I burned out in my corporate career. Properly, not the kind you laugh about at drinks. I built this business afterwards, on purpose, as the opposite bet. Not just “leave the job,” but build something where I got to decide what the hours cost me, instead of finding out the hard way again.

Then, I found a whole host of ‘guru’s’ telling me “it will be worth it in the end” and that “success means sacrifice” and I just thought, hell no, I did not give up my 7.30-6 job (because 9-5 is a joke!) to work 24/7.

And then I made the opposite mistake. I kept myself small and prioritised life and living and presumed that it was the sacrifice I was willing to make. 

But the workaholic me, the one who is fuelled by getting results and seeing transformation in her clients, she was hard to keep down. So I let her rise… and guess what. I didn’t have to stay small in business so I could have a chill life, and I didn’t have to give up my chill life to get big in business.

That’s the lens I bring into every conversation with a client who’s hit their ceiling. I’m not guessing at what it looks like from the outside. I know exactly what it costs to keep pushing past the point where effort stops paying you back, because I’ve been the person who didn’t stop in time. I built this the way I did so I wouldn’t end up there twice, and in doing so, I discovered that you don’t have to sacrifice success either!