The Cost of Success: Why Walking Away Isn’t Failure with Jesse Schewchuk
After speaking on a TED stage about the cost of burnout, Jesse Schewchuk realized she needed to act on her own message. She had spent nearly a decade building Modern Muse Media, but the demands of keeping the business running were pulling her away from the work and life she wanted. When a longtime colleague posted a marketing opportunity, she approached him with a different proposal: hire her. Within a week, she had accepted an offer. The grief of letting go of her business was matched by the relief of choosing a different future.
In Episode 372 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy welcomes back award-winning producer, media strategist and founder of The Menopause Mission, Jesse Schewchuk, for an honest conversation about ambition, identity and knowing when to change direction. Jesse shares how losing her mother at 24 sent her into years of achievement as a way to avoid processing grief, why public recognition often concealed private struggles, and what led her to step into a chief marketing officer role at Capital Planning. They discuss the guilt of resting, the pressure of supporting a family through entrepreneurship, and why leaving a business does not erase what you have accomplished. Jesse also shares the personal experience behind The Menopause Mission and why she wants more women to feel heard, supported and able to speak openly.
Content note: This episode includes discussions of bereavement, burnout, mental health struggles and suicidal thoughts.
What You’ll Learn
1. How the need to prove yourself can shape your ambition and your definition of success.
2. Why rest can feel uncomfortable when your identity is tied to achievement.
3. How financial pressure can affect the way you connect with people and experience your work.
4. Why grief and relief can coexist when you leave a business you built.
5. What an intrapreneur role can offer entrepreneurs who want autonomy, meaningful work and fewer ownership responsibilities.
6. How Jesse’s menopause experience changed her priorities and inspired her advocacy.
7. Why choosing a different direction requires your own acceptance, even when others support the decision.
Chapters
00:00 Where is the line?
01:09 Introducing Jesse Schewchuk
05:29 Who Jesse is today
07:09 The need to prove yourself through success
08:06 Burnout and the question that changed everything
10:37 Why it is so difficult to just be
11:30 Learning to rest without guilt
13:11 Being drawn to purpose instead of driven by achievement
14:22 Losing her mother and throwing herself into work
16:17 Public recognition and private struggles
17:27 What legacy means beyond your career
19:35 When business pressure changes how you show up
21:30 Deciding to close Modern Muse Media
22:14 The conversation that became a new career opportunity
23:40 Experiencing grief and relief together
25:17 The work entrepreneurs never signed up for
25:52 Recognizing the personal cost of achievement
27:06 Making room for meaningful work
29:30 Why the right decision can still hurt
30:30 Considering a different entrepreneurial path
32:27 Why nobody else can give you permission
34:11 Finding your own answer
36:12 Being open to a different future
37:27 Entrepreneurship, employment and autonomy
39:44 Introducing The Menopause Mission
40:17 The personal experience behind the mission
44:52 Breaking the silence around women’s health
46:18 A message of support for listeners
47:39 Your business is not your identity
48:17 Connecting with Jesse
Connect with Jesse Schewchuk
Jesse is an award-winning producer, media strategist, speaker and founder of The Menopause Mission. In this conversation, she shares her transition from running Modern Muse Media to a chief marketing officer role at Capital Planning, alongside her continued work in storytelling, speaking and women’s wellness advocacy.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-schewchuk-4470b47/
The Menopause Mission: https://www.themenopausemission.org/
Support Foxx and Our Family
Our one year old son Foxx is currently fighting cancer. If you are able to donate or share our GoFundMe, our family would be incredibly grateful.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-shelby-kelly-during-foxxs-fight-against-cancer
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Thank you to Colin Harms and our title sponsor, Hypervac Technologies, for your steadfast support of The Business Development Podcast. We are also grateful to Hyperfab for helping us continue to bring these conversations to listeners.
Hypervac Technologies builds professional duct cleaning equipment, including duct trucks, portable vacuums and tools for contractors in the field.
Hyperfab provides custom fabrication and specialized solutions for industrial applications.
https://hyperfab.ca/
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