61. From Burnout to Barcelona: An Unconventional Year-End Review

This isn’t your typical year-in-review episode. It’s a raw, heartfelt look at my journey through one of the most challenging and transformative years of my life, a celebration of redefining success beyond the numbers. In this special year-end episode of Soulpreneur Scaling Stories, I share how I went from hitting burnout to making a bold move to Barcelona, and how it reinvigorated both my life and business.

I’m sharing the highs, the lows, and the lessons that reshaped my business and my life in 2024.

I also open up about my experience of pivoting from OBM retainers to coaching, navigating the challenges of saying “no” to misaligned clients, the hard truths about growth and transition, and the lessons I’ve learned about building a business that truly aligns with my values.

This episode is for anyone who’s felt stuck, overwhelmed, or uncertain and is ready to embrace change, even when it’s scary. If you need a reminder that success looks different for everyone, this episode will inspire you to reflect, reset, and embrace your own unconventional path.

Let’s reflect, reset, and step boldly into 2025 together.

Key Points Covered:
✨ Why transitions take time and require patience
✨ Lessons learned from taking on misaligned clients
✨ How moving to Barcelona changed everything
✨ How personal growth and business alignment go hand-in-hand
✨ Why slowing down can lead to your biggest breakthroughs
✨ The power of realigning your business with your values
✨ The impact of investing in coaching and self-development

Thank you for being a part of the Soulpreneur Scaling Stories community!

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🎧 Podcast produced and edited with love by @FerAssists 🩵

Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Andrea here, your host and passionate business coach and scaling strategist for Soulful Service Providers and Coaches. Welcome to another episode of Soulpreneur Scaling Stories. Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of your fellow entrepreneur's business to see what actually went into scaling it?

[00:00:22] Well, you are in for a treat because that's exactly what we are doing here. In each episode, we will be uncovering the truth behind the lessons and the stories behind what it truly takes for sole preneurs to scale their businesses intentionally. I'm hoping that their stories will help you to unlock the true potential of your business so you can create your own soulful, abundant and aligned laptop lifestyle through intentional scaling.

[00:00:46] So whether you're just starting out on your scaling journey or you're a seasoned entrepreneur seeking inspiration, this episode has something incredible in store for you. Are you ready to rise, grow and create? Create a business that fully supports your dream life. Well, let's [00:01:00] dive in before we begin.

[00:01:02] Make sure to hit that subscribe buttons. You never miss an empowering episode filled with real stories and soulful insights.

[00:01:11] I am super excited for this episode because this is my unconventional year in review for 2024. I'm going to talk about business growth and development and some other personal things. And it's going to be personal, raw, vulnerable. I asked my guests to do this all the time. So now it is my turn. And the thing that I really want you to walk away.

[00:01:34] the witness episode. Is that. 

[00:01:38] Success is what you make of it. 

[00:01:40] It's not always what it looks like on Instagram. It's not always financial. There are so many different factors that go into this term success. So we'll expand more on that, but let's dive in. So in 2023, this was my year of a burnout. And my [00:02:00] 2024 then became my year of transition. So was 20, 24, my highest revenue year. 

[00:02:08] No. It was not at all because it was a year of transition. But let me share why it might have been my most successful year yet. So as some of, you know, if you know me, I am a certified online business manager. I am. Warsaw a business coach for online service providers, my virtual assistants, my OBMs and my overall goal for 2024 was to move away from my OBM retainer work and really lean more into coaching. 

[00:02:40] So how did that go? Did I succeed? Am I a coach? A hundred percent of the time kind of. So. Let's talk about transitions for a minute. When, when did I translate it? In 2020, I became a certified online business manager. And it took me about one year to fully transition from virtual assistant [00:03:00] to OBM only working with my OBM clients. 

[00:03:04] So it is unrealistic to expect that, okay, I want to do this transition. It's going to happen in a month. It's going to happen in two months. It's going to take some time. I've done this before. I knew that it would take some time. So currently I still have, uh, one or two OBM clients and coaching is much more of a focus. 

[00:03:28] So I am more and more leaning into that. And in addition to that, not only am I doing it more, but I really, really proud of the progress that I have made in my coaching this year. It has been a journey for me from really figuring out my niche, what I want to do and to lean into marketing. How do I want to market really learning about marketing and coaching? 

[00:03:52] Because it is so different from marketing when you're a service provider. So this year I narrowed my niche. I am so obsessed with what I [00:04:00] do. I helped kept service providers get uncapped and grow spaciously and peacefully. And transitioned away from that chaos into this piece. I love it. I am obsessed with it. 

[00:04:11] Obviously. I have a personal connection to it due to the burnout that I mentioned earlier. I also invested in coaching. For myself for marketing, because this was an area that I knew I had to crack. I knew I had to improve on that end. My investment was so worth it. It was so great in the last quarter of this year, I revamped my entire offer suite. 

[00:04:34] I am hyper-focused. On what I'm doing. I have a, I have systems for marketing and everything is so valuable and I really, really love what's happening. So I'm really looking forward to my coaching in 2025. So that's why I consider this a success. The. On the OEM side, I have a consistent OBM client. [00:05:00] I've worked with for a couple of years who I love Andy earlier at the beginning of this year, I gained a new one. 

[00:05:05] And on the call, were there red flags? Yes. There were red flags. Did I take on this client? I did. No. I ignored my gut. I took on this client because at that time I said, I could use the revenue. I need the money. Let me just say yes. What's the worst that could happen. Let's just say that this was a test from the universe that I failed tremendously. This was one of the most tumultuous. Clients that I have had. It was quite the lesson. 

[00:05:37] And I'm sharing this to tell you that I know better. I want a hundred percent no better than to do this. I let the money leave me. And I want this to be a lesson for you. And a reminder that even seasoned service providers make mistakes. Even seasoned service writers take on an aligned clients. And. [00:06:00] It is what it is. The universe. Tested me. 

[00:06:05] I said, no, I wasn't allowed to this. And, and it did not work out, but don't worry. It didn't last for that long. And we have grown. So overall businesses transitioning, it is growing. We are moving more and more into the direction that we want to go. I feel very clear and I'm very excited for 2025. So now let's move on to growth and investment. So, as I mentioned, I invested in marketing coach and it was the best thing that I could have done. I will say that. If you really find somebody who you're aligned with, and if you're listening to this, perhaps that person is speaking to you right now. 

[00:06:45] It is a, it is an investment that will pay off 10 fold. And for so long, I took this, this coach has. Uh, I really, really aligned with her, her style with her. [00:07:00] What she teaches. And it has been really incredibly valuable. I also made a couple of other personal investments, both a combination of business and personal. 

[00:07:09] So one was, is actually a former guest on this podcast. Um, Sheridan roof. And in the episode that she is on, we were talking about being at your edge and the fear of success and holding yourself back. And I said, Ooh, I really, really relate to this. That I really felt it when she was talking. I was like, I am holding myself back. So I worked with her in this really deep session and it was amazing. And the other thing I did was work with Zani Eve, who is also a guest on this podcast, who is my friend. 

[00:07:43] And I worked with her to deepen my intuition and get more in touch with my intuition. And those things have helped me immensely. In my business and in my personal life. So I have grown from this even more confident. I have grown in my trust for [00:08:00] myself. I. Have tools that I didn't have before necessarily, or I develop a more and these investments are already been paying off both monetary and non-monetary really, and. Amazing. All right. 

[00:08:14] So then the third category is personal life. So my whole thing is that. I really want. Everybody in my world to be living in aligned to business and an aligned lifestyle. And part of that for me. So if you don't know, I am a ma in American who lives in Spain. I moved here in 2022. I moved to Malaga Spain, which was in the south. Of the country lived there for two years. 

[00:08:47] It wasn't quite the right fit to didn't have things that I need that I feel like, okay. This is for me, this is, you know, like this is my place. Um, interestingly [00:09:00] enough, One of them is salsa dancing. So I'm a big salsa dancer had been forked since, I don't know, 2005, I think. And I'm kind of, non-existent in Mulago, wasn't really the vibe. 

[00:09:12] So it was really interesting. The first place I've ever lived that didn't have a community for salsa dancing, and it really, really affected me. So, and then another thing was that I really missed my yoga. So the type of yoga that I do, it's called Jeeva And this is like, It was certified yoga teacher in a lineage similar to that. 

[00:09:32] And that also did not exist in Mollica many other things. It was a little bit too small for me. And. So I had visited previously, but then, you know, more recently in last year I had visited Barcelona. And when I came here, I was like, oh, I feel at home here. This is my home. So we moved. And let me tell you that this is, was not as simple feet, [00:10:00] so you think, okay, you're moving. 

[00:10:02] It's fine. Like you do that at home. Like not a big deal. I can do a whole series of podcast episodes on how difficult it is. To do something as seemingly simple, as finding a place to live in Barcelona. So I hear it has been honestly, the best thing that I have done personally, if the city feels really aligned, I'm building community here. 

[00:10:22] I have so many more friends than I did before I have my dancing. I have my yoga. I have people. So it was the best thing personally and just energetically as well. So I really felt kind of stagnant in Malaga. Malaga was a great place. Now people love it. Don't I'm not dissing on that city. Like it's lovely. Um, Thereafter. 

[00:10:43] I, you know, figured out how to turn another country. Just being there really felt stagnant. And so here, when I moved the energy shifted. And that also really had an effect on my business. So I'll give you an example of a challenge that I faced in order to find an apartment in [00:11:00] Barcelona. It is incredibly competitive. There is a particular website. 

[00:11:05] And as soon as something pops up, you have to call, you have to call, they don't answer emails. They don't have to, you know, whatever you have to call in Spanish. I am not fluent in Spanish. So I was dreading making these calls because I sounded like an idiot. I didn't know, half the words that were telling me. And, but I had to, because I wanted to move, I needed to make this happen. 

[00:11:25] And the only way to do that was to get over this fear. So I did it and then I did it again and again and again, and then eventually I wasn't afraid anymore. I overcame my fear of talking on the phone in Spanish to people about topics that I didn't have the best vocabulary over, which I learned. But at the beginning, I did not know these words. So this of course is parallel to business, right? 

[00:11:47] Everything you do in your business, that's new. It's going to be scary. Your nervous system is going to tell you not to do it, and you are going to. Then not let it stop you because we [00:12:00] know better and we're going to do it. We're going to do it scary. And then it's going to become normal and less scary. So adaptability persistence, trusting your intuition, that this is the right move. 

[00:12:10] These are all things. To learn from. My story of moving to Barcelona. So overall, what lessons can we learn from this? And then I will tell you what I'm looking forward to in 2025. Transitions take time. Give yourself space, have a plan and just know that transitions take time. Again, both of my big transitions in my business, VA to OBM will. We'll be M to coach takes time. Success is not linear. 

[00:12:40] It's going to go up and down as long as you are consistent, as long as you don't give up. As long as you continue to be creative and innovative, then you are successful. Sometimes that year, that looks smallest, quote unquote on paper is really setting you up for your biggest leaps. This is what I feel like I said, this has not [00:13:00] been my biggest financially successful year, but I have done so much personally, the inner work setting up my business, huge things are on the horizon. And alongside that investing in yourself, especially when you're in transition, you cannot go wrong. 

[00:13:16] This is so important to have that support. So, if I'm looking forward to 2025, I am really excited. It's the overall, this year has been a huge success in if I consider every factor, I know that I have the foundations in place. I know that when I'm building a setting me up for an amazing 20, 25, my confidence has grown myself. 

[00:13:37] Trust has grown my business. I love where I am bringing it, where have brought it so far. I love the marketing that's happening. I love all these things that I wasn't aligned with before. And I love where it's going. So I would really love for, to encourage you to do this exercise for yourself, reflect back on your year and not just both financially and [00:14:00] in all these other categories really look back. 

[00:14:02] Where were you at the start of this year? Where are you now? What growth have you seen? Where would you like to go in 2025? So really reflect on your own journey and. Define success in your own terms. And I really encourage you to just keep this up, keep going and. Having an amazing. And of the year 2025. And yeah. 

[00:14:26] So I guess I will see you guys next year. And. That is all the, see you guys later. 

[00:14:33] Thank you so much for joining us today. I really hope you found inspiration and insights from today's episode. You know, scaling your business intentionally and from the inside out is a transformational process, but I'm here to support you every step of the way. Head on over to dancingleafsolutions. com slash resources for free tools to help you do just that.

[00:14:58] And thank you again for being [00:15:00] a part of the Soulpreneur Scaling Stories community, your presence and dedication to growth, inspiring me every day.