BONUS: The Universal 9 Year Got Us Good! Here’s What We Burned Down

If 2025 has felt like one long season of “burn it all down and start again,” this episode is going to hit very close to home. In this bonus conversation, Leon and I pull back the curtain and share our journey of knowing things needed to change, but also unsure what that actually looked like.  If you’re holding everything together right now and secretly wondering, “Is it just me? What am I doing?” Spoiler: you’re not broken. But you might be dragging a version of your business (and self) that can’t come with you into your next chapter.You’ll hear the honest story behind our own “burn it down” moment - from feeling like we were sprinting with shackles on, to questioning whether we could keep going, to restructuring our team and facing uncomfortable conversations we’d been avoiding. This isn’t a glossy highlight reel. It’s the story of our messy middle, our shaken confidence, and the emotional toll of leading a business while you’re quietly unravelling.If you’ve felt the urge to burn parts of your business down – your offers, your model, your branding, your schedule – this episode will help you see what’s really going on under the surface, and how to use it as the launch pad for your next level.WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:01:20 –  How the 2025 energy of endings, completion, and shedding showed up in our business – and why you might feel like everything you’ve built suddenly wants to be dismantled.05:54 – The mental spiral of feeling like everything was messy, and questioning if I could keep doing this08:59 – How we evaluated team capacity, cross-skilled roles, and made tough calls to ensure every hour was actually moving the business (and our clients) forward.10:57 – Why avoiding tough conversations with team members quietly caps your growth – and how learning to lean into them protects both your profit and your people.17:04 – The moment I knew that I was out of alignment - even though nothing looked “wrong” on paper.20:42 – The mad scientist experiment I ran to gather the data I needed to see what wasn’t working (without guessing)28:45 – The exact moment I said, “We’re burning it down and starting again.”33:29 – The title I gave for my 2025 chapterIf you’re ready to turn these insights into an actual plan, join us for our free online workshop, “Plan Your 2026 for Consistent $30K Months” workshop.  Learn more and register here >> https://samanthariley.global/2026-plan-workshopGot questions or want more business growth content? Follow us over at @thesamriley and @leonflitton