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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What do you do when you move to a new city, revenue stalls, debt starts stacking up—and the idea of getting a job suddenly feels real?

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro sits down with Nick Bonitatibus to break down how Nick went from general “video marketing for small businesses” (his words: “classic mistake”) to committing to one clear niche.

Nick shares the turning point where he opened Indeed, looked at jobs for less than five minutes, and decided Plan B was done. From there, the growth came from two key moves.

You’ll hear about:

• Why “helping everyone” makes selling harder
• How focusing on senior care created referrals and authority
• The shift from DIY courses → coaching → “digital directing” (done-with-you execution)
• What changed once Nick rebuilt the offer around client follow-through
• Why more sales conversations solved more than funnel tweaks
• How systems + delegation improved margins and reduced chaos
• The mindset: action creates clarity, and clarity makes selling easier

🎧 If you’re stuck between “I need revenue now” and “my offer isn’t clicking,” this episode will give you a simple path forward.👉 Connect with Nick Bonitatibus

• Website: https://www.thedigitalchamps.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDigitalChamps
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedigitalchamps/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx4wiQ6uo6Wi5LpwPWewNCw
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjboni/
• LinkedIn Business Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thedigitalchamps/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedigitalchamps

📊 Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, Your Business Growth Playbook

Chapters:

00:00 The Struggles of Starting a Business

01:31 Finding a Niche in Senior Care

03:52 From DIY to Done-for-You Services

11:58 The Turning Point: Moving to San Diego

15:48 The Importance of Niching Down

20:06 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

22:53 The Power of Testing and Iteration

25:03 Overcoming Sales Aversion

25:48 Aligning Your Offer with Customer Needs

27:27 The Importance of Niching Down

29:22 Pricing Strategies and Customer Value

35:59 Systematizing Your Business

42:40 Advice for New Entrepreneurs

45:18 Reflecting on the Journey

48:17 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Keywords: Nick Bon, Nick Bonitatibus, Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro, senior care marketing, home care marketing, niche marketing, niching down, video marketing strategy, sales calls, offer creation, service business growth, done with you services, systems and SOPs, delegation, pricing strategy, premium offer, referrals, entrepreneurship mindset

#EntrepreneurLife #BusinessOwner #ServiceBusiness #NicheMarketing #SalesCalls #BusinessCoaching #OfferCreation #MarketingStrategy #ScaleYourBusiness #BusinessSystems #SOPs #Delegation #ContentMarketing #HomeCareBusiness #SeniorCare

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What do you do when you’re running one of the top programs in the world—but realize staying there means slow decline?

Andrew Ackerman faced that exact moment. As a leader inside one of the world’s most respected startup accelerators, he saw the writing on the wall: the market was crowded, competition was scaling faster, and doing “more of the same” wouldn’t win.

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast⁠, Jeremy Shapiro sits down with Andrew to break down how a blank-sheet rethink led to a category-defining pivot—and how redefining the customer unlocked growth almost overnight.

You’ll hear how Andrew:

• Recognized the danger of being “top five” in an oversaturated market
• Stopped competing with giants and found a place to win outright
• Identified unmet supply and unmet demand hiding in plain sight
• Rebuilt the entire program model from scratch
• Shifted from early-stage startups to more mature companies
• Changed pricing, structure, and messaging to fit a new ICP
• Learned why messaging fails even when product-market fit exists
• Used customer interviews to validate the pivot before launch

Andrew also shares lessons from reviewing more than 10,000 startups, investing in over 70 companies, and turning years of experience into his book The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey.

🎧 Tune in to learn why growth often comes from stepping sideways—not pushing harder—and how redefining your market can make everything easier.

👉 Connect with Andrew Ackerman:

• www.andrewbackerman.com
• Andrew Ackerman on LinkedIn
• The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey on Amazon

📊 Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, ⁠Your Business Growth Playbook

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the Startup Dilemma

01:22 Meet Andrew Ackerman: From COO to Investor

01:50 The Birth of Bunk One: Revolutionizing Summer Camps

03:49 Challenges and Breakthroughs in Early Growth

07:05 Transitioning to Venture Capital and Accelerators

13:12 Redefining the Accelerator Model

15:53 Niching Down: The Path to Becoming Number One

25:33 The Blank Slate Moment

25:57 Liberating Experience of Redefining Business

26:17 Considering a Career Shift

26:33 Developing a New Business Model

27:43 Market Research and Validation

32:06 Implementing the New Model

33:41 Unexpected Benefits of Niching Down

36:41 Advice for Business Owners Facing Decline

40:05 Reflections and Lessons Learned

42:14 The Entrepreneur's Odyssey Book

48:45 Where to Learn More About Andrew

Keywords: Andrew Ackerman, business strategy, market repositioning, niche strategy, accelerator model, startup growth, business pivot, redefining your market, category creation, customer discovery, ICP strategy, startup accelerators, venture investing, entrepreneurial leadership, business reinvention, scaling strategy, Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro, The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey

#podcast #marketdominance #accelerator #startup #startuplife #ycombinator #strategicpivot #entrepreneurship #businessgrowth #MarketNiching #startupsuccess #innovation #productdevelopment #businessstrategy #customerengagement

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