Keeping Up With Your Business During Difficult Seasons of Life: My Personal Experience & Best Advice [Ep. 113]
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Here’s what to expect from this episode:
Trigger Warning: Pregnancy loss is mentioned in this episode.
I wasn't sure whether I wanted to record this episode, but ultimately, I decided to share a little bit about what's been going on in my life, hoping it will resonate with at least some of you in some way.
Because odds are you're also a high achiever with a strong drive to keep everything going all the time (like your business, your podcast, your 9-5 teaching job, your TPT store, the list goes on). But sometimes, it comes at a cost. And that could be your mental health, physical health, or relationships.
I really love what I do and often can't help myself from doing just one more thing before calling it quits at the end of the day. And so I've found that when I'm in a more challenging season of life personally, I have a tough time giving myself the permission to slow down or put that new idea on hold for now. But this summer, I finally made some improvements, and I want to share my experience with you and hope it helps you in some way.
TOPICS COVERED:
Giving myself permission to slow down
Why I needed to slow down this summer
The 5 things that helped me through it all
The results going off IG had on my podcast
favorite podcasting resources:
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Sara Whittaker 0:01
Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager. And I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators.
Sara Whittaker 0:30
Hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of podcasting for educators, I am going to be getting a little bit more vulnerable than usual in today's episode, a lot of the content on this show is directly teaching some sort of podcast strategy or business strategy. And today's delivery is just going to be a little bit different than that. And I do just want to say before I get started that I will be mentioning pregnancy loss in this episode. So if that is something that is difficult for you to hear at this time, then this might not be the best episode for you to listen to. I really went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to talk about what I'm going to talk about today and ultimately decided that I wanted to, I want to because I want to share with you a little bit more about what is going on in my life. But most importantly, because I have a feeling that it will resonate with at least some of you in some way. If I had to guess I would say that all of you who are listening are probably high achievers. And that could look really different. You could be a type A person type B person, you might do things six weeks in advance or the day that something is due. So you might be different in that regard. But regardless, you are probably someone who is a high achiever, I think you really have to have that in you to be a business owner, to keep up with a podcast. And also for some of you have a nine to five teaching job of some sort. In addition to all of that, you really have to have a certain drive to keep all of these things going. And having that aspiration to keep up with all of those things is amazing. And it's such a unique trait that I think we all have in us. But sometimes it comes at a cost. And that could be your mental health, your physical health, your relationships. I don't know if any of you feel this way. But I have a history of becoming a little bit obsessive about work. I've talked a little bit about this in some previous episodes. And on one hand, it's great because I really love what I do. And I think it's important to love what you do. And that drive is the reason that my business is a business in the first place. But on the other hand, I struggle to pause or stop when I need it. I check my email too much. I check my podcast downloads more than I'd like to admit, I can't help myself sometimes from doing just one more thing before calling it quits at the end of the day. And so I've found that when I'm in a more challenging season of life personally, I have a really hard time giving myself the permission to slow down or to put that new idea that I have on hold for now. I finally made some improvements in this this summer. And I want to share my experience with you and hopes that it might help you. If you are resonating with anything that I'm saying right now. I've briefly talked about this on Instagram once or twice, but we have been going through and when I say we I mean my husband and I have been going through repeated miscarriages over the last few years. I have a healthy six year old daughter who I had a really easy, smooth pregnancy with and then in 2020 I had my first miscarriage and it completely shocked me. None of my friends had had miscarriages before I didn't have any personal experiences with them. I naively thought that I would never have one because I already had a healthy pregnancy, which obviously is such a silly thing to say looking back, but you don't know what you don't know. The few people that I told about the miscarriage kept saying how common it was. Which by the way, I know it comes from a place of love but is not what you want to say to somebody after having a miscarriage, but I took that as okay, you know, I shouldn't dwell on this too much. didn't skip a beat with work. In fact, I did the opposite. I drowned myself in it. I was going at 120 miles per hour for two straight years after that. I waited until 2022 to try to get pregnant again, which resulted in another miscarriage. That was the last week of 2022. And so at this point, I felt like I really needed to slow down I felt like I needed to give myself Some love and some space to process everything and to actually allow myself to grieve a little bit. I wanted to soak up every second with my daughter at that time, because I had never felt more grateful for her than in that moment after experiencing these losses. And so at the beginning of 2022, I decided I really needed this summer, the summer of 2022, to really be slower, because typically that is one of my busiest seasons of the year, it's when people are wanting to launch their podcast, it's when clients are wanting to do more than usual because their audiences are more attentive during this summer. And it's just kind of like this ripple effect. And it's really when I should be amping up any kind of marketing that I'm doing. But I decided, not this year. And so in the months leading up to summer, I prepared for that I blocked off availability to bring on new clients or launches during the summer, I tightened up my back end systems, I made sure I had my team in place, I made a commitment to staying off of my business, Instagram, for the month of June and July, I was really ready for a summer of joy and feeling present in the moment and really taking advantage of the flexibility that my business has, which is the whole reason that I started this business in the first place. And I'm sure that it's one of the big reasons that you started yours. So I was ready. I was excited for a nice, fun, slow summer. And then I got pregnant again, which was followed by a third miscarriage in June. And for the first time, I think, ever since starting my business, I felt totally unmotivated and uninspired. It was the first time that recording a podcast episode really felt like a chore. I couldn't even begin to think of getting on a call with somebody any kind of sales call and a kind of strategy call. If it was a maybe before was a Definitely not. Now when it came to being on Instagram, not only did I not have the desire to post anything, but I couldn't look at a pregnancy announcement or a baby picture without crying. But on the other hand, life can't just stop, I can't just stop working. This is my full time job. This supports my family. And so I asked myself, What do I need to keep doing? What do I need to stop doing? At least for the time being? And my answer was, I of course, would keep doing my retainer client work. That is definitely the bulk of my income. And I can't just stop doing that. And nor do I want to just stop doing that. And luckily, I have an amazing team who supports producing all of these episodes every single week, I would keep doing my podcast, and I would keep sending one email per week. And even that bent a little bit one week during the summer I repurposed and old episode, it was my first time ever doing that. And I definitely skipped a few weeks of emails, I told myself, I would keep my promise of not showing up on Instagram in any way. I would cancel upcoming podcast interviews, I would need to cancel a couple of virtual events that I was supposed to speak at. And I was just not going to worry about other marketing methods for these few months. That wasn't going to worry about bringing in new clients, core sales, Instagram followers, I am on autopilot. Right now I'm recording this episode in mid August. And I can say that it was the best decision for me, I am in a much better place than I was a couple of months ago. Letting go of some of these things for just a couple of months gave me the space to just be to be with my family to get back in the routine of moving my body, reading actual books, slowing down my mind and trying to learn how to live in the discomfort of not working 24/7. And in case you're curious at this point, we are in the midst of going through testing to see if we can pinpoint exactly why we are experiencing these repeated losses. And if you've ever gone through anything like this, you know how much testing there is and how much time that takes. So that was definitely another benefit of saying no to some things during this season. And so if you are someone who's going through a difficult season of your life right now, whether it is your marriage, whether it's some kind of loss or you're just experiencing and overwhelming feeling of burnout, I want you to know that it's okay to slow down, it's necessary to slow down. There are areas in your life that you can put on pause, even if it doesn't feel like it. The things that really helped me were lightening my workload where I could without sacrificing my income, not taking on any new projects, hiring help. Taking a break on social media, I chose social media. Maybe for you, that's your podcasts, maybe it's your weekly newsletter. Maybe it's committing to not creating a new TPT resource for a couple of months and focusing on what you already have and leaning into what you already have. By the way, during June, I had my highest podcast download month, and I actually gained Instagram followers in the month that I was away from Instagram. Even though I wasn't promoting my podcast episodes on social media, my downloads still went up. And then the other big thing that has helped me through this time is community, I didn't mention my first miscarriage to people at all. When I posted about my second miscarriage back in January, the messages that I received from so many of you on Instagram were mind blowing, I cannot even tell you how supportive you were, how many of you shared your similar experiences, I felt so supported, it really made me feel even more grateful for this community. And for all of you. And I'm lucky that I also have a family I can talk to and I have incredible friends that I can talk to. I know that's not the case for everybody. So just want to say that if you are specifically experiencing loss, and you need someone to talk to please reach out to me I am here I will always be willing to talk to you or just kind of be a soundboard for you be somebody that you need to vent to if you do not have somebody in your life that you can turn to I will not lie there were days when I was so glad that I wasn't on Instagram. But there were other days where I felt a little bit of FOMO and really questioned if I should be doing more with who my audience is, like I mentioned at the beginning, summer is one of those best times of yours to be out there, marketing my resources and services, I am constantly torn between feeling content, and my business and wanting more and more and more. But none of us can be in a season of extreme growth, and hustle 24/7, it is not sustainable. If you need a break, or slow down, please do it, your business is going to be there when you're ready to come back. We think that we always have to do more, we have to create more. When really a lot of times if you it's like that saying if you can just slow down to speed up. That's what often happens if you give yourself that space to slow down. That's often when you get a little bit more clarity in your business. And you give yourself that space to decide what direction you want to go in. I started podcasting for educators for more flexibility, more happiness, and I can bet that you did the same. You are in control, you get to reimagine what your business looks like any time. If you're listening to this, and you have been going through a challenging time, or you've been super stressed and you just can't pinpoint what to do. Maybe this is what you need. Maybe you need to identify just a few things that you could pull back on to give yourself a little bit more white space in your day to day and in your brain. And maybe you're listening to this and you're like I'm good. I am golden right now. And so you might not be in this place right now. But you might at some point. And I want you to remember this episode to come back to if you ever need this little pep talk or this permission slip to push the pause button. Give yourself the space that you need. And really think taking these little periods of pause throughout the year can do wonders for your business and for your mental health. Like I said before, sharing some of these personal details is not something that I usually do on the podcast. So I just want to say thank you for being here and for listening to me and I hope that it has helped you in some way. And again, I am only a DM away or an email away if you ever need somebody to talk to. Alright my friends. I will be back next week. Talk about something completely different. We will be chatting about audio lead magnet specifically tips for making sure that your audio lead magnet converts. I'll see you then.
Sara Whittaker 15:13
Thanks so much for listening to today's episode to keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.
More about Podcasting for Educators:
Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!
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