Business With Chronic Illness: Women Entrepreneurs Navigating Burnout & Autoimmune Conditions

If you've ever rebuilt your business from nothing after a diagnosis, a flare, or a crash you didn't see coming, you already know that "just push through" stops working at some point. The harder question is what you do instead. In this episode, Laura Reeves shares how she answered that question for herself, twice. After Crohn's disease cost her nearly every client she had in 1997, she built a 30-ye...

What does it look like to build a business that works with your chronic illness instead of against it? This conversation with Gwendolyn Young will challenge everything you think you know about business design and capacity. Gwendolyn Young is the founder of Your Virtual Admin Expert, a multi-six figure agency that provides administrative solutions for business owners. After 15 years of advising cor...

Your energy crashing during business conversations is not random. It is your body giving you crucial information about who and what belongs in your life. When you're managing chronic illness while building a business, learning to trust these signals can be the difference between sustainable growth and complete burnout. Alison Kero is a professional organizer who has spent over two decades helping...

What would it look like to build a multi-million dollar business while raising six kids, advocating full-time for a child with autism, and navigating everything that nobody put in the business plan? That's exactly what Julie Cole did, and she didn't do it by following the standard playbook. Julie is the co-founder of Mabel's Labels, a brand she started almost 23 years ago with her sister and two c...

Though burnout is often described as being beyond tired, and in a clinical definition, is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Janet Diaz shares a perspective and practical insights for chronic illness management while building your dream business that completely reframes how we understand burnout, especially when you're managing a...

What happens when you disappear from your own podcast without explanation? In this vulnerable return episode, I'm sharing the real story behind my unannounced break and what it taught me about the transitions we don't talk about in business. I'm Nikita Williams, your host, and after running Business with Chronic Illness for years, I found myself in a quiet transition that didn't come with announce...

You've been posting daily. You're showing up in stories. You're creating reels that disappear into the void. And yet—it's taking more and more content just to be seen, let alone convert followers into paying clients. If you're exhausted by social media and wondering why it's getting harder to turn all that effort into actual business growth, you're not alone. The game has changed in 2026. In this...

Not everyone started this year with "new year, new you" energy. If you're a woman entrepreneur navigating grief—from a loss, a diagnosis, a relationship, or a version of yourself you had to let go—you're probably wondering: can I grieve this AND still show up for my business? Can I hold both grief and growth while building a sustainable business? In this replay of one of 2025's most downloaded epi...

This year, expect empowering conversations with business owners navigating chronic illness and autoimmune disorders. Learn from their experiences, strategies, and lessons, with a focus on sustainability and health. Episodes will feature guests discussing new diagnoses, caregiving, and adapting business practices. Join the community on Substack for exclusive content and stay connected. Tune in for...

The journey of entrepreneurship can often feel at odds with the realities of living with chronic illness, particularly when it comes to the concept of capacity. In this episode, we tackle the often-misunderstood idea of capacity, shifting the narrative from a relentless push for more to a compassionate understanding of what we can realistically manage. Capacity isn't just about productivity; it's...

What if your business didn’t fall apart every time your life asked you to slow down? In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness , we’re naming a hard truth many entrepreneurs live with quietly: most businesses are built to work only on your best days . When you rest, everything stops. When life gets real, momentum disappears. And you’re left feeling like you’re starting over again. That’s no...

Does your marketing disappear every time you take a break? You're not alone, and it's not a consistency problem. It's a systems problem disguised as a marketing problem. In this solo episode of Business with Chronic Illness, I'm sharing why so many women entrepreneurs with chronic illness, burnout, or unpredictable capacity feel like they're constantly restarting their marketing from scratch. The...

In this replay episode, I’m sitting down with certified coach and first-gen eldest daughter Nikkei Lamodi , to talk about what it really looks like to be an eldest daughter or late bloomer living with chronic illness and running a business. We get into the invisible pressure of being the “strong one,” why eldest daughters are so prone to people-pleasing, perfectionism, and over-responsibility , an...

If you’ve been looking at your audience lately — your email list, your downloads, your Instagram following — and thinking, “It’s just not big enough,” this episode is your gentle reset. Today, I’m sharing an archived audio I originally recorded for my private client podcast. It’s a quiet reminder that the size of your audience has never been the thing that determines your success… the root system...

Tired of waiting for the perfect moment to start your creative business? Struggling with burnout from trying to follow cookie-cutter business advice that doesn't fit your life? In this episode, I talk with Margo Tantau : creative director, licensing agent, and host of Windowsill Chats Podcast , about building a sustainable creative business by following your gut instead of formulas. Margo shares h...

I feel like I'm doing everything right. I meditate. I have boundaries. My life is actually pretty good. So why do I still feel burnt out? Why can't I keep up with my business the way I want to? Why does it feel like something's still off? If that sounds like you, this episode is going to connect some dots you didn't even know needed connecting. Jen Yundt Coles is a functional medicine health coach...

What do you do when your health changes and the business you've built can't keep up? In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness, I sit down with Jemi Crookes , founder of The Think Lab, to talk about what happens when a diagnosis forces you to redefine leadership, business, and success itself. After a misdiagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, Jemi discovered she was actually living with Type 1.5 (LAD...

Ever had one of those moments where you're building your business and you get a text from family, someone's sick, someone needs you, and you instantly think: "I should be there. What kind of person am I for not dropping everything?" In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Analía Gómez Vidal career coach who built her business while being thousands of miles away from her family in Argentina. We get ho...

🌿 If you’re navigating entrepreneurship and chronic illness , or simply craving a more sustainable way to grow your business without sacrificing your health, energy, or self-care priorities, explore Chronically You & Profitable (CYAP). About this Episode: In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness, I'm joined by Jessica Setnick, RD, CSSD, LD—a registered dietitian, eating disorder speci...

Ever look at everything on your business plate and think "there's no way I can do all of this"? This episode is for entrepreneurs with chronic illness who feel overwhelmed trying to grow their business while managing fluctuating capacity. CEO of Functional Medicine Nutritionist Andrea Nakayama shares how she built Functional Nutrition Alliance while managing Hashimoto's, grief, and single parentho...

What if the key to building a sustainable business with chronic illness isn't working harder, but setting better boundaries? In this episode, B renda Snow, an Amazon Best Selling Author, shares how she built a 420-person company over 30 years while managing MS (Multiple Sclerosis) - without sacrificing her health or burning out. If you're living with chronic illness and running a business, you kno...

Can you really grow your business when you’re living with chronic illness, burnout, or limited capacity? Absolutely, if your content helps people make informed decisions , you don't have to focus on or obsess about downloads. In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness, with host Nikita Williams. I’m sharing how I signed clients from my podcast while I was healing from endometriosis and...

Think you need to work 60-hour weeks to build a successful freelance business with chronic illness or burnout? Amanda Bourbonais proves otherwise. After a severe chronic Lyme disease crisis forced her to leave corporate life, she built a six-figure copywriting business working just 20-25 hours per week, and she's maintained that rhythm for five years. In this episode, Amanda shares how she turned...

When I first started my coaching business, I had maybe 30 minutes of energy in a day. And while the online world told me I needed to post multiple times a day, go to endless networking events, and keep up with algorithms, I simply couldn’t. What I did know? Connection creates sales. In this episode, I’m sharing the 30-Minute-a-Day Connection Strategy I used to build a six-figure business while liv...

In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness, I'm joined by Jason Winters, an energy alignment coach and EFT tapping practitioner, to talk about the warning signs that your business is built out of alignment, especially important for entrepreneurs managing chronic illness and unpredictable energy levels. Jason opens up about his experience with rapid business growth that felt unsustainable, fr...