Ep 65: How Life Breaks Your Business (And What You Build Next) with Heather Crabtree
If you’ve ever felt like your business and your life were in a constant tug of war, this episode is going to hit. Hard.
Because here’s the truth no one talks about enough in the online space. Life doesn’t pause just because you’re scaling. And business doesn’t always grow in a straight line just because you want it to.
In this conversation, I sat down with Heather, someone who has been in the entrepreneurial world for over two decades, and we went way beyond surface-level strategy. We talked about what happens when life forces you to pivot, how identity gets wrapped up in your business, and what it actually looks like to keep going when things get really hard.
This is about business, yes. But it’s also about being human inside of it.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
Why “business seasons” matter more than constant growth
How life events can completely reshape your business trajectory
The identity crisis that comes with stepping back or pivoting
What it really means to build a business that fits your life
How to navigate sharing personal experiences online
The pressure of visibility and audience expectations
Why you don’t have to prove yourself anymore
Business Is Not Linear, And That’s the Point
One of the biggest shifts in this conversation was around the idea of business seasons.
We’re taught that business should always be growing, scaling, expanding. More revenue, more clients, more visibility. But that’s only one season.
Heather broke it down into four:
Expansion
Integration
Contraction
Recalibration
And when you look at your own business through that lens, everything changes.
Because suddenly, slowing down doesn’t mean you’re failing. Pulling back doesn’t mean you’re losing momentum. It might just mean you’re in a different season.
For service providers especially, this matters. You are the business. Your capacity, your energy, your life circumstances all directly impact how you show up.
So pretending you can operate in constant expansion is not just unrealistic. It’s unsustainable.
When Life Forces the Pivot
We also talked about something that doesn’t get enough space in business conversations.
What happens when you don’t choose the pivot?
What happens when life chooses it for you?
Heather shared her experience navigating her daughter’s cancer diagnosis, and how that completely shifted everything. Her offers, her capacity, her priorities, her identity.
And here’s the part that stuck with me.
She didn’t just pivot her business. She had to reevaluate what actually mattered.
What stays?
What goes?
What is even relevant anymore?
This is something I see with so many service providers. You build an offer ecosystem that works, until life changes. Then suddenly, what used to fit doesn’t anymore.
And instead of adjusting, we try to force ourselves back into it.
That’s where burnout comes from.
The Identity Crisis No One Warns You About
Let’s talk about the part that hits a little too close to home.
When your business changes, who are you?
If you’re not taking clients, are you still a business owner?
If you pivot your offers, are you still “consistent”?
If you step back, are you losing momentum?
Heather talked about hitting a moment where she wasn’t taking on new clients and questioning everything.
“I’m not an entrepreneur now. What am I doing?”
And I felt that in my bones.
Because for so many of us, especially in service-based businesses, our identity gets tied to what we produce, how we show up, and how visible we are.
So when that shifts, it can feel like everything is unraveling.
But it’s not.
It’s just evolving.
You Don’t Owe the Internet Your Life
We also got into something that I know so many of you struggle with.
What do you share online?
How much is too much?
What do you owe your audience?
Heather shared openly during parts of her journey, especially early on. But over time, that shifted.
Not everything needs to be public.
Not everything needs to be explained.
And honestly, not everything can be understood by the people watching from the outside.
This is especially relevant if you’ve built a personal brand. There’s this unspoken pressure to keep sharing, keep showing, keep being visible.
But you get to decide.
Your boundaries are allowed to change.
Your level of visibility is allowed to change.
And protecting your life does not make you less authentic.
You’re Not Here to Prove Anything
If there’s one theme that kept coming up, it’s this.
At some point, you stop trying to prove yourself.
You stop chasing validation through numbers, followers, or growth metrics.
You stop trying to fit into what the industry says your business should look like.
And you start building something that actually works for you.
Heather said it best.
She’s not here to prove herself anymore.
And that is the kind of energy that changes everything.
Because when you’re not proving, you’re choosing.
Choosing how you work
Choosing what you offer
Choosing how you show up
That’s where sustainable scaling actually comes from.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and catching up
02:00 Why life impacts business more than we admit
06:00 The concept of business seasons
12:00 Identity and entrepreneurship
17:00 Navigating personal experiences publicly
23:00 The identity crisis of stepping back
30:00 Therapy, growth, and self-awareness
36:00 Forced pivots and redefining priorities
44:00 Boundaries with audience and visibility
47:00 Letting go of proving yourself
About the Guest
Heather Crabtree is a seasoned business strategist, coach, and three-time founder who helps entrepreneurs align their business with their life. She’s the creator of the Built to Flow™ Framework, host of the Built to Flow podcast, and is currently writing her first book. With 15 years of coaching experience and co-ownership of a boutique law firm, Heather brings both strategy and soul to guiding entrepreneurs through growth, change, and realignment.
Connect with Heather Crabtree
Website: heathercrabtree.com
Instagram: @heathercrabtreebusiness
Interested in Being on the Show or Working with Emylee?
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If you’d like to see a library of all published episodes in a gallery with easy-to-find links to all listening platforms be sure to check out the Sell The Damn Service Episode Library.
