Navigating Breaks In Business and Life: Inside My Unplanned Hiatus

Beyond Margins: Build a calmer business with comfortable margins

Sometimes, you just need a break. I know I did.
What was meant to be a quick breather turned into a transformative journey of two and a half years. The show (and my company) emerged with a new name, a new look, and a new perspective on what truly sustains a business—and a life.

I say that I took a break from my business. But the reality is that I broke. I realized that I was burnt out to the point where I was physically, psychologically, and emotionally impaired.

In this episode, I share the whole story—the behind-the-scenes of what went wrong, what went right, and why I’m back. Today’s episode kicks off a series on, appropriately, taking a break.

Whether you need a break because of burnout like me, you or someone you love got sick, you're getting ready to have a kid and need to plan for parental leave, or you just want to take a sabbatical to refresh, big breaks are hard to prepare for.

How do you figure out how to pay yourself (and your team) during a break? What systems and procedures need to be in place to make sure things run smoothly? How do you handle managing and serving your clients while you're away? And, if the break is unexpected and unplanned, what then?

After all, running a business is a marathon—not a sprint. If we’re going to be in it for the whole 26.2 miles, we better learn how to rest. And that starts with making calm your KPI.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The challenges of pausing work and the reality of burnout recovery
• Why I made the counterintuitive decision to take a full-time job to rest
• The importance of building a business with comfortable margins and a focus on sustainability rather than relentless growth
• Why I’m using calm as a key performance indicator (KPI) in business and advocating for a model that values space, margin, and a personalized definition of success

Learn more about me, Susan Boles:

• Beyond Margins
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn more about Sean McMullin:

• YellowHouse.Media