Join The Sustainable Solopreneur, where I share my 18+ years as a serial solopreneur, and top tips for building a business and life that’s successful and sustainable.

Survive Thrive as a Solopreneur

I’ve told this story as a bit of a joke…

“I had my firstborn on a Friday, started my business that Monday…”

It wasn’t an aspiration… our family needed my income and I wanted to be home with my son!

So, I took my experiences working for an ad agency and helping a former employer start his company, and started my own remote brand / marketing agency.

It was 2005.

I didn’t know much about being in business for myself, but I was happy as could be, working around the clock, and around his schedule…

I thought I had the dream work life.

A few years later I started a second business, licensing art. I had 2 boys by then.

If there was thing I was adamant about, it was my freedom. Family came first.

I thought I was doing the right things:

had location independence
freedom to attend class parties + chaperone field trips
thrived during the economic recession of ‘08
hit 5-figure months in my 30s

I made clients millions of dollars, and helped solve some pretty complex challenges.

Two years into licensing my art, I made over $10K in royalties on one product. It took me less than 20 minutes to make.

I was proud of what I’d accomplished. I’d done everything on my own, without a team or a VA…

But I was tired.

I’d done everything possible to not let work interfere with mom life, but it meant odd hours and a nonstop schedule.

In 2015, I took my very first trip without work… without my laptop.

Yep… 10 years in.

There’s a story there, of course.

Almost immediately, the inevitable happened:

Burnout.

The Glaring Yet Hidden Connection between Success, Stress & Burnout

Part of it was simple: I needed to streamline.

Part of it went much deeper…

Conversations with my business coach, other business owners, and even a therapist…

Led to an eye-opening discovery.

I created a theory... a hypothesis of sorts.

Researching it further revealed a GLARING yet HIDDEN connection between success and burnout.

You couldn’t find this on Google, however.

But...

The more I talked about it, the more people told me they'd experienced the same things.

I created a research project to flesh it out. Recruited a few business owners / colleagues to participate…

Took my findings to a therapist.

Actually hired her as a consultant to either:

1 - validate my theories enough to keep going, or
2 - tell me I was full of it

"Wendy, I see this every day in my practice, and you're right - nobody is talking about it."

Well...

I'm not a therapist.

But this connection is critical.

I know how it hoses people (particularly entrepreneurs!) up, and how it's the source of:

→ Stress
→ Uncertainty
→ Anxiety
→ Overwhelm
→ Perfectionism
→ Procrastination
→ Imposter Syndrome
→ Analysis Paralysis...

(You get the idea.)

At BEST people experience a low-level hum of distress.

At WORST it can lead to a full-blown mid-career crisis, or devastating loss.

But I figured out what to do about it.