TheUPside Podcast

Episode: Can You Build a Big Business and a Big Life?

Host: Theresa Flood

Guest: Seychelle Van Poole

Date: February 3, 2026

Episode Overview

This value-packed episode features an in-depth conversation between host Theresa Flood and Seychelle Van Poole, a veteran leader in real estate, entrepreneur, podcast host, and co-founder of Her Best Life. The central question: Is it truly possible to build a big business and a big life at the same time? Seychelle shares her real-life journey through business highs and profound personal challenges, giving actionable insights on resilience, asking for help, redefining priorities, embracing seasons, overcoming guilt, and the wisdom of letting go of others’ opinions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Seychelle & Her Journey

• Seychelle has over 22 years in real estate, leading a team that’s sold over $1 billion in homes. She’s co-host of the Empower Building Podcast and co-founder of Her Best Life — both dedicated to helping women build substantial, joyful careers and lives.
• Theresa introduces Seychelle’s impressive resume, commenting:
  • “You are also a podcast host....you guys have over a million downloads, which is very impressive.” (01:00)

Is It Possible to Build a Big Business and a Big Life?

• Seychelle asserts it’s possible—but only with intention and effort.
  • “Only if you’re willing to work for it.” (02:13, Seychelle)
• Most people start focused on business or life, adding the other later; rarely does anyone truly pursue both in tandem from the start.
  • "Very, very few humans start out going, I'm going to build this big business and this big life at the same time, I think you start with one or the other and...figure out how one fits into the other." (02:47, Seychelle)

Hitting the Wall: The Pivotal Point

• Seychelle describes the “breakdown” moment where her business and family life both faced huge upheavals—including a team collapse, COVID-19, homeschooling a kindergartner, and her father’s health decline.
  • “We had a series of incidents back to back. Team fell apart right before COVID, then we had COVID, then had a kindergartner to homeschool, parents’ house floods...all so awesome.” (05:39, Seychelle—ironically)
• The challenge: Whether to “burn it all down” or rebuild.
• Her advice: In chaos, lean into what you know best—your strengths and core competencies.
  • “Sometimes you need to double down on what you’re really smart in.” (07:30, Seychelle)

Narrowing Focus & Redefining Success

• Seychelle’s Operating Principle: When chaos hits, focus on your core strengths, determine your available resources (energy, time, cash), and ask: Who can help?
  • “What am I really smart in right now that I can lean into when everything else is falling apart?” (07:54, Seychelle)
  • “Set the definition for what are you willing to give it—whether it’s energy, time, money and a runway.” (08:59, Seychelle)
• Tactically: Reduce to only essential work; her working hours shrunk from 12+ to just 6 a day, requiring tighter boundaries and focus.

Shortening the Overwhelm & Burnout Cycle

• Cash buffers gave her space to reflect and not just react:
  • “If you don’t have cash reserves...you have no breathing room to take a hot second for reflection.” (10:41, Seychelle)
• Practical tip: Set time for reflection and even grieving when setbacks hit, but limit it:
  • “Take a day, just like a whole mental health day if you have to. Take a week if you need it. But give yourself time to grieve and reflect and grow from that...and then get on with it.” (11:55, Seychelle)

The Role of Ego, Humility & Other People's Opinions

• The entrepreneurs share candid reflection on the challenge of ego.
• “It’s so humbling. What a gift...when you can get past it to the other side—and you have less ego and more humility, it’s more fun.” (13:14, Theresa)
• Seychelle on criticism:
  • “I truly believe opinions are like buttholes, because everyone has one.” (13:38, Seychelle)

Midlife, Hormones, and the “We Do Not Care” Club

• The freedom of aging: Caring less about others’ opinions.
  • “You see so many C-suite women hit the pinnacle of their careers between their 40s and 60s....Our cares given starts to drop about what other people think.” (14:00, Seychelle)
• “Their opinion doesn’t come home and take care of your dad...doesn’t want to be a present wife....Their opinion isn’t going to come do that.” (16:21, Seychelle)

Reframing Work, Guilt, and Choice

• Theresa shares the power of shifting from “I have to” to “I choose to.”
  • “The minute I started changing my language to ‘I choose to,’ it changed everything.” (17:07, Theresa)
• Seychelle recounts advice from a friend: Being true to how you’re wired makes you a better parent and person:
  • “I wanted to be the type of parent who was ecstatic to come home, thrilled to spend time, present and engaged in the moment.” (18:43, Seychelle)

Embracing Seasons and Change

• Life and business are made of seasons—of chaos and of calm.
  • “We’re going to have seasons of hard, we’re going to have seasons of easier, seasons of chaos, seasons of calm.” (20:00, Seychelle)
• After years of chaos, a period of peace can feel foreign—even triggering an unconscious addiction to adrenaline and “rescue mode.”
  • “When you’ve built a skill set of solving chaos for a very long time, and then there’s no chaos to solve, a lot of people go and create chaos...check yourself and ask, am I addicted to it?” (22:00, Seychelle)

Redefining Core Values

• After losing her father, Seychelle struggled with the word “responsibility.”
  • She reframed it:
    • “Now I’m responsible for my joy, my cash flow, and the experience my family gets to have—because I’ve been so responsible with everything else.” (22:59, Seychelle)

Practical Advice for Builders

• Earlier Help: “I wish I had asked for help faster...I think I could have gone exponentially faster and farther.” (24:21, Seychelle)
• Admit Failure Quicker: “I think I wanted to look good and be right and everything is fine...I wish I had kind of done that quicker, faster.” (24:55, Seychelle)
• Asking for Help is a Muscle: Practice before you’re desperate—shed the stigma, especially for women.
  • “It’s a muscle. Start practicing it while you feel like you’re good.” (25:59, Seychelle)
  • “As women, we think we, like, shrink back...no one can see me fail...Guys fail and it’s celebrated; women fail and they’re canceled.” (26:37, Seychelle)

The Power of Community, Support, and Resilience

• Success isn’t just about perseverance; it’s about how you respond to adversity and whether you rally or isolate.
  • “Your ability to get through the hard things to the other side is actually what defines how you will look in success.” (27:52, Seychelle)
• Embracing failure as an event, not identity, and being kind to yourself and others through it sets the stage for healthy growth.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Opinions:
  • “I truly believe opinions are like buttholes, because everyone has one.” — Seychelle (13:38)
• On Ego & Humility:
  • “When you can get past it to the other side—and you have less ego and more humility—it’s more fun.” — Theresa (13:32)
• On Resilience:
  • “Even if you’re getting up from falling and standing back up, you’re still ahead of where you were before you tripped.” — Seychelle (12:43)
• On Responsibility:
  • “Now I’m responsible for my joy...and for my little family’s experience that we get to have in the world—because I’ve been so responsible with everything else.” — Seychelle (22:59)
• On Choice:
  • “The minute I started changing my language to ‘I choose to,’ it changed everything.” — Theresa (17:07)
• On Embracing Seasons:
  • “Maybe it’s really hard right now, but it doesn’t have to be hard forever.” — Seychelle (20:34)

Key Segment Timestamps

• 02:13 — Is it possible to build a big business and big life?
• 05:39 — Seychelle's pivotal breakdown & personal chaos
• 07:30–09:40 — Leaning into strengths; redefining focus; who can help?
• 10:36–12:25 — Shortening burnout; importance of cash buffer & recovery cycle
• 13:14 (+13:38) — Ego, humility, and the butthole opinion principle
• 14:00–16:21 — Freedom of midlife, less caring about opinions, prioritizing self/family
• 17:07–19:08 — Shifting to “I choose to,” reframing working parent guilt
• 20:00–22:00 — Seasons, chaos, cortisol addiction, personal therapy
• 22:59 — Reframing responsibility and core values
• 24:21–25:19 — Advice to ask for help and admit failure earlier
• 26:37 — Gender differences in embracing failure and support
• 27:52 — Resilience as the defining factor in long-term success

Conclusion & Next Steps

Theresa wraps up by teasing an upcoming second episode with Seychelle, focusing on the next evolution: giving yourself permission to build both a big business and a big life, simultaneously—and how to concretely step into that possibility.

Follow Seychelle:

• herbestlife.com
• Instagram: @seychellevp
• Van Poole Properties

For listeners at any stage in business or life, this episode is a master class on navigating adversity, redefining priorities, harnessing community, and claiming agency—while finding joy and balance along the way.