The Power of Oxygen 1st
When my son was little, I was a single mom who was doing it all alone. I was putting everyone else first and my own needs last. To everyone around me, I was successful but little did they know that my success was tied to pushing, stressing, sleepless nights and early morning workouts pushing my body and my limits to the extreme. Until one day I was flying alone and nearly crashed an airplane and I realized that I needed to take care of my own needs first before anyone else. You see, when you’re a pilot, if you have any issues in the plane, you put on your oxygen mask 1st, not your passengers. They need you to land the plane.
This podcast is all about this journey to healing, to getting clear on the desires of your heart… and stepping into them with courage while leaning into, asking for and receiving support. I hope you feel inspired to do less, to follow your passions and infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live: a life filled to the brim with epic ADVENTURE.
The Power of Oxygen 1st
EP 72: Self-Abandonment Is Quietly Killing Your Business
Are you quietly killing your business from the inside out? That's exactly what happens when we practice self-abandonment in leadership, putting the business first at all costs until we're running a business that's running over us.
As entrepreneurs, we recognize the familiar patterns: saying yes when we mean no, discounting our prices out of fear, taking on misaligned clients for revenue, and overworking ourselves to prove our worth. These behaviors don't build sustainable success—they breed resentment, accelerate burnout, and eventually collapse under the weight of over-giving.
The alternative is self-honoring leadership, where boundaries become part of your business model and your schedule includes your needs, not just client demands. Your pricing reflects your true value, not your insecurities. You choose integrity over people-pleasing, saying no to projects that don't align even when it means turning down immediate income. Most challenging of all, you trust yourself to pivot when needed, evolving your business based on what's best for you, not just what's temporarily profitable.
The profound truth is that self-honoring builds legacies while self-abandonment builds burnout. Before your next business decision, pause to ask whether you're operating from fear or love, scarcity or trust, obligation or integrity. That's how we create businesses that breathe rather than break—businesses that take care of us while we take care of them.
Ready to build a business that honors you? Connect with me at dotrockconsulting.com or on Instagram at @dot_rock_ and access our Oxygen First Hiring ROI Calculator to make data-driven decisions about receiving the support you deserve. Share your biggest takeaway in my DMs—I'd love to hear which part of this message resonated most with you.
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Hey guys, this is the Power of Oxygen First podcast and I'm your host, dot Rock. I am an entrepreneur, a mom, a stepmom and a scaling consultant who is obsessed with the art of hiring, support and that dirty word we call delegation. I'm a recovering perfectionist who pushed my body and my limits to the extreme until one fateful day I learned that, just like pilots, I needed to take care of myself first. This podcast is all about the journey to healing, to getting clear on the desires of your heart, stepping into them with courage and leaning into and asking for support. I hope you feel inspired to do less, to follow your passions and infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live. Well, hello, welcome back to the Power of Oxygen First.
Speaker 2:I am your host, dot Rock, and today we're going to talk about something that just is quietly killing businesses from the inside out. It is self-abandonment in leadership. As you know, as business owners we get told to do whatever it takes. We get to hold everything, to be available, adaptable, accommodating and to put the business first at all cost, and before we know it, we're running a business that's running over us. We're saying yes when we mean no. We're discounting our prices because we're afraid of rejection. We're taking on misaligned clients because we need the revenue. We're overworking ourselves to prove our worth. Revenue. We're overworking ourselves to prove our worth, and that, my friend, is self-abandonment in business.
Speaker 2:But let's flip it. What does self-honoring leadership look like, and what does it look like to run a business that actually takes care of you too? My Tuesday episode was about self-abandonment in ourselves versus self-honoring, and this is the same episode, but all about business. Okay, so let's talk about some signs you're self-abandoning in your business. You say yes to client projects or partnerships that feel off because you're scared to say no off because you're scared to say no. Your price around your services is based on what you think people will pay instead of what honors your value. You work past your energy limits, ignoring your body's cues, because you should be hustling and there's more to do. You avoid hard conversations with employees or clients to keep the peace, and you make decisions based on fear of loss rather than trusting in abundance. If any of this sounds familiar, let's talk about the flip side of what self-honoring leadership actually looks like.
Speaker 2:What if you were self-honoring instead of self-abandoning? If you're self-honoring, number one, boundaries are part of your business model. Your schedule includes your needs, not just client work, and you don't drop everything for every request Boundaries. Number two self-honoring and leadership would look like your pricing reflects your worth, not your insecurities. You charge in alignment with your value and not out of this weird fear of rejection, and you let go of clients who just don't respect your rates or your time. Number three self-honoring and leadership would look like choosing integrity over people pleasing. You say no when a project doesn't fit, even if it means turning money down, and you hold clients and team members accountable without guilt when they're working on a project. And number four self-honoring would look like you trust yourself to pivot when it's needed.
Speaker 2:Gosh, I'm facing this one so much in my whole life and my business. Right now. You don't stay misaligned in offers just because they're working financially and you evolve your business based on what's best for you, not what's's just expected. That's a really hard one. I know it. I'm living it right now. I'm living honoring what I need and what my son needs very most over what is more revenue in my business, and I'm just trusting that it's going to work out Okay.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about some real-life examples of what shifting from self-abandonment to self-honoring would look like, okay, self-abandonment would say I'll lower my prices because this client says they can't afford me and I really want the work, versus self-honoring says my prices reflect my expertise and if it's not in their budget, I trust that the right clients will come. This one's hard because over time it starts to feel like they're never going to come. But for me, I've learned that the more I trust this, the more it's true. Self-abandoning would look like I'll take this meeting even though I'm exhausted. Canceling would be so unprofessional and self-honoring says my energy is part of my success. It's part of what makes me me. I reschedule meetings when needed, because I lead best when I'm fully present. I love that one. I love letting the divine scheduler help me. I love canceling or rescheduling meetings that feel chaotic or like I'm not prepared and doing a meeting when it works a little bit better for my schedule. Self-abandoning looks like I have to be available 24-7 for my business or my business will totally suffer. But self-honoring says my business thrives when I'm well-rested and my availability has clear limits. That makes me a better leader. For me that means I build my workouts into my work schedule every single day because I work smarter, I am more efficient when I've had a good workout and everything flows for me, and I know that.
Speaker 2:So a business that breathes versus a business that breaks you is a business that has self-honoring versus self-abandonment. Self-abandonment will break you. Here's the really hard truth, you guys. Self-abandonment doesn't build sustainable success in any area of our lives, and specifically in our businesses. In fact, self-abandonment builds resentment, burnout and business that collapse under the weight of just over giving. We walk away from something we are passionate about because we're over giving, but self-honoring. Self-honoring builds legacies. It's what makes your business a joy to run, not just another thing draining you. Joy to run, not just another thing draining you.
Speaker 2:And so here's your oxygen. First invitation before your next big decision, please pause, please ask am I doing this from self-abandonment or self-honoring? And then choose love over fear, trust over scarcity and integrity over obligation. That's how we build businesses that take care of us too. That's why we built the business in the first place. So thank you for being here today. If this episode resonated, please share it with a fellow business owner who needs a similar reminder. And if you're looking for deeper support in building a business that breathes, not just survives, let's connect. You can find me at dot rock consultingcom or on Instagram at dot underscore rock underscore. And until next time, put on your oxygen mask first and lead in a way that honors you.
Speaker 1:With so much love. Valuable insights that are simple and fast, that can help you shift into understanding why hiring, or just plain asking for support, can help you save precious resources and increase your time, your energy and your freedom, and they can help you delegate in your business and personally. And it's backed up by data. So head on over to dotrockconsultingcom to access the very first Oxygen First Hiring Return on Investment Calculator. You'll be able to finally hire with confidence, make some data-driven decisions, but also really shift into the mindset of receiving this support and how it's going to add to the bottom line of fulfillment and joy in your life. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the Power of Oxygen First podcast. I hope you walk away feeling inspired to do less to follow your passions and infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live. And infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live, and I hope that you start leaning into the art of receiving support. I'm here to support you on that journey.
Speaker 1:Find me at dotrockconsultingcom or dot underscore rock underscore on Instagram.
Speaker 2:I'd love it if you'd go, follow me and shoot me a quick DM and let me know what takeaway from this episode hit you the hardest, sending you love and adventures on this beautiful day.
