Grace Fatigue, Boundaries, and the Business That Survived Two Crises — with Lori Zoss Kraska

What happens when you've already had your wake-up call — and life sends another one? Lori Zoss Kraska built Growth Owl into a thriving consultancy helping nonprofits and associations land Fortune 1000 sponsorships. Then, in 2022, a doctor's hunch caught bilateral pulmonary embolisms that had no symptoms she could feel.  She was answering client emails from the ER! The lesson stuck — until her mother walked into knee surgery in 2024 and walked out with the first signs of vascular dementia. In this episode of Things Go Sideways, Lori shares what it's actually like to run a business while becoming a primary caregiver. She talks about "grace fatigue" — the exhaustion of trying to make everyone else comfortable.  She talks about boundaries that aren't slogans. She talks about why her client roster looks completely different now, why perfectionism didn't survive the second crisis, and the conversation with her mother on a patio that became an assignment for the rest of her life. This one is for anyone in the middle of caregiving, anyone whose body has tried to warn them, and anyone rebuilding a business around a life that won't sit still. Listen now. When things go sideways, that's where the real story begins.  Connect with Lori: Website: thegrowthowl.com Books: lorizossbooks.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lorizoss 00:00 — Cold open / intro 01:30 — Welcome and setup: holding responsibility and uncertainty at once 02:30 — The knee surgery waiting room: noticing the signs 04:00 — The sundowning event after surgery and the diagnosis 06:30 — "I had to start respecting my boundaries" 08:30 — Why she stopped taking every client and started getting selective 10:30 — Working with creators and voiceover artists — the new audience 12:00 — Walking, journaling, gratitude: self-care as infrastructure 15:00 — 2022: the pulmonary embolism and the lesson she didn't quite learn yet 18:00 — The healthcare system, the squeaky wheel, and being your own advocate  20:30 — Throwing out the perfectionism 22:30 — "Once I made the choice to work on myself, the right clients came" 25:00 — Trust, taboo, and the people who can't talk about dementia 27:30 — Grace fatigue (this is the segment to clip) 30:00 — The patio conversation with her mother 32:00 — Becoming an exceptional listener 34:30 — Her father, the protector vs. the daughter, the solutions-provider 37:00 — Final advice: listen to your body 39:00 — Close and CTAs grace fatigue, boundaries, caregiver burnout, sandwich generation, women in business, only child caregiver, corporate sponsorship, nonprofit consulting, health scare, blood clots, perfectionism, client selection, business pivot For Business Inquiries: [email protected]  Listen & Subscribe Substack: https://thingsgosideways.substack.com/  Website: https://thingsgosideways.com/listen  Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site  Libsyn Video Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/spotify Spotify (video): https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Spotify (audio): https://open.spotify.com/show/2K6DYzLMRkbT4FfmDaFP7a?si=4b4c70c5a3a84ce2 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenThingsGoSideways  Join the Community Things Go Sideways Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube Playlist (Full Episodes): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150721167011215 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585524425304 Share Your Sideways Story Podcast Guest Intake Form: https://forms.gle/UcccE9eJBSfEc9UN9 Schedule a Podcast Interview: https://calendly.com/kiki-interview/podcast-interview