It’s been a minute! Checking in with all things Brave & Well

We don’t often talk about the messy parts of being an entrepreneur. So in today’s episode, I’m taking y’all behind the scenes and sharing some recent changes & challenges in my personal and professional life.

Tune in to hear more about:

• How I’m juggling being a mom, wife, leader & full-time entrepreneur
• Learning to maximize my time
• Q4 reflections & looking ahead to 2023
• Planning my second maternity leave & my first sabbatical
• The challenges of letting other people run your business
• Hiring & all it requires
• The importance of celebrating milestones

I hope you’ll listen then get in touch to let me know your Q4 is going. And don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, then share this episode with a friend!

Links

• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter

Transcript

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Hi everyone welcome to the Brave and while podcast I'm your host Vanessa Newton I'm a group practice owner in social worker I'm also a Latina entrepreneur mom and recovering perfectionist. On this podcast we teach mental health professionals how to build sustainable profitable and values align businesses here you'll hear all about decolonizing the business item private. Music. Our time together will be raw honest vulnerable and held together by Joy if you like what you hear subscribe to our newsletter at Braven well.com / newsletter Dash sign. Thank you for listening. Music. Welcome to another Braven well podcast episode I'm your host Vanessa Newton. Licensed clinical social worker and group practice owner welcome it's been a minute I'm here I am. You know recovering from being sick you could probably tell my voice I'm a little congested but feeling so much better. And just gosh there's been so much happening and I thought you know what I should just share it with y'all I should just. Jump on the mic and tell y'all what's been going on because I think that. Sometimes we don't talk about the messy parts of being an entrepreneur the times when things aren't going according to plan. And what things look like behind the scenes and so my hope is that I can be real with y'all and provide you with a lot of different angles. Of Entrepreneurship even when it's not very sexy so let's jump in where have I been gosh all over the place so. I will say that well things have been busy things have been really hard and things have been challenging and I think that. There's been a lot of shifts that have happened both personally and professionally personally our daughter went back to or not went back she started school for the first time and. You know she's had a nanny her whole life we had a nanny kind of, when she was two months and she's now almost three and so decided that it was time for her to go to school and have that experience and in that process you know our nanny, you know she needed a full-time job which makes sense and so we. Definitely we're sad to see her go but also understand and and with that transition. Has been a big change in schedules and so you know I normally,

I am able to work till 6: 2:56

00 p.m. but with this new schedule and and now doing drop-off and packing lunches and pick up and driving to ballet practice and. Juggling being a mom a wife a leader full time entrepreneur my days now end up for because I have to go get her and you know. Do our evening stuff and so, I'm definitely trying to figure out how to maximize my time because my schedule has shifted and I don't have as much time as I used to to work on the businesses and do all the things so, I think personally we've gone through some shifts as a family of trying to figure out how do we still. Do what we do while prioritizing our family and taking care of ourselves and so that's been a shift and I can definitely feel the difference but I also think. Not working till 6, is also blessing and I needed that and so I'm glad that this was the push that that helped me get there a little sooner, so life has been happening I'm 23 weeks pregnant about to be 24 weeks tomorrow and so everything's been going well with my pregnancy I feel good I'm definitely a more tired but. You know so far everything has been pretty smooth, um and I know that's not the case for so many people and so I'm really grateful that my pregnancy so far has been going really well and that. My body is supporting me in this process, because it's a little different being pregnant with a toddler versus the first time my experience was so different so yeah it's different but but everything is going well and. You know I've had some cool speaking engagements and that's been really fun and just being able to share the work that I'm doing and support other therapists and mental health professionals in. You know their journey of Entrepreneurship whatever that might look like and so that's been really fun, I think the bigger thing that has been occupying so much of my time and space is closing out Q4 for my group practice so, you know most of you know if you're new here I own a group practice here in Austin colors of Austin counseling and you know Q4 for us is always a very busy time it's a time where we. Decide if we're going to hire people we are re-evaluating our compensation structure we're evaluating our policies and procedures we are. You know revisiting our benefits package or having hard conversations with clinicians around expectations and accountability and performance and. You know we're just we're just in the thick of prep for. Q1 and the new year and so Q4 is always busy but this time is especially. Different and more busy because I'm also in a place where I'm working on my transition plan for maternity leave and taking a sabbatical which I'll share more about those specifics and in a later episode but what I will say is that you know. I went on maternity leave in 2019 when I had my first kid and I didn't really take a maternity leave I think I took like maybe a month off and then just started jumping back in I had a pandemic baby and so we were all at home all the time and I think it was easy for me to jump back in because I just hopped on my computer when she was napping which was most of the time and so maternity leave then, was not a leave it was just a break to have a kid and this time around I'm really ready to take a true break not just to have another kid but to take a break from myself you know I started this this journey of Entrepreneurship in 2015 and I've never not worked in my life I worked through. College I work through grad school I worked after grad school I never have taken a break in all the time that I. Been alive I guess I could say and so I certainly have never taken a break from my business and so. You know I made the decision that if I was going to go on maternity leave then I was also going to take a sabbatical with that so it was going to be an extended leave so for now I'll be out from February 1st to August first don't worry I will still be, recording for the podcast and doing that but you know most of the break is going to be meme taking a step back from. Being the CEO and executive director of my group practice my group practice. Out of all three businesses requires the most of me and it is, it is the place where I invest most of my time and energy and it is it is the hardest business to run because it's not just me you know it's it's a team of people it's. It's a whole organization it's a company it's a system and I think I'm feeling a little burnt out from. Running the business and being in it in the day-to-day and so. What what we've been doing is I've been working with my leadership team we hired a leadership coach who has been supporting us in this transition, and who is prepping our interim executive director who will take my place while I'm gone, to just make sure that everyone has what they need while I'm gone and, I feel lucky that I have a really strong leadership team and I have people that I can trust and I know I feel confident that they're going to carry out the business in the way that either I would or they're going to do an even better job than me honestly and so I think that. This piece of preparing for that leave has been very emotionally mentally and physically draining I think mentally I know that it's time mentally I know I'm ready to take a step back mentally I know that I have people I can trust who are ready and equipped and capable to step in and. Leadership and drive the ship and I know that and emotionally it's been hard for me I think. This is my baby right colors of Austin counseling is my baby it is the thing that I've poured my whole life into and to to let go of control too. Not be the decision-maker all the time to allow other people to lead. To allow other people to be the face of the practice and to know that it can run without me and it. Is a scary feeling it's a scary feeling to not be needed all the time even though I'm now needed in a different way right I have two kids I have a husband I am needed all the time but. That is different than being needed in my business and you know with a lot of support from. Colleagues and family and my therapist say you know I've realized like it's time it's okay like I how cool is it that I built a business that is at a place where I can step away and. How great is it that I have the honor and the privilege to step away and. And I'm super grateful for that and and grateful for my team who has been so supportive and so. That is definitely taking up a lot of space and and I'm just trying to kind of sit with that and and feel all the feelings and. Make sure that I do everything I can to ensure that everyone's in a good place, and also you know I'm feeling a little nervous that I'm not going to take a true break that I'm going to hop on email every now and then and check in on things but you know I really. Really really really want to step away, and they think the other thing that's scary that I'll say is that when I do return in August I don't know how I want to return I don't know that I want to come back in the same way that that I've been showing up in my in my group practice I don't know that I want to be in it all the time and so I think this period will be. A challenge for me but it also be interesting to see how I feel at the end of it and to see. What I decide about what my role will be when I come back. I think what I know for sure is that colors of Austin counseling is something that I want to exist for a long time, and I know it will and I'm unsure if I'm the one to be that person. To lead it in the way that I have been and so we'll see right we'll see to be continued I think there's going to be a lot of Discovery in this in this process but you know most importantly I'm excited to get back some of my time so that I can pour that in, to Braven well and pour that into social note which is the business that my husband and I have I feel like you know those two businesses are always kind of on the back burner because colors of Austin comes first and as it should you know and and and I've I've done I've given it everything that I have and so I feel ready and excited to be able to give that, that same dedication and love and energy to my other businesses and to grow those businesses and to see how they do and and where they go and, and what comes from that and so, I think I'm just shifting my energy and my focus and and really trying to kind of zoom out and take a step back so that I can pour into something else so, that's been taking up most of my energy planning for 2023 and. You know on top of all of this dealing with household sicknesses I feel like I've been sick my daughter's been sick my husband's been sick. You know having a kiddos school age is, very challenging they get sick all the time definitely not something that I was prepared for but. You know we're dealing with it and we're managing it and you know I think one thing that I know for sure and one thing that feels really clear to me is that, my family will always come first and as our family grows, more of me is required you know and and that is definitely a shift for me but it's something that I. I feel honored to do and something that I want to do and so. This is just a season of life that I'm in and I keep reminding myself of that that this is a season and that another season will come but, I need to understand what is required of me in this season and adjust accordingly, in this process as well we've been hiring interviewing and hiring a lot of people trying to fill positions in a group practice there are several of us on the team who are pregnant who are going on maternity leave summer on maternity leave right now and so just wanting to make sure that we have a full team because that's the reality right like as your business grows your expenses grow. And to meet the financial demands of that growth you have to have a certain level of Revenue and a certain team size to be able to generate that revenue and so, we're hiring we're looking for more people to join our team and to work and live out our mission and so, hiring takes a lot of time a lot of energy. It's not something I do alone I actually don't do much of that process at all which is very nice but but it's still, a lot you know and its decision-making and it's thinking through you know is this the right candidate for us and if not why not. So that's been having happening I've been traveling I've taken some solo trips we've taken some family trips we went to Colorado which is our annual family trip and I took some fun solo trips with friends which was great. And just celebrating Milestones with both my team in my family you know theirs. Things have been messy things have been beautiful a lot of growth has happened in a very short amount of time and even though, none of it has been easy there's good still happening and we're entering the holiday season or were in the holiday season and so I'm just, feeling a lot of gratitude for. What this year has been and where we're at and where we're headed and and I always find this time of year to be a time where I can reflect on life and on my businesses and think about you know what is working. What hasn't been working and what do we want to change for the future so. That's it you're that's where I've been that's what I've been doing and I'm super excited to be back here and chatting with you all and, we have some good episodes coming up so as usual I appreciate you all being here. Music. So much for listening to the Braven while podcast you can find links and resources from this episode in the show notes at. Music. Listening platform then send it to a friend for free resources special announcements and discount code subscribe to our newsletter at bravin wall.com forward slash newsletter Dash sign. Music.