#48 Weathering The Storms & Reaping The Harvests of Entrepreneurship with Author Stephanie Ross

Show Notes

In this episode of Rooted & Relentless, Steph sits down with entrepreneur, author, speaker, and Small Business Sister Circle founder Stephanie Ross for a conversation every ambitious business owner needs to hear.

Together, they unpack the realities of entrepreneurship beyond the highlight reel—the storms, the pivots, the growth pains, and the unexpected lessons that shape us into stronger leaders.

Stephanie shares the inspiration behind her book Seasons of a Soulpreneur, including the difficult decision to walk away from a decade-long business, the lessons she learned navigating uncertainty, and why some of the hardest seasons of business ultimately became her greatest gifts.

If you've been feeling overwhelmed, behind, burnt out, or questioning your path, this episode is your reminder that growth isn't linear and you're probably doing better than you think.

Connect with Stephanie Ross

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanieleaross/

Grab a copy of her book: https://www.stephanieleaross.com/?page_id=1024

Continue the Conversation with Steph Rubio

Join Steph's email list to learn all you need to grow & scale your business:

https://stephrubio.myflodesk.com/letsconnect

Join The Rooted & Relenltess Mastermind:

https://www.stephrubio.com/themastermind

In This Episode, We Discuss:

1. Why entrepreneurship is often more difficult than social media makes it appear
2. The four seasons of business growth: planting, growing, storms, and harvest
3. How to recognize when a storm is actually an opportunity
4. The danger of isolating yourself during difficult seasons
5. Why community matters most when things feel hard
6. How motherhood changes the way we build businesses
7. The difference between sustainable growth and hustle culture
8. Creating rhythms, routines, and rituals that support resilience
9. Why your business journey shouldn't be compared to someone else's

Memorable Moments

"You're not failing. You're just in a different season."

"Do not isolate yourself in the storm."

"My storm became my superpower."

"The harvest is in glimmers."

"You are building in a way that makes sense for you."

"Something better has always opened on the other side of every storm."

What is Rooted & Relentless?

Rooted & Relentless is the business strategy podcast for entrepreneurs building service-based businesses designed to grow, adapt, and last. Business strategist Steph Rubio shares practical guidance on a range of topics meant to help you sell, scale, and stabilize.
Think sustainable business growth, revenue strategy, systems, capacity, client experience, and the founder leadership required to turn your skills into a successful, sustainable company.

Steph Rubio: Hello everybody, my favorite people on the planet, which is anyone who wants to hear me yap on Rooted and Relentless. I'm so excited to have you back for another episode with a super special guest. This is Stephanie, my other fellow Steph, Stephanie Lee, which I also am in case you didn't know. Stephanie Lee Ross. Welcome to Rooted and Relentless. Well, that's a wrap on this episode of Rooted and Relentless. If it made you laugh, nod alone, or grab that cute little notebook of yours and scribble something down, hit me with the SSR, subscribe, share, and review. As in, leave a review. Thanks for hanging. Bye. Hey, I'm Steph Rubio, your go-to for no-nonsense chit chat on growing a business and life that you actually love. Around here, we're rooted in who we are, even if we're still learning to love her, getting clear on where we want to go, and we're relentless in our pursuit to get there. We're clawing our way out of survival mode and learning to bet on ourselves.

Stephanie Ross: ⁓ Steph, I'm so excited for this conversation. My fellow SLR friend.

Steph Rubio: Yes, we have so much fun with that. So you got the peak in me just saying that we're both Stephanie and we realize we're both Stephanie Lee's recently and we're both have our last name starting with R. And so now when we kind of run into each other online or in the speaking space, it's always like a fun story when someone's like the other Steph and we're like, well, wait, there's more. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you before we jump right into the deep in ⁓ and tell everyone what we're talking about. And I really start to We get into the nitty gritty of growth in life and in business, money, identity, boundaries, healing, leadership, parenting, partners, and all the messy bits in between. If you're ready to grow on your own terms, laugh a lot, possibly cry a little, maybe laugh until we cry if we're lucky, then hit subscribe and let's get into it. This is Rooted and Relentless,

Stephanie Ross: Yeah.

Steph Rubio: pick that beautiful brain of yours. I just want to tell people a little bit more about you, who you are and why you're here and what you do. And ⁓ give you a chance to do so too. So the fun, fancy accolades I like to say, and what everyone listening should know about you, Stephanie Ross, is that you're a seasoned business educator. This is not new for you. You're a community leader of Small Business Sister Circle, which now has chapters and you're expanding that beautiful community of yours. You're a speaker. You're an author Grab your notepad and hold on to your tits. This one's for you. Of a book that I have right here with me. You're a podcast and event host. And I know that through speaking on stages, your podcast, your book, Seasons of a Soulpreneur, you share authentic conversations and practical wisdom, which we all love and need, which empowers women like me and you to align their business with their deeper purpose. Is there anything else you'd like to tell people anything hot in your mind right now that they should know about you as we dig into this conversation?

Stephanie Ross: Mm-hmm. ⁓ well, beyond just the titles, I describe myself as a creator and a teacher through and through. I do things that light me up from a spark of an idea and creativity, and I really love experimenting. That's what business has become for me. It's like my vehicle to just play with life and Figure out what I find and then share that with other people. So beyond all the titles and the things that I do and the hats that I wear, at the end of the day, I just really love creating from my soul and putting it out into the world for other people to find value in it. And so I get to do that through my community and speaking and the book and hosting events. ⁓ but it's just a really fun way to express myself and I love being able to share that with whoever wants to listen, like you said.

Steph Rubio: Yes, we're just like open arms, come forth. ⁓ and I love that about you, Steph. I don't know if I've ever even said this, but you're just one of those people who has this like wholesome energy. And when I hear you say what you just said, when I read the things I said that your speaker, author, community leader, mom, real estate agent, like n some things we didn't even say, all the things I know about you, ⁓ your first thought is like, How do you ⁓ my first thought is like, how do how is not walking around looking like the crushing weight of the world is on her. You know what I mean? And you're the complete opposite. It's like you have this happiness and this almost bubbly energy, but like that's not even covering it. So we're I think we're gonna peek behind the curtain today a little bit in our conversation and actually scratch back some of that howl so that people know really, I think one of your passions and mine is that they can also carry it too and it's not crushing weight. ⁓ if you build and grow that way. So I asked you to come on the podcast because we both lead communities, And I we are always have this pulse on what's happening, not only ⁓ ourselves, but as community leaders, what's going on in the market, what's going on in their businesses, how they're feeling, what they need to learn and grow right now. ⁓ And thing heavy on my mind that makes me think that you're perfect for this conversation that I'm seeing with my own community with myself ⁓ is lot. Right. I could say that I could call it the crushing lake out. I could call it a lot, but we've been in this sprint for like months and this happens. So I you talk about seasons in a completely different way than I do. And it honestly resonates with me like soul deep these days too, which is another reason I want to talk to you about it. there's actual months where we're busiest and we're selling heavier. So, you know, knowing and planning for that. ⁓ And we're kind of coming off of that. So we go into like January is up in air. I think like some people are like right hot off the press, they're ready to go. Other people are like waking up from the holidays, you know, it's winter, it's cold. But without a doubt, February, March, April, we're moving, we're shaking, we're running. And what I've noticed in my own community is like the weight of that starting to get a little heavy, as it does this time of year. And then we start to enjoy summer a little bit and then we do it all again in the fall. But a lot of people that I work with are are at this pivotal moment of growth. Like the growth is typically rapid and expansion is typically rapid. But in that ramp, they haven't quite switched to seeing the fruits of their labor as in the revenue being like, okay, well just relieve that by hiring someone to help you. You know, we're in this like scrappy, gritty, we're seeing the dream come to life, like the fruits of our labor, And I know you talk about that in seasons, So When I look at you and what you're building Steph I'm really curious, tell me a bit more about the seasons, about your book, like how you're approaching it. How do you find magic in the mundane? while you're expanding chapters, while you're speaking, leading and growing a family.

Stephanie Ross: A lot. It's a lot that we're all carrying. And I say that from a place of already having weathered all four of the seasons that I write about in my book. I actually started writing my book back in 2023 when I was literally in my deepest, darkest valley, my storm as I would call it. I walked away from a decade long dream of building my first business, which was a fitness and yoga studio.

Steph Rubio: Yeah.

Stephanie Ross: I started at the age of 20 and I grew it. I scaled it. I had a team of 10. I also had a massive business loan that I had invested in my growth, which all of us are kind of in that place of like, it's scary to take that next leap requires a lot of faith and a lot of financials in a lot of ways. So I've been there and I've weathered some really dark, scary storms, and I was able to really Keep going to reach the other side of what I call the harvest season. So I am back in the beginning of the book, which is planting and growing. Planting new seeds, new dreams, new visions. And that is where most of us want to hang out when it's fun and kind of light. It's not so hard and heavy yet. And if we keep planting, we eventually get into that growing season, which we start to see like Okay, our schedule is filled in filling, our you know, services are getting booked up, our calendar is starting to feel full. And we have to really check ourselves in that growing season to understand if the decisions we're making are taking us to that harvest or actually gonna pull us right into a storm. Now, the storm can be unforeseen challenges, though. So for me, that was really COVID. Like COVID literally crushed the momentum. That I had for my brick and mortar in person. Anyone who had a business at that time, like terrible time to be a leader and an entrepreneur, but also so critical and so pivotal to build in my skills and my leadership abilities. And the storm is about reassessing the goal, the vision, the dream, and pivoting if you need to. It's pulling back from doing all of the things. So some of us I find.

Steph Rubio: Yeah.

Stephanie Ross: And I found myself a little bit in this the last couple of months too. I was like seeing these glimmers of the harvest and the things that I want like coming to fruition, but also feeling these almost little hits of a storm because I took on too much or I said yes too much, or my calendar was just so full that I wasn't able to spend the time doing the things with my family or the things that really moved the needle in my business. So that's where I think a lot of us are on this precipice of like, we're growing, we've experience some growing pains and we're almost teetering on the edge of either a storm or a harvest. And sometimes you actually start to flicker between both. And that is normal. And my whole book and the point of writing it was to normalize the seasons of what I call soulpreneurship when you are guided by your soul to you know create your impact in the world as your business as your vehicle. That's why I wrote the book was because I had weathered those storms and I had come out on the other side better instead of feeling bitter. Because there are a lot of people that are in business a long time that have seen a lot, they've been through a lot, they've been burned a lot, and it doesn't make them better. It actually makes them bitter and make them want to quit and feel really resentful of towards their business and what they're creating. And I didn't want that. So I came out of the the thick of it and really looked.

Steph Rubio: Mm.

Stephanie Ross: large picture at the journey that I had been on for a decade and saw that this was a metaphor for the seasons. And if I could pull my stories of of learning and growing and pivoting and weathering these storms to get to the other side and help someone else through writing this book, then that's what I was called to do again. It's like that creator teacher, like create it now use it to go help people because I do feel like there are a lot of people in storms right now. And I've actually seen it a lot the last couple of years. When I was in my storm, it felt like every business owner around me was doing incredible. Like they were succeeding, they were feeling the harvest. And I was in my storm. And it felt really unfair. Like, why am I going through this and no one else is? And on the other side of it now, I can understand why I had to go through it first because now I get to actually hold. People and support them. And that's what the book is for to really support you in those tough seasons. And that's what community is for too. Like you and I are building stuff. Like this is when people tend to withdraw from the resources like a community that they need the most. Do not isolate yourself in the storm. That's actually the worst thing that you could do. Yes, take time to pull yourself out and reflect, but being able to actually see the larger picture and understand that this is all normal.

Steph Rubio: Mm.

Stephanie Ross: Businesses have cycles and seasons of growth, of success, and of pain and you know, financial burden and hardship and and gaps and all of those things. And it doesn't make us bad at business. And that's another thing we can talk about is just the identity that we hold based on how our business is doing. And I am so guilty of that. So guilty. It's so hard to pull apart our business from who we are as a human.

Steph Rubio: Mm.

Stephanie Ross: And so all of those things are the reasons why I wrote the book because I don't want people, other business owners, especially women, to feel alone in what they're building because we don't have to build it alone. And it's so much more fulfilling and joyful when you're doing it alongside other people.

Steph Rubio: my gosh, what you said with community, don't isolate yourself. Because and I think in our industry and online and like when we're so visible through social media and stuff, that's even har I think a lot of what you said is even harder than like a traditional business model because of that visibility aspect. So it we're doing this publicly, right? And so when there's a storm, isolation feels safe, you know? versus your community actually being who can help you weather it. And you think a storm or a slowdown or something like that is like a time to like huddle within, being a part of a broader community that can I mean so many things. One reminds you you're not alone. Like just the relatability when someone hears and they're like, Yeah, same. You're like, what? The deep sigh of relief of like, ⁓ it's not just me is so huge. But I want to back up for a second and just ⁓ call out like one thing that wrote down was opportunity before even having this conversation, I probably wouldn't have said when you were just saying that stuff, I was like, ⁓ the storm is an opportunity. I think it that we need to see it. as an opportunity, which is what you just said, an opportunity to reflect, an opportunity to see why the storm is happening. Is it because of us? As in a good way, is it a reflection of like us being uncomfortable and wanting to change but staying boxed into what we've built? Or is it external, you know? I think it's a a true opportunity for us to reflect on what it is and Going back to doing that with and alongside community because sometimes you are too close to the problem. I think some of this is compounded ⁓ a more difficult way when you're building a personal brand too. That visibility component. Of course, we feel so tied to the business. Like it was it's a a huge reflection of us, you know? ⁓ Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, I'm curious though, because you've

Stephanie Ross: Yes. We are the business in that case.

Steph Rubio: You mentioned like you've been through a lot. Like you had a brick and mortar, you had a dream attached to that. You had a big financial investment. ⁓ and I heard you talk about this on stage at Power Table Live. how do you so many people see that as failure, you know?

Stephanie Ross: Mm-hmm.

Steph Rubio: But I know that there's practical things that you have to apply to do that. So I'm curious how you did and still do in that stormy season in any of them. Like how do you move through those? whether it's a storm or a growth period, because ⁓ honestly, what I mentioned with a lot of my and community and myself was like ⁓ we're definitely in that planting andor growth phase. And storms come sometimes incidentally. And we're always on to the next thing because we're in this rapid growth period. How do you still live your life? What do you do to still live your life and find the beauty in that while also carrying the magnitude of what you're carrying?

Stephanie Ross: Yeah, to be able to keep going. Well, I just would say entrepreneurship has become so glamorized online. And it is not easy. This is the hard, uncomfortable path. And we have to expect the storms, right? Like we can't prepare for them in a lot of ways because they are unexpected, but we should expect them. If we don't have a single storm, my guess is we're not pushing and challenging ourselves enough. And personally, I want to learn from people who have weathered storms. I don't necessarily want to always take advice and mentorship and information from people that have only seen success because that tells me that they have a lot of learning left to do. They have a lot of growth because this is just part of what we sign up for as an entrepreneur. So you have to play the long game. This is where magic in the mundane comes into the, the equation of it because if you're only always on to the next thing, only looking for the shiny thing, only looking for the big room or the big audience, you are going to miss out on one, the joy, because you're just like always looking for the next thing. And you're probably eventually going to get to a point where you realize you're never satisfied. Like nothing is ever good enough. And that's not a fun place to be in either to realize I built this life.

Steph Rubio: Yep. Yep.

Stephanie Ross: And it's actually not what I thought it would be. And it's not what I wanted. And in a way, my first business was a reflection of that. I chased a lot of big goals and I learned that bigger is not always better. And I unfortunately had to learn that the hard way through investing a lot of money, investing a lot of time, you know, building up that dream to then realize that I actually don't want this thing. I built a business that was absolutely unsustainable for me to even start a family. And COVID like coming in and kind of killing my momentum was honestly the thing that that made that that realization happen faster because I think I eventually would have gotten there. Even if COVID wouldn't have have happened, I would have eventually realized this is not where I'm supposed to be building. So thank thank God for that experience, for that storm, because I can tell you on the other side of every storm I've endured, something better has always Opened up a door for me. I met my mentor on the other side of a storm that I weathered with a lawsuit. I was able to pivot into real estate and sister circle on the other side of my storm of realizing my first business was not the dream that I wanted anymore. So, like you said, Steph, there is so much opportunity, so many blessings in our storms. It's really hard to see that when we're in it. But when we can just keep moving forward, continuing to find that guiding light. And that's why I'm really big on my rhythms and my routines. Like, what are the things that bring me back to who I am every single day? That's why I work out every day. It's why I move my body. It's why I read. It's why I meditate. It's why I journal. It's why I do these daily rituals and routines. Because no matter the season that I'm in, whether it's a heavy growth season or a scary storm or even the harvest season. I still need these things that remind me of what I've endured, what I've overcome, how strong I am, the resilience that I have built. And that is what pulls us back to who we are as a human beyond just our business by having these things that really connect us every single day. So you've heard me talk about it. We've talked about replacing the word momentum with consistency, because consistency isn't always possible in every season.

Steph Rubio: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Ross: But continuing to do things that move you forward in your business and as a human, that personal growth piece of it and really connect you and ground you back to yourself, that's that's how we keep going. That's how we get through the storms. And one day we just wake up and realize that's not my life anymore. And I'm so grateful. And then we get to see the lessons on the other side. But I think exactly what you pulled out of that, seeing the storm as an opportunity.

Steph Rubio: Yeah.

Stephanie Ross: To up level, to learn something new, to grow in a way that you haven't, because eventually you're gonna be able to pass on that wisdom then to someone else. It's actually what built my expertise and my ability to do the thing that I'm doing now. If I didn't go through those 10 years of building the business, growing, growing it, scaling it, having the storms, having the financial hardship. If I didn't go through those 10 years ⁓ of ⁓ building the business, growing scaling it, having the storms, ⁓ having the financial hardship. Coming off of that and pivoting and building something else, I wouldn't really have the credibility to write the book or to talk about the things, or even be able to sit with someone in their storm with $5 in their bank account and say, Yeah, I've been there too. And guess what? We're gonna get you out of this. We're you are going to come out of this on the other side. Because when you're in it, you can't see beyond it. You just have to do the next best thing. And that's why oftentimes that next best thing is taking care of yourself. Coming off of that and pivoting and building something else, I wouldn't really have the credibility to write the book or to talk about the things, or even be able to sit with someone in their storm with $5 in their bank account and say, Yeah, I've been there too. And guess what? We're gonna get you out of this. We're you are going to come out of this on the other side. Because when you're in it, you can't see beyond it. You just have to do the next best thing. And that's why oftentimes that next best thing is taking care of yourself. And coming back to who you are beyond what you're experiencing in your business. And coming back to who you are beyond what you're experiencing in your business.

Steph Rubio: Your storm became your superpower. Like you just said that it gave you credibility to do majority of what you ha or are still doing today and can stand with people in because I honestly think without it, you know, without having that component of your expertise, you would still be great at teaching people one or two things. You could teach them how to like sell, you know, or something. ⁓ but you'd have a zone then and you wouldn't have this robust like

Stephanie Ross: Totally.

Steph Rubio: Really, I think it's I see it as like invisible strings of your soul, which is funny because we're talking seasons of a soulpreneur that can connect to someone else's, and that's where community is really built and thrives, is across this spectrum. So when you talk about like the magic and the mundane, when you talk about your daily rituals, I hear that as life. Like that's living our life. Because if we're chasing the next thing, and I speak com from conviction here. Okay. I am an action taker. I am a hustler 101. Like I have never knocked, you will never find a piece of content of mine over the past five years that has knocked hustle culture or anything like that. ⁓ I mean, I think hustle culture itself, like there are problematic behaviors there, but hustling took me from the depths of poverty to where I am now, like everything I have, because I'm yeah, not afraid to hustle. So I don't shy away from that. I don't pretend that it's not going to take work to build something.

Stephanie Ross: Yeah. Mm. Hundred percent.

Steph Rubio: That you can stand on for years to come that is truly sustainable for yourself and the business because while they're separate entities, they are so closely aligned. an example like in my mastermind, you know, I consistently ask for wins, like what are we celebrating? ⁓ And a lot people do that, right? ⁓ I also ask them to be big or small. It doesn't have to be that I close 10,000 and sales this week. It can be. That you held a boundary with a client. It can be that you took off half a day on Friday to spend with your family spontaneously and you didn't let the to-do list, you know, keep you from doing that or the overwhelm. Like we want to celebrate it all. Just what are you most proud of this week? But I also ask for how. And this is something I'm still training. And we've been doing the mastermind now for six, seven, eight months. It's like you told me the win, but you didn't answer how. I have to go ask people because just saying it, I know you and I know me. Like again, we're movers, we're shakers, we're hustling, we are putting in the work because we're not afraid of it. We're clear on what we're doing and why we're building it, but then we're on to the next thing. Now it's Friday and I'm already writing my list for Monday. You know what I mean? And now I'm looking at the weight of what I have to do next week and what I need to be promoting and who I need to be following up with. And we're on to the next thing. So it's a blip in time and we're not actually celebrating the win. And ⁓ that the life right now. And to me one of your quickest ways to burn out is that you don't actually ever look around and enjoy what you're doing right now. So I tell people, like you're living the dream now, even when it's a storm, even when it's difficult, ⁓ even when you lost two or three members in the last month, like you're still living the dream right now. So what are you to honor and actually feel like you're living it?

Stephanie Ross: Hundred percent.

Steph Rubio: I'm just curious to hear about how you get yourself that point for people that are listening. It's not as easy. Like you mentioned some things you do. I can mention them. People have heard so much from me on this before. But like I take a hot bath every single night. Every single night. I lock my kids out. like we've gotten to a point now I don't I don't have to log them out. They know, you know, my husband knows. Take the reins. You're on dad duty. I'm over here like it's pouring into me. And so I've talked a lot about how I get there, but it's not as easy for us to just give people a list and we're like, okay, now it's time to take care of yourself. How do you how do you build yourself to that point and what do you do to find magic in the mundane truly when you're so freaking busy all the time?

Stephanie Ross: Well, I feel like this was all I preached the whole ten years that I had my studio was like, take care of yourself, you know, like have these routines. And I did a decent job of that. But like getting up every day and getting my workout in was a not negotiable because I was going and teaching classes. And then I got pregnant as soon as I closed that tr dream down and became a mom and realized I had completely lost my rhythms and my routines that I had for a decade plus. And so I really had to start over rebuilding. And my advice would be start with one thing you can do in the morning, one thing that is for you. And I don't care if it takes five minutes, something that is gonna ground you. And that's not getting on your phone immediately, scrolling social media, like literally, I don't care if it's go outside. This is a perfect time of year. I'm outside every morning right now, like checking out my flowers and ⁓ drinking my hot lemon water. That was the thing that really got ⁓ spiral of my routine was I just woke up and decided I'm gonna drink hot lemon water before I drink coffee. And then same thing in the evening. What is one thing that is gonna help you wind down? For me, a lot of time that's that's tea, like a cup of tea in the winter.

Steph Rubio: Yeah.

Stephanie Ross: And in the summer, I realize now it's watering my garden. It's being outside and just soaking that in, being barefoot. And those just two bookends of my day can make all the difference. So I would say just keep it really simple. Start small. Start with one thing in the morning that's gonna help you start your day on a positive note, focusing on your energy and what fuels you. And then something in the evening that's gonna help you wind down and just kind of close out the day. Because too often I find And I'm so guilty of this too. We have a million tabs running in our brain all the time. And the more we can understand what actually fuels us and lights us up and what drains us and be really intentional about where we're spending our time and energy and not checking social media all day long or not checking our email, like keeping our email open all day long. Those two things alone keep a million tabs running. in our brain every day. And it makes it really hard to check out and and honestly just live your life and see the life in front of you. Like you said, like your harvest season is there. There are glimmers of your harvest in every season, but so often we're so focused on getting to the next thing or we assume that the harvest is going to be this like I I picture it almost like retirement, right? It's like everyone just like works their life away for this season of their life that is really short in the full lifespan. And we think that we're once we hit that harvest, like it's we're just good. We're just gonna like stay there. And that doesn't happen. Like that's not true. I've had seasons of harvest and they're followed often by a new season of planting because we are human and we get bored. We get complacent. So the challenge of the harvest season is actually enjoying it, soaking it up and receiving it.

Steph Rubio: Yeah.

Stephanie Ross: And not looking for the next thing all the time. And that's what I mean by there are literally those moments of harvest in your everyday life where you're living the life that you've dreamed of. But too often we're chasing the next thing that we don't even see what's in front of us right now. And I think it's really hard with social media because we're constantly seeing what everyone else is doing. We're feeling like behind, we're feeling like we can't keep up. I know I have felt this internal struggle almost the whole year. You and I have talked about this stuff. I mean, this is what inspired the entire talk that I gave multiple times this year on rituals, rhythms, and routines and resilience because I have been feeling this constant pull on my calendar, especially since becoming a mom, and realizing that like there literally is no easy season to motherhood.

Steph Rubio: No. ⁓

Stephanie Ross: I don't know. Like, this is why I'm like the the harvest is in glimmers because motherhood is a trip and there is no easy season. Like I have a toddler and and it's tough. And I'm growing multiple businesses and I'm doing all of these things. So really being able to pull it back every morning, every night at the bare minimum, and just really be present, take care of myself.

Steph Rubio: No.

Stephanie Ross: There is no point in grinding and hustling with our business goals if we can't even enjoy our health, if we can't even enjoy our family, if we can't even take time off. And I've built a business out of peer hustle. And when I start to feel myself going back to that state, I'm like, why did I leave that in the first place? If I'm gonna just build another business out of Burnout and hustle, like what was the point of closing the first business? It's literally my fine line between like, no, you need to, you need to pull it back. You need to rein it in. I've recently done that again. And within usually a week of really getting focused on my calendar again, building those boundaries and having those rituals and rhythms back in my weekly momentum, I start to feel like myself again. I start to come up for air and feel like.

Steph Rubio: Yep.

Stephanie Ross: I have clarity and I can make decisions from a much better place.

Steph Rubio: Yes. ⁓ my God. Stephanie The like okay. There's so many things people need to take from this. ⁓ i when you talked about like comparing yourself on s and I don't even think you said comparing yourself, but like looking at social media, ⁓ social media. I mean we could I could go on ten tracks here. So I'm gonna try to wrap a couple of notes on thing is like we have to just normalize ⁓ ⁓ being business owners a bit. I think again it comes to the how human we are in them and how most of our business started as some like transferable skill or ⁓ like as a freelancer or something like that, you know, in the gig economy, but there's many of us now that are business owners through and through and we're leading and growing businesses. And so when it comes to like closing your social media, closing your email, except for very pointed times to check them, that's normal. Like no one we should not be one walking around doing that and two, we should not be expecting that anyone else is doing that. And we have to normalize that component again that a two-day turnaround for an email is is normal. ⁓ you know, so pause and check and then have a little system there that's like I need to come back to this, I need to follow up this action, and then put it out of your mind until you go back into that email again. Those things are normal. But we also have to remember, and this is something I talk to my community about a lot, is that everything you're consuming on social media. With a small exception that my TikTok is built only to consume fantasy and funny stuff. Like otherwise, all of the social media platforms, you're consuming someone's marketing. And marketing is meant to create demand. It's made you to feel like you have a gap or identify the gap that's already there and make you want to feel it. And so a couple things you need to remember. One is just that, is that if it's causing you to feel this, that's why. So you have to pause and recognize and stabilize yourself. And knowing what you actually need in this in this season. And a community can certainly help with that. The other part is that your seasons, as you talk about all the time, and in your book, like that's literally what we're talking about today, is your seasons are different than other people's. Now we're talking about four seasons and millions of people on one social media app. So you're going to be in similar seasons as others, but when you you might not be thinking that. So I encourage people too, as they're consuming now and they're on social media, remember that they might be in a harvest season and you might be in a planting season. ⁓ that's okay. It doesn't feel okay until you stop and you actually give it that recognition because ⁓ you're ready to harvest. We are ready to see the fruits of our labor, even more so when we're working our butts off, which I know we are. That's the same with me when I talked about my own rituals. And I did what you're talking about without even recognizing that's what I was doing. And I help other people do the same now. In that I got so far I was COVID when I had a baby ish. Like the COVID came right after, right? And then so suddenly we're all home and I'm not working out one because like C section, new mom, can't find the time. My baby had to be on my breast. Like there wasn't a put her down and work out in the garage with her. Okay. It just didn't happen. But before I know it, I was years into can't fit in a workout. And to me, working out was extreme. It always has been. It was it was kickboxing. It was sports in high school. It was all of this. And I got to the point where if I couldn't do that, I couldn't join a gym. I couldn't find time for the extreme. But I looked at myself and I was like, Okay, you're years into zero. So like something has to be better than nothing. So why don't we remove all of those expectations, those falsities I kinda had held on to my brain and just start walking for thirty minutes a day. And I was like, 'Cause 'cause you can walk out your front door.

Stephanie Ross: I have ten.

Steph Rubio: And then fifty minutes, turn around, come back, boom, you walked for thirty minutes. So remove all the pressure and do that. And before I knew it, I'm years into actually loving that. But that became a rhythm. That became a ritual for me that grounds me. That's for my physical health. It's also for my mental health. And it's a non-negotiable. Because I also looked around and was like, there's 24 hours in a day. Yes, I'm a mom. I'm a business owner. I'm a wife. I'm also a caregiver to my brother now. 24 hours in a day though, and you're telling me I can't get 30. That's not gonna work for me. It is my life. At the end of the day. As women, we give and give and give for other people. And so that's what was happening. But I can give for them 20 hours, 23, you know, 23 and a half at that time. Like I basically tricked myself into that math just doesn't even make sense. Like you can still be all of those things to other people and care for yourself because it is my life. At the end of the day, my kids are gonna grow up, they're gonna have their own life. And I'm fostering that right now. No one's gonna foster mine except for me, truly. Right, and naming those needs and different things like that. So I think it's important to remember that people are in different seasons than you online. ⁓ and what you're consuming and what you're seeing, and that's okay. It should be that way. Your seasons are also going to cycle through, but it's an apples to apples or oranges to oranges things, right? If you're looking at someone's harvest and you're craving that and you're feeling like something's wrong or behind, that's probably not the case. So ⁓ my gosh. Okay. we could do this forever. I told you this before we started talking today. I was like, I already see four conversations we need to have. We probably should have just done a whole season or a whole month on the podcast. ⁓ as we wrap, I think it's probably obvious in this conversation, but you've put your heart and soul, ha ha, into this book, Seasons of the Soulpreneur, ⁓ and you still find ways just love on and create community stuff inside of yours and outside, as hints by the fact that

Stephanie Ross: No.

Steph Rubio: I bought these books from you to send to my mastermind members as a little umph and to just support our community. I already give gifts, I already love all my people like that. And I wanted to purchase from you because I think people will resonate with the book, but also it's supporting our community. And you took the time out of a very busy season and handwrote notes into them and sent those to people. So I just like sent those to me. So each of my mastermind members got their own personalized just note from you. And I think those are extra touches that make you and our entire online industry extra special. So I wanted to throw that in there. But please tell us who the book is for and where they can get it. Because I think everyone listening needs a copy of this book.

Stephanie Ross: The book was Thank you so much, Steph. I appreciate all of that. The book is for the female small business owner that believes that they can build a sustainable, scalable, profitable business, defining success on their own terms that is not at the cost of their lifestyle. So that is a hundred percent ⁓ me what I preach and inviting anyone who wants that into my life, into my world. ⁓ ⁓ because I believe it's possible. And like you said, Steph, sometimes it does mean that ⁓ we have to scale and grow differently. But I'd also say it doesn't necessarily mean it's slower, it's just more intentional for the season that we're in. And to your point, just to add, like you said, I'm in the same season where I can't attend a bunch of in-person events because I have a young child and I don't want to be away that much. So what am I doing? I'm sending this book. I'm sponsoring events. I'm getting in the room in a different way that I can't physically be there for. And that's also why I wrote the book was to share my story with people that I can't meet in person, at least not, you know, right this second. And you've done the same stuff. Hosting your virtual panel that you have coming up this month is your way of building community and getting in the room and creating your own room for the people that are in the same season as you. So I would just say for the business owner that feels like the season that you're in right now, you can't run as fast as everyone else that you're seeing online. That's not true. You're just gonna do it different. You're gonna do it in your own way. And because of that, you're gonna do it better. So just know that you are building in a way that makes sense for you. And that's who the book is for.

Steph Rubio: Yes. I'm gonna put all that in the show notes so people can connect with, learn from you, buy your book, and continue to ⁓ storm through their own seasons. ⁓ Thank you so much for coming to hang with Rooted and Relentless fam today.

Stephanie Ross: I love it. Thank you, Steph. This is awesome.

Steph Rubio: see you guys next time. Bye. ⁓