So there's so many people that you can connect with in order to really say, okay, what is the thing that I need to be doing next and creating that is so important.

Sheila:

And when you redefine success, like, let's think about it, what if there was a way for you to expand your business, your revenue, your impact, without feeling more stretched? How would that feel to you? What if you were also able to expand what you do in your roles, to be able to leverage your time more, perhaps looking at your own thought leadership, and not only streamlining systems, but reaching a broader audience, having a different offer, even just one, because I love to do simple things simplify one offer that may be a higher version of what you already sell, like higher ticket, higher price, that allows you to reach more people with less time, like. There are ways of doing this, depending on your business model. There's always a way, and so it's about changing the story, though, that there is always a way to have the lifestyle that you want while you're growing your business, and having loving supportive systems to help you is a key way, and so I always love to also include in this equation making it fun, finding ways to bring more play into the experience, right.

Sheila:

So now structure, of course, in our business is very important, but there are ways to look at structure Like it doesn't have to confine you. Structures are here to support you, to hold you to your vision and also to allow you to show up as your highest self. And so I really invite you to think about some of these things. How can you invite some structure in a different way? How can you invite more play into the process? And I'm going to offer a suggestion and this is something that I've done with my clients is, as we do kind of dream days about what is possible for their business. We invite in things like sensory things to help elevate the experience with a little music and some you know, a nice beverage that feels good, like some good lighting and just spaciousness on the calendar, to be able to play with the idea and the notion of what is possible.

Sheila:

So often we just get so focused, we're down the rabbit hole in our computer and we're on client calls and it starts to feel very robotic, and so you need to separate yourself from that experience to be able to kind of dream a little and say what can you do? That is different, and when you invite play into it, one way that play looks is also being able to just kind of ideate freely, where there are no crazy ideas, is you just throw at any idea of what this could look like and you bounce it off of someone, like in this case, it's a coaching scenario, when people are coaching with me and we just kind of throw some ideas around and we see where does it lead. Because sometimes, with the wildest ideas, something really hits Like a truth, will land Like, oh my goodness, I didn't even know why I said that, because this is the thing I actually really have always wanted to do and I've totally forgotten about it. And so with that, we want to make sure that we are allowing ourselves the spaciousness to play on our ideas. And so these are some things to consider how are your systems and structures serving you? Are they set up for you to move to the next level? Because this is what you need to be looking at before you actually want to expand. First it's the dream, then it's set the structures and then it's like hit, go. This is the process, and of course, there's more details involved, but that's really the broad strokes, and so think about it. I'd love to hear, I'd love to hear how this landed for you, and how are you feeling in your business.

Sheila:

Are you feeling like a lot of pressure to just keep up with what everybody else is doing? Are you feeling a lot of pressure to just focus on vanity metrics? Are you happy with where your revenue's at? Are you wanting to grow it? Are you wanting to rethink what a day in the life of you looks like? How many hours do you want to be investing in your work? What is your cost per hour?

Sheila:

And would it be better for you to be hiring someone for something that you've had your hands in, that may have felt very high value for a long time, but that someone can bring in? You can bring someone in and they can do it for you. Like, perhaps, if you are doing some client work one-on-one client work in one of your programs or one of your offerings, and really you could have someone else meeting with those people more regularly than you, it is possible Someone may be just waiting on the sidelines wanting to try something new. It could be client care, it could be anything. It could be some of your forecasting, it could be some of your planning. Like all of these things, wouldn't it be great to be freed up to do the thing that you absolutely love? Because if you've been in your business for any amount of time over like five years, let's say you have been doing the thing. Maybe it's time to get some support.

Sheila:

And if you were ready to stop constant launches, if launching is what you do and if instead you want to start building a business that's really expansive and sustainable and aligned, I invite you to join me in the Seasons Growth Accelerator. It is a 12-week program where we go through some specific things that you can do to set yourself up for success, for that next level, while feeling good in your body, and it involves some group elements as well for coaching and a place to really be able to walk through this journey of challenging times, perhaps of shifting times, of pivoting or, if just plain old, joyous expansion in a group setting. And so you can check out the details in my show notes or, if you're seeing this somewhere else, look below. Somewhere there will be a link to it. It's really a place for you to step into the next phase of your life and business evolution in a community that places a high value on caring for yourself, on nourishing yourself, on wellbeing and on impacting others in a really positive way, showing up as the best, you showing up as your future. You right who is that person that you're stepping into, and so you can check that out and then we can actually build some supportive structures together with you. So check it out the link in the show notes.

Sheila:

I really appreciate you listening today. If something landed for you that was valuable, please do text me. Let me know. You can do so in the show notes. You'll see a little spot to text me. You can also rate, review, share this on Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening, and I so appreciate you. I hope you have a really beautiful rest of your day. Big blessings.