What do you do when your business is profitable, referrals keep coming in, and yet every “yes” means longer days, more stress, and less of your life?

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro sits down with Simone Little, who hit that breaking point while running a growing VA agency. The money looked great, but... her life didn’t.

Simone made a bold call: a six-week sabbatical where she let all clients go with no promises… so she could rebuild her business model from the ground up.

Simone shares how she shifted from selling tasks to selling outcomes as a fractional COO, using a five-part business framework, a deep-dive audit process, and firm boundaries that protect strategic thinking time.

The result: more revenue, less chaos, a healthier team, and a business that can keep moving while she steps away.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why burnout isn’t solved by “more self-care” (it’s structural)
• The real reason agencies break: capacity without planning
• How Simone used a sabbatical to redesign her life and business
• The pivot from VA work to fractional COO strategy and leadership
• Her 5 core business areas: sales/marketing, team, CEO development, operations, finance
• The 4-hour business audit that reveals what’s costing time, money, and culture
• How boundaries protect outcomes (and how to get clients to respect them)
• The KPIs Simone watches: leads, revenue, tech spend, and capacity planning

If your business depends on you for everything - and you’re tired of paying for growth with your health - this episode will give you a clear way to rebuild with structure, team leverage, and calmer execution.

👉 Connect with Simone Little

• Chief Alignment Agency: https://www.chiefalignmentagency.com/explore
• Simone Little on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesimonelittle
• Simone Little on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesimonelittle/

📊 Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, https://www.youtube.com/@YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook

Chapters:

00:00 Taking a Risk: The Start of a Sabbatical

00:16 Understanding Burnout: A Structural Issue

00:42 Guest Introduction: Simone's Breaking Point

01:31 Simone's Entrepreneurial Journey: From Hair Salon to VA Agency

03:25 Challenges of Rapid Growth: Burnout and Overwork

07:41 The Turning Point: Taking a Sabbatical

10:53 Redesigning Life and Business: Post-Sabbatical Insights

13:13 Transition to High-Level Strategy: Discovering the COO Role

18:37 Implementing Strategic Changes: Client Success Stories

23:01 Meeting KPIs and Value-Based Pricing

23:49 Challenges of Transitioning Business Models

24:56 Enforcing Boundaries for Business Health

25:48 Personal Boundaries and Client Communication

29:51 Inspiration to Prioritize Well-being Over Hustle

33:24 Helping Founders Overcome Bottlenecks

37:27 Unexpected Benefits of Value-Based Products

41:51 Key Performance Indicators for Business Success

44:37 Conclusion and Contact Information

Keywords: Simone Little, Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro, VA agency, virtual assistant agency, burnout recovery, business systems, SOPs, delegation, team building, capacity planning, fractional COO, operations strategy, business audit, boundaries for entrepreneurs, scaling service business, leadership, KPI dashboard, profit planning, operations management

#podcast #FractionalCOO #BurnoutToBusiness #AgencySystems #CapacityPlanning #FounderBoundaries

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