Episode 78: What’s on Your To-Do List? Using Systems to Avoid Overwhelm and Burnout with Virtual CEO Rachael Mueller
Podcast
Episode 78: What’s On Your To-Do List? Using Systems to Avoid Overwhelm and Burnout with Virtual CEO Rachael Mueller
“Ask yourself what do I need today? Do I have the energy to do the 10 things I put on my to do list? Or do I just need to do like the one that's really important because someone's waiting on me for this… Lean into checking in with yourself more.”
— Rachael Mueller
Welcome to this week’s episode of Show Up Fully where Rachael Muller, a virtual CEO for service-based CEOs, shares how she coaches others to show up fully in their business.
“Set Instagram aside and be comfortable in your own journey. You don’t have to accomplish everything today or even in the next six months. You are building your business for the long term and deserve to check in with yourself.”
Topics Covered:
● Showing up for yourself and why
● Focus on your own journey and being comfortable
● Operating in you zone of genius
● All or nothing mentality as an entrepreneur
● Lean into checking in with yourself
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform.
I am excited to hear your thoughts! Listen on ITUNES + Spotify Please tag us @itscarlacontreras + @hey.rachael on Instagram so we can continue the conversation with you. Use the hashtag #showupfullypodcast
Eat Well,
xo Chef Carla
PS: Want to learn about becoming a Health Coach? Listen to this episode here
Note: I mention in the podcast that Rachael and I met through Jera Foster-Fell’s stories. She is incredible!
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Wherever you are listening, please rate, review + subscribe to Show Up Fully. Send the podcast to your friends, post in your stories on Instagram & tag me @itscarlacontreras and use the hashtag #showupfully
About Rachael Mueller:
Rachael Mueller is a Virtual COO + Systems Expert, helping service-based business owners optimize and grow their businesses through sustainable systems, to step into their role as CEO.
When she’s not helping clients banish overwhelm, fuel their productivity and streamline their businesses, you can find her in the kitchen whipping up a new recipe, out exploring nature, or traveling the globe with her partner.
Find + Work With Melissa:
IG: @hey.rachael
Website: www.heyrachael.com
Full Transcript:
Carla Contreras 00:00
Hey, it's Chef Carla and welcome to show up fully. This is a podcast where I share what it's like to show up for your real life. If you don't know me, I'm a food stylist and a content creation coach. You can find more about me in today's show notes. And it's Carla Contreras on Instagram, and Tiktok. Today's guest, Rachael, I feel like I've rescheduled with you maybe like three or four times. You're just like, life. I don't know, this summer has been wild. So I'm so grateful to be talking to you, I would love for you to introduce yourself, and how you serve the world.
Rachael Mueller 00:45
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here to chat with you. Honestly, seeing your face and chatting with you always brings a smile to my face. So this is so fun for me too. So thank you so much. So hello, my name is Rachel Mueller. I'm a virtual CEO for service based CEOs. And basically what that means is I'm a Systems expert, and I help you optimize and organize your business. So you can really show up fully in your business and your life, which is so important. And it was something that I actually personally really struggled with. In my first business, if we flashback to almost six years ago, it felt like I was always so busy. And I was doing so much but I wasn't really moving the needle forward on the things that actually hurt. And after I had what was probably a call like my hundreds of motional breakdown, just like imagine like a toddler curled up in a bowl on the couch crying. I was like something has to change. This is not working. And so, gratefully, I had my partner there to support me. And we did some research. And we started using systems and I started learning how to delegate and ask for help, which is still something I have to work on to this day. But it made such a difference. And I came around and I pivoted and I leaned into this support. And here we are now me being able to provide the same service to other business owners.
Carla Contreras 02:04
I love that Rachel and I love that we I feel like I saw a post from Gera. And we'll put Joe's information in the show notes. And she was like, I did this, this and this my business and I saw your name. And I was like, Yes, I need to know her. And we had a call. And it was like, Oh my gosh, even just the one call with you, or you felt so grounded. And you talked about like, the toddler moment like i Well, first of all, I have two kids. So I know this. We know this very well, intimately. But I also feel like I contacted you in a moment where I was like, Oh, my goodness. And I feel like what you offer to people is just such an incredible service, that it's almost like a life raft that's out there for entrepreneurs. Yeah. Oh,
Rachael Mueller 03:03
thank you for saying that. I agree with you. I believe in that. And I think it's because, you know, as entrepreneurs, especially more visionary entrepreneurs, the creative type two I tend to work with that tends to be my person, you create this business, because you have this idea and this thing that you love, and you want to share it with other people, right? It's your gift, it would be a disservice if you don't offer this to other people. But also at the same time, all the things behind the scenes that it takes to run a business are not in your zone of genius, right being with people in front of people, helping them serving them, that is your zone of genius. And all the other stuff falls to the wayside and you continue to grow, you continue to scale and still not happening. And that cycle continues until it gets to this point where you are so overwhelmed by everything you've left kind of like in your wake like the hurricane behind you that it can be a very overwhelming place to be. And so I'm always so grateful when I can step in, and I can shift that for people and change that for them.
Carla Contreras 04:00
It's amazing. I'm going to talk about food. I love food. They're also going to talk about where you are. But I would love to know your last meal. I'm so so curious.
Rachael Mueller 04:10
So we'll combine both these things because it matters. So I'm currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina, my partner, I've been here for almost five months. And before that we are in Spain, been on a bit of a travel year for us been a bit nomadic, just trying to figure out what we might want to do in the future and where we might want to live and face brought us here to Argentina. My grandmother's actually from Buenos Aires, I've wanted to visit my whole life. I didn't think it was going to happen anytime soon. And last minute we shifted plans and changed things and we've been here and I just fell in love with the city and the people and the food. Oh my gosh, the food. So I mean Argentina is known for their steak, their red meat grills, they do what's called the Padishah which is their Buenos Aires accent it's to L so it's actually Perea which is like the Mexican Spanish that I'm used to in that I practice my whole life. But that to say it is the most amazing experience, because it's not just about like eating the beat, it's a whole experience about sitting with your friends and your family and you have wine and there's appetizers, and you are grateful for the cow and for the meat and you really feel your food and you appreciate your food and you eat the food and there's wine everywhere. It's just it's an amazing experience. And you get a little sense of that when you go out to these restaurants, and you get to have the same thing and you're sitting with your partner, and you're eating this really good food. And so all that to say last night, we went and had probably our last one in the city. And we went to this amazing restaurant that so many people have recommended that we go to. And we got a Spanish omelet as the appetizer, which if you've never had one, their life changing. And we got a delicious, like, perfectly I'm sorry to all of my vegetarians or vegans. But we got a perfectly grilled and seasoned steak and it just like melted in my mouth. And it was fantastic. This sounds
Carla Contreras 06:04
so beautiful. I feel like the underlying thing of this and this is comes from my background. Spirituality is presence. Hmm. It's like that's such an I feel like I mean, you were in Spain before that to your such presence in these cultures
Rachael Mueller 06:23
for eating. It's a sense of, like, just slowing down. Like that's, I think what it comes down to right and they and they treat those moments of food of being with your friends and being with a family that present moment as an opportunity to do so. And they don't rush to do the next thing or to have to get through this meal to get back to work like no, they take 234 hours to enjoy their meal and each other's company and then maybe they'll do more work or maybe not like what are they in the mood for is today like a siesta that goes to dinner or you know, it just depends, but it's a beautiful thing. And it's so counter culture to the United States and everything that I feel like I have grown up and experienced.
Carla Contreras 07:06
It's fascinating, have a name shift this to showing up this podcast is called show up fully for reason. Because it's a buzzword showing up like in business and spirituality and relationships, showing up for wellness, like all these different spaces, especially social media, online, did I publish the newsletter? When am I going to publish a podcast? You know all of those things? I would love to know how you define showing up. But I also want to like add another layer to this question. Why do you show up? I think that that's also really important. And it's important part of this conversation, not only like how you define it, but why do you do it? Yeah, I
Rachael Mueller 07:53
love that second layer, especially things. So for me showing up is living your most authentic life. I mean, I spent years building my business and my life to be what I wanted before we took this trip. And then I realized I wasn't living the life that I wanted, like I was still so focused on the next thing or growing and I wasn't being present in the now doing the things that I set out to create in the first place. So it's like we were a few months into this trip this year. And I realized I was still focusing on these like, huge big financial goals I wanted for my business and my growth and this and that I was putting so much pressure on myself that I felt like I wasn't being present with what I was doing now, which was the whole reason I started my business to begin with as like that cycle kind of just kept coming around. And as soon as I relinquish that control, and that pressure that I was putting on myself as a recovering perfectionist here. So it's hard, it's easier said than done some days, but shifting that from like, not doing enough for all of the should I be doing shoulds I should be doing things, especially when it comes to the online space like comparison to what you're seeing other business owners doing, you know, you're seeing, like 1% of someone's life on social media, right. And it's the curated 1% that they want you to see. So it's not even that you might be seeing real life. It's what they are putting out there. And it's so difficult to take that in and to feel like I'm good with what I'm doing or how I'm presenting myself and how I'm showing up need to do more whatever that might look like. And I think that as soon as I stopped and I focused on my own journey when I put my blinders on back to the first thing I mentioned, all those things started to become a whole lot easier. And being on my own path and my journey just felt so much more comfortable.
Carla Contreras 09:50
This is so beautiful. It's just such a way to look at the world being on your own journey your own path. Yeah. and being comfortable, like I want to underline that highlight
Rachael Mueller 10:03
it well. And I think it's so hard to because this kind of goes back to to why you show up, right? Everyone starts their business for a reason, you have a gift, you have a calling, you feel like there's a reason that you should be doing that thing that you're doing. And sometimes it happens organically, where you become good at something and people like it. And it turns into something. And other times you start with intention of this is what I'm going to do. But whatever the case, you are putting yourself in the position of saying, I need to do this, like this is calling to me, I want to be a part of this. And I just think that's such a beautiful thing to really lean into. But it gets I feel like a little muddled when we see what everyone else is doing. And we feel like we should be doing their thing, or I need to be doing more and we lose sight of that. The why and what we started to do in the first place. And so what is your why my why I feel like I have to why's my personal Why is freedom for years, I my partner and I always say this is that we had money, and we had no time. And now we finally do have money. But we used to say when we first started our business, we had no money that we had all time, right? And it was a shift, where we felt so much more freedom in that. Because someone could say, Hey, I'm having this or our nephew's birthday, or whatever it looked like and we could say, I'll be there. We didn't have to ask for the vacation or the time offer? No, sorry, I can't make it. It was Yeah, if I want to make this a priority, I can make this a priority, and just able to take life back into our own hands. And to me that is everything, absolutely everything. And then I would say on the flip side, my business why is kind of what we talked about at the beginning is showing up for these entrepreneurs who are helping and supporting other people to do beautiful things. But they aren't able to show up for themselves. They need their own help and their own support to be able to be the rockstars that they truly are in are capable of. And that is amazing for me to be able to help support them in.
Carla Contreras 12:11
I'm going to ask you a question is like space holding for those people? Is it really like a question of? And I say this for coaching? Every coach needs a coach? Totally? And is this in terms of business? Like maybe it's not every single business, but maybe it is every business and whether that support is a friend or a family member or hiring a service like yours? Like, I feel like entrepreneurship is the biggest personal development? Oh my gosh, yes. Journey, wherever it is, I would love to know your idea on support when it comes to the entrepreneur, like what does that look
Rachael Mueller 12:50
like? Yeah, well for what everyone should be in therapy, like, there should be like an entrepreneur starter pack. If you are starting a business, you should immediately also enroll and find a therapist that works for you. I feel like those two go hand in hand. But I also think it's so important to audit your time and see what is actually bottlenecking what's holding you up what's causing you the most stress. And that is going to lead you down the path to figure out what kind of support you is it implementing systems to help streamline things and organize things because things are messy. Okay, is it that you can't keep being the one that wears the five hats and does the posting and the copywriting and the client work and you know, et cetera? Okay, maybe you need an assistant or an agency to come in and help you whatever that might look like. So I think taking that time to reflect is so important, but it's also so difficult, right? Because like when you're so busy, and you're so overwhelmed, taking the time to slow down seems impossible. And so the kind of a difficult part too, but I read a while ago, this proverb, quote, I'm probably gonna butcher it, but essentially, it went along the lines of You should meditate for 10 minutes every day. And if you don't have 10 minutes, you should meditate for two hours. And I think that applies to business so well. Because if you don't even have the time to step off that treadmill for just a few minutes to audit and figure out how you can support yourself. You need to that much more,
Carla Contreras 14:26
right? Yes. And I feel like it's a Gandhi quote of today's like, really busy. So I'm not going to meditate for one hour. I'm going to meditate for two. Yeah, I laugh at this because I have a serious self care practice myself. And it's actually confirmed by my astrologer friend Ilona, who actually was on this podcast that even according to the stars, my self care practices it very expensive. But, but I think it's interesting, the 10 minutes versus two hours? And what does that look like to the entrepreneur that actually gives them this themselves, the time and the space? To look at their systems versus be worried about their systems? Like, what does it take, we could be up in the middle, and I know come raising my hand, hi, in the middle of the night, like, oh, my gosh, that podcast has not aired in six months, I'm still thinking about that person. But like, the amount of time that's actually spent on worrying on the business, who versus the time in the energy spent, okay, I'm gonna sit down, and I know this from sitting down with you, I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna dedicate one hour and then after that call, I feel like I dedicated three hours if you're just sit down and like, organize so interesting. I feel like and this is just my perspective of the time spent worrying, versus the time spent actually doing things that will move you further along. Yeah,
Rachael Mueller 16:06
well, there's a couple things there, I mean, one, doing things to move you forward means you're gonna do something different, probably, right, you're changing, expanding your comfort zone. That's scary. And it's easier to stay and keep doing the same things the same way. Because it's comfortable, right, that's what our comfort zone is. And so that in and of itself can be a big expansive moment, because you're taking that leap to try something different to put yourself out there to do the new offer whatever that looks like. But I think also as entrepreneurs, we very much can have this, like all or nothing mentality, where we have to do all the things and organize the whole business and launch the whole podcast, like whatever that might be. Or I'll just keep on cruising because it's comfortable. And it's familiar. And I know, I know how to do this. That is different. That is difficult. I know how to do this, but there is an in between, right, there's a way where you can take the big thing, and break it down into micro steps and make it more attainable. So instead of let's use your example of like having to post the podcast episode, right, there's probably a lot that goes into it. It's not just you push post, right, you have to edit the episode, you upload it, you create the graphics, you share them with a guest, you post a Social Link, whatever that might be, right? Those could all be micro tasks. And then like I can get really nerdy here, that could be a reoccurring task, or a guide for how to post a podcast episode that you can then pass off to somebody else to do for you and train someone, right? So there's always it doesn't have to be just you doing the things and it doesn't also have to be fully automated, fully systematized. There's a hand touch that has to happen with these things. And there's a way in between to be able to start making those micro changes to make it easier on yourself. I feel like I went off on a bit on a tangent there. Did I answer your question?
Carla Contreras 18:00
Oh, my gosh, it is like so helpful. I hope it's so helpful that people that are listening. For me, it's like, oh, my gosh, yes. Like all of the things I want to shift this into. And I want to ask this for you personally, I also want to ask this for the client side, like what do you see what happens when you personally don't want to show up? Because I feel like this is a very big and important part of this conversation. But also when you see this in clients that they don't want to show up? And how do you support them through that? Yeah.
Rachael Mueller 18:38
Well, I think that it's natural, I mean, to go through seasons of your business. And it's so important to recognize that you're building this for the long term, right, I think to go back to I mean, not to just rail against the online space, but like, we see so much in that fear of making six figures in six months. And you're like, Well, shit, I can't slow down. I'm at month five, and I'm nowhere near that I need to keep going. But ultimately, what happens is the opposite effect, right? If you are pushing if you are grinding, like hustle culture, I feel like is so toxic in my mind, because it just teaches you that you don't have time to rest and reset. But ultimately, that's probably one of the most important things you can do like your sacred sounding self care routine sounds incredible. Because that probably allows you to show up as the business owner you are as the mom that you are whatever that might be. It's like if you didn't do that, I mean, resentment and crappy work, whatever it might be enters the chat because it's not going to be a good scene. Right? So I think it's so important to recognize that and I mean, I'm speaking from someone who like I said, recovering perfectionist, I even have a hard time with that. But I've really started to lean into taking time for myself on the weekends to have more often line are present time. And that's given me more time to also reflect on things and think about things and have more ideas, then I feel so much better coming back to whatever I'm working on and showing up in that way. So for me, that has been really, really powerful. And I've seen that with clients too. We're like a lot of times the the stress and the overwhelm that they're feeling is because something just isn't in alignment for like, what they should be doing not to say that there won't be stressed or overwhelmed in your business, there will be that's inevitable in any job you have, but you have to decide if the outcome is worth it. And what you're doing and stressing and working hard towards is worth what it is.
Carla Contreras 20:41
I love this, I love us so much. Because it also I feel like gives us permission to take a step back. Like I love seeing your stories on the week, especially on the weekends. You're like, Oh, I'm doing this lovely walk, or I'm doing like, it's just I feel relaxed. Even just looking at those things, because I know that you are you're this is just my perception of you. And my experience of of your stories is that you're in an experience of taking care of yourself. And I
Rachael Mueller 21:17
find that in the moments where I'm feeling the most anxiety or the stress is what I've probably strayed from that. It's probably when I'm in a place of more consumption and not taking a step back to see what do I actually need or want right now. And that's a great place to start. In the morning. Ask yourself what do I need today? Do I have the energy to do the 10 things I put on my to do list? Or do I just need to do like the one that's really important because someone's waiting on me for this. And then I need to just take a walk or take a nap or go out to a really long lunch by myself and have a glass of wine, like whatever it might be. Lean into checking in with yourself more. And it's something that I've really been trying to work on, I think especially the last few months hard, and it's just made such a difference. I feel like for how I'm able to show up and be the best that I can when it comes to my business.
Carla Contreras 22:13
Oh my gosh, there's so me. I'm so grateful for you. I wanted to know, how can we find you? How can we support you? How can we work with you? Yeah,
Rachael Mueller 22:25
so go to Instagram, everyone's on Instagram. I'm on Instagram. I love being there. And you can check out at least for a little bit longer my travel stories that I've been posting, it's Hey, dot Rachel, Rachel ra ch AE l thanks mom and dad. And you can also go to my website. Hey rachel.com. I've got some fun resources on there. And you can check out all the services and what we might be able to do together.
Carla Contreras 22:47
I love this. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank
Rachael Mueller 22:51
Thank you.
Carla Contreras 22:52
I just adore you. And I'm so excited to chat with you soon. And we'll let everybody know what systems come in place after that.
Rachael Mueller 23:01
Absolutely. We'll have to do a follow up conversation about like the shifts the before and after. That
Carla Contreras 23:06
could be fun. I would love to do that. I love it. Yeah. Thank you everybody for tuning in. If you want information about Rachel, it's gonna be all in the show notes. If this resonated with you and your business, I would love to hear about it. You can find us both on Instagram. You can send this as a text message or an email or do an Instagram story to share it with your friends. I am sending you and your so much love. Bye