Learn how Steph Weber navigated three distinct burnout cycles and transformed each one into powerful pivots. Discover practical strategies for recognizing burnout signals, making strategic investments during challenging times, and rebuilding your business in alignment with your values.

Bio

Steph Weber is a branding and marketing powerhouse, STR and micro resort investor, Host of the Branded & Booked Podcast, and STR co-host. She is the CEO of The Weber Co where she’s helped over 100 small businesses scale to 6 and 7 figure brands and now focuses on the vacation rental niche. Together with 3 other couples, they are building Cabins on the Cumberland, a micro resort and event venue. She and her husband also built a 6-figure co-hosting company in just one year.

With 10 years of experience working as a brand and marketing strategist, Steph brings new energy to the world of short term rentals and boutique hotels, helping investors and guests experience destination properties with rave-worth experiences.

Steph lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Collin, and two boys. Together, they spend as much time outside as possible, camping, hiking, and exploring.

TRANSCRIPT

Bethany: Okay. Hello everyone and welcome back to the show. Today I’m chatting with Steph Weber, pronouns she/her. Steph is a marketing strategist that has supported over 100 small businesses in building powerhouse six and seven figure brands. She channels this knowledge into the world of short-term rentals through three different businesses. The Weber Co, Hosted by the Webers and Cabins on the Cumberland.

Today we are diving into her story and how to rebuild after burnout because burnout is something that many entrepreneurs experience and while we’ve talked about prevention and a lot of podcasts talk about prevention, I have multiple episodes on it, that doesn’t mean that you might not have already landed there or been there. 

So I wanted to bring Steph in to talk about what happens when you’re in the thick of it and how to rebuild from there in a way that feels really sustainable. So Steph, thank you so much for your time and energy today and being on the show.

Steph: Bethany, I’m so excited to be here and it’s so fun because we’ve met each other in real life. 

Bethany: Yes!

Steph: So it’s always fun when it’s like you’re internet friends and you follow each other and then you meet in real life and now here we are.

Bethany: Yes, and now here we are. I know. And we met in real life at a short term rental event where I was speaking and you just had such an incredible energy. And so I’m so glad that we’re chatting here today. 

Steph: So stoked. We gotta dive on in.

Bethany: Yes So we’re talking burnout. Can you take us back to the moment or moments when you first realized you were totally burned out? What like happened that you could not ignore?

Steph: So I remember this happening three specific times in my entrepreneurial journey. So I’ve been an entrepreneur since 2016, and I actually started as a fashion beauty and travel influencer. And for about a two year period of time, Bethany, I was like grinding, like trying to get the brand deals and land the partnerships and travel and honestly like keep up with the Joneses in a way that just like felt very inauthentic at some point in time. 

And I remember being at New York Fashion Week and it was like, you know, we’d been invited to these shows. I had a hotel collaboration with Andaz Wall Street, felt like I was living the “dream life” for lack of better terms. 

Bethany: Right

Steph: But I’m sitting there going, this is not what I meant to do. I’m not meant to do this anymore. I’m burned out and exhausted trying to explain and justify why influencer marketing is worth investing in to the small brands and businesses that I support. So how can I support them differently? 

So that was kind of the first time that I recognized burnout and in burnout, that can feel really scary because then you’re going, “Okay, like this is my income and this is my business and this is what I built my brand around. So now what?”

Bethany: Mm-hmm.

Steph: And what does it look like to shift that and pivot it? And that feels so scary. So we can dive into the other two times, but that was the like first moment that I was like, “Something’s going to have to change. And that felt terrifying.”

Bethany: Okay, in that moment, did you like do the push through? Because like, I know a lot of folks are like, “Okay, I feel that it’s not working. This isn’t what I want to do.” But then you try and push through because of what you were saying, like this is your income. And you know, you’re supporting a family and you’ve got things on the docket that you’re committed to. Did you just stop completely and like check out or what did that look like?

Steph: For me, that looked like pushing through for period of time, but very much like, very much going, “What is this pivot going to look like?” So for me, when I was feeling that at New York Fashion Week in 2018, I’m like, “Okay, first, why? Why am I feeling this way? What is it that I’m not loving about what I’m doing?” And I had to get kind of clear and grounded in that. I knew that brand strategy and brand marketing was something that I was good at, and that’s how I was really supporting the brands I was working with as an influencer anyway. So was like, “Okay, what can this look like?” And I actually hired my first business coach in that period of time. 

Bethany: Okay.

Steph: So that was my like, “Okay, I know that I need someone outside of my head in order for me to be able to talk through what I’m feeling, why I’m feeling it, and then kind of go, what can I do? How can I use my skills and talents to do something different that is going to lead me to a different place?”

Bethany: Yes.

Steph: So, and in that, like that was one of those, ‘I gotta trust the process moments’, Bethany, because it’s like every time you pivot, right? It feels that way. But that for me, it was like definitely a period of time of pushing through, working with a mentor and then going, you know what? I think I’m gonna host an event. So I hosted a 150 person event in February of 2019 that I planned in six weeks, which was insane. 

Bethany: Whoa.

Steph: And that kind of like spearheaded the pivot of Trindi and Indy into the Weber Co. Trindi and Indy is where I was as an influencer. 

Bethany: I love that. Okay, amazing. And then I love that you said you also that’s when you decided to hire like a coach or a mentor, because I think that a lot of people need to hear that. And I’ve had conversations on this show a lot about like when do you hire who? Like when do you hire a team versus when do you hire a coach? And you’re not always at points in your business where you need both or one over the other. And I think like pivots and burnout are like when you need an outside perspective for sure.

Steph: Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I think that, you know, we all get so close to our businesses, very close to them, like emotionally invested in numerous ways, right? Financially invested, like all the things. So when you are in that space, sometimes it can be hard to separate yourself. And for me, especially in that time, it was like, “Okay, I’m not going to be an influencer anymore. Trendy in Indy doesn’t actually even align with who I am anymore, with the life.” It felt like I was like, breaking up with a part of my identity, which was this whole weird thing.

Bethany: I was going to say like, yeah, so Trendy in Indy became the Weber Co. And I mean, like we’re saying, like we get so close to our businesses, our business stars are ‘babies’. I babies in like air quotes. And so it does feel like there’s like a fracture or a breakup or like are you giving up this thing that you built that was “successful” because it’s bringing in income, which actually let me ask you that. Was the measure of success like New York Fashion Week like bringing in income that you measured success by at that time?

Steph: That is such a great question actually at that point in time. Yeah, there was definitely this like arbitrary number of, I wanted to get to like consistent at the time. It was like $5,000 a month. I’m like, influencer marketing could just make me $5,000 a month because I was still working full time. So I worked full time for other boutiques doing their branding and their marketing and general management and like 87 different hats as you do in small businesses.

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph: So actually at this time, it’s so crazy talking about this because it’s like everything just was the way it was supposed to be. But in 2018, in November that year, I actually got locked out of my Instagram account. So I hadn’t fully pivoted yet. And this was over like Black Friday. So as an influencer, I had a lot of partnerships over this time and I had to refund people. And it was a whole thing because I had no access to my account. That’s when I was like, “Okay, email list and other marketing strategies aside from just Instagram.” 

But also at that time, I got an opportunity to be a marketing manager for a boutique that I had done influencers stuff with in Phoenix. And so they asked us to come move out there basically and we decided to make that move and that happened in April of 2019 and that, Bethany, is where I was like, “Okay, I can officially break up with Trendy in Indy.” Because that brand was really prominent here in the Indianapolis area. And when I got locked out of my Instagram account, it was like, my husband was mortified. He was like, “This is a story on the six o’clock news. And this is insane stuff.” I’m like, “I know, but it’s because I helped small businesses gain visibility and like business here, right?” But anyway, so it was, that was hard. And yeah, it’s it definitely speaks to the like, emotional tie and the breakup that I felt. But for me, being able to lead the state and the city of Indianapolis, I was like, I can cut ties now. This will be, this will be good.

Bethany: Yeah, it needed to happen. The universe was like sending you a clear message by locking you out. It’s like, “This isn’t where you need to go.”

Steph: So clear. So clear. Yep.

Bethany: Okay, so started Weber Co after this retreat, around the retreat that you hosted, or event, not retreat. What is the Weber Co? What does that look like as you started it in that moment?

Steph: Yeah, in that moment. So in 2019, the Weber Co looked like one on one consulting, really. I did launch a group program, it was like a 10 week group program at the end of 2019. I tried ebooks because you know, at the time everyone was like, launch your ebook, launch your $7 ebook and it will lead to millions and I was like, “Tes, I’ll launch my $7 ebook!” So I did that whole thing. I did do one on one consulting with clients and it was very much just like customized to whatever the client needed. Like what do you need help with? What do need strategy with? I’ll just coach you kind of one-on-one. Then I had that group coaching program.

And then we get to March of 2020, where all of us have a story around this time… 

Bethany: Yes.

Steph: …and the world exploded. And I came across another mentor and she was teaching this method called Live Launching. And she was teaching people how to take their like small group programs or their one-on-one work and turn it into a 12 month coaching program. And then how to live launch that. And I was like, “This feels like what I need.” 

And then talking with someone on their sales team, they were like, “If you come in and do the work, like, I really think you can leave your job in 90 days.” That was my 2020 goal. I wanted to leave my full-time job, make the leap into full-time entrepreneurship, go all in on the Weber Co. And I joined that program, made a $1,500 a month commitment for 12 months and didn’t tell my husband. I had no clients on my books at that time. 

Bethany: Uh huh.

Steph: And I was like, “All right, I’m doing this now.” And I left my job in 60 days after an $85,000 launch. 

Bethany: Amazing. Oh my god amazing and then you told your husband.

Steph: Yeah, I did! I did. I remember being around a fire pit and being like, “By the way, I invested in this coach and it’s all going to be fine and our livelihood will be okay.”

Bethany: Yeah. Yeah. “Don’t you worry about it.” Love that. 

Going back to that part in your story, we’re like, “and then I did the e-book.” I think that is such a common path for anyone rebuilding after burnout. You know all these things cycle in two more years. The e-book will be back. You know what I mean? Like like the memberships, the VIP days, the courses that there is always something cycling through like ‘what is the secret to the millions?’ 

So I’m curious having done that and not seeing the success that was promised versus having done this other program, which was a big investment that also had success promised, but worked. Do you see a difference between the two or like how, how was that an important step to still try anyways? Or how do you like relate those things?

Steph: That is a great question. And I think for me as an entrepreneur, I am always willing to try and test and learn and also willing to fail. And with the ebooks, I was like, “Okay, I have nothing to lose here. If I do this and I like, you know, create an ebook, all I’ve done is really spend, I don’t know, maybe like 10 hours of my time, maybe creating this ebook.” Whereas there was a different level of investment when I had invested with this coach at $1,500 a month, it was like, “Okay, this is big. Like I have got to, there are no other options. This cannot fail and I’m gonna do the work inside this.” And I was really guided too, right? And held and supported in that.

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph: And I think for me, from a personality perspective, when I have a blueprint, when I have a format in some capacity that I can kind of follow and then take and make my own and use my skills, I’m really good on camera. I’m good at selling. I’m good at talking to people. And I’m great at coaching. And like, I love doing that work. 

So I could take all of that energy and use the program that was being provided to me in the like live launch method in order to kind of like scale and grow what I really wanted to grow. And that wasn’t ebooks. I didn’t want to just like, that was, wasn’t that. And I’ve always had a difficult time, Bethany, being like, “How do I take this $7 ebook and then sell a $12,000 program?” To me, I’m just like, what? But I know it works for some people. I couldn’t figure that piece out. It was no streamlined path for me.

Bethany: Yeah. Right. Absolutely. Ok, so we talked about burnout number one, and then you said that it happened two other times. And I know when we met in person, we chatted about one of those times. So you had this $85,000 launch. You’ve left your business and I mean your job to run your business full time. So what was next going there with the live launching?

Steph: Yeah. So the second time that I experienced burnout was in my full time job, the burnout of balancing full time job, balancing growing business and going, “I also want to start a family.” So when all of this happened in 2020, I was feeling burnt out in the perspective of ‘I’m in a toxic work environment. I’m getting up at 5am to coach people. Then I’m going to work. Then I’m coming home at five and then I’m continuing to coach at night.’ Like this was just, it was not sustainable. So that burnout period of time is my

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph: So that burnout period of time is my ‘you’re going to have to make a decision here, Steph. You’re either going to have to go all in and bet on yourself, or you’re going to have to let go of what you’re working on or be okay with like not growing the business and be more comfortable, I guess, in a job.’ But it was a toxic work environment for me. And I was like, “I’m done with this. This isn’t what I want to do.” So burnout too really was around the time of finding the coach, going all in and then saying, all right, we’re, we’re actually doing this. 

Bethany: Gotcha.

Steph: And in all of that, so that happened May of 2020 is when I decided to leave my job or I let my bosses know I would be leaving. And I also two weeks later after I did that, found out that I was six weeks pregnant. 

Bethany: Oh, okay.

Steph: So that happened and then yeah, that led to going, “Alright, now what? We had this great launch, but like we have to keep growing. We can’t just let it be the launch.” And continuing to figure out what that looked like. 

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph: For me, it was going, right, well, coaching worked well and the 12 month coaching program worked well for a while until about the fall of 2022. And then that was kind of the next time where I was going, “All right, I’m burnt out.” I’ve been doing this. We had launched our agency. 

Bethany: Yes.

Steph: So our like full scale agency, because we were coaching clients in branding and marketing and, Bethany for me, I feel like maybe we talked a little bit about this, but when I started the Weber Co, it was like, “Anyone and everyone is welcome. All the businesses, I will love you all. I will support you all.” And in a coaching container, it worked for a period of time until it didn’t. And that was September of 2022. And we’d been asked to, to like start the agency and do the work for clients. 

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph: I also found out that I was pregnant in September of 2022 and had a failed launch that month. And I was like, “Something is going to change here.” And that’s again, like the burnout. was like, I’m not, A) I’m not fulfilled. And for me, think burnout correlates to feeling like exhausted and drained by the work I’m doing. And whenever I felt that way, I’m like, “something has to give and something isn’t working anymore. The way it once was.” 

And again, this is like the evolution of entrepreneurship, right? So that was September of 2022 and I kind of just sat with that for a minute. was like, “All right, I’m gonna have to let go of team members. I know that this coaching program needs to shift.” I could see that the market was going to shift and there was something in my body that was just like, “2023 is gonna be a wild year, so hang on tight.” And it absolutely was. And that’s when we pivoted into the world of short-term rentals.

Bethany: Yeah, yes. Oh my god. And you said so many important things there, but something that I think is so special about your story is a lot of people say, “I experienced burnout and here’s how I’m going to make sure this never happens again.” 

But I also have a different idea of burnout in terms of, when it repeats it’s showing you that something’s not working, that even though if it once did, I think there’s this idea that like, ‘it works, it’ll work forever, we’ll just do it forever, and like maybe there’s something wrong with you or your team if it’s not working’, but like you said, like something has to give, and I also think it’s like you are stepping up this ladder of different levels of monetary success, like growing a team, leading, the business grows in new ways. 

And every time there’s like a new upper limit. And I feel like when you hit an upper limit, that’s like the pivot point. And that’s where you’re like, “Okay, something’s got to be sacrificed because you know, you’re one human being. And like, you need to lean into something else.” But like, but that’s how I see it. Like not that burnout’s never gonna happen or exist. And obviously we don’t want it to be to a point where you’re like, can’t get out of bed in the morning, but like, you are looking for those signs and symptoms early of like, “I’m exhausted, I’m drained, this doesn’t feel good. And I’ve hit a limit. Now how do I get past that again?” Or at least that’s how I see it.

Steph: I totally agree with you. And I feel like burnout is one of those things that we talk about, like, “Oh my gosh, you’ve got to avoid burnout.” 

Bethany: Right.

Steph: And I’m like, man, sometimes, like you can lean into burnout and be like, “why is this happening?” Because sometimes burnout is designed to show you that you’re doing something that’s not sustainable for you. And you’ve got to figure out why and what’s not sustainable and how do you overcome that, right? And so for me, every time I’ve had these seasons of burnout, which I know that I will experience again, I know that they’re designed to A) push me to a different direction, but B) kind of allow me to reflect and go, all right, “What’s going on and how could I do this differently?” 

And so this was like, this was a conversation that was very relevant as we decided to pivot into the world of short-term rentals. And I actually stopped doing the Weber Co agency for a period of time. 

Bethany: Mm-hmm.

Steph: I was like, I’m so burnt out by trying to run people’s social media accounts and write the email copy and set up the funnels and this, that, and the other. And I kind of got to a point where I was like, “I don’t even know if I want to have an agency ever again.” 

And then we got into short-term rentals and I gave myself some breathing room. I gave myself space to play. We designed properties for a period of time. And I just was like, “What can the Weber Co look like in the vacation rental niche?”

Bethany: Yes. 

Steph: “How can I support people and what does that look like?” And so then in 2024, we launched the agency again, but it was after I had some time to say, “I gotta release it with this and just figure out what I want it to look like and how I could do it differently without me at the helm of hitting post on social media accounts.”

Bethany: And I think it’s so interesting part of your story where you’re coaching people initially in the Weber Co. to do their marketing well. And then they’re like, “Wait, wait, wait, we just actually want you to do it.” So you open the agency and then you’re doing it all. You’re like, “I told you how to do it, but you don’t want to do it or have a team member train a team member to do it. And then you’re doing it.” And with that being in so many spaces and serving so many businesses, I can just imagine how exhausting that is.

And then something you and I talked about too, and the agency portion of things is like, because there’s a lot of designers who listen to this podcast and people in the marketing space is like running a team and an agency in itself can be so exhausting too. So tell me a little bit about that experience and how did you put boundaries in place? Like when did you realize like, “Oh my God, my team’s not doing this, I’m doing this.” What did that look like?

Steph: So when we had the version of Weber Co 1.0… 

Bethany: Yes, 1.0, yes.

Steph: …when we were kind of doing, when we were doing branding and marketing for like any and every business, like you name it industry, you probably had our hands on it. I actually had, like I had team members that were either full-time employees or part-time employees. And what I was finding in that, Bethany, is that model in and of itself felt incredibly heavy for me because I was like, “My gosh, this is your livelihood and I will pay you before I pay myself.” 

And also it was just a different level of expectation. It was kind of one of those where I felt like I started to have team members that were like, “Well, I’m going to get paid no matter what.” Like, “Well, you know, as long as I do, as long as I kind of show up, like I’m going to get paid.” And then I started recognizing, I was like micromanaging. I’m like, “Where’s the post that was supposed to go out at 9 a.m.?” 

And I’m like, “I can’t have this. So how does this model need to look different? And that’s when I that’s when we got to the place where I was like, all right, we’re gonna have to change this entire business and 2023 is gonna be insane.” 

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph: And I let go of team members because again, like, I think that that whole experience was designed to teach me. Number one, what to be clear and specific about in hiring team. Number two, what do I actually want my team structure to look like? And number three, where does my responsibility lie? And where do I, how do I want to lead? How do I want to show up? And what’s the team structure look like for me? So that gave me some hard learning lessons to do it differently the second time around.

Bethany: Oh yeah, I’ve been there. And also hiring in a way that’s like, I know that there can be that like employee boss relationship, which feels like static. But I think in this world, like it can be so hybrid in so many ways. And it can also be like, team members can and should, I think, be rooting for your business. Like they are there to support you and your business and come with ideas and like to be excited about it. And when I anyways, in my agency learned to hire in that way, it changed everything as opposed to what you had experienced, which I have fully experienced before where I was like, “This is not okay. What is happening right now? What a mess.” So thank you for sharing that. 

So that was 1.0. I know I went back to that. I just had to touch on it because I think building a team is so, like, that can definitely be a part of, you know, lead to burnout if it’s not done in a way that’s intentional. So then you, you’ve relaunched in 2024. Your website looks amazing by the way, I looked at it. You have your own properties that you’ve designed. You’re in the short term rental space specifically. What is that looking like?

Steph: We got into the world of short-term rentals in 2023. I was eight months pregnant. We purchased our first property in Indianapolis, turned it into a short-term rental. We decided to start co-hosting, which is basically short-term rental management. And then we also decided to be an investor in a micro resort, a 12-cabin micro resort that we have been building since 2023. All of what I just shared with you in 2023 happened in a seven-week period of time.

Bethany: Whoa.

Steph: We had a baby. We bought a second house. We had a toddler. We started a new business. I was pivoting the Weber Co. And also we had this opportunity for the micro resort present itself to us. It was, I was like, “Okay, I knew 2023 was going to be wild. I didn’t know it was going to be a little this wild.” And you know, here we are. 

When we got into, when we got into that space, I started realizing Bethany that so many people, especially in short-term rentals, but so many were like relying on the coattails of Airbnb. 

Bethany: Yes.

Steph: They’re like, “I have an Airbnb. Own an Airbnb. We do Airbnbs.” And I’m like, “Airbnb is their own brand. You have a property that you own an asset actually, an asset that you own, a business that you’re building, and you’re using Airbnb as a means to be able to get that property in front of other people, but you don’t own an Airbnb.” 

So that’s when my wheels kind of started turning of like, “All right, I think that I can do something with this.” Like branding and marketing feel important here, but what I felt that I needed at the time was to incorporate design into that as well. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, like we, can design properties. Like I’m pretty good at interior design.”

Let me just tell you, Bethany, talk about leading. This is like maybe another time of burnout, but we designed a handful of properties that year and I was like, “I am mentally tapped out. I hate design. I don’t like measuring. It’s not my jam.” Like, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do that. 

Bethany: Mm. I don’t like measuring, that’s amazing.

Steph: So again, one of those things that I was like, “I think I can do this without having design.” I let the design piece go. And then, yeah, we, I was like, “All right, I think I’m ready to launch in 2024.” I did launch actually a 12 week coaching program for short term rental owners who wanted to DIY their marketing and just like learn, “What are the essentials? What do we need to do in order to try to take more ownership and control over our marketing?” And then that is when we relaunched the agency. 

But this time from a team perspective, I decided to work with a VA agency and partner with that agency and build systems with that agency, and build systems for the Weber Co., but specifically be very intentional about, “What are the specific things that I know I want to do? And what are the things I don’t want to do?” And I was very clear about that. 

So when I went to that VA agency partner, I said, “Here is what the expectation is. Here is what we need to do. Here’s what’s going to happen. And here’s what this needs to look like. Can you match me? Can you match my energy? Can you match the growth and be alongside me in this journey?” 

Bethany: Yeah, yeah.

Steph: And we had several conversations in and around and the answer was yes, and that has been one of the best decisions that I made for us personally and how we run the agency.

Bethany: Amazing. Oh my god incredible. I love that. And then you are like the queen of pivots, the queen of like, “Okay, this isn’t working, we’re gonna do it again. We’re gonna do it another way.” So I want to hear you sprinkle your wisdom and advice and like- what would you say? I’ll ask a series of a couple questions, but what would you say to someone who is currently deep in the burnout moment, but really scared to pivot? Like has not made that decision. They know something’s not working. They may be there in that push through phase like you had experienced before, but like, what would you say to them?

Steph: First of all, accept the fear and validate it because it is so real and it’s okay to like sit with it for a second. But really like when you are sitting with that fear, ask yourself why? Like what feels so scary about this? Like for me, for Trendy in Indy, what felt really scary in that pivot was me feeling like I was abandoning a community, me feeling like I was losing a part of my identity because I was so closely tied to that.

Bethany: Mm. Mm.

Steph: That’s where that fear was coming from. It really didn’t have anything to do with income. The income I was making was nice. Like it was helpful, but it wasn’t anything that was like a full-time salary by any means. So it really wasn’t about the income and that. 

Then when we went to pivot the Weber Co to Weber Co 2.0 when we were getting into short term rentals, that the fear in and around that was all rooted in a lot largely rooted in income, but also rooted in like, “I use this income to support my family. What am I going to do here? Like, what are we going? We have a newborn, we have a toddler, like, what am I doing with my life?” And so that is where that fear was rooted. 

But what I’ve gotten really grounded in, Bethany, in the world of entrepreneurship is knowing that when something is showing up and something is presenting itself, it’s because there’s something greater on the other side. And I have learned to just have full faith and full trust in that. And it’s gonna feel rocky for a period of time, and it’s not gonna feel good always. And I’ve accepted that. And I just try to like, again, in those moments, it’s like, “why doesn’t this feel good? Let’s take a minute to just breathe, to meditate, to journal, to read a book for fun, to go on a walk.” For me, like moving my body and exercising and energy really helps me kind of go, “All right, let me get into a different state of flow and a different state of mentality in order to be able to attack this.”

But I think as an entrepreneur, you have to remember that where you are right now is probably not where you’re going to be five years from now. 

Bethany: Mm-hmm. 

Steph: We’re all very growth oriented in some capacity and there’s always something new that we’re going to experience or something that we’re going to be challenged by or a curve ball that’s going to be thrown our way. I think that’s what makes us great as entrepreneurs. We have this level of like tenacity and grit that we’re like, “Come hell or high water, we’re going to figure it out and it’s all going to be okay on the other side. It may feel really rocky for a minute, but it’s going to be okay.”

Bethany: Yes. 

Steph: So I think, you know, if you’re in that, if you’re in that place and you’re feeling all of that fear, feel it, feel the fear, get grounded in why you feel that way, and then figure out maybe a) what’s gonna help you through that? What is your personal method of what helps you? What helps you most to be able to kind of shift your energy? And then go for it. Like take the leap, take the leap and just, you’re gonna have to have full faith and full trust in whatever it is that you wanna have full faith and full trust in.

Bethany: Yes. 

Steph: But that is required.

Bethany: Yeah. Okay, Steph, I wanna go back to you have made investments, like just in our last chat at each point of a pivot of different kinds. And I think it’s really easy to make really good investments and not so great investments when you’re in that period of fear. So like, yes, all the steps you just said, but when you were in those periods and you made investments, good or bad, what was the difference between the ones that you felt like actually helped you move through a period of burnout or through a pivot versus those that didn’t.

Steph: You are so right about that, Bethany. You’re like bringing things to my awareness that I’m like, “Oh my gosh, every time I have had this experience, I have made an investment.” 

Bethany: We all do. Yeah, we all do. 

Steph: Yeah, it’s a whole thing. It’s a whole thing. And it’s always been in like coaches or mentors. 

Bethany: Sure. 

Steph: So I’ve realized that when I’m struggling or when I’m feeling like, “I don’t have an answer, I don’t have the answer here, I need guidance, I need someone outside of myself”, I spend time looking for or being presented with a mentor in some capacity, right? Like I feel like mentors, again, this comes back to like, “How am I feeling? I’m journaling, what is it that I want? I’ve got to get grounded in my why and what it is that I want.” And then usually a mentor appears in my life in some way, or form. I come across a Facebook ad or I get connected to somebody somehow. This happened every single time that we’ve done this.

Bethany: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Steph: And I think investments for me when especially in these pivots, right? Like in 2023 when the Weber Co was exploding and we were getting ready to have a baby, I was like, “Here’s our life savings on a new home. Please don’t ask for my business PNLs because they’re not going to look good right now.” 

Bethany: Yeah.

Steph Weber: But, know, it was like a whole thing. And we were, you know, we invested in a mentorship at that time to learn how to do short term rentals. And then we also purchased a property. So I think for me, again, it kind of comes back to the, it’s not about the fear of losing money, i’s the fear of like, “what if I don’t do this?”

“Will I look back on this and go, man, I wish I would have invested with that mentor because where would I be?” I always know that I move quicker and more efficiently when I am guided in some way. I shared that earlier. Like having a blueprint in some capacity has been helpful. So yeah, definitely feels scary. And I think I just look at fear and I’m like, “I’m going to take you on. Let’s go!”

Bethany: Yeah, I love it! That’s such a good perspective to have too. 

And then when you’re like working with a mentor or they come into your space, and you and I know this as brand strategists too, like we’re always talking about where is your audience at when they’re ready to buy from you? And they’re in that space of like, “This isn’t working for me. I’m looking for someone to guide me.” 

And then that’s like the perfect flow like customer flow for the coach or the mentor. And what’s so funny is like, I never always think about that for myself, but I’m like, “Oh yeah, like every time I’m right there.” And then all of a sudden I see the Facebook ad, which I’ve probably seen 12 other times, but not once did I like feel like it was for me until then, you know? 

Steph: Until that moment and you’re like, “Oh, okay. Click through, buy.”

Bethany: Okay. And then I had a question about like protecting yourself from falling back into burnout patterns. But now I’m like, after our conversation and kind of my perspective on burnout, it’s not that like this, obviously a pattern of like where it’s like detrimental and you burn everything to the ground is like not helpful. 

So how would you answer that now based on our conversations? Like, are you protecting or are you preparing or are you just like in more of a state of awareness for when the next burnout slash pivot might happen?

Steph: A,B,C, all of the above. All of the above, Bethany. So I think for me one I’m not afraid of burnout. It will happen to me again because I choose to involve myself in 87 different things. I have two toddlers, I have aging parents, like burnout will inevitably be a thing that happens again because that is just what what it is. But when it does, I do recognize the signs I do recognize, “How am I feeling?” I’m tired. My shoulder starts to hurt. Like there’s certain signs in my body that I’m aware of. I also start procrastinating and I’m like, “Why am I not sending that proposal? Why am I not doing this? What doesn’t feel good about this?” And so that’s my season of, “No, I don’t want to take you on as a client. No, I don’t want to do that. No, I don’t want to grow the team.” Like I get to decide that and no helps me protect my space..

Bethany: Mm.

Steph: …I don’t know that I want to say avoid burnout entirely, but it certainly helps it be as detrimental like you said, burning things to the ground as it could be. Because I do think, I mean I’ve seen this in entrepreneurship, where we just like, man, we hustle, we hustle, and then we get to a place where we’re like, “I’m tired. I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s not worth it. Burn to the ground.” 

And sometimes it’s okay to burn things to the ground. And sometimes it’s like, again, it’s designed to teach you something and to get you to kind of the next space. So, yeah, all of the above.

Bethany: Amazing. Okay, Steph, last question on this and then we’ll share where people can find you, but what are you most proud of now that came because of a pivot? Any one of your pivots? Like what are you most proud of?

Steph: I’m most proud of where I am right now.

Everything that I’ve done, everything that I’ve experienced, all of the seasons of challenge and burnout and stress and fear and all of those pieces have led me to where I am. And that is truly fulfilled and purposeful in the work that I get to do every day. That is working with really great people and working with very aligned team members in all of our businesses. 

We’re building a 12 cabin micro resort. Like never, I’m 32, if you would have told me at 22, like “10 years from now, you’re gonna have this 12 cabin micro resort with these amazing partners and like hundreds of guests, thousands of guests coming every year.” I would have been like, “What?” That’s like, I’m in the fa- I work in fashion. Like I wear cute clothes every day. You’re gonna tell me I’m like camping and I love to camp now all of a sudden. 

It’s, you know, again, so I think you’re just, I’ve always been guided in a way. I’ve paid attention to that. I’ve paid attention to where I want to go and I’ve gotten grounded, Bethany, in like what do I want and why and what am I really working toward? And now like at the helm of that is my family and is my boys and a year from now I’m working towards camper life so we can leave the home I’m currently sitting in and be on the road with them for a year.

Bethany: Yay, my God, cool. 

Steph: Like that’s what I want. So yeah, I would say just proud of the state of where I am and paying attention and trusting my gut, trusting in all the things, just going for it.

Bethany: Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Oh my God. I didn’t know you were gonna potentially do nomad life. We did nomad life for almost two years. 

Steph: I love that. We’ll have to have a separate convo.

Bethany: I know. I was like, “we’re gonna have to connect on that.” 

Okay, so for anyone listening, where can they find you? I know you’re in lots of places. You have 87 different things, like you said, but where can they find you and connect with you for the Weber Co. And then also take a look at your properties because like depending on where they’re listening, maybe they want to go stay.

Steph: Yeah, absolutely. So come hang out with the Weber Co on Instagram. I would love to connect with you there. Shoot me a DM. Let me know that you heard this podcast. Leave Bethany a review. Like do all the good things. So do all of that. And you can also check out Cabins on the Cumberland. That is our micro resort that we’re building. And then if you find yourself in Indianapolis, we manage properties here as well with Hosted by the Webers. But the Weber Co is where I hang out the most on Instagram. So if you have questions or want to chat, go there.

Bethany: Amazing, yeah, I was like, that’s where you’re gonna get the one-on-one convos. Okay, well thank you so much for chatting about your whole experience and just being so transparent about the journey. I appreciate that.

Steph: Thank you for having me!