Brand Evolution And Burnout with Hannah Nieves

Welcome back to Under the Surface!

I am SO excited for our guest today because she is such a special person in my life. Please help me in welcoming Hannah Nieves (4/1 sacral MG)!

I met Hannah in 2020, when I set an intention and put out into the world that I was ready to learn PR and explore it as a marketing tool for my business. I stumbled across Hannah by doing a search on Instagram and finding her.

Immediately, I was drawn to her and resonated with her messaging.

I started off in her group program, and now, Hannah has been doing PR for me for a year! She is such a strong mentor of mine and I am so grateful to have her in my life and on Under the Surface. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

I really would love to start by talking about you and your background. How did you get to where you are today? Because where you are is pretty badass, you know, you’ve built several brands in the last couple of years. It has been incredible to watch.

What’s your background and what has helped you along the way? What did you take from your background that has helped you in building your business and brands? What made you take that leap of faith and go into business for yourself for the past 3 years?

“I started out in the corporate world, you know, in commercial real estate. So, if anyone is familiar with the Wolf of wall street, that's exactly how it was.

I was probably one of five women on a sales floor of all men. Testosterone level 10. I started there and quickly realized I always loved design. I loved real estate, but hated the underwriting side of things.

So I transitioned over to California closets, which is a home storage brand nationally in the US. And that was really great too, because I was able to still work on the real estate side with our developers and interior designers, but flex the creative side on the marketing. But like everything else and, you know, coming from a lot of past trauma of life and childhood, I always went to burnout and this was a constant thing, even through college.

I would just push myself to the limits and then pull back out. And it was this vicious cycle.

In summer of 2019, I actually, you know, pushed myself too far where I actually went to the hospital. Like my stomach was just shutting down. I thought I had, well, they thought I had either kidney stones or a kidney infection and it was really, really bad. I couldn't even walk. And then about three weeks later, I was still, you know, consuming bone broth and you know, water. I was not eating food. I lost a lot of weight and it was this wake up call of what am I actually doing here?

Do I wanna do this for the next, you know, 40-50 years sitting in a windowless office?

And I was like, ‘absolutely not.’

So [my business] actually started out as a blog originally, which is really interesting. And then we started doing done-for-you services and kind of…transitioned out from corporate into my business, during the pandemic, which is a blessing in disguise.

And here we are now we have three core brands, three years later.

We still have a lot we're looking to accomplish, but it's just been a wild ride.”

I’ve heard similar stories from other women that left the corporate world to start their own business. A lot of those women had the common thread where burnout was the catalyst to leaving. I’m curious, because everyone’s burnout looks different, what was the burnout cycle for you?

What do you think really burns you out? Was it working hard on things that you didn’t want to be doing? Or was it feeling a lot of pressure to prove yourself? What was it for you?

“I love that we're having this conversation because I feel like it's divine timing that this is coming out on a podcast. So, you know, I'm an open book here, but, I actually was adopted when I was 18 by my stepdad, which some people know, and I came from a very rough childhood. My dad was super abusive.

He actually passed away last year, tragically and it's funny because now I think the last time I saw him, it must have been like 12 years ago. Now, I'm realizing this obsession with achievement is directly correlated to that, to that experience in my childhood of constantly having to prove myself, getting validation, always trying to kind of prove a point. Even if the person's no longer here.

The crazy thing now that I reflect back to, even when I was in school, in, you know, grade school, I was always accomplishing, always a straight A student, always doing the sports and all these different types of things.

But I think it directly was related to childhood and that morphed into this achievement obsession, because that was the thing I could control. And then also this achievement obsession with security and money because I didn't have that…

Yeah, it started in school and it was something that I didn't connect into my body until now, in my late twenties.

It took a lot of inner healing, really understanding myself, working with you on the human design side, like really just understanding, like who am I?

That was a really deep lesson I had to go through and I'm still working through, but, it's all deeply rooted to childhood.”

It always is. I’m glad that you mentioned that connection to the body because as that sacral being that you are, if your body is screaming NO and you’re doing it anyway, you’re inevitably going to burn out. Your energy becomes degenerative. 

But, I’ve seen you. You’re a badass business bitch and you also speak about the importance of wellness, taking breaks, and connecting to your body through having a good work-rest balance.

Would you say that a lot of that has come from you starting your own business? Or were these values of yours that began before you started your business and are now coming back to?

“When I started my business after going to the hospital, that was the catalyst.

I started going on this functional health journey. I really had to connect with myself because my hormones were all out of whack. It was just–it was crazy. But also now, after working with hundreds of people, I have seen this vicious cycle of burnout in so many people. And when I think about where that actually comes from, a lot of it comes back to misalignment with things.

Now, I'm [a Manifesting Generator]. So I can tell within two seconds if I'm supposed to be doing something. Or if what I'm doing is like not the right fit, like just something feels really, really off. And I've really tapped into that intuition and just really understanding my body. This goes for even people I connect with as well, but, I've just seen it happen with so many people.

You know, people go into entrepreneurship thinking, oh, it's this sexy thing. You're gonna make a lot of money and work an hour a day. I think social media has a way of showcasing that to people. So then when they get in the thick of it and they're like, holy shit, this is really hard.

There's a lot of things they have to do. There's a lot of things mentally that you have to work through. I've seen more entrepreneurs going to burnout than people in corporate because it's just, it's natural.

I think too, this is like the powerful way for you to really continue to grow. And that really comes back to getting grounded and centered with yourself, understanding your limits, really being in alignment, because I can't tell you how many people I see who build business models that they hate.

And then they burn it to the ground. They burn the whole thing to the ground because they hate it.”

I mean, that’s my whole thing with human design. So much of the work I do is just pinpointing what’s out of alignment, because there’s always something. Even as aligned as you may be, you can’t always be fully aligned. There are going to be times when you second guess yourself, and go down this path, and be like “oh shit, i did it again. I didn’t listen.”

Now, you’ve worked with so many people from the corporate world and I’m curious: What does burnout look like for them? What are the common denominators that you would say people are getting tripped up on and end up out of alignment with? 

“So in terms of actual, like physical reactions, just from what I see with people: the overwhelm.

I can even see it, like when I get on a call sometimes with people and I'm like, okay, we're not talking about anything business today. We're digging into what's happening…

I'll have clients too that are experiencing a lot of imposter syndrome or their second guessing themselves. I mean, on the other physical side too, like lack of sleep, they're not eating well. They have stomach issues, things like that. 

Usually, if they're sharing that with me, I can pinpoint it in two seconds. But I think too, in terms of people coming from the corporate arena online, the biggest, or the thing that I think trips them up is that they're still showing up in their business as if they're in corporate, right?

As if there's this persona you have to be, or this professional person you have to show up with. I think there also is a lot of trying to prove yourself, trying to prove your professionalism, trying to prove your accreditations or whatever it is. That tends to really impact a lot of women. Then they just go on overdrive, overdrive, continuously.

The other thing too, is that I think a lot of women, especially from corporate, try to fit that box of, okay, now I'm taking my corporate career, bring it to my business. So I'm gonna wake up at 6:00 AM and I'm gonna have a nine to five job and I'm gonna have a 30 minute lunch break and people forget like, you are the founder of your business!

You can choose if you wanna take off on a Friday…that's a really hard thing. Like I struggled big time with that in the beginning. I also love structure and I don't love structure at the same time. Like I love structure in business, but my personal life, like you will not find me with a calendar or anything scheduled. I can't.

The other thing too is…persona. I struggle with this where everything had to look a certain way. When I first started my business, I was like, ‘okay, I gotta look professional. People are gonna invest a lot of money with me. I need to make sure I look the part.’

And I think too, over time, that I've peeled away the layers of what professionalism really means because people do invest a lot of money with me…I don't need to wear a suit and whatever pants, suit, and high heels every day, to show that I have one. So, there was a lot of rewiring and this is stuff that I see [that] happens all the time with people that leave corporate.”

So many great points, Hannah! I just want to take a moment for all the listeners who love human design to hear what she is saying through this lens. In the beginning, you said you struggle with that security. And I immediately thought of your 4/1 profile. Unconsciously, the one in you is like, “I need a stable foundation in order to feel strong emotionally. If I don’t have that, everything is shaky.”

You teach this through your community and you really hammer home that you need a solid foundation in order to build. If you don’t take the time to care for setting that foundation, then you’re building on sand.

Then, what you said about the need to prove yourself… I want to mention that a lot of times we attract people who share some of the same energy that we share. So, you probably attract a lot of people with that first line in their profile.

Plus, the imposter syndrome that comes with that. I think everyone struggles with imposter syndrome to some degree, but people with the one in their profile feel like this is a serious crutch to them. Personally, I’ve learned to just accept that that’s part of my life and I’m never going to feel like I know enough, and that’s okay!

You know, how do I make that a gift? How can I step into this persona of being a lifelong learner? I try to find the silver lining, but a lot of people really do struggle with that.

And you know, women are under way more pressure, collectively and culturally, to put other people first and put themselves last. It’s extra work and another hurdle to jump over to put ourselves first. I’m a mother too, and with mother’s it’s even stronger. There’s pressure to put your family first and put other people’s needs first and take care of others first.

It’s like, I’m strong. I can handle whatever. I can put everyone’s stuff on my plate and still run my business.

But in reality, you can’t.

So, how do you help? How do you help people get through this on a practical level? Other than just saying they need better sleep hygiene, to fix their nutrition, etc. How do you help people to pinpoint where things might be off in their business or life?

“Ooh, I love this. I actually just went through this with a client as well, who was building a business model from someone else in the industry that was really successful. And there was a lot of resistance. I could just feel it.

I was like, there's a lot of resistance here every week, week after week. And I flat out started to ask proper questions. I'm probing a little bit and asking questions. Well, what do you feel about this and why do you feel that way? And actually the root cause is that it was because of the way that the offers worked and set up, they did not align with this person.

They preferred to not have longer container retainer style offers vs. short in and out. They move on to the next client. And I think that's something really, really powerful too, for you to question, you know, what type of business model do you want?

Because…most of the women that come to me are all multi-passionate women. They're doing multiple things. They love that. I also get a lot of people too, who come to me, who are done-for-you service providers or agency owners or consultants. And they see scale. And that's a thing with the online space is that people promote scale and volume.

What people don't realize is that scale and volume does come with a price. Sometimes for some people, it's not what they want in their life. And that is okay.

But, I see a lot of people who want growth and scale…There's a lot of stuff that goes into that. There's so much, so much stress, more expenses, different team structure.

So for me, I usually probe and ask, well, why? Why do you wanna do this? What thought made you believe that you have to do it this way? Or who made you believe that you have to do it this way?

Just really asking questions. And this is where I take off the consulting hat and put the coaching hat on, because it's not my business, right? Like I'm not the one living in your business with you every day. But I want you to feel empowered with that. And usually if you're feeling resistance, there is a reason why you're feeling resistance. Big time.

So I encourage any of you that are listening too, if you are feeling that in your business to stop and question why you're feeling that resistance and where is it actually coming from?

Cause sometimes what you're resisting is actually what you should be doing.”

Sometimes you might find that sweet spot of the alignment and it feels great. So, you build momentum and it’s going amazing.

Then one day you wake up and there’s resistance.

And that’s REALLY hard.

I’ve had sessions with people who have grown their businesses to seven figures and wake up one day and know: “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

That’s a really hard truth to swallow.

So, I’m curious… have you experienced that with clients before? Where they build an empire and they don’t feel aligned with it anymore? What do they do and what do you do in that situation?

“I've had multiple people this year do that.

And some people are, you know, quick to rip the bandaid off and they burn into the ground and they shift gears and that's totally fine.

You know, the logical part of me says, okay, before you go and strip that revenue away, obviously we wanna make sure you have some type of safety net there to kind of build off of or not. So, that's just one thing…

I mean, for me, my logical self says don't completely rip it out and just start brand new, because why? You could sell that business if it's something that's profitable.

So when I see people completely close down their business, sometimes I think it's a missed opportunity because you can sell your business. You can merge with another company, you can merge your offer and white label it under another entity and get paid for it before you burn it to the ground.

But I would really sit and get clear on this. And even for myself, it's funny that we're having this conversation because I was just calling my best friend yesterday about this because we are making a really big move in our business. And I was telling her like, I'm starting to feel resistance about this thing that we're doing.

It was funny because she, I mean, she's known me for 12 years. She reflected back to me and she goes, well…you're getting scatterbrained when you're talking about it. And it's interesting to see, like, people will reflect back to you. You might not even see it, but other people will see it.

You know? So I think just really, really sitting in that and just knowing that you're not alone in this.

This doesn't stop no matter what level you get to…I'm in this program that I'm teaching these seven to nine figure companies all on PR and visibility, and you'd be surprised, the same conversations come up.

I literally had someone who has an eight-figure business who messaged me and said, ‘Hey, I'm dealing with imposter syndrome.’

This stuff doesn't go away at all. At all.

So, I think just really getting clear on that and just knowing that you're not alone.”

Oh God, I love that! I’m in the beginning of my business too and I didn’t come from the corporate world. And I have these conversations with people who are still in the dreaming stages of their business, and a lot of these conversations stay the same throughout every level.

They feel resistance, they feel something’s misaligned. They might even be starting to burn out a little bit, but they’re too scared to make a change. They may be unsure of what kind of change to make, so they push and kind of force things.

Hannah, thank you so much for all the great advice. I love soaking up your wisdom.

If you’re not following Hannah yet, you need to do that here.

“Yeah, so you can find me over at HN Haus. You'll find all of our three brands listed in the bio there, so you can check them out…we have our podcast, we have our blog, we have masterclasses, we have everything under the sun.

So, if you're not sure, just send me a DM and I can point you in the right direction! Whether it's a free offering, or a free blog post, or it's a masterclass, we're here to help.”

Yes! I loved when I first DMed you, that you sent me a voice message back. I love that you do that.

I think of you sometimes when someone new sends me a message, I’m like, what a nice touch to send the voice notes.

Go connect with Hannah!

And if you love this blog, please let us know in the comments below. Shrae it with your friends who are also getting started in their business and something is feeling misaligned.

This episode will definitely be helpful 💯