Not too long ago, I found myself glued to my computer screen working 12 + hour days 6-7 days a week, staying up till 2 am on the regular, as I was launching my online business.

And, while I was exhausted and on the brink of burnout – there was a level of pride and importance that I felt in approaching business in this overly-doing, masculine-dominated way.

I remember hitting that burnout moment after launching my first official website in 2014 – and after all of that hard work, part of me just wanted to throw the towel in.

I began to get the memo that approaching doing business in this way was unsustainable for me and that ultimately it was stunting my growth.

In 2016, I started studying seasonal earth-based rituals and working with the Wheel of the Year, and through that work, I remembered that I was indeed part of nature and that ultimately I needed to cycle my business up with the rhythms of the seasons for sustainable growth.

It took me a few more years to dial in my sweet spot around my workflow – but today I’m stoked to say that I’ve created what I call a fem-forward, seasonal-centric, and sustainable business model for myself – one that includes spaciousness, rest, self-care and time for integration, and teach my clients this too.

In fact, right now, I’m on the tail end of my 5-week summer sabbatical (yup, I pre-wrote this message to you), and it feels DAMN good to give myself this gift of rest and pause before the fullness of Fall hits!

Now, I work an average of 25 hours/week, work 6-hour days – 4 days a week, go to bed around 1130 (still a night owl and still working on that!), and take a regular #middaybootybreak or 2 or 3 throughout my day.

I also take off 5 weeks in summer, 4 weeks in winter, and a week or so in Spring and Fall (definitely going Euro-centric for my fem-forward business model!) – and my company is only continuing to grow and expand with that seasonality and spaciousness woven in.

I recognize that not everyone has the privilege of taking this type of time and space off – but I do believe we can all get creative in weaving in more breathing room into our business models and workflows.

So, if there’s one thing I can leave you with from this share today, it’s this:

That overworking most often doesn’t result in more money, flow or freedom – and oftentimes, when we scale back slightly (or a lot) this can lead to more organic expansion occurring in your business.

So, even if it’s just an hour or two a week that you exchange for self-care, a Sunday sabbatical from your phone, or a long weekend of integration after a big launch – I invite you to see where you can open up that space, and what that freed up energy would allow you to do and create.

With love and spaciousness,

P.S. Want some inspiration + actionable tools around creating a life & business that you LOVE (according to YOUR OWN terms)?

Join me live on August 11th for a virtual roundtable discussion with some absolutely incredible change-makers. Details coming next week!