Jessica Zweig’s New Book Empowers Entrepreneurs To Activate Their Light After Burnout

Jessica Zweig’s new book, The Light Work, explores finding your light after burnout without compromising your boundaries. Zweig, opens up about her personal entrepreneurial story starting with her first business, a popular digital magazine for women, that failed to scale, leaving her in massive credit card debt. After taking up a corporate job for four years, which was a golden handcuff, she tried entrepreneurship again. This time it was a success hitting seven figures in revenue in less than 18 months. Growing SimplyBe Agency to a multi-seven-figure business in the five short years following, and to her own astonishment, became a best-selling author, a #1 ranking podcast host, a sought-after speaker, and an award-winning CEO.

Despite all of her success, she became burnt out and was hit with severe depression amongst other health issues. She no longer found joy or motivation in being a CEO and had to learn how to detach herself from the business while still continuing to scale it. Through her own spiritual journey, she experienced a metamorphosis allowing her to find her light and purpose. Zweig eventually scaled SimplyBe to $10 million in revenue and sold it to Hawke Media. The Light Work, which hit number 18 USA Today’s National Bestselling List, takes readers through her path from burnout to burning bright again. She teaches them how they, too, can activate their light, especially after burnout.

One of the bigger topics around entrepreneurship Zweig shares in the book is recognizing that women need to tap into their innate strengths rather than trying to operate like men, “First, it’s essential to recognize that we live in a world designed by men for men. The constant pressure to crush, succeed, compete, and win is a paradigm that doesn’t necessarily reflect how things should be. We are too focused on profits and growth, always expecting an upward trajectory, but that’s not how reality works. I’ve come to realize that our businesses, much like nature, experience cycles of growth, decline, and renewal. Embracing this understanding has relieved a lot of pressure for me as an entrepreneur. I believe that it’s essential for every entrepreneur, especially women, to recognize and accept the inevitable challenges,” she shared.

“Leading with feminine values in the workplace, such as caring, empathy, and compassion, and creating a safe and supportive environment for our teams is what makes women such exceptional leaders. At the same time, We should acknowledge that masculine traits are not inherently bad. Being a strong woman in business means knowing our value, negotiating, advocating, and thinking strategically. These qualities make us exceptional and well-rounded leaders. Lastly, given the prevalence of burnout among women, it’s crucial to establish boundaries and operate with a queen-like mentality. Just as a queen protects herself and takes care of her own needs, we must prioritize self-care and set non-negotiable boundaries to serve both ourselves and others effectively.”

As far as her advice for founders looking to scale and ultimately sell their business without burning out, Zweig emphasizes the need to turn the business into an asset and automate it as much as possible. “You need to turn your business into an asset. Many women initially start businesses based on their passion and as lifestyle businesses. However, you can’t sell your business if it’s just a lifestyle business. You must turn it into an asset that can operate effectively without you. This means implementing systems, operations, and processes that would allow someone else to run the business if you were unable to.” Zweig implemented an integrator that could provide a vision and manage the business from day-to-day processes, systems, and people while also utilizing project management tools and creating SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for everything.

“One of my mentors once said there’s a difference between a business owner and a shopkeeper. A shopkeeper has to be there daily to turn the lights on, unlock the door, service the clients, and shut it down at the end of the day. On the other hand, a business owner can fly to Fiji for a month, and their business will still be running. That’s because at the end of the day, you’re not for sale; your business is for sale.” And if you’re intrinsically dependent and the business depends on you, you can’t sell it. The second thing is you have to be in the mindset, mentally and emotionally ready to let go and unattach yourself from it being your baby, from your life, and from your staff being your family. You have to cut that energetic cord and be ready to let it go. Because the day you sell your business, it’s no longer yours and you no longer have control. It’s a big experience that people need to prepare themselves for,” she added.

Maintaining joy is another lesson Zweig shares with her readers. Learning how to prioritize joy regardless of your stress or external circumstances, “I prioritize joy. I schedule it on my calendar. I make time for play, creative activities, walks, and moments of slowness, and I give them the same level of importance as my executive meetings. They are all equally important to me and take priority. I can’t deprioritize them, and I hold myself accountable for that.

Now, Zweig is teaching entrepreneurial women to activate their light through a 12-week feminine leadership business training and certification and her “Claim Your Light” business retreats packed with brand building, marketing, leadership and scaling workshops on top of interactive spiritual experiences. As we enter a new era of entrepreneurship, Zweig helps founders shape the purpose and mission, “We need to remember why we’re doing it. It’s to make a difference, positively impact, and become the best person we can be. Leadership is like personal development on steroids, as I often say. Nothing will stretch you like being an entrepreneur. Embracing the personal development side is key. In this new era, we’re building businesses not just for our own wealth, but for the good of the world. You’ve missed the point if you’re only serving yourself and thinking about how much money you can make. That’s the old paradigm, and that’s the toxic masculine, patriarchal paradigm. We have to think about donating, tithing percentages of our profits to causes we care about, giving our teams bonuses, and giving back to our community. Not everything has to be a transaction. Everything is meant to be reciprocal and to circulate your wealth so that we’re making an impact, where everyone can thrive, not just you surviving in your new business.”

So how can founders activate their light? Zweig believes it’s crucial to focus on doing inner work. This involves spending time with yourself, connecting with your soul, engaging in deep work, seeking guidance from a therapist or healer, reading books, listening to podcasts, and dedicating time to self-discovery are all important. “Our purpose is to evolve internally while we are here on earth. It’s essential to recognize that growth isn’t just external; it’s also internal, which is the main theme of my book.”

And if there’s one thing Zweig wants readers to take away from her new book, it would be to not be afraid of hard work or the dark. “What we fear, such as failure, rejection, overwhelm, and burnout, are things to embrace as they are where we find our power. The woman reading my book is responsible for doing this work on herself. When you heal yourself, you start to heal the world. Each reader of this book is critical to the healing and evolution of humanity. Recognize how important you are and that you are here on an assignment, not just to build a business, but to activate the light within you and take responsibility for your own life. Stop playing the victim and empower yourself as the co-creator of your own reality. This is what I want people to take away.”