Should I Scale It up or Burn It Down?: What to Do When You’ve Reached a Crossroads Between Capacity and Growth
“Then the Lord will guide you always and satisfy your thirst in parched places, will give strength to your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never fail” (Isaiah 58:11).
You’ve built something beautiful. You’ve dreamed big, served deeply, and poured yourself out for a mission that matters.
But now you’re at a crossroads. The old way of doing things—pushing through, holding it all together, figuring it out as you go—isn’t working anymore.
Perhaps you’re recognizing heart and scrappy hustle have hit their limits. You’ve outgrown the stage of throwing spaghetti at the wall, and something has actually stuck. And now with success comes more weight. Let alone, the deeper fears.
Your work is making a difference and changing lives, but you’re in the messy middle between it’s working…and it’s no longer sustainable.
It’s the silent tension many leaders face: Should I scale it up? Or burn it all down?
This is what we call a Pivotal Growth Point. And if you’re here, you’re not alone.
You’re Not the Problem—You’re Just at Capacity
You might be doing “well” on paper.
You have (at least semi-consistent) revenue, people who believe in your work, and a mission you know God wants you to carry forward.
And yet... you’re maxed.
You're wearing too many hats.
You're constantly reacting instead of leading.
You have more ideas than time to act on them.
You wonder how something that’s bearing so much fruit could feel this heavy.
Maybe you’ve thought: I just need to get organized. I need a better system. I need to hire someone. I need someone to just do the marketing for me. I need more stability. I need a break.
Maybe you’ve even started asking: Can I actually sustain this? Is it supposed to feel this hard?
When You Can’t Keep Going Like This
Recently, I had a conversation with a woman running a business on top of her full-time job. She had a number of contractors, steady income, and from the outside, things were working.
But she admitted, “I’m totally maxed out. It’s getting to the point where I either need to scale back, get help... or give up.”
She listed the dozens of admin tasks she was juggling—and the creative work that lit her up, and things she wanted to do more of but that never seemed to make it to the top of the list.
She wasn’t looking for a silver bullet. She was asking the deeper question so many of us eventually face: “Can I keep going like this?”
She knew she needed help, stat. She was asking, “Should I hire a VA, or someone else?” She was somewhere between “I know I need help,” and confused about what kind of help she needed–or if she could even afford it.
This is the Pivotal Growth Point.
It’s a common tension; yet too often, it’s misunderstood. It gets misdiagnosed as burnout, disorganization, or just poor time management. But that’s not it.
You’re not broken. You’re not behind. It’s not a failure–it’s a signal the business structure itself needs to evolve to catch up to the vision. You’re just outgrowing a way of working that was never meant to last forever.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Most of us were handed a model of leadership shaped by an industrial, factory paradigm of hustle, productivity and pressure:
Busyness equals worth.
Productivity equals progress.
Urgency equals pressure to always be “on.”
If it’s hard, just push harder.
But that model is crumbling.
Especially for women. Especially for mothers. Especially for mission-driven founders who don’t want to compromise their faith, well-being (or sanity!) to do their life’s work and change the world.
What got you here isn’t going to cut it in the next stage. To scale or sustain what you’ve built requires a different way of working—one that begins with how you’re holding it all.
What to Lean Into Instead: The Paradigm Shift
To grow from here without losing yourself, what you need isn’t more hustle or another hack. We want to instead invite you toward a regenerative foundation with 3 key shifts:
1. Simplicity and Streamlining
Complexity is choking your growth. It’s time to prune. Clarity creates capacity. When we look for the root of the bottlenecks, we break through the walls much faster. What you say no to matters just as much as what you build.
2. Sustainable Systems and Rhythms
You don’t need more to-dos. You need rhythms of planning, implementation, and review that actually match your season and capacity. That give you solid visibility to empower clear, grounded decision-making. Systems that hold you (not the other way around).
3. Supportive Structure
Structure is not the enemy of freedom. It’s what allows you to lead, delegate, feel supported by your team, and scale from a place of peace. When it’s built around your real needs, it stops being pressure—and becomes protection from everything resting on your shoulders. You’re not meant to hold this together with sheer grit, hanging by a thread and a prayer.
When the Spark Is Still There—But Dimmed
A few weeks ago, we met with a Catholic woman who has been leading her apostolate nearly solo for over 20 years. The impact she’s had is incredible. Her love for the mission is deep.
But underneath it all? She’s tired. She’s overloaded. And while she still feels the spark, it’s dimmed by decision fatigue, exhaustion, and the weight of holding it all herself.
Not every woman at a pivotal growth point is in a high-growth business with a team and traction. Sometimes it’s quieter, with less momentum, and you’re feeling it in a different way.
She had worked with a business coach before. But what she walked away with was just more ideas and a longer to-do list. It didn’t address what she actually needed:
A structurally sustainable way to carry the mission forward
Financial clarity to discern support wisely
Breathing room to reconnect with her role and vision
She didn’t need a bigger plan. She needed space; and a container that could hold her, too.
This is what is meant by a people-first approach to business and leadership – where personhood matters first.
Outgrowing the Old Container: What Discomfort Is Really Telling You
Think of it like this: When a plant starts to outgrow its pot, the roots get crowded, the soil tightens, and the whole container begins to feel strained.
But that doesn’t mean the plant is failing. It means it’s growing. It needs a different container—one that can actually hold the growth that’s already happening and make space for what’s coming next.
In the same way, your business, your leadership, your mission—it may be outgrowing its current structure.
If things feel scattered… if the seams are straining… if you feel like you're holding everything together with sheer willpower—it’s not a sign that you’re doing it wrong. It may just be a signal that it’s time to pause. To zoom out. To let the structure catch up to the growth.
At this crossroads, you have two choices: You can keep muscling through, layering on more effort over a shaky foundation. Or, you can pause. Step back. And consider: “What needs to shift in how I’m operating so I can move forward in a way that’s life-giving—for me, for my team, and for the mission?”
Because your calling is not meant to be in constant conflict with your well-being.
You Don’t Need to Burn It All Down
It might not be time to scale back or burn it down. But it is time to build something that can sustain both you and the mission entrusted to you. And that starts with:
Pausing long enough to see what’s not working
Reconnecting with the spark that started it all
Asking how this business is meant to support your life
And building rhythms, structure, and support that breathe life back into the work and you
There is another way forward—and it doesn’t require burning it all down.
And no, you don’t have to carry it alone.
Megan Gephart is a Certified Director of Operations, professionally trained Mindset Coach, and Army Veteran who brings 11+ years of leadership in the military, public relations, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit sectors. Passionate about organizational change, she specializes in strategic planning, operations, leadership development and team growth as the Co-founder and Operational Strategist with Apostolic Fruit. Megan is a wife and mother of three energetic boys.
Anna Saucier is an Embodied Leadership Coach and Sustainable Business Consultant, Certified Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Practitioner, and Certified Mindset Coach. As CEO and Co-founder of Apostolic Fruit, she leads a team that mentors leaders, organizations, and entrepreneurs in creating practical, root-level foundations for thriving and profitable fruit that lasts. Anna is a mama of two, minimalist, and lover of both bustling cities and silent stillness. She and her family live semi-nomadically around the world.