The Sheila Botelho Show: Business Strategy and the Inner Work of Leadership
The Sheila Botelho Show is a business and leadership podcast for founders, CEOs, and women leading at the highest level of their work, who are ready to build the next decade of their business with more clarity, more profit, and more of themselves in the room.
You’ve already done the hard part. You’ve built something that works. You’ve hit the goals that looked impressive from the outside. And somewhere along the way, you started wondering what it would feel like to grow without trading pieces of yourself for the next milestone.
That’s the conversation happening on this show.
Every week, Sheila pulls up a chair for the kind of conversations you’d have with a trusted friend who’s spent decades growing businesses through wave after wave of change, reading rooms, and helping people come home to themselves no matter how fast the landscape moves.
You’ll hear about business strategy, leadership, profit, scaling, identity, creativity, and the shifting landscape of entrepreneurship in a season where everything is changing at once. Solo chats, minisodes, and conversations with founders and leaders building businesses with depth and integrity. Real talk for the woman who’s done the surface-level work and is ready for something with more substance.
So come on in. Get comfortable. This is the place to think bigger, lead steadier, and trust yourself more fully every time you press play.
New episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Subscribe to Sheila’s Notes at sheilabotelho.com/notes for the deeper thinking behind each episode.
The Sheila Botelho Show: Business Strategy and the Inner Work of Leadership
What I Learned From Doing Nothing on a Long Weekend | EP 616
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A long weekend with nothing planned turned into an honest look at how hard it can be to sit in open space without rushing to fill it. I'm sharing a personal moment from my own weekend and what it's taught me about reading the season I'm actually in. This one will help you notice your own instinct to fill every hour, and what might open up if you didn't. Full show notes, transcript, and chapters at sheilabotelho.com/616
✍️ Sheila's Notes - The reflections I write only here. For your Expansion Season.
🧭 Your Vision Map - Name what you are building before you build it.
💎 Work With Me - Choose the most aligned pathway for your business.
Why Open Space Feels Hard
SheilaSo many of us spend years learning how to fill a moment. Open space can feel unfamiliar, even uncomfortable to sit inside. And this mini sode is about letting that space stay open instead of rushing to fill it. I've lived seasons of using every hour, and I'm living a season now that's asking something different of me. I'll share a moment from my own weekend that cracked this open for me and a new way to meet the next open hour that shows up in your life. Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm Sheila Botelho, and I believe true success is built from the inside out. This mini sode is designed to help you live into what lights you up this week. Lately, I've been thinking about something that I think we're all a little bit ill-equipped for as a culture, and that's open space. We feel like we always have to fill it. And here's an example from my
A Beach Day With No Plans
Sheilaown life. So I live at the beach now. I'm in ginger, so you won't catch me out there in the middle of the day, maybe sometimes under an umbrella. But my favorite time is the late afternoon, right around dinner time, then back down afterwards to watch the sunset. I love being out under the moon there. And just recently, it was a long weekend, a totally chill day, nothing planned, a beach walk in the morning. And my husband and I were eating lunch later on, and he said something that really stuck with me. He said, it's kind of fun doing nothing because our life has been so full for so long. There's always so much happening, especially for him. And he's the one on top of all the house projects, making sure our new home is ours. That's a big priority for both of us. And with kids heading off to college, there's a lot on the plate. You get used to every moment being accounted for, like, oh, I should be doing something. So we're gonna take a drive. And then I'm thinking to myself, why? I could just read a book or I could actually maybe have a nap if I wanted to, which I used to do a lot back in the day. And I felt that same feeling that I remember from being a kid, that I don't know what to do with myself feeling. And I wouldn't call it bored exactly, but I remember it and it's so visceral inside of me.
The Golden Hour Busy Season
SheilaBut it's more like there just wasn't a whole lot happening in the moment. And I was actually really grateful for that because there was a season in my business where I used every moment of every day, especially when my kids were little. Saturday work sessions. I called them soul work sessions, actually. I love them. And there's a real season for that. I remember getting up before everyone else, sometimes at 4:44 in the morning. I would set my clock, have a lemon water, go for a nice walk before the sun rose, sitting then later at a coffee shop by 6:30 or 7 a.m., working for a couple of hours, then getting some groceries and heading home in time for one of my kids to use the car. And I called it golden hour. I got to download everything right there at the start of the day. And that was a really pivotal time because I was transitioning into my new body of work. And I felt so lit up by it. Since becoming a parent, filling every moment has become the pattern, juggling a lot and wanting to stay healthy, wanting to be present with my partner. And time flies by. You may experience this too. So it felt like the responsible thing to do to use it wisely. And there's something beautiful in that season, too. I was lit
Slowing Down For Health
Sheilaup. This year, though, my body has asked something different of me. I've needed to go slower, sleep a little longer, take my time while I eat. And right now, the best thing for me is warm, slowly cooked food while I rebuild my gut, not fast food out of a box, and moving my body in specific ways that really support that. And I still want to be there for my people and for myself. So I've been doing my work mostly during the week. And my Saturday sessions have been on pause. And that's completely up to me because I could bring them back at any time if I felt so moved. But right now, if the weekend is when everyone's around to play, I want to play with my
Practising Unscheduled Time
Sheilapeople. So here is the check-in for you. Notice how easy or hard it is for you to be in a quiet stretch of time. A walk with nowhere to be, no destination, no time to get back, a book with no agenda, no rushing to fill that open space with something productive. That really might be worth considering, worth practicing, even because it lets you come back restored for the work and the people that need your attention most.
Matching Your Season Of Life
SheilaAnd it also depends on the season that you're actually in. Right now, I'm editing my book instead of writing it, and that is a completely different energy. Writing poured out of me. This was the kind of season where the information was just flowing and like you don't want to miss a thing. But editing asked for something steadier. And either way, the invitation is the same. Get attuned to the season your life is actually in and let yourself be there.
Ways To Work With Sheila
SheilaAll of my programs, all of my offerings come at a different level of depth and proximity to me. I just want you to know about this. So if you're in a season where you want support, figuring out what is next for you and what this season actually is asking of you, head over to sheilabotello.com forward slash work hyphen with hyphen me. So work with me and look through what is listed there. Whatever proximity feels right for you right now, that is really the place to start.
Let One Hour Stay Open
SheilaSo this week, find one stretch of open time and let it stay open. Thank you for tuning in and wishing you a beautiful week ahead. And I'll see you next time.