Sometimes a business starts to feel heavier than it has to.
Not broken — just… crowded. More moving parts. More shoulds. Less spark.
If that sounds familiar, you’re in good company.
Since exiting Impostor Syndrome Institute, people keep saying: “You look lighter.”
Trust me, I haven’t lost a pound — but I did lose something else: the weight of work that no longer fit.
Why? Because as ISI grew, my role drifted further from what I do best.
I’m a strategist, first and foremost.
But over time, I found myself managing details and moving parts that didn’t align with my strengths or energy. Even when I wasn’t the one doing it all, the weight of it was still mine to carry.
And it showed.
Choosing to step away wasn’t about quitting — it was about getting back to my center of gravity. Walking away from that structure and complexity created space again — and that’s what people are noticing when they say I look lighter.
What finally flipped the switch for me to let go of ISI was a conversation with my coach. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I was rattling off all the things that weighed on me. She stopped me mid-sentence and asked, “Why do you keep doing it?”
Without thinking, I said, “Well, I feel obligated to…” — and filled in the blanks.
Her response? “Why would you do that to yourself?” (Delivered in the same tone you’d use if someone said they were still on dial-up internet.)
It was one of those moments when you realize how blind we can be to our own patterns. (Adding to my “why we need coaches” list: to point out what we can’t see ourselves.)
It’s not just entrepreneurs who do this.
A friend of mine has been in corporate America for decades. Brilliant, but stuck. Her boss and team have made work miserable, but she’s reluctant to leave even though her financial advisor has told her she’s set.
When I asked why, she said, “Because I’ll get my bonus in May.”
I asked, “So the tradeoff is eight more months of misery for a paycheck you don’t even need?”
She laughed — but knew I wasn’t joking.
We convince ourselves it’s not that bad — or that we’ve come too far to quit now.
That’s how obligation traps us. Whether it’s a paycheck, a partnership, or a business model that’s outlived its purpose, we tell ourselves it’s too risky to change.
And here’s the part that might surprise you: when I told my co-founder my decision to exit ISI, she didn’t put up a fight. She simply said it sounded like the right decision. A gracious response — and one I’ll always be grateful for.
The Throughline of 23 Years
Every shift I’ve made in 23 years of business ownership has been in pursuit of lighter.
Not lighter in responsibility, but lighter in alignment.
Not lighter in ambition, but lighter in how it’s carried.
That truth came home to me recently when Frank and I landed in Ireland. We went for a walk and got caught in a torrential storm — sheets of rain, mud everywhere. As Frank calls it: “a dirty, dirty day.”
And then — a rainbow. With my favorite Irishman standing right at the end of it.
No pot of gold. Just my guy. (Way better — though I did feel mildly scammed by the tourism board.)
Rainbows don’t show up on perfect days. They show up after the storm — once you’ve gotten some mud on your boots.
Businesses go through storms too — weighed down by details, offers, or models that no longer fit. But the magic doesn’t come from scrapping everything and chasing something brand new.
It comes from lightening what’s already there. Re-centering. Re-energizing.
My work as a thought partner to female founders is the rainbow — the bridge between what’s thriving and what’s ready to evolve, to the gold of what’s next. (Apparently, I really am the 🌈 in this story.)
When Lightness Gets Lost
The same pattern shows up in my work with female founders.
When we look at the 5 pillars of their business — it’s usually one or two that are weighing them down.
- For one founder, it was stepping fully into thought leadership by speaking at conferences so she attracts a more diverse audience.
- For another, it’s simplifying her business model and articulating her big idea so clients instantly know she’s the coach to hire.
- For another, it’s reclaiming her time so she can spend her days on vision and strategy instead of admin and operations. 🙋🏼♀️
As Amie summed it up after our strategic innovation session: I feel lighter already.
And years ago, at a workshop I was hosting, Jen Spivak asked me, “What’s your favorite part of your business?”
Without hesitation, I said, “Everything.”
Later, she told me that was the moment she knew she wanted to work with me — because there were parts of her own business she didn’t love, and she wanted to.
We spent the next year reimagining what that could look like. Today, Jen runs a $2M business built on the foundation of that work. That’s not nothing.
— And You?
Rainbows follow storms. Lightness follows letting go.
If your business has started to feel a bit heavier than it should, take a moment to ask yourself:
👉 What would make my business feel lighter?
Because lighter isn’t always about less.
It’s about alignment, clarity, and walking forward — minus the weight of what’s run its course.
Feeling the Weight of What’s No Longer Working?
If your business has started to feel heavier than it should — and you’re ready to lighten things up — BEYOND might be for you.
It’s not just a strategy session. It’s a 90-day strategic experience for the outlier entrepreneur who’s ready to re-center, simplify, and realign her business around who she’s become — and what’s next.
