The Sheila Botelho Show

Founder Energy Is Everything: How to Stay Fueled While Building What Matters | EP 511

• Sheila Botelho

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🔗 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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Sheila:

Most people think burnout only happens when you're doing too much, but I've found that burnout often hits founders who care deeply, who hold space for clients' dreams, even through their products. In this episode, I'll show you how protecting your energy across every phase of business, from idea to scale, is the edge most don't talk about, and how it helps you lead with more power, presence and peace. Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm Sheila Botelho. I'm committed to helping you reconnect to your purpose, elevate your wellbeing and build your version of a happy, successful life.

Sheila:

You know, I don't think we talk often enough about how much of our clients' hopes and dreams we actually hold. When we bring a product or service into the world, we just think about it as business, business as usual and reaching out with something that's going to help the world but also is going to grow a really beautiful business and, as a result, create an ecosystem for other people to create more beauty in their lives. Whether you have been coaching yourself or you're launching something scalable, like some kind of online program or membership, or perhaps you have a product that you've developed and you're taking to market, it really doesn't matter, because on the other side of that offer there's a person, a person full of dreams, handing over their money and their trust in exchange for the possibility that this might help them feel better, do better or maybe just live better, and that's a really big deal. Let's really think about that. We have businesses because it lights 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 the other side, and that transformation is connected to somebody else, another human being, and if you're listening to this podcast, I know you feel the weight of that Because you care. You're a founder who wants your people to win, and the thing is, caring is a really beautiful thing, but without boundaries it can lead you straight to burnout. I've seen it over and over again Founders with the best intentions who pour so much of themselves into their work that they start losing track of their own wellbeing, and it's so easy to justify. I mean, I've been there myself, especially in the earlier stages, when everything feels high stakes, when every single client, every dollar, every DM, every testimonial matters exceedingly. Let me say this clearly, though the more you give without a structure to hold you, the faster your energy will leak, because we're not just building businesses here we're building lives, and those lives need rhythms. So let's talk through the phases of business through the lens of energetic sustainability and intentional growth, of energetic sustainability and intentional growth.

Sheila:

I'm going to start with the idea phase. This is the really exciting phase where creativity is flowing so deeply and richly, and that's usually a place where you need the space for everything to land. Spaciousness is a non-negotiable. In fact. You can't rush the download. The best concepts come when you're not neck deep in execution mode. So this is when you protect white space, you take long walks, you talk to people who get it, you reach outside of your industry to get inspiration from others and you really let the vision arrive.

Sheila:

That idea phase oh my goodness, it's such a beautiful place to be and it could just be my manifesting generator spirit where I love ideas. Raise your hand if you are one of 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 of us that wants to bring forth this new idea, and it can be the one that can take too long to come to fruition because we want to perfect it, or it can actually move along pretty swiftly when we get the support we need. But the key is having the space to listen we need. But the key is having the space to listen, listen to what your idea is and ask enough questions to listen to the people you're wanting to serve, because what they have to say is going to directly impact the business you create and this phase doesn't have to take a really long time. I mean, I often think about an author friend of my family's growing up who took years and years writing this literary classic. At least it was a classic in his mind. What ended up happening was he spent so many years writing this book and it went out into the world and I don't know how many copies it sold because the whole time was really focused on just the product itself, the book itself, and I don't know how much feedback or resonance he got from the people around him while he was writing this book. It was really important to him to write, so I applauded that.

Sheila:

But if you're wanting to do something for profit, you also need to make sure that there's going to be people on the other end who actually want what you are creating, so that white space is good for your ideas to land, but also to be able to tap into the people who will possibly be purchasing it. On the other end, the next phase is the startup focus phase. So you're building, you're refining, 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 of us can be so stuck in wanting it to be absolutely the way we want it to be when we launch it that sometimes it can actually slow the launch process and also really disconnect us from our actual clients, who are waiting on the other end.

Sheila:

What you need here, though, through this whole time as you're letting this evolve, is energetic containment. You need boundaries around your time, around your energy and, yes, even around your perfectionism, like giving yourself an amount of time to put something together before it goes out, but know that you have a deadline there, so that you're actually going to get this thing to market. Only pour energy into the things that are directly tied to monetization or validation at this stage, and this is the time where you're letting people in other parts of your life know that you are in a very, very focused phase of your business that needs a lot of your attention. That doesn't mean it's going to be the only thing you do, however. It's going to be the only professional thing you're really focused on, and the rest of your time may need to be spent in solitude or being able to just take care of yourself in the containers you have that are there to support you, like really close friendships or family relationships, taking care of yourself by working out and eating well. Getting enough sleep, like your sleep, becomes even more important at this phase, because sometimes it's the hardest time to sleep. Your ideas are flowing through your mind and all of the things that you need to do at any given time, but you need to free up space on your calendar from other commitments. It's a time, truly, when you're letting those loved ones in your life know that you're really focused right now and that you'll make sure that you have something on the calendar once you're through this busy phase.

Sheila:

The next phase is the launch phase, so it's go time, and this is where delayed gratification really becomes your friend. There might be things you'd love to be doing fun projects, social outings or even creative tangents that don't tie into your offers at all, and this is the moment to hold the line. A strong launch often requires temporary sacrifices. That doesn't mean it needs to be unhealthy. It just means you need to be really strategic with your time. But please always remember to be building in the restoration period during and afterward, because you need to keep your energy fresh, and once you've come through the launch phase is the maintenance phase.

Sheila:

So now you've got something that's working Congratulations. It's so great. But maintaining it doesn't mean just keeping it on autopilot. It means really tending to what's being created, like serving the clients and really getting feedback and being there for them and being on top of the delivery process right. So think client delivery, user feedback, system refinement. It's also where I see founders finally exhale and sometimes forget to breathe intentionally, so they want to just keep going because, okay, now we got to really keep going, going, going. But this is the time where you can book the trip, take a real break, reconnect to your body. This is a recalibration window because, yes, your eyes are fully on your business and hopefully you have a team there starting to come and support you as well, but you need to refuel in order to keep moving forward.

Sheila:

And then the growth phase comes along. So this is when you're adding team, you're multiplying your impact. This can feel like a breather, also, because you're not doing everything, but it also brings a new level of responsibility and complexity, because you're holding space not just for your clients but for your team's energy too. So this is where leadership hygiene is the order of the day. Your nervous system becomes a thermostat for the entire business. So, again, taking care of you is going to directly impact the health and wellbeing of your business. That's what my whole theory on self-care for business is all about, because the health of the founder is going to directly impact the health of the entire business and, frankly, as a result, the health of the all of the clientele that you have.

Sheila:

The scale phase is one that involves more people, more visibility, more complexity, and here's where I see founders either thrive or flatline, because the support that got you here is not going to take you to that next place. This is where you need a bigger container. You need more structure and, yes, even tighter boundaries around your wellbeing. We'll often see it with leaders where you see them having more boundaries around their calendar with who they have meetings with, but they may still be spending many hours logging time at the office or at the computer, when really what would help them so much more is, in addition to that, having more time focused on their wellbeing, on those creative pursuits that can actually open up new pathways in their mind of what's possible. Because you become the energetic anchor, otherwise, of something much bigger than you, right? And so you want to make sure you allow this to flow and thrive and grow and you want to be that North Star for the business, but you don't want to be holding it back from growth because you're not ready and you're too exhausted to really move forward.

Sheila:

Let me tell you a quick story, so something a little different from starting a really large business. I had a small business and early on I gave everything. I was showing up with my whole heart every single time, and I wanted my clients to win so badly that I took on way more responsibility for their success than I ever should have. And while it was coming from love, the boundaries were not there, because I think love without boundaries is truly a fast track to depletion. I mean, we see this in our relationships too, right? So I remember this one moment so vividly Someone was asking me to go beyond what I normally offered and I was really tired. I felt stretched, but I also didn't want to disappoint them and somehow, out of the middle of nowhere, I used this phrase. It's my policy too, and I can't even remember what the specific thing was they were asking of me, but basically that was my way of saying no, we're not doing that. I didn't say no from a place of fear. I said it from a place of clarity. And you know what happened next. The client respected it so deeply In fact they thanked me. They said I love that you have that policy in place. I'm going to create something similar for my business. And it was one of the most empowering moments of my early career because I realized your boundaries don't block people. Your boundaries model what's possible. They teach your clients how to hold their own energy too.

Sheila:

And another story I'll share from one of my clients in recent years was a therapist who was expanding their practice and they already were seeing a lot of clients and they realized in order for them to really do the work that they wanted to do, they needed to create a different model for how they ran their practice. They knew that they could bring on a whole series of other therapists to basically license their model of how they did things, their methodology, but they decided that was gonna be too complex for them. So they wanted to create something that was more of a program that their clients could use in between and some self-guided things, because they really felt that their method was so impactful for their clients. They wanted to have it out there into the world and they were feeling really burnt out. So they look for a different way of delivering what they had to offer, and that is another option for how you can look at your own bandwidth and reach more people without expanding the number of hours on your calendar. And so what ended up happening for this client is they found themselves being able to work in seasons and literally take summers off, take more time during holidays with their family, so that they could really serve those one-on-one clients in the times where they were directly working with them with so much more grounding. And so she was incredibly happy that she did this, because had she not done it, she probably would have burned out and maybe left the career altogether.

Sheila:

When you look at burnout rates therapy, coaching these are some really high levels of burnout that people experience.

Sheila:

We often see it, obviously in the medical community as a whole and in certain types of work where people are giving so much of themselves and they're being needed around the clock as well.

Sheila:

So I thought this was a really beautiful recalibration for this person to be able to take back some of their energy while still helping with what was so empowering that they were doing in the world. So as you move through your business seasons whether you're ideating, launching, scaling or sustaining remember every phase requires a different level of focus. Your energy is your greatest currency and the more you protect it, the more you have to give. It's really all about doing less of what drains you and more of what aligns with you, because I've found a depleted founder can't lead a thriving business, at least not for very long, but a well-resourced founder creates legacies.

Sheila:

If you're nodding along and you're ready to figure out which season you're actually in right now and what you need most in this phase, I invite you to check out the season success method. It's a powerful way to reconnect to your mission, map your next move and create space to grow without running yourself into the ground. You can find the link in the show notes and, as always, thank you for listening, thank you for caring, thank you for doing the work that is impacting lives. I'll see you on another episode. Big blessings.