Episode 162: The Founder's Curse: When Passion Turns Into Burnout

Braden, I'm really curious, kind of shifting gears, too, with I think what we originally opened up with.

I'm curious because I hear this a lot from founders that really struggle with this.

And I'm a founder, too, so I always love talking with other founders of organizations.

But I think a lot of people find themselves in what you're describing right now and is a real challenge for many organizational leaders on this.

When does it make sense for me to keep powering through? When does it make sense for me to hit pause? Or when does it make sense for me to scale back a little bit so that I can balance that in my life? Like what led you to that point of realizing now is the time for me to make this decision? Because I think for so many people, they just keep powering through thinking it's going to get easier and easier and easier.

and i don't just see this take a toll on people's emotional well-being i see this take a toll oftentimes well maybe it's because of my perspective with an organization financial tolls on them whether it's um the opportunity cost of putting all the energy into the non-profit and shifting away from maybe their primary um career and you know income source or their opportunities to create other income sources or in many cases in worst cases i suppose people continue to invest their own personal money into organizations thinking that surely at this point in time three years in five years in ten years in I would have been able to grow this organization into something that's sustainable without me, whether it's my time or whether it's my money.

So I'm just, I'm curious from your perspective, like, how did you get to that place? Or how did you, that was the right time for you? Or what triggered you? Because I think a lot of people are probably hearing this and wondering, is this the time for me too?

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, it was a combination of a few different things.

The first is that I realized that no matter how much I scaled this operation, the impact on my life was going to be the same, right? If we were a million dollar organization tomorrow, I still wouldn't be able to pay myself the amount that I want to, to be able to take care of my future family and that side of my life, right? So sitting down and having that conversation with myself was something that was really important.

And again, I wholeheartedly believe that I could turn this thing into a seven-figure operation, right? I actually know without a doubt that I could at this point.

But I realized that the ceiling is not in line with the ceiling that I view from my personal standards and my personal life at this point in my life.

It doesn't mean that it won't be in the future, but now it does.

And I think that there was a point where I would have maybe... guilted myself into feeling the obligation of taking care of my communities at the detriment of my own wellbeing.

There was that point.

And I think that's something that a lot of nonprofit founders struggle with, but it was actually in connecting with the community that I serve.

Like I have a mentorship group for trauma survivors I talk to every year.

Where

those guys were some of the guys who talked to me almost out of going all in on this stuff.

I knew that I would best serve them if I wasn't burnt out, if I wasn't resenting the organization.

And I was actually just putting my heart into 20% instead of 150%.

Right? So I think that helped me make that decision.

And again, I think it was just having a real open conversation with myself and not feeling the social pressure to be... you know, to put others before myself.

I really do value helping the communities that I serve.

But I think it is really important to find that balance as well.

But yeah, and I also think part of it is that For so long, especially maybe a lot of not-for-profit founders can agree with this, but for so long, my identity was tied to hit the ground running, right? It was the first thing that I built for myself.