Burnout, the Messy Middle, and Showing Up Online Without Losing Yourself: Nicole of Groovy Social

Podcast

Oct 27

Dear Creator,

How do you share the messy middle of your business online without burning out or losing credibility? In this episode of Dear Creator, I sit down with Nicole of Groovy Social to talk about her burnout story, a soft pivot toward a business that supports her life, and what she’s learned about authentic social media.

We cover how to share what you’re going through (and what to keep private), what to do when you feel like a fraud in your own field, why engagement is a two-way street, and the offline habits Nicole uses to protect her time and energy.

Nicole is a special sauce concoctor, human-centric marketer, and professional fun-haver who's been navigating entrepreneurship + the as-wonderful-as-it-is-whack online space for the last 5 years. While there's still a LOT of figuring-it-out to do, she's created an inspiring + sustainable relationship with social media, and found what lies on the other side of content that feels "too cringe" to share: opportunities, community, money... but more than that? Self-acceptance, self-trust, and self-love.

Through you-coded, feel-good content strategy, she helps founder-led brands create content that feels like an outlet (not a chore), stand out online as their whole-ass selves, and create the kind of connection + impact that lasts long after they’ve logged out.

Key Highlights

Burnout that came from tying worth to work

Nicole started her business in 2021 with zero social media experience, found clients quickly, and learned on the job while serving them. Worried she wasn’t good enough, she tried to prove her worth the only way she knew how: working 12 to 14 hours a day. She also spent a lot on coaches and courses chasing answers, which she now says she probably should have spent on therapy. The 2021-2022 “boss girl” messaging pushed her toward building an agency or becoming a coach, though she’d started her business to travel and already had that.

The work-quit-travel cycle she carried into her business

After college she tried teaching, then spent six months in a windowless office before leaving to travel. She ended up in Australia on a working holiday visa, cycling between grinding at work and quitting to travel. When she started her business, she kept the grind but lost the “quit and rest” half of the cycle, which I think explains a lot of how burnout sneaks in.

The Thailand gym moment

Nicole shared a turning point where she noticed that she had stopped taking care of herself, walked into a gym in Thailand, and cried when she realized how weak and out of shape she’d become. She couldn’t leave (her boyfriend reminded her she didn’t know how to drive their motorbike), so she got on the treadmill and walked. She says it was a pivotal moment to just do something, even if you fall off and get back on again.

What rest did for her work

Nicole didn’t take her first fully out-of-office vacation until the end of 2024, four years into her business. It changed everything. She moved toward project-based work, took time off several times this year, and says she now gets more done in less time and feels excited to work. Last summer she even went offline and took a content job at a practical joke company, thinking she might shut her business down. That job showed her the pressure she’d felt was self-made, and it re-inspired her to try again.

Fear of success and side income

Nicole was honest that she’s currently navigating a fear of success, because she equates more work with burning out again. We also talked about how having another income stream can make showing up online more authentic and less performative, because not every post has to make money. I described it as a bridge strategy between where you were and where you want to be.

How to share the messy middle (without oversharing)

This was the core of the episode. Nicole’s advice:

You’re not alone. Vulnerability is what you have in common with the people you want to reach.
Sort it out first. It’s okay to work through things behind the scenes. Hindsight is what lets you share what you learned.
Share what you’re doing about it. Relatability comes from your experience, but trust and authority come from your next step. She described the “post-ghost cycle” of showing up only to say you’re struggling, and said naming what you’re doing about it also holds you accountable.
Decide where your line is. Nicole pours a lot of herself into her brand but keeps much of her life private. She also deliberately kept her business name separate from her own name, because she’d lost herself enough.

Feeling like a fraud in your own field

We talked about the credibility worry. Being skilled at design or social media isn’t the same as being great at running a business, and everyone is still learning how to build businesses that don’t cost them their lives. Nicole’s take was to not hide the gap, show what you’re doing about it. She’s reading a social media book, not buying another course, and says she’d trust someone more if they showed how they got through a roadblock than someone who just vented.

Digital habits and boundaries

Nicole shared her practical routines:

Social media-free days. Pick one day, ideally two, and delete the apps or leave your phone behind if needed.
Sunlight before blue light. She goes outside each morning before looking at a screen.
Do something for yourself before your phone. Morning pages, meditation, a walk, or your most important task.
Create content first. Mondays are her content creation days after an offline weekend.
Log in with a purpose. She logs in once or twice a day to handle DMs and comments and post stories, and treats any scrolling as active participation.
Stop silent saving. If a post is valuable enough to save, tell the creator. Engagement is a two-way street, and what you give is what you get.
Pass on compliments. Nicole’s 2025 resolution was to stop keeping compliments to herself, offline and online.

Listen To The Full Episode of Dear Creator

These highlights only scratch the surface of this deep conversation. Tune into the full conversation on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Substack.