4 years ago I burnt out bad.

I was working 55+ hour weeks.

I would answer emails at 2am.

I would be at lunch with friends anxiously checking my phone.

I even stepped out of a restaurant once and sat in my car for 20 minutes to email back and forth with a client.

Yes, I had done what most freelancers dream of.

I had quit my 9-5 and was financially supporting myself on a freelance income.

But at the cost of my mental (and physical) health.

I was constantly exhausted and irritable.

I’d all but shut down every friendship that mattered to me.

Dating was virtually impossible.

And I was all around just miserable.

So, when Covid hit and cost me my 3 largest clients, I said okay.

Sure, I was depressed for a while. I was giving up my dream after all.

But it was easier to let go of than I thought it would be.

So I made the transition into retail sales (which didn’t last long since everything shut down a few months later).

And that’s when it hit me.

I hadn’t been living the dream.

I’d simply traded a 9-5 for a 9-9.

And it wasn't just killing my business.

It was killing me too.

How I Healed From Burnout

Honestly, it took years.

Years of wondering why I still wasn’t happy.
Years of working jobs I didn’t enjoy.
Years of just “sucking it up”.

So much time was wasted because I thought being a solopreneur wasn’t for me.

Turns out that was a lie.

Burnout wasn’t for me.

So, I decided to give solopreneurship a second chance, but I knew that this time, things had to be different.

Very different.

So in summer 2023, I started making a plan.

1. Leave my toxic job and unblock my creativity.

2. Find a job that’s emotionally and financially beneficial.

3. Work that job for a time while I slowly build my business.

4. Create a system that sells my expertise, NOT my time (this was key).

Now you have to realize something with burnout…

You can (and will) burnout if you overdo even the things you love.

So I knew that working full-time while building a biz on the side would be tough, but I found a schedule that worked for me.

I decided to wake up early and work an hour before I clocked in and an hour after. Then I put in about 5 hours on Saturday.

So about 10 hours a week dedicated to my business.

I was already putting more than that into mindlessly scrolling Facebook and Instagram (thanks iPhone for alerting me to that insane time suck).

So I decided to delete FB from my phone, and any time I got the urge to scroll, I’d open LinkedIn instead.

And from there, I discovered that I still had a passion for writing and storytelling. And that LinkedIn could be a place where I could share that passion.

The rest is history.

3 Steps to Avoid Burnout in Your Biz

I talk about burnout and the importance of rest quite a bit on LinkedIn, but I’ll sum it all up for you here.

1. Don’t be afraid to take a break.

   ↳ Skip a post day. Block off a day and reschedule all your calls.
   ↳ The world won’t end if you take a day off. So, let’s normalize giving ourselves PTO as solopreneurs.

2. Don’t sell your time.

   ↳ This is so important. So often, we think of business as trading our time for money, but that’s the easiest path to burnout.
   ↳ Instead, plan your fees and structure your offer around how to deliver the most value in the least amount of time.

3. Have fun.
   ↳ This is way more important than you realize, but you HAVE to have fun.
   ↳ Outsource the boring stuff if you have to, or cut it out of your business even if it’s a revenue source. Your happiness is more important than any amount of money.

And if you have any questions about how I’ve been slowly building my biz based on these principles, feel free to reply to this newsletter or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn.

I’m happy to chat about it more!

It’s Challenge Time!

Last week I challenged you to go outside.

Did you get a chance to? If so, reply and tell me about it!

This week is a bit similar.

I want you to actually take a break.

1. Block off an entire day on your calendar between this week or next.

2. Reschedule any calls or appointments you have planned that day.

3. If you MUST post on social media, then schedule it in advance. And if it’s a platform where you can’t schedule, then skip posting. I mean it!

4. This is important → Do NOT plan to catch up on chores or errands on this day!

5. Treat yourself to something special on this day (go out to eat, go to a spa, sleep in late, watch TWO movies, etc.)

6. For parents, with young kids not in school, consider a babysitter for the day to give yourself a break. If that’s not possible, then plan a fun day with the kids where you can all get out of the house and have some fun!

However you decide to spend your day, it has to be relaxing and restorative. Even if it means just laying in bed the entire day (that’s okay too!).

And if anyone asks, tell them it’s part of building a successful business.

Shine bright, Besties. 🫶🏽✨

Your favorite story coach,
Cyndyl

P.S. I’m planning something BIG over the next few weeks to help gain back some of my time while providing even more value to you all. Can’t share much right now, but I’m SUPER excited about it, and you’ll be among the first to know once it’s ready! What do you think it’ll be?