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Today’s talking point:

I’m joined by Busy to Boss Academy student and veterinary content creator, Emily. We chat about leaping into being a full-time business owner and the mindset blocks that can come with it. She explains how she’s transformed boundaries and avoided burnout.

Join the Decide to Thrive workshop designed to help you future-proof your business.

Emily’s story will definitely resonate with so many of you, especially those of you who are dreaming of turning your side hustles into full-time businesses. Emily started off sharing her journey online and now she creates content full-time.

I just know you’re going to love this one and find it so inspiring.

What we talked about:

Every Busy to Boss interview starts by talking about why we do what we do. For Emily, it’s because she loves helping people. She describes that feeling when you give someone a gift and there’s that little moment where their eyes light up - that is the feeling she craves and is addicted to giving people.

Emily is a qualified veterinary nurse, but instead of continuing solely down this career path, she started creating content on the side to document her journey. Flash forward 6 months and she’s turned her side hustle into her full-time business, creating content for the veterinary space.

We talk about taking her business full-time and her journey so far, as well as how to strengthen your mindset to become a resilient and successful business owner.

Experiencing burnout

During her highly demanding degree which lead to her own burnout, Emily started to share her journey online to help those in the same field and to show others that being a veterinary student wasn’t easy.

She boldly opened up the conversation about burnout, something that was happening to a lot of people in the veterinary community but that people weren’t really talking about.

“I didn't want somebody else to go through that journey that I had, so I started talking about it online.

I think, especially in the beginning, because it was such a taboo subject, it didn't get the spotlight that it deserved. But it's definitely getting better and there are more voices joining the party. I think that the beauty of the topic is that everybody has got their own experience because my experience might be different to someone else's but yet we both understand we have a mutual understanding of what we've been through”

Mindset & self-care

Focusing on mindset and self-care has helped Emily with burnout.

“As a lot of people in the caregiving and service-based profession will know, we are hardwired to help others but find it more difficult to look after ourselves.”

She says this has been one of the biggest challenges, learning how to stick to her boundaries before she gets to burnout and not feeling like a failure because of that.

“So mindset and self-care have really helped me personally because it means that I have been able to understand my boundaries, and my capacity to be able to deal with things. And knowing that that's okay”

Joining the academy

She has found support with her mindset from the Busy to Boss Academy.

Emily was a founding member of the original Academy back in 2020, she then returned in March 2022 when she was about to go from employment to being a full-time content creator and business owner.

“I think I just got to the point where I knew that I knew that transitioning from being a full-time nurse to becoming a full-time content creator was going to be hard in itself, then working remotely from home as well. I needed some kind of structure or support system there to help me guide me through that first initial period of uncertainty. Knowing that I'd always got that there in the background was a massive relief.”

She reflects on how she has gained support with her mindset, and business, from joining the academy:

“I think it's the second-guessing and the unknown, that when things are uncertain, my first thing to do is catastrophize things and make things seem a lot worse than what they are. And in reality, sometimes I just need somebody to be there to be like: “It's okay, you're doing fine.” At least knowing that I'm in the right direction was what I needed.

celebrating the wins

As much as she loved full-time nursing, Emily reflects that the biggest win has to be going full-time in her business in March.

“I think very, I'm very, lucky now that I've been able to move on to create content full-time because again, that is something that I've got a huge passion for. It's just wild to think that that's what like when I say all out loud, it's like, wow.”

Another big takeaway has been around her general mindset. Emily says she no longer worries about people’s judgement and is comfortable with who she is.

Emily has discovered that “what works for you, might not work for someone else” and that it’s been a big lesson in her life and business. It only matters if it works for her and comparing yourself to everyone else helps no one.

Speaking to your past self

If Emily could speak to her past self at the time she joined the academy:

“I would say that you need to let go. And you need to embrace the experience. Because what you put in is what you're going to get out. And you know what, you know what you want to get out of the experience. So just go for it. Don't hesitate at all..”

Make sure you follow Emily and her journey on Instagram.