Listen is as Allobee CEO, Brooke Markevicius, shares an update on Allobee and her journey in entrepreneurship and the life of a founder. As a female business owner, she has found it is really hard to go far without self reflection and an analysis of not just how the business is doing but how you are doing as a business owner. It’s important to assess if you still love what you are doing. Brooke spent time over the summer reflecting on this and determined she loved the company, the team, what they are building, but did she love what she was doing on a day-to-day basis. She felt she was dealing with burnout. She knew she needed to grow the business but felt the pressure to grow and scale the business and move faster. It was unsustainable and questionable if that is how she should do business. When we start moving fast, are we losing the quality and relationships that we should be building? She believes in gut-checking and asking these questions. Brooke shares the three things that helped her overcome being on the verge of breaking down. Society isn’t built for a woman to be a business owner especially as a mom and caregiver. Brooke has friends that are founders and business owners that she could share in this and not feel so alone. Brooke has always been ambitious and wanted to meet her goals but being so goal oriented can mess with your mind and be very exhausting. Brooke and her family spent the summer at their farmhouse in North Carolina. It was a blessing to have a place to get away and be together. They had no childcare and both she and her husband work full time. Brooke was scared how they were going to pull it off but her husband kept telling her they could do it. Next she shares 3 tips to avoid burnout: Tip 1: Get Away - Get out of your current physical location where your stress has been. Our bodies are aware of where we are at and it can be refreshing and hopeful to get away. It got Brooke out of her normal routine. She was forced to not work all the time because she didn’t have a choice without childcare. She also didn’t want to work all the time in this new place where it was beautiful and she wanted to enjoy time. It gave her a new perspective of what she had been missing. Tip 2: Look at the impact you are making as a business owner - Zoom out and look at the impact you are building. Brooke researched how much Allobee had paid women for their work. Allobee paid out almost $1 million dollars to women since 2020. Her goal was to get women paid for flexible work. Brooke realized she had reached that goal. Knowing that helped her destress a little. She knew she was reaching the Allobee’s mission. She also looked at how many businesses Allobee had impacted and helped support people. Over 70,000 hours were given back to business owners so they could run their business and enjoy their families and life. Brooke blocked her time starting in September so she has time for herself. It hit her that she had no time for herself and no flexibility in her own life which was counterintuitive to what she was trying to build for others. Is the impact you are making in align to what your goals are? Tip 3: Find something that you love outside of work - Brooke’s good friend Eve Rodsky, is the author of Free Play and Unicorn Space. Brooke didn’t put into play what Eve taught in Unicorn Space. She realized there was no Brooke outside of Allobee or mom life. She reread the book and sat on it for a while. She’s been thinking a lot about what this looks like for her but she encourages everyone to read the book and to make time for things you want to do and are not things that everyone wants you to do. She realized that trying to rediscover what that is for her is part of why she was experiencing burnout. Find something that makes you joyful and fills you up. Women are leaving ambitious “careers” for things they love for things that bring them joy and happiness. Find the right balance of ambition and joy. Brooke is still on that journey but it’s something we all need to find. Stay tuned for a great season of Allobee Radio! www.allobee.com/plusCode: ALLOBEERADIOhttps://www.elle.com/life-love/opinions-features/a40835443/women-rejecting-traditional-ambition-2022/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email