When Hustle Stops Working

Within four years of starting my first business, I had launched three completely different ones:

📌 A process serving company

📌 A newspaper publication

📌 And a real estate brokerage

Three industries. Three sets of demands. One woman doing her best to make it all work.

And for a while? I did. Kind of.

I remember one specific day, flying down the main drag with my Jeep, rushing to get to another meeting. I hadn’t eaten lunch. My head was spinning from the last appointment, and my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing with emails from all three businesses. My schedule was within MY control and it was a f**cking mess!

That was the moment I realized: This pace wasn’t progress. It was exhaustion on repeat!

I wasn’t leading. I was reacting.

I wasn’t strategic. I was scattered.

And I sure as hell wasn’t living the entrepreneurial dream I thought I was building. I was tired, drained, and sacrificing a lot to make it all work.

YES - at the time it probably had to be that way. But that way of doing things isn't sustainable. Eventually, the demand outweighs the capacity and something's gotta give.

The Trap of the Multi-Hat Hustle

Most entrepreneurs don’t get into business because they love juggling chaos. We do it for freedom. For fulfillment. For the chance to build something our way.

But somewhere along the line, it’s easy to be the reason your business stalls. We say yes to everything. We skip lunch, sleep, self-care, strategy. And before we know it, the business we started to set us free is the thing that’s holding us hostage.

It took me years, YEARS, to shift out of that mode. I had to learn how to delegate (but first how to trust others.) To prioritize. To stop assigning my worth to how "busy" I was - because DAMN I was busy, but was it really going anywhere? I had to redefine success, not as "doing it all," but as building something that could thrive without me glued to it 24/7.

Tangible Takeaways From That Era

If you’re reading this and nodding along, here are a few things I wish I’d known sooner:

1. Just because you can do it all doesn’t mean you should. There’s a difference between being capable and being strategic.

2. Not every opportunity is YOUR opportunity. If you’re spread too thin, it might be time to stop chasing more and start choosing better.

3. There’s power in pausing. If you’re too busy to eat lunch or think clearly, your business doesn’t need another sprint, it needs a new system.

4. Leadership starts with how you lead yourself. That includes your time, your energy, and your focus.

   
   

Why I Created The CEO Shift

That messy, multi-hat hustle? That was my look for many years... but it forced me to look at everything differently - how I worked, how I led, and who I was becoming in the process.

Over time, I realized that success wasn’t about juggling more, it was about leading better. It wasn’t about being everywhere, it was about showing up where it mattered most.

That shift changed everything for me. And now, I’m helping other entrepreneurs make that same shift. Because this isn’t just about business growth. It’s about YOU - the person building it. And it’s time you started leading like the CEO your business actually needs so you can have the life you wanted when you got into this thing.

Learn more about The CEO Shift: www.noblechoicecoaching.com/the-ceo-shift