INSIGHTS / Blog

Entrepreneurship can be a rewarding but challenging experience, with founders often lacking focus on personal development in favour of helping their business grow. Reflecting on her experiences and the gaps she encountered in traditional entrepreneurship programmes, Dr. Becky Sage, The FWD Project’s Entrepreneur in Residence, shares how a blend of self-awareness, leadership development, and practical peer connections are central to supporting entrepreneurs.  

Becky shares her story and shares some of the key tools that founders can access to help them manage life as a health-tech innovator.  

Tell us about your entrepreneurship journey 

Whilst running my first business, I was given the entrepreneurship 101, covering everything from value proposition to sales to investment preparation. It was all very theoretical, and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t make those learnings work for my business when it came to putting theory into practice. 

So, through coaching and problem-solving, I started to examine the barriers that were standing in my way. Many of those challenges were related to my own fears. The others were arising because I was behaving in the way I thought a businessperson was meant to behave, rather than building systems that worked best for me and my business. This meant that I found myself anxious and unwell and lacking in all-important self-trust.  

I have an autoimmune condition and have also recently been diagnosed with Autism. These are just two factors that matter when it comes to how I run my businesses, so, Founders First, a series being delivered to innovators through SETsquared, is all about gaining the perspective and self-awareness which allows you to build resilience and reduce the impact and likelihood of burnout. 

For me, I am all about amplifying talent and increasing efficiency and effectiveness. So when someone puts time into their work it has a strong impact, making sure that all of these practices are in place is so important, particularly in the case of entrepreneurs.  

So, what made you want to implement the Founders First sessions?   

I knew even before starting work on The FWD Project that sessions that focus more on the founder, rather than the business, are often a missing component in entrepreneurship programmes. I have run similar sessions with entrepreneurs previously and once I started working with the founders on The FWD Project, I realised that they could definitely benefit from sessions that focused on self-development, leadership and connections with their peer group. 

Where did you get the inspiration for the content for Founders First? 

There were two main sources of inspiration for the content:  

1. My own experiences: As I mentioned earlier, there were things that I felt were lacking in existing programmes for entrepreneurs. Over the years, I’ve found various resources and solutions from books, podcasts, training and mentoring and the lessons learned on my own as I tried to put these recommendations into practice. This includes the coaching that I got from Amy Armstrong and the subsequent learning from her in our podcast, Mindstyling for Entrepreneurs.  
2. Another source of inspiration is the module that I teach at Exeter Business School on “Organisational Talent”. This was developed in collaboration with Jackie Bagnall and has evolved as research in this field evolves, but the module is essentially designed to be practical and helpful in real life entrepreneurial situations, making it easily adapted for founders.  

These two areas combined make for a must-attend session for founders, blending both the insights from traditional entrepreneurship courses with the insights and research that come with first-hand experience of life as an entrepreneur.   


Do you have your own definition of burnout? 

Yes, in typical autistic style, I did a lot of research into what burnout is, before talking about it. It’s a term that is thrown around quite a lot, but there is a standard definition.  

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), burnout is defined as “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. It is characterised by feelings of exhaustion, increased negativity or cynicism around work and, as a result of these feelings, reduced overall efficiency. For me, some of the key signs that I am moving towards burnout are:  

• Not wanting to get up/feeling dread about work as soon as I wake up 
• Questioning/self-doubt constantly 
• Fear of opening my emails/messages 
• An inability to make decisions 
• Feeling anxious about aspects of work, but specifically meeting with other people.  
• Being physically unable to tackle the simplest tasks 

As someone who derives a lot of my joy (not to say my income) from working, burnout is incredibly hard. It is also extremely misunderstood. When you’re facing burnout, you really are unable to do the simplest things even though you really want to. Some people would label themselves as “lazy” but that doesn’t help anyone.  

What advice would you give to founders who might be reaching a burnout state?  

As with so many things, prevention is better than cure. Once I am burnt out, I have to just rest as much as I can and remove myself from any demanding tasks. 

Self-awareness

In order to avoid burnout, however, self-awareness is very important. You need to understand what gives you energy and what depletes energy, as well as what causes stress and what reduces it. You then need to do more of the things that reduce stress and increase energy and less of the things that increase stress and reduce energy. It sounds simple but is sometimes easier said than done. Once you can pinpoint the signs and triggers, it’s easier to take the necessary steps to prevent it.  

Set your priorities 

The art of prioritisation is incredibly important for founders, and you should be focusing mostly on the “big blocks”. I find a lot of founders are focused on the finer details that aren’t necessarily contributing to your strategic goals, and constantly focusing on these smaller tasks will lead to burnout quickly.   

I think that being aware of the role that your own ego plays is very important too. Learning humility is an important tool for founders – being more self-aware helps to reduce the energy expended on healing a bruised ego.  

Explore stress management techniques 

This also relates to understanding what causes stress. For founders, it’s understandable that their business often takes top priority – after all, their income and the income of their team is wholly dependent on the success of the business. Founders need to find a way to de-couple themselves from their business, and whilst this is not always possible financially, it needs to be emotionally (at least to some extent), to increase overall resilience.   

For me, this came down to some pretty deep work because I realised that all of my self-worth was directly linked to the success of the business.  

Your working practices play a vital part in avoiding burnout. Figuring out which things you need to do less of and which you need to do more of should help you develop your routines.   

What’s your favourite way to bring balance and mindfulness back into your day? 

Exercise and walking are important to me, helping to build my stamina and increase my energy levels to last throughout the workday. I also have some specific pre-work activities, like Wim-Hof breathing exercises, a 10-minute yoga session and a 10-minute walk too.  

Away from physical activities, I also write down three things I’m grateful for the day, and three intentions for making the most of the day ahead. Plus, to really kickstart my working day, I do a 5-minute guided meditation and journal on a question like, “How can I be of service today?” or “What action do I need to take today”. This helps me to get clarity and prioritise which aspects of my work and business need my attention most that day.  

Another important factor for balance is diary management. For me personally, I’m a morning person and know that meetings with people and lots of social stimulation tend to drain my batteries. If I have a 9 am meeting, I will be unlikely to have any energy for the rest of the day. But if I can get a couple of hours of deep work under my belt and then start to have meetings, I’m more likely to have the energy required to do each of my tasks well. For me, I work my schedule around what I know works best for me, and that’s the beauty of entrepreneurship.  

Most importantly, day-to-day mindfulness and balance come from building the foundations well, and this starts with cultivating self-worth. I have done a lot of work to get to the point where I have reasonable self-worth, and this has a massive impact on being compassionate with yourself and others which ultimately leads to better work.  

It’s all about putting structure and processes in place which means that I can perform to the best of my abilities without compromising on my health and wellbeing.   

Do you have any key books you recommend to founders who are interested in leadership and wellbeing? 

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown was a very important book for me as it helped me to realise how to look after yourself and develop your own leadership style, whilst still being a powerful force for good for the other people in your life and in the world.  

Quantum Leadership by Danah Zohar is my leadership bible. Quantum leadership is based on several principles which reflect the reality of the world we live in. Leadership has to be cultivated for the real organisation, not an “ideal” organisation.  

Compassionate Leadership by Paul Hargreaves has lots of overlapping principles with the other books, but it is very practical, suggesting a different leadership trait to practice every day.  

Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson gives a new perspective on failing well: something that is vital for entrepreneurs. Just to “fail fast” is no longer best practice, you must fail well in order to learn, grow and come back stronger.  

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant is a more general look at how to nurture talent. You can apply this to yourself and to how you lead others. 

 

Keen to hear more from Becky about how you can look after yourself whilst looking after your business? Join the next Founders First sessions, delivered to members of The FWD Project.

Join the next Founders First session