The Sheila Botelho Show
Sheila Botelho is a business strategist guiding visionary leaders to more profit, freedom, and self-trust. With decades of experience in wellness, sales, and transformational coaching, she helps founders grow businesses that generate wealth and impactāwithout burning out or dimming down.
On this show, Sheila sparks future-focused conversations about growth, leadership, and the shifting landscape of business in an era of rapid change. Her self-trust-centered approach equips founders to align strategy with soul, scale sustainably, and create a legacy of influence and abundance that touches every area of life.
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The Sheila Botelho Show
When My Body Called Time Out On My Business - with Alizah Josette | EP 564
š Mentioned on this Episode: Show Notes š
Stress has often been normalized as ājust part of building a business.ā Tight shoulders. Jaw tension. Bad sleep. Waking up tired even when you technically slept eight hours. In this episode, Iām talking with Alizah Josette, founder of Spherehead, about what happens when your body finally says, āNo more.ā Her story is about working multiple jobs, pushing through pain, living with migraines, and carrying stress in her neck and shoulders until her nervous system forced a reset she could not ignore.
We get into the real, unfiltered side of expansion blockers that live in the body, not just the mind. The kind that come from unprocessed stress, over-functioning, and treating rest like a reward instead of a requirement. Alizah shares how her own breakdown led her to invent the Spherehead Pillow and create a guided meditation practice that actually helps people release tension, sleep deeper, and feel supported in their bodies again.
If youāre building something meaningful and your body has been dropping hints that it needs more care, this conversation will land. We talk practical shifts you can make tonight, how embodiment changes your capacity to grow, and why your next level is not coming from pushing harder. Itās coming from listening better. Your body is the foundation of your business.
Where to Find Alizah + Spherehead Pillow:
ā¢Website: https://spearheadpillow.com
ā¢Amazon: Search Spherehead Pillow on Amazon
ā¢Instagram: @spherehead.pillow
ā¢Facebook: Spherehead Memory Foam Pillow
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š§ Clarify your next season of growth & Get on the Expansion Season Waitlist: Start your Vision Map here
š Get the Seasons Success Method & Meditation
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Stress on our body has a major impact, just like a lack of sleep as well. We just we keep going, right? Because that's what we have to do. At least that's what I thought. And I also thought there was no other way. And I have learned that taking breaks and taking our time for just our own rejuvenation, how vital and important that is. I schedule downtime. I schedule time with those that I love. I schedule time with myself. Um, and I make sure that I will not be burnt out again. So it also was an enormous, like everything, it was a great lesson learned.
Sheila:Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm Sheila Botelho, and we are talking about success from the inside out and how a more connected we are to ourselves, the stronger and more sustainable our expansion becomes. Over these past few weeks, we've been talking about expansion blockers, the subtle things that get in the way of our next level. And sometimes those blocks come from mindset, but often they come from our bodies, from the stress maybe we never processed, from tension that we've perhaps ignored, and also from like physical signals that tell us slow down. Something needs your care. And today's guest knows that truth. I'm joined by Alizah Josette, the founder of Spearhead LLC and the inventor of the Spearhead Pillow, a tool she created after years of working multiple jobs, attending school, dealing with relentless neck and shoulder tension, thoracic outlet syndrome, migraines, and sleepless nights. Her invention not only changed her life, it has now helped hundreds of people relieve pain, sleep longer, and reconnect with their bodies in a healing way. She also created a guided meditation ebook, Consciously Evolving, a Path of Connection, supporting people to relax into their bodies through meditative rest. This conversation is for anyone who has been carrying tension, physically or emotionally, and knows that part of their next season of expansion requires deeper rest, deeper embodiment, and deeper support. Alizah, welcome to the show.
Alizah:Oh, thank you so much, Sheila. I'm very glad to be here.
Sheila:I would love for you to share with us. I mean, we've alluded to in the intro some of the things you experienced. Maybe give me a synopsis of once you've been moving through working corporately and having all of these experiences, what was it that made you realize I need to turn this into a business? I need to create something to help other people.
Alizah:Oh, absolutely. I mean, initially, as you mentioned in my bio, um I did invent the spearhead pillow for myself. I really needed it. It was out of desperation after so many years of struggling. Um, and what finally made me realize that I needed to bring it to the market and to help others. Um when you invent something, uh, it's very rare to be able to get one prototype. So my manufacturing plant that I was working with had me order four prototypes. And so I had these extras. And eventually I started lending them out to other people who are suffering and I thought could use it. And it was really helping them the way that it had helped me. And at some point, it I just felt almost selfish that I mean, I invented it because this design wasn't on the market. I kept looking for years, I wanted someone else to invent this shape of a pillow and it wasn't out there. And so that's sort of why I realized I need to make this available for all the other one people out there who are also struggling to find this ideal shape that's very unique. Um, but hopefully, you know, just to help others and kind of expand it. So, and I'm very grateful that I did.
Sheila:It's amazing how so many founders that I know, and I'm sure that you know too, they started a business without necessarily thinking they would start a business. They just realized there is a need. They were passionate about this thing that they either created. Well, really, it's all created, whether it's an actual physical product or a protocol or some kind of you know book or course or something. And then sharing it with others, realizing, oh, this actually can be something that helps me grow my own lifestyle and help others along the way. Like there's so much power to that. And I love how you took action on it because often we'll get these ideas to do it and then maybe talk ourselves out of it. So talk to me about that. What was that process like when you said, okay, I feel selfish, which is a really key thing, right? That is so beautiful when you think, oh, I need to me not helping people in this way, it's actually selfish of me. How did you talk yourself through actually going for it and doing this thing?
Alizah:Um, I am very blessed to have friends of all generations. And so that includes a lot of wise friends who have been around longer than I have. And what I have picked up is it's not the things that you didn't do or that you failed at that you regret. It's the things that you never even tried. And so I kind of always have that stick in the back of my mind. And I didn't want to someday, 50 years down the road, if I'm still blessed to be here on the planet, um, you know, kind of live with that. If, well, what if? Um, and I honestly, just to touch back on what you said about starting a business and how we realize it will help ourselves and others. I mean, that is really the motivation as well. I think that's the purpose to life, why we're all here, is to improve ourselves and to improve other people as well. Um, we're here to lift up us all because we're all connected. And so I think that is also um what gives that inspiration too. Is I've known that was the purpose of my life since single digits. So I was here to help others and here to serve. Um, like I said, that helps me too. Uh and so that it when this idea came to me that I should really branch out, make this available, it almost felt like uh just right. You know, when you think of something, that one of those aha moments that comes to you and it just feels right, like it was meant to be. Um, once that thought occurred to me, it was that, yes, this is part of my path. This is part of my journey in this lifetime.
Sheila:And it's beautiful that as you're sharing that, I see the certainty, obviously, of that you've created now and what you're doing. You likely had that certainty when you were getting started because, like you say, you've had this mission, you've known what your purpose is from the time you were very young. And I think that energy is so incredibly powerful. And I think it's that energy that can help us move through some of these expansion blockers that come up. It's like reminding, well, what is the reason why you're actually doing this? And it is a selfless thing to actually do this thing. And as we've been talking about these blockers, you know, so many women um can push past like these nervous system-based things in order to um to just move forward and and maybe do things at to their own harm, though, right? So just bypassing their emotions. So I'm wondering, as you've moved through this process, um, I'm sure there were some stressors that you had to move yourself through through the process, like hello, creating a physical product. It's like not a one and done. What if you could recall any of the either physical, emotional, or spiritual blocks that you needed to come through? And how did you address those?
Alizah:Oh, yes. I mean, just as a given, I think that stress is one of the worst things on our bodies. I think it causes a lot of ailments. Um, and some are, you know, I personally believe that it's a root cause of many forms of cancer as well. I think that stress on our body um has a major impact, just like a lack of sleep as well. Um so, yes, starting a business is very stressful throughout the whole way. And I would say that for me, um, right now as we're speaking, it's you know, mid-November and um November. And just recently over the past summer, um I actually got burnt out and it made me physically ill. My body um just succumbed to the working of 18-hour days for so many consecutive years. And I did not, like you said, I first off, I ignored a lot of symptoms, like you referenced. Like, that's true. We just we keep going, right? Because that's what we have to do. Um, at least that's what I thought. And I also thought there was no other way. It's just like, yeah, well, I'm starting a business. This is what it's like. I have a full-time job, and my business is a full-time job, and I just have to work around the clock and there's no alternative strategy uh until I subcumb and got very sick for about three weeks. Um, I was forced to stop. I could not work, and that changed my entire perspective on the business. I I was first off very energized and excited to come back to it, but I did decide to take six weeks off as a result. Once I got better, I was like, you know what? I need, I need to take a space um for myself. And I have learned at taking breaks and taking our time for just our own rejuvenation, how vital and important that is. Um, but also now I'm much better with my schedule. I schedule downtime, I schedule time with those that I love, I schedule time with myself. Um, and I make sure that I will not be burnt out again. So it also is an enormous, like everything, it was a great lesson learned.
Sheila:Wow. You have just identified what so many of my clients have come through or who are in the midst of when they come to work with me. Because it's this old model of we've witnessed people just like going constantly nonstop to build whatever it is they're doing. And it could even be in the corporate space, right? Just climbing that ladder, climb, climb, climb, climb, climb, and having just very minimal breaks. And uh what often is the issue is that this uh this hustling basically is what what you're talking about, and the overworking can create a lot of success. And so there's this kind of well, uh I this is how I got here. This is how I got the success. Is there really another way? I don't know. If I slow down, I'm gonna, there's a FOMO is gonna happen, I'm gonna miss out on things, I'm gonna become irrelevant, like all these things come up. But you took the time off. Like six weeks is a chunk of time. So tell me, two two two part question, okay? What did downtime look like for you? And what was the outcome once you got back at it? Like, how did things look in your business?
Alizah:So, um, and I love that, and I completely agree with you that I think the fear is well, I have momentum, I can't stop. Um and really, what is the definition of success though? I have to say. So financial and business success, sure, but at what cost? So uh, but yes, so my six-week hiatus, that's what I call it, um, it looked like a lot of time outside. Um, because for my career, my day job, I'm a paralegal. And so I sit and stare at a computer screen all day long. And for Searhead, a lot of the work I do is on the computer as well. And so for my six weeks, I spend as much time outside hiking or just staring at the water, the woods, wherever I happen to be. Uh, but just being outside in nature was really healing for me. It always is. I mean, for anyone, I think, get outside. Um, and it just it's magic for the soul. Um, and then when I came back to work, it actually, I was so energized and excited. And I think the greatest lesson I learned from my hiatus is how much I really love Sphere Head and how much I'm dedicated to it. I am one of those rare founders that have never questioned um if this is what I should be doing. I've never thought about throwing in the towel. A lot of people, I've only been in business for two years now. Um, well, a year and a half. I'm on my second year. Um, and a lot of people, that first year is health. I'm sorry to say, but it's very difficult to get through. Right. And and I think, you know, I never once questioned if I should stop. Um, you know, never once regretted doing it, but my six-week break really re-energized and reignited my love and my passion for it and realizing it just really significantly um signified like how much this is my purpose. And I don't think I would have realized that just continuing in the daily grind. I think it was taking the break and taking the step back that helped me, you know, realign and remember and feel that re-energization anyway. So long answer to a two-part question. I'm sorry.
Sheila:No, wonderful. And that is exactly that's that's I'm so happy that that is what happened for you because that is what I see happening. And it feels so counterintuitive, right? And yet that is exactly what it does. It infuses everything around you with more energy. And when I ask you, while you were playing and out in nature and just enjoying it and savoring it, did any really great ideas drop in when you weren't even looking for them that helped you in your business when you got started back at it again?
Alizah:Um, I think that so I I I meditate and that's where I get a lot of my ideas. Um, they don't, I don't believe that they come from inside my brain. I do believe that they are given to me. Um I think of it as super consciousness, but I like the word God, the universe. I mean, I feel like they're they're all the same. It's just a different label. Um, but I receive my ideas. And yes, absolutely. Uh taking that time and that breakaway, you can, I could increase the volume, like the clarity of that intuition. Um, when we are bogged down and stressed and going through the motions and just constantly working and busy, I personally have a difficult time tuning into that gut intuition to hear that voice. Um, that some may refer to as an inner voice. And I understand that. And it that's how it's communicated to me. I just don't believe it's coming from me. Um, but uh so definitely taking a break away did help turn up that volume and also reconnect me a little bit to my soul and my spirit, which I desperately needed. It's the hardest part, I think, about being a business owner for me is having to be more of my ego. Um I have to sell the pillow. So I have to be out there, I have to be on, I have to be this personality. This is how I communicate with people, this is who I am. Um, but I personally like it more to be more in tuned and reflective and silent and just more have the soul control the brain. Um, and so when I'm not imbalanced, that's more, that's my greatest challenge in business is trying to find enough time to let, you know, the ego kind of relax from the brain and let the spirit more take over what my mind is thinking.
Sheila:Oh, I hear you. It is that it's just the necessity of having that practical structural action step continually in the whole plan in front of you that you need to do and really allowing those ideas to land and drop in. I I'm the same. I've I really feel like God is giving me the best ideas. I feel like all of my most incredible experiences, ideas, people I've met, everything, they've landed in front of me. I really believe it's a divine, download, a divine experience. And then I always have the choice of what I do next. Sometimes I'm not tuned in, like you said, if I'm just so tunnel-visioned on what I'm doing. It's like, you know, praying for the solution. Okay, I want this. And but we're so busy that we don't see, oh, solution, solutions. It's right there in front of you. You need to tune into it. And nature, I do find, is one of the most beautiful ways to connect with it because you see everything is so much bigger. You get out of your head, you get out of away from the screen, right? Like I'm so grateful for the screen. And it's a double-edged sword at times, let's face it. There's nothing like an in-person connection and being in nature. Um, but I love that that's been your experience. And and I see there's a calmness about you as you're talking about this and the passion about what you're doing. And so let's talk about this wonderful pillow. What makes this pillow different for back sleepers and side sleepers who struggle with neck and shoulder pain?
Alizah:Oh, sure. So, and thank you. Um, so the pillow is a very unique shape. So, I would tell anyone who's listening to imagine um like a sphere, but a semi-sphere. So, cut that sphere in half. The center of the pillow, the spherical side is the back of it. That's the side that rests on the bed. And then the center that you actually will rest on has a concave for your head. So it cradles the head in this center concave of like a bowl. And it has a neck indent that mirrors the curve of the cervical spine. So you can roll from your back to your side and back and forth, and the pillow will roll with you, but you'll maintain this neck support and the spine alignment. Um, I also think that it separates from a lot of the other pillows that are out there for several reasons. I mean, obviously, I'm I'm a big fan of it, so I will see that. Um, but uh I think, you know, it's compactable, it can be flattened, so it's great for those traveling or camping. I also love it for the beauty industry as well. So it comes with a free Charmouse fabric pillowcase, which is like a satin silk material. So it's great for all hair types. And the best thing about the pillow is whether you're sleeping on your back or side, it rests along the outer curve of the cheek. So it doesn't interfere with beauty products. So our fancy moisturizers and retinol creams. It also doesn't interfere, though, with like the seat pat machines um or my padded eye mask, for example. And so that's really beneficial as well. I love investing in health and well-being.
Sheila:I think it's so important. And I also understand that you have an ebook and also this meditation process. So why don't you talk about this and the difference between meditation in a lying down lotus pose helping you rest before sleep? I think that's really really interesting to consider.
Alizah:Yes. Um, and thank you. So I just find personally that after a really long busy day, and which we all do have regardless of what we do during the day, um, most of us are pretty going around the clock. So I have a hard time sometimes um letting my mind kind of calm down and actually letting me fall asleep. So I started meditating, um, as you said, in a uh lying down lotus pose is how I refer to it, with my spearhead. But I do give away the ebook, the guided meditation ebook for free on the website. So you don't need a spearhead pillow to have this meditation um or these practices. So I, and I say that right in the ebook. You know, you can use a towel, any other pillow. Um, it's just important to make sure that the spine's aligned, your shoulders are down, that you're comfortable, your chins tucked, tailbone tucked. Um, you know, it is a posture. Um, and I think that we can meditate in a variety of forms. Um, so you don't need to be laying down or sitting up. You can be, my life partner is a surfer. He meditates while he's on the water. You know, some people meditate while running. Um, you know, there is no one way of meditating. This is just an option that's really helped me. And so just like the pillow, I wrote this ebook to see if it could help others as well, sort of wind down at the end of the day and in tune with their body and silence their mind a little bit. And also the whole purpose of this guide to meditation ebook is just to connect with whatever that higher being may be for that individual person. Um, like I really try not to get into labels because I think it's all the same. I think religions are all the same. They all have the exact same founding principles about love, how to treat others, how to treat ourselves. I mean, I just think it's all really the same, just different language. Um, and so that's why I want to make this ebook available just to see if it can help people sleep a little bit better and in tune and connect and maybe become, you know, lighter, find something in your peace that it can help people. That's kind of what I wanted to do.
Sheila:Oh, I love that. So can you share a story, maybe a recent story of someone who came to you and said, okay, I gotta try something. I've tried everything. And they try your pillow and then they have a great result. Any anyone come to mind specifically?
Alizah:Oh, absolutely. I mean, so every day, I have to say, it's like that's the best part of being in business now for a year and a half, is for like my first six months, I would maybe get a review every once in a while. Someone would email me and tell me that how much the pillows helped them, and that would make my year. I mean, like I would be over the moon. Uh, and now I'm really blessed that almost every single day I get at least one email from someone thanking me for how much the pillow has helped them. And that just means the world. Uh, but yes, there are many people out there who have struggled, uh, especially with neck issues, that sphere head has really helped them. And I thought I had bad neck issues uh with my thoracic outlet syndrome, my left shoulder. That's nothing. There are people who have had a lot of surgeries on their neck who were born with certain um problems with their neck. I mean, real serious ailments. And the sphere head has helped. I I can't, I sure I could count because I'm not in the thousands of sales, I'm in the hundreds, uh, but I don't know the number off the top of my head. But I feel confident to say, you know, many people. Um, you know, it's uh I and that makes me feel so fortunate.
Sheila:That's so great. So for ambitious people, especially those who are carrying a lot of responsibility, what do you wish they understood about the connection between rest, nervous system regulation, and truly expanding in their lives?
Alizah:I think that until we can heal ourselves, you know, that's what you when you refer to blockers, I mean, that's your blocker right there. Um we have limited energy. Uh, our aura, our energy, our spirit, we can only go out so far. And if we are inward and we are struggling and we are stressed, I mean, we are not going to be able to expand because it's limited. So I really think first off, sleep heals your body scientifically. It also heals your mind scientifically. Um, so sleep is vital. And so we need to be able to rest and restore in order to be refreshed in the morning and start another day and contribute to others and expand our energy out and push through those blockers.
Sheila:Absolutely. That's a beautiful response. And I think it's one that everyone can relate to. So, where can people find you and follow you and learn more about the spearhead pillow and your meditation book?
Alizah:Oh, yeah. So uh the first place would definitely be the website, which is sphereheadpillow.com. So for those listening, it's sphere. Uh so sp-h e-re-h-e-a-d pillow.com, uh, because we're spearheading the pillow industry. So um, and then I the spherehead is also available on Amazon. So if you search Spherehead Pillow there, um on Instagram where Spherehead Period Pillow, you know, Facebook is Spherehead Memory Phone Pillow, you'll find us. All you really need is the word spearhead because it's so unique that uh we'll pop up on all the different channels.
Sheila:I love it. Well, thank you, Alizah, for joining us today. I feel like you have so many other elements to your story that I would love to hear about as you move forward and grow your business. So please stay in touch with how things are going. And perhaps we can have you back to share like what's happened since we spoke again. And yeah, enjoy this journey of continuing to serve people in such a beautiful way.
Alizah:Oh, thank you so much, I'd love that. I'd love to stay in touch. I really appreciate your support and having me on. And it's such a pleasure to meet you and speak with you as well.
Sheila:Well, everyone who's listening, thank you so much for joining us today. I really love conversations like this because they remind us that expansion is not just about what's in our mind. There's a whole story and experience behind it. And here we're talking about rest, nervous system, sleep. These things are not like dreams. They truly are the foundation for every dream that you're building. If this episode resonated with you, I would love for you to share it with a friend. Subscribe, take a moment to leave a review, and please reach out to Alizah. All of her details will be in the show notes and let her know. Go get yourself a pill and let her know how it has been helping you. That will help other people get great sleep too. And also, I just hope that you find a chance for yourself to get some rest, to get some reflection, and really reconnect to that thing that you're meant to be doing in this next season of your life. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you on the next episode.