Building a business through obsession. Burnout, learnings and what comes next?
In 2020, I launched my business, Season25. My first venture into entrepreneurship, aged 25. I’ve learned that many founder success stories begin at school age, having heard many anecdotes of selling sweets in the playground or offering services to friends and family.
To be honest, that was never me. I didn't begin my working life with the sole ambition of being a business owner. My journey into entrepreneurship began because of my obsession with the industry in which I work.
The Origin Story
When I was 14, I discovered a new side to YouTube. Remember the days where we had the luxury of time? Time to just be, to sit, and to discover new music, art, magazines and TV. Before part-time work and A Levels. Pre-University and full time working hours.
I vividly remember being downstairs in the living room of my parents house using my pink Sony Vaio; thrilled I no longer had to be constrained to the main computer/desk set up. I searched Google "How to do a french plait on your own hair". Low and behold, a YouTube video appeared. Intrigued, I clicked the link and found a similar aged American girl speaking to the camera as if chatting to a friend, going through a 'tutorial' on how to recreate said hairstyle.
It was at this moment, the intrigue began. Now, this was 2008. The term YouTuber was not yet coined, let alone an accepted career path. I fell into a rabbit hole that day and naturally, I stumbled across the BritCrew. The friendship group that created a worldwide obsession, just by sharing snippets of their daily lives.
After years of being a subscriber and loyal YouTube consumer, I also began my own blog on Blogspot (I found my first blog post here!) and YouTube channel but the thought of anyone finding out about these secret platforms, at a time when this kind of activity was still a little obscure, caused a hiatus in creating any form of online content.
Luckily, at this stage in my life, I'd become so ingrained in British YouTube culture, that I knew the exact way I could feed into my love for this growing industry without being in front of the camera. I joined Gleam Futures in 2016 as a Talent Producer (later Talent Coordinator) and started building my experience working with the very same BritCrew I’d been digitally monitoring for the past 5 years.
The role was demanding, intense, varied and the high rise office in central London fulfilled all of my Devil Wears Prada dreams. I loved it. From legal training to really understanding what it meant to build IP, launch products, pitch to brand partners; every day I soaked in as much as I could alongside learning how to manage multiple personalities at one time.
Going It Alone
I started my talent management company, representing digital creators, because I saw a gap in the market. Not for just another agency, but for one built on care, service and value, with a focus on building commercial opportunities for a diverse roster of people (that I had come to understand traditional agencies were not well catered to).
In year one, after launching with four clients, our gross revenue exceeded £1.2 million. We worked with almost every global giant in some format, whether an Instagram campaign for Nike or a YouTube integration for P&G. We negotiated TV appearances, press junkets for global superstars, publishing offers; it was, by all accounts, an amazing start to entrepreneurship.
I never had any doubt in my abilities to successfully manage the creators on our roster; building relationships and negotiating numbers are my strengths. However, running a business was a completely new challenge.
Two years into Season25, I realised I didn’t feel like me anymore. I’d built something successful but in the process, I’d quietly stopped moving, resting, and creating. I had zero boundaries and my life was engulfed with work around the clock, any time of any day.
Scarcity mindset meant I had succumbed to the belief that I couldn’t ever miss a call, or have my OOO set, or delay a response to an email. I was severely burned out and it’s taken a long time to slowly recover.
Five years in. I’ve found the balance. It's not a consistent balance but I accept that now. This journey works in waves.
I feel ready to share my learnings, experiences, opinions, tools and resources, and to document the journey I'm on as a 31 year old business owner, with plans to scale my first business and hard launch my second.
I hope that showing how we navigate these pivotal moments of building whilst working through them, will help to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.
What You'll Find Here
It’s fair to say there are enough voices in this industry sharing tips on growth strategy, creator monetisation, building personal brand and how to write viral LinkedIn posts, so you won’t find that style of writing here. Although let it be known, I'm here for those voices!
I believe in taking value from newsletters, articles and podcasts, so I want to create some loose structure for my posts.
What can you expect from subscribing?
- Founder Journal
Insights on leadership, business, and purpose - Movement & Mindset
Learnings on movement, mindset, and creative energy - Reflection
Honest reflections on burnout and recovery - Recommendations & Lifestyle Habits
What I’m reading, watching, buying that I feel similar minds will enjoy
I've lived many lives and had so many different roles I loved outside of Talent Manager and Founder, and I've finally come to realise that by keeping those pockets of passion alive, I perform even better in my day job.
It feels good to be writing again. It feels good to be moving again. I'm excited to share more of the steps I've followed to get back to this headspace.
Till next time!
