We were supposed to be sharing wins and goals for Q1.
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Ten minutes later, five women who run businesses were casually admitting how often we wanted to burn it all down.
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~~~
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This was the closing moment of my favorite Monday morning mastermind.
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Somewhere between “so, what’re we working on this month?” and “okay, last ten minutes before we hop,” the conversation took a sharp turn into existential spiral territory as we, one by one, started sharing our secret, slightly alarming thought patterns.
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First up was our mastermind leader.
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She's someone who has been building successful businesses for decades.
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Someone I deeply trust and look up to (so much so that I absolutely *squeeled* when she joined the beta of my new Quarterly Copy Pass ‒ more on this later in the spring once it opens to the public!).
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And someone who, from the outside, looks like a classic case of “figured it all out.”
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And yet.
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​She admitted that she *regularly* fantasizes about quitting everything, burning it all to the ground, and becoming a full-time dog sitter.
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​Important detail, dear reader: she doesn’t even like dogs. ​
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Then another woman – a brilliant business growth strategist – shared that she regularly browses job postings. Not because her business is failing. Not because things are going badly. But as a kind of… ongoing, low-grade “just in case” check-in.
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(No names will be named, but you know who you are ;-)
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And then there was me, whose own version of “burning it down” probably looks like buying a one-way plane ticket and disappearing somewhere far away.
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​(To be clear: my current existential-crisis-du-jour wasn’t just a “business is hard” spiral. It was very much a gestures-broadly-at-the-world spiral, too.)​
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Somehow, between the “oh thank goodness it isn’t just me” laughter, the shared sigh of relief, and the collective existential spiraling, we all landed in the same place:
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​This is still a gazillion times better than the 9-to-5, you-have-a-boss-&-a-commute-&-quarterly-reviews-now alternative.
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Even on the days when the world feels heavy (or, one might argue, especially on the days when the world feels heavy).
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Even when you’re questioning not just your business, but your entire life trajectory.
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Even when dog sitting (for dogs we don’t even like) sounds momentarily appealing.
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It’s not that this path is easy, per se.
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​It’s just that, for all its messiness, “what am I even doing?” moments, and occasional desire to flee… at least it’s ours, you know? ​
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Anyway. No major conclusions here – just a small reminder that wanting to burn it all down here and there is apparently a normal (if not especially “healthy & well-adjusted”) part of the job description.
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~Nicole
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​P.S. Confession: I love a good existential crisis and consider them one of my preferred topics of conversation (blame my former identity as a semi-pretentious, second-hand-novel-toting English lit major working in academic writing, if you must).
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​I’m such a fan that existential crises even get a mention on my About page – a page that reliably makes me want to burn everything down and rewrite from scratch every time I look at it.
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Which, since we’re on the topic of wanting to burn it all down… feels very on-brand.
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Will I actually rewrite it in the near future? Unclear.
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Is it technically doing its job? Apparently, yes (given that people quote it back to me on consultation calls from time to time).
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Will I continue side-eyeing that headline and thinking “this is not it?” Absolutely.
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Existential dissatisfaction with things that are technically working: a personal specialty.

Nicole Elliott Human-First Conversion Copy & Messaging Strategy Non-salesy sales copy that sells w/out the sleaze   hello@nicoleelliott.co www.nicoleelliott.co

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