When The Business Is Running You

There Is No Magic Bullet (And It Is Costing You in Your Business)

EPISODE SUMMARY There is a conversation I keep having at the moment with founders and business owners, and it feels too important not to bring here. If you are running a business right now, you will be aware that there is a lot going on outside the window. There is a steady stream of noise about markets tightening, clients hesitating, and things generally feeling harder than they should. What I am seeing, again and again, is capable, experienced entrepreneurs starting to look for the answer outside of themselves. They are searching for a better strategy, a smarter system, or something that will finally make things click. That instinct is completely understandable, but it is also the thing quietly getting in the way of the results they are capable of. In this episode, I challenge that pattern and offer a different perspective on what is really driving your business results right now. ---------------------------------------- WHAT WE EXPLORE * Why the current narrative around the economy and market conditions is affecting entrepreneurs more than they realise * How looking for external solutions creates a subtle but powerful loss of agency * The difference between acknowledging reality and blaming it * Why redefining your own version of success is essential if you want your business to feel meaningful * What happens to your identity when you start questioning the path you have been following * The concept of micro leadership and how your daily habits shape your results * Why the clarity you are looking for is often already there, just buried under noise and pressure ---------------------------------------- THE CORE IDEA If you are waiting for something outside of you to fix your business, you are giving your power away. The shift happens when you acknowledge what is going on, stop outsourcing responsibility, and start looking at how you are leading yourself inside your business. ---------------------------------------- A QUESTION TO SIT WITH Where am I currently attributing my business results to external factors instead of looking at how I am showing up as a leader? ---------------------------------------- WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR This episode is for founders and business owners who feel the weight of what is happening in the wider environment and have started to question whether it is affecting their results. It will resonate if you recognise the pull towards finding a new strategy or solution, while also knowing that something deeper is at play. ---------------------------------------- CLOSING You do not need more information right now. You need enough space to think clearly, to step out of the noise, and to access the level of thinking that your next stage of business requires. That is where the real work is, and that is where things start to change.

When The Business Is Running You

EPISODE SUMMARY This is a raw, unfiltered conversation recorded outside after almost not happening at all. Claire and Ant talk honestly about what it actually feels like to be in the middle of building a business while raising a family, carrying responsibility on all fronts, and trying to hold everything together. They share the tension of knowing they should be working on the business while being pulled into delivery, logistics, and day-to-day demands. They speak openly about guilt, about the pressure of being needed at work and at home, and about how easy it is to stay stuck at the desk even when it is no longer producing clear thinking. This episode captures the reality that rarely gets spoken about. Not the highlight reel of business ownership, but the messy middle where nothing is broken, yet everything feels stretched. It also explores what shifted when they stepped outside, and why environment, energy, and perspective play a far bigger role in decision-making than most leaders realise. ---------------------------------------- WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR This will resonate if you are a founder or leader who: * Feels pulled between business and family, and not fully present in either * Knows you should be working on the business but cannot seem to get there * Is carrying a constant mental load of decisions, messages, and responsibility * Feels guilty, stretched, or disconnected ---------------------------------------- KEY MOMENTS 00:05 — Setting the scene Recording outside after resistance to leaving the desk and stepping away from work. 01:17 — The messy middle defined The reality of being stuck in the business while knowing you should be working on it. 02:00 — “It’s nuts” Building the business, delivering, and raising three children at the same time. 03:10 — Family pressure and emotional load GCSEs, SATs, perimenopause, and the cumulative weight of life alongside business. 04:00 — Triggers and guilt at home The reality of parenting while working flat out, and the emotional reactions that come with it. 06:00 — Holidays, time, and pressure The tension between creating family experiences and the constraints of running a business. 09:30 — Why this conversation matters Normalising the messy middle and the importance of stepping out for perspective. 11:00 — What it feels like at the desk Isolation, overwhelm, negative news cycles, and the sense of “why isn’t this working yet?” 14:00 — Resistance to stepping away The internal negotiation before leaving the desk, even when you know you need to. 15:00 — Immediate shift outside Perspective, conversation, and thinking beginning to clear within minutes. 16:00 — The limits of productivity Why sustained output without space leads to burnout rather than clarity. 17:00 — The real lever: energy and focus Where you place your time, talent, and energy is what actually drives the business. 17:40 — The uncomfortable truth of leadership One clear idea can outweigh a week of graft, but many leaders struggle to own that. ---------------------------------------- WHAT THIS EPISODE LEAVES YOU WITH A clearer understanding that the challenge is not simply time or workload. It is where your energy is going, and whether the conditions you are operating in are allowing you to think properly. ---------------------------------------- NEXT STEPS If this feels familiar and you would value stepping out of your usual environment to think alongside other like-minded business leaders, you can explore upcoming experiences on the WildEdge events page. [https://www.wildedgeworx.com/our-upcoming-events]

Let's slow down to speed up

EPISODE SUMMARY We recorded this walking by the River Aire in the sunshine, finally. After a long winter of just getting on with it, holding things together, keeping the faith, it feels like something is starting to shift. And that felt like the right place to have this conversation. Because what we are seeing right now with founders and leaders is not a lack of ideas, or strategy, or ambition. It is overload. The world is moving faster than ever. AI is accelerating everything. Decisions are stacking up. And instead of creating more ease, it is creating more pressure. So this episode is about that. It is about why time and space to think is becoming one of the most important leadership advantages you can have. And why stepping out of the noise might be the most productive thing you do. ---------------------------------------- WHAT WE TALK ABOUT We talk about what it actually feels like to be leading right now. The constant decision-making. The mental load. The sense that things are moving quickly and you are trying to keep up. We talk about how AI is changing the way we work. Not by removing work, but by increasing the speed and frequency of decisions, which brings its own kind of pressure. We talk about why even the best strategy is useless if it is even slightly off, and why getting yourself right first matters more than ever. ---------------------------------------- THE MESSY MIDDLE We also get really clear on who this work is for. The founders who have built something that is working. But it feels like it is starting to outpace them. The ones who did not set out to be CEOs, but suddenly find themselves leading people, making big decisions, and quietly wondering if they are the right person to be doing it. The ones who care deeply about what they are building. Who are values-led, heart-led, impact-led. And who can feel the gap between how they are showing up now and who their business needs them to be. ---------------------------------------- WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO We also clear something up. We do not just go for nice walks. Yes, we work outdoors. Yes, we climb mountains and get into cold water. But that is not the point. The point is creating the conditions for people to think properly again. To get out of the noise. To have the conversations they have not been able to have. To access ideas, clarity and creativity that have been buried under the day to day. Between us we bring decades of coaching, strategy and behavioural work. The environment just lets it land differently. ---------------------------------------- A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT MATTER Walking side by side changes the conversation. It removes the pressure to perform and gives people space to actually say what they think. Time away from the noise is not indulgent. It is often the moment where everything starts to make sense again. And those moments where you push yourself slightly, whether that is a climb or getting into cold water, they stay with you. ---------------------------------------- If you are listening to this and thinking “this is me”, the best place to start is a Beacon Session. FIND OUT MORE [https://www.wildedgeworx.com/beacon-session] It is a short, focused, nature-led session designed to get you unstuck and moving again, with follow-up built in so it actually lands. We also talk about the Rewilding Retreats for 2026. FIND OUT MORE [https://www.wildedgeworx.com/the-rewilding-register-your-interest] We also talk about Claire's book on Imposter Syndrome - download a copy here [https://claireackers.kartra.com/page/imposterbook26] ----------------------------------------

What It Actually Feels Like to Come on a Rewilding Retreat

EPISODE DESCRIPTION This is not us explaining the Rewilding retreat. This is Mia, Chloe and Juliet, trying to put words to something that is quite hard to describe. They came expecting space to think about their business. What actually happened was something else. In this conversation, they share what it felt like to arrive, what shifted during the retreat, and what stayed with them afterwards. There are moments of laughter, moments of honesty, and a few lines that land harder than anything we could say ourselves. If you have ever wondered whether this is for you, this is the closest thing to being in the room. ---------------------------------------- WHAT WE EXPLORE We talk about what it feels like to step away from the noise of business and into a very different environment. They describe how quickly connection builds when you remove the usual roles and expectations that people carry in their day to day lives. We explore the difference between taking time off and actually slowing down, and what becomes possible when you do. They share what they thought they needed before they arrived, and what actually surfaced once they had space to think and feel properly. We also talk about the weight of leadership, and how easy it is to lose yourself in something you have built. ---------------------------------------- A COUPLE OF MOMENTS THAT STAYED WITH ME “It felt like this real life-affirming week where you’re like, oh my God, this is what it is to be alive. I shouldn’t just be sat in front of a screen for 40 hours a week.” “Sometimes it feels like none of it is about me anymore.” ---------------------------------------- WHAT THIS CONVERSATION REALLY SHOWS This is not about fixing your business. It is about creating enough space to hear yourself again. From that place, things tend to become much clearer. ---------------------------------------- WHO THIS IS FOR This episode will land if you are leading something that matters, but you feel the weight of it more than you expected. It will land if your days are full, but your thinking feels crowded. It will land if you have not had proper space to step back and look at your life for a while. ---------------------------------------- IF YOU ARE FEELING THE PULL There are a small number of spaces left on the upcoming Rewilding retreats. If this resonates, you can register your interest here [https://www.wildedgeworx.com/the-rewilding-register-your-interest] or message me directly and we can have a conversation.

Why Leaders Need The Wild: The Rewilding Retreat Story

In this special episode of the WildEdge podcast, founders Claire and Ant Ackers share the story behind the Rewilding Retreats and the impact they have had on founders and leaders over the past four years. What began as a small, experimental retreat for women has grown into one of the most powerful experiences WildEdge offers. Across multiple retreats in the Lake District, Claire has witnessed leaders arrive carrying the weight of business, responsibility, and constant decision-making, and leave with something entirely different: clarity, energy, and a renewed connection to who they are as leaders. In this conversation, Claire reflects on the moments that have defined those retreats. She shares stories of the transformations that happen when founders step away from their usual environment and spend time walking, talking, swimming, and thinking in nature. Ant joins the discussion to explore why these experiences work so powerfully and why the time feels right to introduce something new: the first WildEdge men’s Rewilding Retreat. Together, they talk about: • What actually happens on a Rewilding Retreat • The shifts they have seen in leaders over the past four years • Why stepping away from the noise of business often unlocks the clearest thinking • The different pressures men and women experience in leadership • Why Ant felt called to create a men’s retreat for the first time This episode is both a reflection on the journey so far and a look ahead to the next chapter of WildEdge retreats. If you have ever felt the need to step away from the constant pace of business to reconnect with what truly matters, this conversation offers a glimpse into what becomes possible when leaders give themselves that space. Find out more and register your interest here [https://www.wildedgeworx.com/the-rewilding-register-your-interest]