When to Hustle, When to Rest: The Solopreneur’s Guide to Longevity

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Feeling overwhelmed? Struggling with writer’s block? You’re not alone. In this short episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, Carly Ries and Joe Rando get real about those days when motivation is nowhere to be found. They dive into the power of stepping away, reconnecting with your “why,” and knowing when to push through versus when to pivot.

Plus, they share insights on burnout, mindset shifts, and the importance of having a solopreneur community to lean on. If you’ve ever wondered, “Should I keep going or call it quits?”—this episode is for you.

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Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: Feeling overwhelmed? Wondering if it's time to throw in the towel or just take a breather? In this Soundbite episode, we get real about burnout, self doubt, and knowing when to push forward versus when to pivot. From personal stories of tough times to actionable advice on reconnecting with your why, finding the right audience, and avoiding the emotional roller coaster of solopreneurship, this is the pep talk you didn't know you needed. So stay tuned.

You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Reese, and my cohost, Joe Rando, and I are your guides to navigating this crazy but awesome journey as a company of one. We take pride in being part of Lifestar, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you.

So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. Joe, we were just talking offline about having some writer's block, just not having the mental energy for today, and we have a lot going on right now. So what do you do when you're just like, oh, screw it. I'm going outside.

How do you do?

Joe Rando: I go outside. But, you know, I I don't know. I mean, it's as you well know, I've been at this a long time. My my my theme song, I think, is is what's it called? Thump thumping tub thumping.

Carly Ries: Tub thumper.

Joe Rando: Tub thumping or tub

Carly Ries: yeah. I did not

Joe Rando: but I get up again.

Carly Ries: Yeah.

Joe Rando: And that's was my kind of theme song for most of my entrepreneurial life. And but, you know, there are times when you're down and, you know, I I guess one of the things I do is I let myself have a little bit of time like that. You know, I don't get upset that I'm down because I think sometimes you just need to feel that way for a little while. But you don't wanna just give up. Right?

You wanna give yourself some space to be like, yeah. You know, it it isn't feeling I'm not feeling it right now. I don't know if this is gonna work or whatever it is that's that's bothering you. But, you know, it's important to, I think, to reconnect with your why. Why did you do this?

You know? And if the answer is, I don't know, then maybe you got a problem. Right? But, usually, you have a good pretty good why, you know, you did this. And you wanna remember that because, you know, that's the kind of thing that you can you know, when things get tough and it gets challenging, you can forget that you had a damn good reason why you did this.

So I I just I kinda try to go back to that. You know, one of the things that we talked about before, and this is, you know, kinda when do you give up? When do you when do you quit? When do you, you know, close the business, pivot, whatever? And one of the things that I really like to think about is does anybody love what I'm doing?

Right? And, you know, when I started, I cofounded an enterprise software company. And from 02/2004 until 02/2009, we had two customers. They were great customers, but we couldn't get any more. And there's a few reasons for that.

But one thing that we knew was that those two customers loved what we were doing. They loved it. And, you know, so what was clear to me is that is that there were gonna be other people that would love it. You know? Maybe it wasn't time yet, but other people were gonna love it.

So if you have a few people that love what you're doing, try to find more of those people. But, know, it's a good sign. And if nobody loves what you're doing, then you might wanna think about giving up for real. But, you know, that's that's my that's my thoughts on it. What what about you?

Carly Ries: I think a couple of thing that things that influence giving up are burnout. And it's not necessarily that you don't love your business or that you forgot your why. You're just working too hard, and it's turning you off to the business that you originally started. We had one of our community members experience that big time this year and ended up kinda taking, what was it, a month off just to reset, regain clarity. And I know that's a scary thing to say, and not everybody has the luxury of taking a month off to try to to figure that out.

But see if burnout is what's causing it. It may not be anything but that. You just need a weekend away from your laptop, away from your business to recharge. I think another thing that people get confused with giving up versus not is just if they're they're mixing up people not responding to their business versus not responding to them and they're taking things personally. And so if people aren't buying from you as a solopreneur, it's easy to be like, it's me.

They don't wanna buy from me. That might not be the case. It might just be that you're at marketing in the right place. You're not selling the right thing. It's so hard to not take things personally and be on a roller coaster of it's me.

It's me. It's me. And instead just realize, no. It's just where you're you're marketing the product. We are what what your position is in the market and really separate yourself emotionally from the business because I think that's another place where we see solopreneurs be like, can't do this anymore.

Joe Rando: And you know, and so many times it's not that the product is bad or the idea is bad, it's that they don't understand that you need to be selling to pain points. Right? It's like you need to be talking about the pain and so that people can then look to you to solve the pain. If they want to talk about benefits or they want to talk about, you know, what they do and so a lot of times this really isn't the product, it isn't them, but it is maybe their sales skills, you know, and their marketing skills that need some work. So that's another thing is to kinda say, well, what's going on here?

Like you said, is it am I overworked? Am I burnt out? Am I depressed because I'm not closing deals? Well, let's let's fix that. You know?

Let's dig in and fix it. And one of the ways to help with that is to find a community. You know, get a community of solopreneurs, other people that have been through what you're going through that maybe have some insights for you.

Carly Ries: Yes. Get those cheerleaders. And you know what? If you get those cheerleaders, if you cannot pinpoint why things are working, if you do not have enough money in the bank to live the life that you want, there's no shame in in hanging up your coat and saying this it was a good test run, but just make sure you don't do a knee jerk reaction or have knee jerk reaction before ending your business. Really think through it.

Really take the time. Take a step back. Because a lot of times it's not worth closing your doors. It's just worth some reflection.

Joe Rando: Maybe a little bit of restrategizing.

Carly Ries: Exactly. But we just thought we'd chime in. We we have a lot going on. We feel the overwhelm. I neither of us have wanted to throw in the towel by any means.

But even just having those those feelings of, like, there's so much going on, we we we can relate to that. So we thought we

Joe Rando: could just

Carly Ries: time in here.

Joe Rando: It was a good week for it too.

Carly Ries: Good week for it. Exactly. Very timely. Yep. Well, listeners, thank you so much for tuning in.

We would so appreciate that five story review. Please refer us to our friends, spread the word, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. And we will see you next time on the aspiring solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go.

So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At Lifestar, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestar.com. That's community.lifestar,with2r's,.com.