Ep. 320: You Don’t Need to Push Harder: Creating Capacity in Your Business with Lissy Donovan

LISTEN HERE

You Don’t Need to Push Harder: Creating Capacity in Your Business with Lissy Donovan

What if the thing holding your business back isn't your strategy?

What if you simply don't have the capacity to implement it?

Think about how many business owners start their day: wake up, grab the phone, check the email, answer the DMs, scroll for a minute, solve a problem, and we're working before our feet even hit the floor.

Then the actual day begins.

Clients need us. Employees need us. There are decisions to make, fires to put out, services to deliver—and somewhere in there, we're also supposed to find the time and energy to actually grow the business.

In this episode of The Visibility Podcast, I'm joined by Lissy Donovan, business strategist, ICF PCC coach, and Certified Pumpkin Plan Strategist who specializes in working with therapists, physical therapists, medical practice owners, and other service-based business owners.

Lissy has spent 16 years working with small business owners and eight years coaching around burnout recovery and capacity building. She's helped business owners grow 3–10x while creating businesses that don't require them to remain the single point of failure.

And today, we're talking about capacity.

Not another productivity hack.

Not “drink more water.”

Not “just hire someone.”

We're talking about what it actually takes to create enough space—in your life AND your business—to think, make better decisions, implement the strategy, and build something that doesn't require every ounce of you.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How your capacity as a human directly affects your capacity as a business owner

• Why constantly operating in reactive mode makes it difficult to grow

• The hidden cost of starting your day immediately responding to everyone else

• What rest actually looks like for an entrepreneur

• Why creating more capacity requires intentional action

• The uncomfortable truth that creating capacity may take MORE time and effort upfront

• Why waiting for business to “calm down” usually doesn't work

• How to start creating space to work on your business instead of constantly working in it

• What happens when the owner becomes the single point of failure

• How better capacity can lead to better strategy, better decisions, and ultimately a stronger business

Here's the truth:

You probably aren't going to wake up one morning and magically have more time.

Your inbox isn't going to empty itself. Your clients aren't going to stop needing you. And your calendar isn't suddenly going to hand you three uninterrupted hours to figure out the future of your business.

At some point, we have to intentionally create that space.

And Lissy gives us some fantastic places to start.
https://www.lissydonovan.com/
Join the newsletter
YouTube
Instagram

Want to strengthen your local visibility with LESS of your capacity?

Grab my FREE Google Business Profile workshop. I'll show you what to do, where to do it, and how to optimize your profile so that when people in your community are searching for what you offer, your studio has a better chance of showing up.

👉 Grab the free workshop and all the things. 

Because you don't need to be everywhere.

You need to be visible in the right places, to the right people, at the right time.

Your GO-TO LINK for all things Visibility-: Google Business Profile Optimization, Your Visibility Audit, Your Rebel Woman Life Map™  and Your Sweet Spot Assessment. 

Love today’s podcast? 🙌

1. Take a screenshot and share it to your IG stories. Tag me @ms_melissa_rose

2. Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcast!

3. Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. 

In 2009, Melissa Rose started her business, The Dancing House, in the basement of her home. There, she taught the art of dance to students of all ages while her babies were right along with her, in the pack and playing.  With passion, resilience, and tenacity, she created a business that has become "The Highlight of Your Week" for her tribe, her team, and her community, along with running a successful brick-and-mortar business and an online dance membership.

When she’s not leading her studio team or recording The Visibility Podcast, Melissa helps business owners stop spinning and start positioning, so they become the clear, confident choice in their community.

Off the clock? She’s clinking glasses of Sauvignon Blanc with her partner, loving on her five amazing kids, hiking the trails, or digging in the dirt, because growth, in business or in life, always starts at the roots.

EMAIL TO MY COMMUNITY incase I write a book…

This past weekend I was playing in my gardens: pulling weeds, splitting plants, creating little paths, and yes, talking to my plants because apparently that's who I am now. 😂

Later that night, Greg and I were sitting at dinner doing what we often do... dreaming. I said to him, "You know what I think would be amazing? Being a groundskeeper. I could spend my entire day taking care of a property, working in the gardens, splitting plants, creating beautiful spaces... I think I'd be so happy."

He looked at me and said, "Melissa, you already ARE a groundskeeper."

Oh.

I guess I am. A pic of my favorite view this week.

The difference is, right now it's a hobby. I get to do it because I enjoy it, which got me thinking about a question someone asked me years ago:

Do you have a hobby?

I remember sitting in the audience as the speaker asked us to raise our hands if we had one, and I couldn't.

I used to have hobbies. I used to do things simply because they were fun. But at that point in my life, I was a newly divorced single mom with five kids between the ages of 2 and 11, growing a business that primarily operated nights and weekends while having my kids 60% of the time.

There wasn't a lot of "Melissa time" happening.

In fact, I remember feeling resentful when I'd hear people talking about their girls' weekends or hobbies or everything they were doing for fun.

Must be nice.

Meanwhile, I had A BUSINESS TO RUN.

Looking back, I can see that I had almost made being busy a badge of honor.

And here's the thing: there ARE seasons when we have to hustle. There are seasons when we're building something, raising babies, paying bills, and simply doing what needs to be done.

But a season isn't supposed to become a way of life.

Which brings me perfectly to this week's episode of The Visibility Podcast with Lissy Donovan.

Lissy works with service-based business owners—particularly therapists, physical therapists, medical practice owners and wellness professionals: around something we don't talk about nearly enough:

Capacity.

Because sometimes your business doesn't need another strategy.

Sometimes you simply don't have the capacity to implement another strategy.

Lissy and I talk about hustle culture, burnout, and what happens when we've built businesses that require us to constantly be ON. She drops some fantastic truth bombs throughout this conversation, including the reminder that sometimes we love our businesses a little too much.

Think about the hovering parent who loves their child so much that they won't let them do anything without stepping in.

We can do the same thing with our businesses.

Did they answer that email correctly? Did that get posted? Did someone follow up? Maybe I'll just do it myself...

And eventually we've created a business that can't function without us.

Sometimes we need someone outside of it to help us see that.

So whether you're feeling stretched personally, professionally, or a little bit of both, I really encourage you to listen to this week's conversation with Lissy.

And then ask yourself: Do I have room in my life for something that's simply fun?

If the answer is no, maybe that's worth getting curious about.

In other world news, I've been talking about visibility for a LONG time, but the way we're getting found is changing.

Google still matters, a lot. Your Google Business Profile is still one of my favorite visibility tools, but now AI is part of the conversation too.

And you know what's crazy?

Someone found ME on ChatGPT this week.

She was looking for a business mentor/coach who understood brick-and-mortar businesses.

ChatGPT recommended me.

And she wasn't from Hudson.

She wasn't even from Wisconsin.

She was in Texas.

You guys. MADE. MY. DAY.

Not because I've discovered some magical ChatGPT hack. Quite the opposite.

It's the result of consistently showing up and building a digital footprint that makes it clear who I am, what I do, what I know, and who I help.

Consistency is like compound interest. For a while, you wonder if anything is happening... and then one day you start seeing the return.

Which is why I've reopened my Found, Liked & Trusted Facebook group for a 90-day experiment.

I'm popping in three times a week with quick, free trainings:

Monday: Get FOUND

Wednesday: Get LIKED

Friday: Get TRUSTED

Nothing complicated. Just practical nuggets to help you strengthen your visibility and become the go-to option for what you do.

And here's the other benefit: it's a place for YOU to show up too. Tell us about your business. Make connections. Participate in the conversation. Practice getting found, liked, and trusted while you're learning how to do it.

Because that's how this works.

You keep showing up. You keep making connections. You keep refining.

And every week, month, and year you're in business, your community is giving you more proof that what you do is needed, wanted, and desired.

So keep going.

And maybe... find yourself a hobby while you're at it. 😉

Have a beautiful week,

Oh! And here’s the link to the show for your next walk!