Burnout. It’s one of the worst feelings ever, especially as an entrepreneur. We’ve all had those moments running our businesses when we feel like throwing in the towel and just taking a nap. But burnout is more intense than that.

Feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or overly stressed? Does it feel like you can’t concentrate or be productive? Experiencing sleep problems? All of these and more are signs that you’re burning out.

Being a 1:1 business owner often feels like you can’t take a break for yourself. But there are ways you can step back, give yourself a little breathing room, and avoid burnout. Speaking is one of those ways, and that’s what this episode is all about.

If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.

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Why 1:1 work leads to burnout

I’m guessing you got into 1:1 work because you’re amazing at what you do.

Whether you’re a consultant, a business coach, or a health and wellness professional, you love working with clients personally, getting to know them, and helping them achieve their goals. You likely launched your biz so you could have that freedom to choose how much you work and who you work with. Basically, you wanted the freedom of being your own boss.

Then your business starts to grow, and you get more and more referrals from your current happy clients. You want to take on more clients and hey, it wouldn’t hurt to boost your income, right?

There’s nothing wrong with expanding your business and striving for success. But if your 1:1 business isn’t ready to support that growth, you can easily stretch yourself too thin.

And stretching yourself too thin can negatively affect your mental, emotional, and physical health. Burnout.

How speaking can help

Luckily, scaling your business doesn’t mean you have to take on more 1:1 clients than you can handle. There are other ways to scale your service-based business while avoiding burnout, so you can continue to give your best self to your clients.

One idea? Shifting your business to an agency model. An agency is different from having your own team. An agency allows other people in your biz to work with your clients so that you can step out of the day-to-day ops and into more of a CEO role.

Another idea you may want to consider is digital products. Digital products serve your potential clients and customers but don't require as much hands-on work or time as your 1:1 services. They bring in passive income and allow you to scale — increasing your income without stealing more of your precious time.

Last but definitely not least, speaking lets you scale your business without experiencing burnout.

It’s not that speaking brings in tons of revenue on its own, it’s more that, when aligned with your business, speaking helps you tap into your ideal customer, build strong connections, and shorten the journey from audience member to paying client.

If you choose the right speaking engagements that serve your business and speak on the topics that your ideal clients want to hear, you’ll find potential customers.

Give good talks that deliver value to your audience, and they’ll remember you. They’ll want to find you on social media or check out your website. See where I’m going here? You can leverage speaking for your 1:1 business with the right strategy.

Transitioning from 1:1 to speaking

Before you jump all in and start planning your next move, I want you to check whether you’re ready to start speaking or not! This video will help you determine where you and your business are now, and if you have the qualities needed to be an amazing speaker.

Back from the video? Okay, cool. Now, I want you to think about your signature process. How do you help your clients achieve their goals or find the results they’re looking for?

It may be a really long time since you’ve thought about this stuff! We service providers are typically so close to our work that we overlook each step in the process. So, pull back and outline that process. Really dig into the details.

Then, think about the process from a client’s perspective. How can they reach their goals or achieve those results with your guidance rather than your 1:1 services? And by guidance, I’m talking about speaking, of course!

What would your client need to know? What steps would they need to be given? How would they best be encouraged? All of this will go into your speaking topics and speaking style.

Ready to jump into speaking?

If you’re thinking that speaking sounds great, but it’s yet another thing to check off your neverending to-do list, hear me out.

Starting your speaker journey definitely takes hard work, but think of it as an investment into your future and your business’s future. It’s an opportunity to make space for more freedom and time in your business while providing the world with your message.

You can still make that impact on others through your business — you know, that impact that you make all the time through 1:1 services. You’d be delivering through speaking instead, letting you grow your business and help clients without burning out along the way.

Sound good to you? Still need convincing? Either way, give my other video a watch, How to Scale Your Business with Speaking. I talk about how you can use speaking to scale and move forward with your business.