{"id":4014,"date":"2023-09-27T12:41:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T10:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/the-isolated-island-of-the-founder\/"},"modified":"2024-09-23T12:02:31","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T10:02:31","slug":"the-isolated-island-of-the-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/the-isolated-island-of-the-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"The isolated island of the founder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re like one big family here.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-4015\" src=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.35-300x102.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"841\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.35-300x102.png 300w, https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.35-1024x348.png 1024w, https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.35-768x261.png 768w, https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.35-414x141.png 414w, https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.35.png 1312w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 841px) 100vw, 841px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beware of falling into this mindset if you\u2019re an entrepreneur, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wyseminds<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> founder and business coach Julie Perkins tells James Johnson on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/futurefitfounder.buzzsprout.com\/1775668\/13257645-the-power-of-letting-go-with-julie-perkins-of-wyseminds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Future Fit Founder podcast<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: The Power Of Letting Go - with Julie Perkins of Wyseminds\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/5FWoKiEkZ4KS6OlOoXKZyO?si=4b6b4c70ae6b4099&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more you\u2019re involved in the minutiae of your business, the more you put those around you into a stranglehold. You don\u2019t mean for that to happen, but it\u2019s the inevitable outcome when you can\u2019t let go.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAt the start of any business, it\u2019s easy to see your team as your family,\u201d Julie says. \u201cYou become an island and start feeling like anyone who\u2019s not on the island with you, working as hard to drive each moment, just doesn\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the curse of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/growth-begins-with-you-part-3-getting-to-know-you\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the founder\u2019s trap<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the place where you lose the space between you and your company and can\u2019t find a way out. Your identity swallowed up, you have inadvertently become the purpose of your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is not the way to growth.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The epiphany question<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Julie speaks from a palace of tough experience. In 2008, she was at the helm of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.specsavers.nl\/?gclid=CjwKCAjwgsqoBhBNEiwAwe5w03bSUeNDbu3AXCpK4oYr2XgQ2cuhsh1wIP7KlgJ-m0vJgWeSchVLTBoCRuAQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specsavers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Netherland leading it through a recession and spearheading an expansion into uncharted territory. The pressure of high expectations and personal attachment to the business left her depleted and without the capacity to know what to do next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4572 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.13.54-287x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" \/>In her garden at 3am, she held her hands up to the sky, yearning for some kind of sign. What more could she do? She could go no faster yet whatever she did, it was one big chug. Things were not moving as they should.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy colleague asked \u2018do you still love what you do?\u2019 and I had an epiphany. It\u2019s a very important question to ask all the time. You can kid yourself you\u2019re loving it, but what exactly is it you\u2019re loving? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/get-out-of-your-own-way-on-the-path-to-business-success\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Success<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? The hope of success? The dream? The trophy? You love something but it\u2019s only when you ask the question that you allow yourself the time to reflect on what\u2019s really going on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No entrepreneur goes into business ownership blindly. They\u2019re aware of the up days and the down days. What Julie\u2019s talking about is the point of getting stuck.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat reflective question of \u2018do you still love what you do\u2019 can pave the way for flow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Slow down to go faster<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Founders burn bright, move fast and use a lot of oxygen. There\u2019s often mess and chaos and you\u2019re riding the hamster wheel harder and faster. Everyone mucks in and you\u2019re at the front shouting louder and louder into the abyss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This way of working reduces the oxygen supply for everyone yet still you speed up and do more of the same. The company\u2019s growing; you must be doing something right. Right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wrong. When guiding female entrepreneurs on their growth journey, Julie returns to this point again and again. When you\u2019re at this point, you need to take an opposite action and \u201cslow down to go faster\u201d. It\u2019s the only way to produce the space that achieves clarity and sound judgement. Transformation comes when you allow people the chance to breathe again. Slowing down and stepping off the hamster wheel create these conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>A \u201cbeautiful six months\u201d<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During her testing time in 2008, Julie discovered this. She had to reposition her voice or risk losing the people she valued so much; who\u2019d helped her grow the business to this point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe get so caught up at the capabilities level that we become unapproachable in terms of values and who we are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reflecting on her colleague\u2019s question, Julie nailed exactly what it was that she loved (growing businesses) and what she didn\u2019t (the daily small stuff).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe founder\u2019s fear of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/transcending-the-lows-on-the-path-to-business-growth\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">letting go<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is that everything they\u2019ve worked so hard to build will fall apart,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4571 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Scherm\u00adafbeelding-2023-09-27-om-14.14.20-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>She decided to make herself redundant; take herself out of the picture. She closed every single store for two days,to retain the meaning of purpose and values and to connect peoples contribution to making the change in how people bought their spectacles..<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI still feel guilty about it after 20 years!\u201d she says. \u201cBut people are looking to put their values into something they believe in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the \u201cbeautiful six months\u201d following this, she established exactly where she wanted the business to be and how best she and the team would get it there. The step back was the step forward that the business needed to achieve its performance breakthrough.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wyseminds is a team of business growth specialists and coaches. If<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0you\u2019re a female founder who\u2019s hit a brick wall, the Wyseminds programme <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/business-growth-programme\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your Journey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could help you get back on the right track.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe\u2019re like one big family here.\u201d\u00a0 Beware of falling into this mindset if you\u2019re an entrepreneur, Wyseminds founder and business coach Julie Perkins tells James Johnson on the Future Fit Founder podcast. The more you\u2019re involved in the minutiae of your business, the more you put those around you into a stranglehold. You don\u2019t mean [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[224,234,200,123],"class_list":["post-4014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","tag-future-fit-founder","tag-james-johnson","tag-podcast","tag-specsavers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4014"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4074,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014\/revisions\/4074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyseminds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}