Not everyone started this year with "new year, new you" energy. If you're a woman entrepreneur navigating grief—from a loss, a diagnosis, a relationship, or a version of yourself you had to let go—you're probably wondering: can I grieve this AND still show up for my business? Can I hold both grief and growth while building a sustainable business?

In this replay of one of 2025's most downloaded episodes, I sit down with Amanda Guin, an emotional intelligence coach, traumatology expert, and widow who lost her infant daughter to a congenital heart condition, navigated endometriosis and infertility, and became a solo parent after her husband's suicide. We talk about why "coping" keeps women entrepreneurs stuck, what it means to explore healing instead, and how to hold the duality of grief and growth while creating a business that adapts to your capacity.

Inside this episode, you'll learn:

1. Why coping feels stagnant and what exploring your emotions looks like instead
2. How to hold duality: grieving AND showing up, struggling AND growing, loss AND joy
3. Amanda's APPLI framework for acknowledging where you are and choosing your next step
4. The difference between "big T" and "little T" trauma and why your body doesn't rank your pain
5. How to build a sustainable business rooted in empathy and emotional awareness while processing grief
6. Why there's no blueprint for grief—just your own process of healing to trust

This episode is for you if you're:

A woman entrepreneur is currently grieving while trying to run your business. You're feeling stuck in "coping mode" instead of actually healing and moving forward. You find yourself ranking your trauma or grief and not giving yourself permission to feel it fully. Or you're navigating loss, burnout, or a major life transition while managing chronic illness.

Connect with Amanda Guin: At growwithpurposecoach.com

Follow Business With Chronic Illness for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship, burnout recovery, and building a business with autoimmune conditions and chronic illness.

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This year, expect empowering conversations with business owners navigating chronic illness and autoimmune disorders. Learn from their experiences, strategies, and lessons, with a focus on sustainability and health. Episodes will feature guests discussing new diagnoses, caregiving, and adapting business practices. Join the community on Substack for exclusive content and stay connected. Tune in for inspiration, support, and practical advice on building a profitable business while prioritizing your health.

Takeaways:

1. Navigating chronic illness while building a business requires a unique approach that respects your body's needs.
2. This podcast emphasizes the importance of sharing real experiences of entrepreneurs with chronic illnesses.
3. Listeners can expect more diverse voices discussing the realities of business and caregiving in upcoming episodes.
4. Our conversations aim to empower those managing their health while creating successful businesses without burnout.
5. We're committed to fostering a community where chronic illness and entrepreneurship intersect positively.
6. The upcoming season will explore new diagnoses faced by entrepreneurs and how they adapt their business strategies.

Leave us a Review and share this episode with a friend.

Share Your QA's or Thoughts

Join The 5-Day Audio Series - Rooted Sales

Products We Love + Special Guest Gifts → Want to support the show and treat yourself? We’ve created a quick-access list of products I personally use and love, exclusive savings from podcast guests, and other gems that can help you live well and do business with chronic illness. Explore our faves + savings here!

Join our Community Channel on Substack, our Built to Breathe Community

Subscribe HERE to Chronically Profitable, A free, exclusive email series that shows you how to sell with self-trust, create content that converts, and use long-form strategies, especially podcasting, to attract dream clients consistently, even during the ups and downs of business and life. You'll learn how to build a rhythm that helps you sell even while you rest.

The journey of entrepreneurship can often feel at odds with the realities of living with chronic illness, particularly when it comes to the concept of capacity. In this episode, we tackle the often-misunderstood idea of capacity, shifting the narrative from a relentless push for more to a compassionate understanding of what we can realistically manage. Capacity isn't just about productivity; it's about how much our bodies and minds can handle at any given moment, especially when faced with the unpredictable nature of chronic health issues. We explore the three primary forms of capacity that influence our entrepreneurial experience: emotional, cognitive, and energetic. Emotional capacity is crucial for handling the stress of marketing and visibility, particularly for those of us who may struggle with the expectations of always being “on.” Cognitive capacity reflects our ability to think and make decisions, which can be severely impacted by the demands of content creation and the fast-paced nature of social media. Lastly, energetic capacity speaks to the physical and sensory energy we can muster, which is often the most variable due to chronic health conditions. This episode emphasizes the importance of creating business systems that align with our current capacity rather than pushing us to meet unrealistic expectations. By focusing on long-form content, such as podcasting, we can share our stories and connect with our audience without the stress of constant output. The key takeaway is that our capacity is not the enemy; instead, it’s our perceptions and business practices that need to adapt to honor our humanity. This understanding fosters a more sustainable approach to entrepreneurship, allowing us to thrive not despite our chronic illnesses but alongside them.

Takeaways:

1. Understanding capacity in business is not about doing more, but about what your nervous system can handle.
2. Marketing strategies need to reflect the reality of fluctuating capacities, especially for those with chronic illnesses.
3. Creating a business model that honors your humanity can lead to sustainable success without burnout.
4. Podcasting serves as a capacity-aware marketing tool, reducing stress while allowing for authentic connection.

Here's how to connect with Nikita, your host:

→ Book A Sales Call Here

→ Grab your Free Curated Podcast for Business Growth Playlist

→ Grab the Podcast Planner + App to start and grow your podcast with ease.

→ Grab Your Free 5-Day Private Podcast Series to Help You Make Sales with Ease with Long-Form Content and Nervous-System-Friendly Marketing Strategies for Women with Chronic Illness & Burnt-Out Entrepreneurs.

⭐ Loved this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend who’s ready to grow their business without burnout or sacrificing their well-being.

📱 Stay connected: Follow me on

What if your business didn’t fall apart every time your life asked you to slow down?

In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness, we’re naming a hard truth many entrepreneurs live with quietly: most businesses are built to work only on your best days.

When you rest, everything stops.

When life gets real, momentum disappears.

And you’re left feeling like you’re starting over again.

That’s not a you problem.

It’s a systems problem.

• Why most businesses are actually self-powered machines

• How hustle culture normalized over-functioning

• Why consistency always requires capacity (and capacity isn’t constant)

• The nervous system cost of tying income to daily output

• Why businesses collapse during hard seasons

• What it means to build a business that supports you

• How long-form content (like podcasting) creates stability during low-capacity seasons

• Why evergreen content keeps working even when you’re offline

Here's how to connect with Nikita, your host:

→ Book A Sales Call Here

→ Grab your Free Curated Podcast for Business Growth Playlist

→ Grab the Podcast Planner + App to start and grow your podcast with ease.

→ Grab Your Free 5-Day Private Podcast Series to Help You Make Sales with Ease with Long-Form Content and Nervous-System-Friendly Marketing Strategies for Women with Chronic Illness & Burnt-Out Entrepreneurs.

⭐ Loved this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend who’s ready to grow their business without burnout or sacrificing their well-being.

📱 Stay connected: Follow me on Instagram.

Does your marketing disappear every time you take a break? You're not alone, and it's not a consistency problem. It's a systems problem disguised as a marketing problem.

In this solo episode of Business with Chronic Illness, I'm sharing why so many women entrepreneurs with chronic illness, burnout, or unpredictable capacity feel like they're constantly restarting their marketing from scratch. The truth? You don't have a marketing strategy; you have a performance schedule. And when you stop performing, your business stops breathing.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why your marketing feels fragile (and it's not because you're inconsistent)
• The hidden cost of marketing that depends on you having good days all the time
• How long-form content creates business stability even when your life doesn't feel stable
• What happens when you anchor your business in a sustainable system instead of daily posts
• Three ways to build a marketing system that works when your capacity shifts

If you're tired of feeling like you're rebuilding your marketing every three months, or you're scared to rest because your visibility will disappear, this episode will show you a different way. A way where your voice does the heavy lifting even when your body cannot.

This episode is for you if:

• You disappear when you don't feel well and feel like you're starting over every time you come back.
• You want steady clients but can't keep up with posting or launching the way everyone says you should.
• You're scared to market because you don't know if you can handle leads on a flare week.
• You know you need to be consistent, but your energy just isn't predictable.
• You feel like you're working all the time but not seeing sustainable results.

✨ Thank you for listening.

Here's how to connect with Nikita, your host:

→ Book A Sales Call Here

→ Grab your Free Curated Podcast for Business Growth Playlist

→ Grab the Podcast Planner + App to start and grow your podcast with ease.

→ Grab Your Free 5-Day Private Podcast Series to Help You Make Sales with Ease with Long-Form Content and Nervous-System-Friendly Marketing Strategies for Women with Chronic Illness & Burnt-Out Entrepreneurs.

⭐ Loved this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend who’s ready to grow their business without burnout or sacrificing their well-being.

📱 Stay connected: Follow me on Instagram.

In this replay episode, I’m sitting down with certified coach and first-gen eldest daughter Nikkei Lamodi, to talk about what it really looks like to be an eldest daughter or late bloomer living with chronic illness and running a business.

We get into the invisible pressure of being the “strong one,” why eldest daughters are so prone to people-pleasing, perfectionism, and over-responsibility, and how all of that bleeds into your business, your boundaries, and your body.

Nikkei shares her story of caregiving, grief, chronic illness diagnosis, and the moment she realized she was sacrificing her time, money, and desires for everyone else. From there, she walks us through her four “eldest daughter skills” that help you protect your capacity instead of burning it out:

• Direct communication with grace
• Boundary care (boundaries that are for you, not rules for other people)
• Talking to yourself like a best friend
• Asking “What else is true? What else is possible?”

If you’re an eldest daughter or late bloomer navigating chronic illness, family expectations, and the pressure to hold everyone together while growing a business… this conversation will make you feel so seen.

🎧 Want to learn more about today’s guest?

Visit CraftedToThrive.com for guest details, key takeaways, and extra links mentioned in this episode.

🌿 If you’re navigating entrepreneurship and chronic illness, or simply craving a more sustainable way to grow your business without sacrificing your health, energy, or self-care priorities, explore Chronically You & Profitable (CYAP).

CYAP is my voice-first business system designed for women entrepreneurs, creatives, and women with chronic illness who want sustainable growth and burnout support while keeping life and wellness first.

It helps you use your voice and story to build a business with systems and strategies that run smoothly, so your work supports your life, not the other way around.

⭐ Enjoyed this conversation? Leave a review and share it with another CEO woman or creative entrepreneur growing a health-first, sustainable business.

📱 Stay connected: Follow me on Instagram.

If you’ve been looking at your audience lately — your email list, your downloads, your Instagram following — and thinking, “It’s just not big enough,” this episode is your gentle reset.

Today, I’m sharing an archived audio I originally recorded for my private client podcast. It’s a quiet reminder that the size of your audience has never been the thing that determines your success… the root system of your business does.

Inside, I share a story about repotting one of my new plants (yes, your girl is officially a plant mama 🌿) and what it taught me about sustainable business growth, especially for creative CEOs living with chronic illness or navigating burnout.

Whether you’re planning for 2026, feeling behind on your goals, or questioning whether your tiny audience can actually support a profitable, ease-filled business — this episode will remind you that small can be mighty, and depth can be more powerful than size.

Because sustainable businesses don’t grow by getting louder… they grow by getting rooted.

• Why your audience is not too small to support real growth
• How tiny, intentional communities create long-term sustainability
• The plant metaphor that changed how I look at business development
• What really matters more than list size or follower count
• How to build a business that feels nurturing, easeful, and profitable (even in low-capacity seasons)
• Why creative women and entrepreneurs with chronic illness thrive in depth-first business models

• A tiny audience can lead to powerful, sustainable results when you focus on connection over volume.
• Growth that ignores your health, your energy, and your capacity isn’t actually growth — it’s burnout.
• Your 2026 plan doesn’t have to be bigger; it has to be deeper.
• Small but mighty businesses create the strongest root systems — the ones that quietly grow, flourish, and stay profitable long-term.

• Creative CEOs craving sustainable business strategies
• Entrepreneurs with chronic illness who want growth without sacrificing their health
• Women navigating burnout who want to rebuild without pressure
• Anyone who feels behind on their 2025 goals and wants a calmer way to approach 2026

→ Grab the Podcast Planner to start and grow your podcast with ease.

→ Or, learn my Voice-First System — Chronically You & Profitable (CYAP): the signature method featured and practiced on Business With Chronic Illness Podcast: CEO Women for Sustainable Growth and Burnout Support.

This system is designed for a woman entrepreneur, creative, a chronic boss, or a woman with an autoimmune illness who want simple business growth, sustainable sales, and burnout support, without sacrificing their health, energy, or self-care priorities.

💛 Inside CYAP, You’ll Learn How To:

• Manage your health and business with confidence.
• Grow a health-first business that supports your wellness, creativity, and income.
• Create sustainable systems that let your business serve your life, not take away from it.

⭐ Loved this episode? Leave a review and share it...

Tired of waiting for the perfect moment to start your creative business? Struggling with burnout from trying to follow cookie-cutter business advice that doesn't fit your life?

In this episode, I talk with Margo Tantau: creative director, licensing agent, and host of Windowsill Chats Podcast, about building a sustainable creative business by following your gut instead of formulas. Margo shares her non-linear path from corporate to running her own licensing agency, and why starting imperfectly is actually the key to long-term success.

We talk about why perfectionism keeps women entrepreneurs stuck, how to create a business that adapts to your capacity (not the other way around), and why vulnerability and connection beat marketing funnels every time. If you've been holding back because you're afraid of starting over or don't have it all figured out, this conversation gives you permission to begin—and evolve without burnout.

• Why you're stuck waiting for "perfect" to start your creative business – and how to give yourself permission to begin imperfectly and evolve as you learn.
• How to recognize when you're actually evolving, not starting over – Your past work, pivots, and changes aren't wasted—they're building blocks for what comes next.
• Why your gut knows more than cookie-cutter formulas – How to trust your instincts to build a sustainable creative business that fits your life, not someone else's blueprint.
• What burnout is really telling you about your business approach – and how to create a capacity-first business that adapts to your energy and circumstances instead of draining them.
• How to reframe "I'm starting all over again" into "I'm recalibrating" – A simple mindset shift that helps you move forward without the weight of feeling behind.
• Where your creativity already shows up – even if you don't think you're "creative enough" to start a business.
• How to build connections and relationships instead of relying on perfect marketing – Why vulnerability and authenticity create sustainable growth for women entrepreneurs without burnout.

🎧 Want to learn more about today’s guest?

Visit CraftedToThrive.com for guest details, key takeaways, and extra links mentioned in this episode.

🌿 If you’re navigating entrepreneurship and chronic illness, or simply craving a more sustainable way to grow your business without sacrificing your health, energy, or self-care priorities, explore Chronically You & Profitable (CYAP).

CYAP is my voice-first business system designed for women entrepreneurs, creatives, and women with chronic illness who want sustainable growth and burnout support while keeping life and wellness first.

It helps you use your voice and story to build a business with systems and strategies that run smoothly, so your work supports your life, not the other way around.

⭐ Enjoyed this conversation? Leave a review and share it with another CEO woman or...