What Is an Outlier Entrepreneur? (And Are You One?)

Carolyn Herfurth | Strategic Thought Partner

If you’ve ever side-eyed the latest business craze everyone else is chasing, zigged when others zagged, or felt the urge to turn your own successful business upside down because it no longer feels like you — you might be an outlier entrepreneur.

What defines an outlier entrepreneur?

She’s built a singular, un-copy-able business. She’s sharp, emotionally intelligent, and allergic to generic anything. Try as they might, nobody else can replicate it.

She’s an original thinker. A respected authority and category-of-one creator brave enough to break convention. Her business may defy category, but its impact is unmistakable — grounded in a voice and vision entirely her own. It revolves around her own unique center of gravity — not anyone else’s worldview.

She’s in the top tier. Among the 5.8% of women-owned businesses making over six figures. Or the 2.6% who’ve surpassed $250k. Maybe even part of the 1.7% who’ve crossed the million-dollar mark. She’s in rare air — and it shows.

She has a reliable team. Maybe there’s a trusted right hand. A bench of consultants. An ops person who keeps things humming. Her people show up because of who she is — and what she’s built inspires them.

She’s not looking to scale for the sake of scaling. She’s built a strong foundation and maintains steady, sustainable sales. She has a lifestyle she loves (or damn near close.) But she’s averse to anything that flattens her magic ✨  into bullet points and KPIs.

 

Which explains why…

  • She’s constantly evolving. Personally. Professionally. Spiritually. She’s never done, and she wouldn’t want to be.
  • She seeks simplicity — but not at the expense of depth. Simplicity matters. But so does creating a structure that can hold all of who she is.
  • She’s an innovator by nature. Ideas aren’t the problem. Choosing one? That’s the dance she’s in daily.
  • She’s multifaceted. Her work pulls from lived experience, deep expertise, and perspective that can’t be summarized in a tagline.
  • She cares about both the metrics and the meaning.  When they align, that’s her definition of success.

 

What happens when the numbers still add up — but the meaning doesn’t?

You’re someone who built something that worked — maybe even better than expected.

And then one day you’re sitting in the middle of your own creation wondering:

“Wait… do I even want this anymore?”

👆🏼That moment? That’s the giveaway. 

That’s the moment you realize: 👇🏼

Your center of gravity has shifted, but your business is still orbiting the old one.

You’re not broken. You’re not behind.
You’re just evolving (again.)
Because that’s what outlier entrepreneurs do.


Sound familiar?

Then you’ll recognize the feeling of being ready for your next evolution.

Not because things are falling apart. But because you refuse to stay in place just because things still (mostly) work.

You built something that made sense… back then.
But now? It feels like you’ve outgrown the way you do business — even if it’s still making money.

You have ideas you can’t ignore.
There are moments when you see what’s next. But then, doubts creep in: “What if I break what’s already working?” “What if this is too risky, too niche, too much?”

You’ve always been the one who could figure it out.
But this time feels more complex. More layered. You’re too close to it — and you know it. What you need now is creative and strategic clarity.

​​And of course, this shift shows up at the least convenient time — right when everything seems to be working.

Turns out, this is what being ahead of your own curve feels like.  😘

And when you find yourself there, check out BEYOND — a 90-day strategic experience for outlier entrepreneurs looking to reorient their business orbit around their evolved center of gravity.

Posted In: Business Model Design