The bots don't need a break. You do

When I sold PodReacher, my content marketing agency, I was burned out.

Not because the business was chaotic — by the time I listed it with a broker, it was running smoothly. Our processes worked, clients were happy, and the team was excellent.

So why the burnout? Two things.

First, I hadn’t made the space to recover from the pace of the first 2-3 years. Second, my role shifted. I went from building the thing to managing the people and processes around the thing. That meant addressing new, unpredictable challenges almost daily — not the kind of problem-solving I thrive on, but the kind that felt draining before I’d even open my laptop.

Now, almost two years after completing the sale, I love noticing the ways I've come back from that place of weariness. A few examples:

Selling my business didn't mean I could take an extended pause from work, but it gave me room to slow down, move at a different pace, and take on contract opportunities and fractional roles that felt interesting.

My experience certainly isn’t unique. And over the last few months, I’ve noticed more and more people who are adjusting their work pace, building in deliberate breaks or taking an extended pause.

In this issue, I'm exploring how people are stepping back to replenish and recharge — after all, having the energy to actually show up for people is the thing that sets you apart.

A quick note on format: this issue is a more in-depth read than last week's. I'm experimenting with different formats for Small Batch — some issues will spend more time on a single theme like this one, others will follow the interview-and-links format from the previous issue. Have a preference or other feedback? Just hit reply.

See you in the next issue!

— Jacci

P.S. I have availability for select marketing and communications projects. Details on how we can work together are at the end of this newsletter ⬇️

Connection takes energy; real attention takes energy. And right now, a lot of people don't have it. In short: Exhaustion is trending and it isn’t sustainable.

Nearly half of all workers report feeling burned out, according to 2025 data, and search patterns back it up: Semrush found that searches for "toxic workplaces" jumped nearly 500% in 2024, while "how to quit a job" averaged over 10,000 monthly U.S. searches.

But people aren't just looking to leave — they're looking for a different structure. Gusto's analysis of 300,000+ small and mid-sized businesses shows a substantial increase in workers taking sabbaticals since 2019, with younger millennials leading the trend. A 2025 HSBC study of more than 10,000 affluent adults found that 37% of U.S. respondents now plan to take at least one mini-retirement — and 87% of people who've already done it say it improved their quality of life. On LinkedIn, #miniretirement posts are becoming their own genre: professionals publicly announcing self-funded sabbaticals, sharing "gig-break-gig" rhythms, and documenting what it actually looks like to step away and come back.

There’s a hunger for alternatives — and the shift toward self-employment makes this even more urgent. Just this week, a Wall Street Journal piece noted that new-business applications hit 532,319 in January, up nearly 37% from a year earlier, while the number of people identifying as founders on LinkedIn jumped 69%. More people working for themselves also means fewer built-in breaks. There’s no paid time off and no traditional structures that force you to step away.

That's why intentional breaks like planned sabbaticals or even just rethinking your calendar rhythm are becoming non-negotiable — whether you have a rare employer who builds it in for you or you're on your own to figure it out. More people are building rest into their routines, a trend that I think is only going to accelerate. Here are a few variations in practice.

Sean McCabe, founder of the digital media agency seanwes, is widely credited with popularizing the “7th week sabbatical” model: work six weeks, take the seventh completely off. Coach and consultant Dr. Tamara Yakaboski, who follows a similar rhythm, frames it through the lens of "fallow fields" — the agricultural practice of leaving land unplanted so the soil can regenerate. The point is to let the mental soil replenish so the next cycle of work is actually fertile.

The concept isn't new — Bill Gates took solo "Think Weeks" for decades, retreating to a cabin to read and reflect away from Microsoft's daily demands. But it’s not just for billionaires.

Pat Walls, founder of Starter Story, was stretched across multiple side projects and two businesses when burnout hit. He decided to do a cross-country drive for a week with no agenda. No social media, no email. Just space that ultimately gave him clarity. He realized Starter Story was the business worth his full attention. He sold his other venture and went all in. Within a month, revenue doubled. Years later, the three-person company was acquired by HubSpot.

Amanda Jackson, who was part of the PodReacher team when I ran it, has taken part of the summer off for several years running. It's not effortless — it takes planning, a busier sprint beforehand, and the discipline to actually unplug. But she's built the rhythm into how she operates, and she's gotten better at managing the transition each year. I love that Amanda prioritizes and makes it happen — and I’ll admit, I’m a little jealous, too!

Sam Vander Wielen, a former lawyer turned online entrepreneur, declared 2026 her "entrepreneurial gap year" after a big 2025 — a book release (When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy), a growing podcast, major speaking invitations, and a wave of new visibility for her business. By any measure, things were going well. But at the end of last year, she had no major initiatives planned for 2026. The year looked almost empty and she decided to lean into it.

Michelle Varghese took a different path. After a career in tech sales, she left the workforce for what she expected to be a temporary sabbatical — and never went back to traditional employment. Instead, she's built a life that alternates between periods of consulting work and extended time off, proving that the gap year doesn't have to be a one-time event. It can become a rhythm.

Tim Ferriss popularized the idea of mini-retirements in The 4-Hour Workweek — the basic premise being that instead of saving all your rest for the end of your career, you redistribute it throughout your working years in extended breaks of one to six months. When Tim wrote about it, the emphasis was on lifestyle design: relocate somewhere exciting, learn a new skill, live differently for a while.

The concept has evolved. These days, the people practicing mini-retirements aren't necessarily chasing adventure. In some cases, they're using them as career sustainability tools.

Jillian Johnsrud has taken over a dozen mini-retirements while raising six (!) kids. Her book Retire Often lays out a framework for taking 1-3 month breaks every few years by planning for them the way you'd plan for any other financial priority. Her argument is that these breaks don't set your career back. They actually prevent the plateau that comes with years of uninterrupted output.

Paul Millerd, author of The Pathless Path, comes at it from the consultant and solopreneur angle. He advocates for intermittent sabbaticals — and has published a guide for how to do it. He's lived in Taipei, Mexico City, and elsewhere during these stretches, testing whether his current business model still fits the life he actually wants. Paul actually just finished up a “mini-sabbatical” he started in mid-January. His approach to this break was inspired partly by Jonathan Goodman's "8:4" framework — eight months on-season, four months off.

The best relationships in your career — the ones that lead to real opportunities — require you to show up with energy, curiosity, and attention. Obviously, that’s hard to do when you're depleted.

Even if you're not personally thinking about a career pause, consider this: a lot of people around you are. When 37% of affluent professionals are planning a mini-retirement and sabbatical uptake is climbing across age groups, the break has become a market of its own. People navigating career breaks need guidance on finances, reentry, skill-building, health, travel, and identity during the in-between. If you're a service provider of any kind, it's worth asking: who in your network is about to take one of these breaks — and what do they need to do it well?

⭐I'm a strategic marketing communications consultant. My non-linear career path has taught me to see opportunities others miss and approach problems from unexpected angles. I bring 20 years across journalism, professional services, nonprofits, and tech — most recently as Head of Marketing Communications for a venture-backed company and founder of a B2B content agency I built and sold.

✅I'm taking on select projects. Email me if you're grappling with a communications challenge that needs fresh thinking.

✨Thanks for reading issue #2 of Small Batch! If you have a minute, let me know if you found it helpful.