The Realities of Burnout and Your Business with Brittany Berger

We’re all familiar with the idea of being burnt out, especially over the last few years. Many of us have experienced burnout firsthand. But why is burnout so pervasive in online business? And should we trust the people peddling burnout solutions who used to sell us hustle culture?

In this episode, I explore the realities of burnout and your business with my guest Brittany Berger.

Over the two years, the conversation around the role of work and our need for rest has evolved significantly. And honestly, I’m here for it. From the work of Tricia Hersey at the Nap Ministry with the message of “rest is resistance” to the countless books and podcasts discussing breaking free from hustle culture, it’s clear a shift is happening.

It’s a shift that’s long overdue and, frankly, cannot be uncoupled from broader social justice work. This work is largely driven by Black women and disabled folks who are actively harmed by hustle culture and need us to recognize that this is not an individual problem but a systemic one.

In full transparency, I continue to do this work myself to unlearn a lifetime of tying my worth to my work and productivity. In the context of online business, I’ve been fascinated by watching the “anti-hustle culture” conversation show up. From people sharing their burnout stories to teaching us to have a life-first business, more and more people are spreading this message.

What I keep coming back to is a voice in my head that tells me this is not genuine. Because so many people I see hitting this the hardest have been the handmaidens of hustle culture for years. And when you look closely, their analysis is shallow and focused on improving their lives, not that of their clients, teams, or the collective.

My frustration with that is why I invited Brittany Berger to join me on the show to explore it further. Because while I’m here for the broader conversation, I’m having a hard time stomaching people co-opting this work for their material gain and their lack of awareness of the harms they’ve done (and continue to do) in this industry.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Brittany’s burnout experience and how she divested from hustle culture.
• What burnout is and why it’s so pervasive in online business. 
• Why do we see creators/celebrity entrepreneurs rise quickly and totally burn out? 
• The current narrative about burnout and how people lack self-awareness. 
• How burnout is talked about in online business as an individual solution.
• The way people who previously pushed hustle culture are now selling “solutions” for burnout. 
• The role of unrelenting scale on burnout and what we can do instead.

Brittany’s Bio

Brittany Berger is the founder of Work Brighter Media and the creator of the Content Remix Method. Regardless of the brand, all her work focuses on helping people divest from Hustle Culture and find more sustainable and balanced ways to work.

Links for This Episode:

• Work Brighter
• Brittany Berger
• B Berger on Instagram
• Work Brighter on Instagram 
• Brittany on Twitter
• Laziness Does Not Exist
• Wantpreneur Episode on Duped
• Ballad of Downward Mobility