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From Burnout to Clarity: Leading with Work-Life Harmony with Clara Capano · Better Together

• Shawn Sundsvold: Welcome back to the Better Together Podcast. I am Sean Sunsvold, along with Kelly Sunsvold, my co-host and partner in business and in life. Today our guest is Clara Capano. She's an international speaker, best-selling author, award-winning educator, and host of the podcast Clarity in Action. Clara is also the creator of Clarity, her signature framework for building clarity in leadership, culture, and performance. She's built a career helping teams and leaders cut through noise and perform at a higher level. But every founder has a story behind where they are today. Behind all those credentials is a woman who's been honest about sitting on her bathroom floor in tears, completely burned out, and convinced she wasn't doing enough despite a calendar where every second of the day was filled. Today we'll talk through that story and how she got to where she is today. What she's learned from being a single mom and why the idea of work life balance is really a myth we're all told to believe. So Clara, thank you for being here. Welcome to the show. Clara Capano: Thank you so much. What an honor to be here with both of you. I'm so excited for this. Thank you. Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah, we're really excited about this conversation because there's so many things, as we were just mentioning in the intro, that y you and I had a lot of alignment on and I think it's gonna be make it really fun as we share that with our audience. So for people who are just meeting you in our audience, give us the short version of what you're doing now and what your clarity framework actually does help people do. Clara Capano: Awesome. So I am a speaker, professional speaker. And my whole goal is to work with leaders so that they can build high-performing and healthy cultures. You know, we're taught, we're told about you got to do the grind, you gotta, you know, put in all the hours. And I actually find that when we as leaders invest in our people and take care of our people, that's how we create. A high performance culture and do it in the right way. So for clarity, you know, I joke about it, my name is Clara, and that's how it was born. And so I just talk about, you know, the C is having that clear vision. The L is learning how to leverage your time and lead yourself. The first A is all about getting clear on the right actions. It's not about doing everything, it's about knowing what you need to be doing in your role. Then, as much as we need to take action, we've got to remember the R, which is all about rest and recovery, because we can't serve others when we are depleted. Then the other A is all about articulating your value. The reality is people are attracted to value. And in sales, because everybody's in sales, money flows to value. So it's got to be very clear that we know the value we bring to the table and more importantly, how it connects with our clients. And we have to remember as leaders, our team. Is our client. So how are we bringing value to the people that we serve? And then we have to start looking at the tracking and measuring, that fun little accountability that nobody likes, but we need to have so we know if things are actually working. And then the why for yes, it's time to celebrate because we don't want to wait until we just get to the big goal. We got to be celebrating and recognizing all the effort we're putting in and the wins along the way. Kelly Sundsvold: Yeah, I I love that. I love how you just as a branding marketing company, I love how you branded your name and really leveraged your just what your parents thought of you when you were born and use that branding Clara Capano: Y ye yeah. Kelly Sundsvold: to your advantage. when I was first looking at the notes here of you and I was like I saw clarity and I was like, yes, yes. Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. So I can't take full credit. I actually hated my name growing up because I grew up in the 80s and there was nothing personalized. So I I fought it for a long time. And then it was one of my clients and they would always call me and be like, So can I get some clarification from you? And I'm like, And then all of a sudden I'm like, brilliant. That's so yes. Kelly Sundsvold: Yeah. I think you did. I think that was a really great, a really great move. So one of the things that you just mentioned, you were talking about how the reality of work-life balance is really a myth. we also have had a Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: lot of conversations about around that too. So dive into that a little bit more about where you're coming from on that. Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So balance is momentary. Think of a teeter-totter. It's up and it's down. It's not balanced for more than a second. That's not how it works. We can't have balance. There's some going to be some days that require you to lean more into your personal life and your family. And there's going to be times where you lean more into work. Those are the seasons. And also in business, there's going to be seasons where you need to hustle a bit more, and there's going to be seasons where you can pull back a little bit. So I like to use the terminology of work-life harmony or work-life alignment. Are you living in alignment? And I'll give you an example of what I mean. So my son is now 21, but when he was younger, when I created all of this, I was a single mom. So when we would sit down in the evenings, I would sit down with Nicholas, he would have his homework and he would be doing his homework. I was sitting right next to him doing my homework. So we were still together. Doing our own work. That's harmony. It's not, I'm gonna do it after he goes to bed and stay up until two o'clock in the morning. How can we find a way to bring it together? Now, when I'm on the road, I'm on the road, you know, 40 some odd weeks out of the year. I do a lot of my check-in calls with people. These are more of my connection calls. I can do them at the airport, you know. I can do a lot of work that I do on the plane. That's harmony. So it's finding these moments to not have to choose one or the other, but how can we make it all work together? Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah, I I love the idea of c bringing it together because they're they're not compartmentalized, right? Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Shawn Sundsvold: our work life affects our home life, our home life affects our work life. If something happens with our kids, you know, it affects us on our work day. And so, Clara Capano: Mm. Absolutely. Shawn Sundsvold: you know, and y and you're just under you kind of built that understanding of working and parenting, they What was the big takeaway for you in that in of in that moment? Clara Capano: I'm just gonna be honest, I made a lot more money and I had a lot better relationships because when I was doing it the other way, the idea that you need to be overly available and always available, when you try to live that way, you actually are not available. I was showing up, but I was not present. I was not really focused on the needs of my family. I was not focused on the needs of my client because I was moving through so quickly. It was that illusion of the spinning plates. And you're always so focused on, not having them stop, but eventually it's all gonna fall. And that's exactly what was happening is it was starting to fall apart. I was being very reactive in my business. My business was running me. And honestly, I heard it from my clients. My clients' feedback were you always sound so busy. We always feel like we're interrupting you. You know, it's it's not a great way to live or to serve. And so when I started doing this, I started to attract the right clients. Who understood and I could give back to them the same thing. And I just started understanding, even for the people that I work with, it wasn't about being there a hundred percent. It was about being there 100% when you were there. And so I really just saw a huge shift in being more purposeful, more prepared, more intentional. And the right business came to me. And a great example of this is I switched. Careers and I started working with a team. And one of the days I showed up and I had to bring my son with me to the office that I was working at. Now, in the previous career, that was a no-go. It was frowned against, it was complained about, but it it was a necessity that I had to do that day. And so I set him up to watch a movie and all of that. And I went to this company and I said, you know, to the leader, I said, I'm so sorry. And they're like, no, that's okay. we get it. And you just start to to find your tribe, you're to find the right people. And everything started to expand from there. Kelly Sundsvold: you've been really honest about that breaking point. talked Clara Capano: nice. Kelly Sundsvold: about it on the intro call. you're sitting on the bathroom floor, like I can just imagine it. You're sitting on the bathroom floor, tears and completely you have a completely full calendar. you're you're busy every minute, and just really Clara Capano: Yes. Kelly Sundsvold: you had that realization that this is enough and you went into that story. Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: But putting less on your calendar as a small business owner seems counterintuitive for someone who as driven as you are. And entrepreneurs, I mean, we're making this stuff as we go up, you know, as we go sometimes. Clara Capano: Yeah. Kelly Sundsvold: And so it seems a little counterintuitive putting less on your calendar. What was actually the hardest about doing less. Clara Capano: So in and again, it's one of those misnomers. I I still do a lot. essentially I run four different companies. It's about being clear on what you are putting on your calendar. And so when I talk about less, it was less of the wrong things. So learning how to delegate, you know, and understanding as the CEO of my company, what is my role? What do I really need to do? And learning that when I say yes to something, I also have to say no to something. So just starting to understand that. So some of the things that I had to learn to delegate off were a lot of my admin tasks, as simple as bill paint. Set up automatic bill paint rather than, you know, doing it on your own in the moment. There's so many little things. A big one, I brought in a house cleaner because that freed me up a few hours so that I could invest that time back into my business or back into time with my son. You know, one of the things I made room for was self-care because. When I am full, I can give better. So I I think it's not a matter of always less. It's about really gaining the clarity on what needs to be on there and what doesn't need to be on there. Sometimes less was working with less people, less of the wrong people, and you know, really making space for the right people. Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah, I think you you mentioned something there if of clarity on prioritization prioritizing tasks and delegation of tasks, right? Why why do you think that's so hard for business owners? Clara Capano: I think it's really hard, especially for small business owners and entrepreneurs, because it's our baby. And we have in our mind nobody can do it as good as us. Nobody's gonna understand it as good or as much as us. And then the reality is when you're starting, you don't have the money to pay someone else to do it. So you have to really start to look at these items and just starting to see. what you can do. So if you're just starting out, are there free resources? Maybe you can get an intern to help you with it. Maybe you can find somebody at a lower rate. One of the things that I really take advantage of are virtual assistants. I can find people that are in Africa or in the Philippines. They do great work and it's less expensive. So are there ways that you can work around it? Then you have to understand it's also about what are you best at? I am really good at content ideas. I am really good at delivering information. One thing I am not great at is spelling. If I do PowerPoint presentations, they are going to have misspelled words. So I can delegate that out to someone who is really good at that. You know, I'm not a great marketing person as far as how it Aesthetically looks. I have great ideas, but giving it to somebody that can take the idea, that is a better use of my time. So again, just really starting to get clear. I always tell people you've got to start thinking like the CEO of your business. What would the CEO be doing? What is your role? And so I encourage people, start with writing your job description. What is your job description as the CEO of your company? That's what you need to be focusing most of your time on. And it's about investing. Being, we have this term solopreneur. There is no solopreneur. Nobody can achieve anything on their own. So you got to work on getting your team together and starting to do that. And start small. Again, the first thing that I did, I mentioned getting the house cleaner. I still did almost everything in my business because I had to at that point in time. But by getting a house cleaner, even spending $50 a week, I could then take that time. It was about two to three hours, but I could reinvest that two to three hours. In growing my business. So doing that for six months, then I could hire the next person. Then I could hire the next person. And it's just, it's an evolution. Kelly Sundsvold: Yeah, I I absolutely love that. That's something that we've really tried to adopt as well. I love cleaning my house. and I've always, you know, when I've gone to my mentors or, you know, gone to leader or gone to conferences, they're always like, get someone to clean your house. And I'm like, but actually that's a stress relief for me. But I found out something that wasn't that was, and I think it's really important to find those things that actually you may get stress relief from, but things Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: that aren't. And the thing That was really stressing me out was grocery shopping. And I'm like, you know what? We're gonna do Instacart or DoorDash or whatever. you Clara Capano: Exactly. Kelly Sundsvold: know, something along those lines because that's gonna Clara Capano: Yeah. Kelly Sundsvold: take the stress off. And I think as you know, solopreneurs, we really I think you nailed it. I mean, we're not alone. We are we are better together, for lack of a better word. and you really figured out how to The word is you know, make make a point of it that you're able to hire based on those needs to give you more time. And then then you look around, go, who else can I hire? you know, and one of the things that we figured out in our business that we could build something better together versus separately. You know, we've chosen, you know, we're married, Clara Capano: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: but we all have people that we work with that are better to Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: that make us better together. So beh Clara Capano: Absolutely. Kelly Sundsvold: Besides your housekeeper and your offshore help, which I also we use offshore help, love the people that we work with. Who has been Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: a person for you? Like a mentor, a coach, who has helped you helps made help has helped made you a better person and a leader. Clara Capano: Absolutely. So a coach, I highly encourage everyone to get some sort of coach. And again, depending on where you are, it could be more of an accountability partner that you work together. So it's inexpensive or free. But when you invest in a coach or a mentor, it changes the game. So even though I am a coach, I have coaches. And like right now, I have more of an executive level coach that is helping me more with strategy. So that when I have decisions. I can run it past them. I'll tell you, this is a great idea, and this is something I just learned from another speaker. Brilliant, costs no money, and it has helped me so much. I use AI and I have created my executive board. So I have identified about five people that I look to. These would be people like Simon Sinek, Mel Robbins, Robin Sharma, Patrick Lencioni, ones that I would go to. Clearly, I don't know these people and I don't have the ability to go and talk to them every week. But whenever I have an idea and I say, hey, I'm looking at putting together a class, what would they say? And I go to my executive board on AI and they give me feedback. So that's a great way as a starting point if you don't have the money to invest. But that investment that I pay, and I pay upwards of $20,000 a year for my executive level coaches, but it comes back to me. And so I highly encourage people to have that. The other thing is starting to think about if this is the business I want to create. So I'll use Mel Robbins as an example. I tell people, I want to be Mel Robbins when I grow up, even though we might be the same age. But you know, she's doing things that I want to do. So I ask myself, how would Mel approach this? What would Mel, you know, what are the habits, the disciplines, the skill sets of becoming that person? So using that as a compass, using it as a way and as a checkpoint. of am I acting as if the I am the person I want to become? So create the vision. Who is it you need to become and start living that way? Start walking in that path each and every day. Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah, and I I I think it ties back to something I wanna ask you in that, when when you decided to make this transition, right, and you just said earlier, you have four businesses, right, that you're running. talk about that transition of going of just getting started and really feeling comfortable enough with the one business that you could then start the second one. What was that that kind of initial road like? Clara Capano: God, complete insanity. I just always have been an overachiever. in college, I graduated with two degrees. I have like three other degrees. I mean, I'm just I've always been that person that always has things going in. I will tell you, the biggest shift for me was during COVID and during the pandemic. That was actually a real gift to me because taking myself off the road, even though it wasn't planned, that gave me the time to really lean into doing some of the other things that I want to do. So the thing that helps me most is every Sunday I have a CEO meeting with myself. So I sit down for about 30 to 45 minutes and that's when I look over everything. And I what I do is I say, okay, what am I doing for this business this week? What am I doing for this business each week? So that every week I have a game plan so that I'm always touching every business and doing something. But I think being able to have the time to kind of set back and do a reset was really good. But you have to be honest, you know. Do I have the time to really do this? So my speaking is really my primary one. My podcast is more of a side hustle. it's it's not as big. I don't put as much time and effort into that one. It's more of a passion project. But my books, my writing, that's one of my businesses. So I do a little bit of writing every week. So, you know, it's just sort of being honest with yourself about how much of a business is it going to be? Is it going to be a moneymaker business? Is it going to be more of a passion project? And then looking at those. And again, even though it's four different ones, they all feed in together. And we're all still talking about clarity and all. Kelly Sundsvold: It's interesting you bring up your book. That was my very next question we were gonna talk about. So Clara Capano: Yeah. Kelly Sundsvold: your first book you wrote in 2017. so if you Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: do the math, your 21 year old was middle school. you were a busy mom. So it was a compilation Clara Capano: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: of your own blog writing. What made you Clara Capano: Yeah. Kelly Sundsvold: decide that was worth putting in a book? Clara Capano: So I'm a writer at heart. I love writing. I've always loved writing. I remember I would say my very first book I wrote was in sixth grade. And it's just always been what I love to do more than anything. So I started writing a blog. And then I just made the decision because everybody seemed to really like them. And I said, hey, why not start there? It was a good way to create a calling card. So I had a giveaway, a takeaway when I would speak, and it gave me a little bit more credibility to be a published author. So that was an easy way to put it together. It's still one of my my favorite works. I love it so much. And so the idea is you read the entry and then you write. As to how you're going to implement that thought process for the week. So it's find your focus, 52 weeks of clarity. So the idea is you do it, and then every week you put it, you know, put it into play so you can use it as a guide for an entire year. Then my second one came out in 2020. That came out during COVID, and it was one of the very first compilation books. They're very popular right now, and I love them. So it's me and 15 other women sharing our story of entrepreneurship and how we did that. And then my third book, which is the My Gift on My Story of Being a Working Mom. It's called The Mother of All Success Manuals. And it's all about how to let go the guilt and the shame and again find that work-life harmony. So that one really has been fantastic. And now I am working on my fourth book. My new framework is what I call CQ, which is the clarity quotient. So you have your IQ, your EQ, and now we're gonna have CQ because without clarity, you can't go forward to anything. So that one hopefully will be coming out next year. Shawn Sundsvold: That's so awesome to just to take that skill you love so much and be able to share it with the world and to have it provide something for you too, I think is is Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Shawn Sundsvold: really amazing. and it leads, it really talks about the the abil the ability of what entrepreneurship can do for a person, right? and I'm curious, how has being an entrepreneur changed your life? Clara Capano: My God, so good. And I never thought I would. I went growing up, I wanted to have the stable career. I thought I was gonna go into law, I was gonna have the big office on the 42nd floor, all of those things. Being an entrepreneur has been so beautiful and so freeing because I get to take my creativity, I get to call the shots, and I'll tell you, I have way more job security being an entrepreneur because I will bet on myself. all day long. And I can really do the work that feeds my heart and feeds my soul. It also again gave me the creativity. Now being that I'm going to be 55 in a couple of weeks, you know, I I learn how I work. You know, I work for a couple hours, then I like to take a couple hours off and then I can come back and work. So instead of working for 10 or 12 hours, I could do four or five hours a day. So I have the ability to really create the life that I've always dreamed of. I can do most of what I do from wherever and I can be more present where I want to be present. So it's, it's really given me everything I ever thought of that I never thought I could have. Kelly Sundsvold: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I it's a hard path, but and it's not for everyone, but Clara Capano: Mm-mm. Kelly Sundsvold: it definitely does I resonate with what you're s what you're sharing. your message leans really hard on like it's never too late. Repositioning, rebuilding, switching careers. What Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Kelly Sundsvold: do you say to someone who's convinced they've simply just waited too long? Clara Capano: So, one of my very favorite quotes is the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today. And we can always look backwards. I should have, I could have, but you didn't. Doesn't matter. For whatever reason, you didn't. Maybe you couldn't because of your life circumstances. But why not now? And especially with the age of technology, we there's so many opportunities. And for me, Even if I only do something and I do it for two years, I want to do it. I want to say that I did it. You know, my son right now, I mentioned is 21. He's a little entrepreneur. He's on the cusp of doing some things. And I'm like, you know what? Now do it. This is when you're supposed to take chances and take risks. And I would rather on that last breath of my days, I would rather say, I tried, I failed, but I tried and I did it. And, you know, leave that legacy. So every day is a gift. Make it. Make it count for everything that you do. And I just say go for it because who knows? You don't know how much longer you have. You might have 50 more years. You might have 10. You might have one. Who knows? So go for it. Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah. And that that n idea of not knowing what tomorrow, or that y whether or not you have tomorrow. you know, I Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Shawn Sundsvold: went through a back surgery seven and a half years ago that I wasn't sure if I was gonna make it out of, much less Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Shawn Sundsvold: walk again, right? And so it really does change your outlook. on life Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Shawn Sundsvold: and and how you do things. and just that that outlook that you have. I'm curious now that you know mentioned your son and he's kind of doing that entrepreneurship thing. when he looks at the life that you guys have had together the last ten years, what does he think about all that and and you know and and where guys are at? Clara Capano: So he loves it. So as most Gen Z, he's, pretty convinced he's gonna make a million dollars in his first year. And it's it's so cool. I would say, you know, it's it's really nice because he doesn't have the fear that I had when I was his age of, you know, I think I got so caught up in the how, how is this all gonna work? And I just see him saying, like, no, it's just gonna work. And I'm kind of like, Okay. Go for it. It's like, so I have found it. So I was talking with his father the other day because obviously we're concerned. We, but I'm like, you know what? Someone's gonna make it work. Why not him? And I think that me being an entrepreneur has really shown him go out and go for it and go for your dreams. And he was someone who he wasn't academic in the way that I was academic. And he was lost. And it's like to see him now have his passion. He is so disciplined. He, is up. He is doing all the things. And I'm so proud of him. And I just, I'm really grateful because if I didn't have this, I think he would have been stuck in a life that never was fulfilling for him. And I don't think I would have been able to show him. So I I'm very proud of the legacy and of a different way of him seeing it. And I think if I wasn't an entrepreneur, I wouldn't have been able to show him the path and to give him. The belief in himself that a lot of young people don't have. Kelly Sundsvold: Yeah, I I absolutely love that. and what a great time in a life to try, fail, be successful, learn. I mean, 21 is a really rich age to try all that. Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kelly Sundsvold: so kudos to him. and yeah, I mean, yeah, definitely should do that. That's awesome. what's the biggest message you hope to get across to audiences you're speaking to right now? Clara Capano: Yeah. So, you know, it's a couple of different things. Obviously the clarity. And the reason I say that, you know, is and the reason I lean so much into this is we have to understand that if we if we are confused, if we are afraid, we're going to hold back. And that's why clarity is so important. And really being able to sit down and get clear on your vision. Again, don't worry about the how yet. What is the life you want to live? What does success look like to you? Because success to me is going to be different from you, Kelly, and different from you, Sean. Even though you're married, it's still different. So getting clear on that and then putting that into, okay, now that I'm clear on who I need to become, what are the actions? You know, what are what is my role? Understanding all of those things, then how to communicate. So I think that is a big thing that I'm talking about is you got to own it. You got to get clear for yourself. It's not your parents' goals, it's not your boss's goals, it's not anybody else's. You got to get clear on what it means for yourself. And then I think pairing that with, you got to do the work. You know, it's not just gonna magically happen. I joke around, I was talking with a group of realtors the other day, and they were joking because they're like, you know, so many of us became entrepreneurs because we wanted to have something where we don't have a boss. And a lot of us fail because we don't have a boss. And I think, you know, the message that small business owners, entrepreneurs, people need to understand is. You still got to have a boss, even if that's you. You have Shawn Sundsvold: Uh-huh. Clara Capano: to get up and you have to do the work. So get clarity first and then do the work that needs to happen. Because you can't just sit back and be passive. You've got to be actively engaged and you have got to be willing to put in the investment of your time, your energy, and focus. And if you're not willing to do the work, you're not going to have the results. Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah, that discipline aspect of once you create that clarity, you've gotta have the discipline to then follow it through. And I I've for our audience listening, I think that is probably the biggest nugget of information to Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Shawn Sundsvold: leave you with today is have the dream and then have the discipline to follow up on those things. and Clara Capano: Mm. Yeah. Shawn Sundsvold: you'll s and you'll see your dreams come true, right? Clara Capano: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it motivates me. When I see it happening, it motivates me more. And please understand, not every day is easy. Not every day I want to wake up and go and slay the dragons. But knowing my why, knowing my reason, it becomes more of an obligation, more of a calling that gets that fire in my belly going back. But none of this happened by accident. It happened by showing up each and every day and putting in the work. I'm at a stage now where I can focus more on the legacy. I do have more flexibility than I had 10 years ago. But you know what? You gotta plant the seeds and you've gotta be willing to do it. Shawn Sundsvold: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Clara, thank you so much for being a a guest of ours today. For people who may be interested in having you come and maybe speak to them or work with you as i in from a coaching aspect, how can people get in contact with you? Clara Capano: Yes. And I would love that. I love to help people and just be able to, you know, go from where they are and start living that dream. So please reach out to me. The best place is go to my website, which is just ClaraCapano.com. And then on the socials, I'm very active on all the socials, but the two primary ones are LinkedIn and Instagram. But reach out, we can have a conversation, always open for a free clarity call and just be a resource that I can be for you. Shawn Sundsvold: Awesome. Thank you. And we'll make sure to have all that in the show notes as well. So people can just click and follow you and and do all the things that they do on on the web. So again, thank you for your time and being our guest today and we look forward to talking to you again in the future. Clara Capano: Thank you, and thank you for what you're doing to share these messages so that everybody can be stronger. A lot of credit goes to you and I appreciate what you're doing. Shawn Sundsvold: Thanks. Kelly Sundsvold: Thank you.