Entrepreneurship is hard.

Buckle up, because I’m going to share a few personal developments about what that means for me.

Note: If you don’t want to read the whole story and just want the gist, click here to get the TL;DR.

No matter how far you get, how long you’ve been doing it, or how much money you’re making, this journey of entrepreneurship is hard.

Really, really, really f*cking hard.

That’s one of the reasons why I love it. Because the struggle changes you as a person. It is the greatest personal growth accelerator on the planet.

It forces you to face your deepest fears, heal your most pernicious traumas, and overcome your most poisonous limiting beliefs. It’s why I have long compared it to hiking a mountain (and why I have long had the mountain emoji in my subject lines).

I’m not much of a hiker anymore, but I used to spend every weekend in the woods around Portland trudging up mountain trails.

I have never been on a hike — even the easiest — when I didn’t think at least once, “What the hell am I doing? Should I just turn back? Is this a waste of time? There’s probably something better/easier I could be doing…”

But still, I would keep going.

Putting one foot in front of the next until, at some point, I step out from the forest to see a view that takes my breath away, realizing that I’m gazing upon a vista that only an infinitesimally small percentage of humanity has EVER seen or ever will.

And I am only there because I kept going when I wanted to turn back.

The last month has been one of those "what the hell am I doing" periods. Two major shifts happened almost simultaneously, each forcing me deeper into that uncomfortable space where growth lives: I stepped away from Wizly after just 5 weeks, and I'm rebranding Solo CEO to Essentialist CEO.

Here's what happened, and more importantly, what it taught me.

Why I Decided to Step Away from Wizly

When I told you about joining Wizly, I was clear that the biggest draw was how deeply aligned Wizly and the founders’ vision for its trajectory were with Solo CEO’s mission and how I view my purpose on this planet.

Additionally, the role we laid out for me felt like a continuation and expansion of the work that I both love and feel plays to my strength — shaping go—to-market and brand strategy and working directly with experienced experts to help them build businesses they love.

But unfortunately, as Wizly progressed in conversations with customers and potential investors, the team’s vision for the platform began to shift in a direction that felt increasingly misaligned with my personal goals, mission, and purpose. I don’t fault them for that because they’re making moves that will likely be right for the company. They just aren’t quite right for me personally.

Still, though, I need to be transparent with you. If it were this misalignment alone, it probably would have taken me longer to make the move and leave.

But my body started rejecting the environment before my mind even caught up. You know about my health challenges — how sensitive I've become to stress and situations that tax my nervous system.

Within weeks, the warning signs were unmistakable:

• My sleep quality plummeted

• Frequent mornings of swollen hands and joint pain

• Brain fog that felt like it was trudging through 3’ of water

• The constant feeling that I was teetering on the edge of a panic attack

One month in, and my body was already screaming. I had a choice: ignore the signals like I'd done so many times before, or finally listen.

So I left.

I don't regret taking the leap. If I hadn't, I'd always wonder "what if?" But more importantly, this experience crystallized something I'd been avoiding: I had lost clarity in how to build Solo CEO into what I knew it could become.

I still had faith in the vision, and in my ability to realize it. But I no longer trusted my instincts of how the hell I was going to do it.

I’m really freaking proud of myself for spotting the signs that it wasn’t right for me and making the tough decision to leave. I’ve always struggled to fully feel my feelings, honor the signals they’re sending, and prioritize myself and my needs.

In my last misaligned partnership, it took me seven months to leave after I knew it wasn't working. This time, I made the decision within a couple of weeks.

That's the kind of progress that only comes from repeatedly walking through fire.

The Deeper Truth: Why I Really Joined Wizly

Disclaimer: Every mentor, colleague, and even AI would tell me not to say what I’m about to, but I know that, for me, this new chapter will be one in which I lean into the messy, emotional, unvarnished, and perhaps even embarrassing truth.

So if that kind of stuff makes you uncomfortable, feel free to skip ahead to: The Rebrand That Had to Happen

So let’s get into it.

The hardest part? How this stirs up every fear and insecurity I have about who I am, what I’m capable of, and, especially, what people will say.

Over the years, I’ve gotten a lot of judgment about the way I keep evolving, adjusting, reinventing. I’ve tried to own that part of my journey because I know that with every pivot or shift, I find a deeper, truer, more aligned version of myself.

And I know that I am not the only one who has felt lost in this life and feels called to seek answers and meaning.

But still, when it gets back to me that people from my past — former colleagues, supposed peers — seem to delight in mocking me (and that happens more than you’d think), it triggers every one of my core wounds and re-ignites the long-held belief that I am just not good enough.

That I am a weak, unlovable, mess of a human.

My usual coping mechanism? Focus on the future, keep pressing forward. But that's exactly why I keep relearning the same damn lessons.

This time, I forced myself to slow down. To sit with the emotions instead of running from them. To get curious about what they were trying to tell me.

And what I discovered was uncomfortable: there were deeper reasons the Wizly opportunity felt so appealing.

Over the last year, despite feeling confident about Solo CEO's mission, I'd been desperately trying to grow it through other people's playbooks. Coaching programs, freelancers, and marketing agencies. Early this year, I made a huge investment in a program promising "massive results."

They all wanted to shove me into a box that didn't fit.

Over and over again, they pushed me to:

• Design my business according “best practices”

• Adopt strategies that didn’t feel aligned

• Scale my team, work 70+ hour weeks

• Increase my prices by 150%

All were objectively ‘smart’ strategies, but they didn’t feel right. Not really.

I had become so focused on growth, on moving quickly, on chasing arbitrary revenue numbers (despite mine already being life-changing for me), that I didn’t allow myself to fully accept the signs that I was off track.

So I kept listening to these ‘experts.’

With smaller programs, I could walk away. But this final partner had me questioning everything. I can see now that I completely lost my sense of self and stopped trusting my own instincts.

Here's the truth I didn't want to admit: I had started losing clarity in how I would build Solo CEO on my own.

I still had faith that I could. But I’d been pulled in so many different directions about how I would do it that I stopped trusting my instincts to do it my way.

I was scrolling LinkedIn, seeing other entrepreneurs' highlight reels, and trying to convince myself I needed to follow their exact playbook to get their results.

The irony? I'm constantly coaching my clients to build businesses around their skills, their strengths, their lives. But I wasn't taking my own advice.

So when Wizly appeared with a shared vision and clear systems and roadmap, it felt like salvation. I still believed in Solo CEO's mission, but I'd lost sight of the path I was going to take to reach it.

They had the "how" I thought I was missing.

Except my body rejected the misalignment before my mind could rationalize staying. Thankfully, this pushed me to slow down and give myself the time, space, and permission to hear my inner wisdom’s whispers.

Turns out she’s one smart lady and is doing everything she can to guide me. I just need to listen.

The Lesson: Slowing Down & Feeling It All

After 43 years of taking pride in my ability to move quickly, it’s a tough adjustment to realize that I operate best when I allow myself ample time to fully feel the lessons life is trying to teach me.

You might think I’m crazy for this, but in recent years, as I’ve learned more about the specificity and complexity of astrology done well, it’s helped me understand myself through a new lens. I recently had a sidereal natal chart and Human Design reading, and, well, it kind of blew my mind. It also confirmed what I’m learning here.

Namely, that I need to take time to make decisions. I’m designed to have a lot of creative energy and to move quickly when aligned, but I’m just not meant to make snap decisions. My clarity emerges over time, as I ride the emotional wave before committing.

So yeah, even the freaking cosmos says I need to slow the f*ck down.

I’ll be sharing more in the coming days and weeks, but as I build the next phase of my business, I will be intentionally designing it to accommodate the slowness I need to ensure I am proceeding with intention and alignment.

One last bit of news…

The Rebrand That Had to Happen

You and I have talked at length about what Solo CEO, the brand, stood for. Namely helping you step out of the Solopreneur mindset, which often has you acting like an employee with a full time side hustle, so you can start acting like the CEO of your business.

Right as I was processing the Wizly decision, the universe delivered another plot twist: I discovered that another company had filed for the Solo CEO trademark six weeks before I did.

DAMN IT!!!!!

Devastating at first. Then, liberating.

Because Solo CEO, while powerful, carried baggage I never intended: the weight of doing everything alone. Despite constantly explaining that growing a team was fine if it served your goals, that perception stuck.

And so Essentialist CEO was born.

You also know that I am deeply passionate about not just the business side of entrepreneurship, but about how it supports and enables our lives.

Essentialist CEO reflects what I’ve actually been teaching and embodying: becoming the Chief Experience Officer of your business and life, navigating with clarity and precision, and building toward sustainable $10K+ months without burning out .

This is the evolution. I’ve stripped away what was misaligned, and now I’m stepping forward more integrated and intentional.

And I’m helping you do the same.

Speaking of…if this story resonates and you’re feeling stuck in your own version of “what the hell am I doing,” I’m hosting something that might help. On Wednesday, September 24th, I’m running a free workshop to Discover Exactly What’s Blocking You From Consistent $10k+ Months.

It will be a live, highly interactive session where we use what I call The Essentialist Compass to pinpoint exactly where you stand across the 5 critical elements of building a wildly profitable business without burning out.

And more importantly, you’ll discover which part is actually blocking your path to consistent $10k+ months and walk away with a personalized, actionable plan to fix it.

It's not another generic strategy session. It's surgical precision on YOUR specific situation. Because as I've learned the hard way, you can't navigate with someone else's map when you're climbing your own mountain.

Registration link here if you want to join me.

On Sunday, I’ll share a lot more about the Essentialist CEO brand, how I thought through this decision, what it stands for, and what’s next — for me and for you.

A Final Thank You

I’m not going to say that the last few months have been easy. They haven’t.

There were periods where I felt wracked with full body self-doubt, the panic of imposter syndrome, and tornado-level shame spirals.

But there were also so many moments, experiences, and opportunities of sheer wonder, beauty, alignment, and hope.

The last 10 years of my life have been defined by a continuous, almost relentless, process of reinvention, inner reconnection, and deepening my sense of self.

And periods like these last few months? They are deeply familiar now.

Each bears the classic ebbs and flows, downs and ups, and shrinks and expansions of growth. Where some moments feel like a sudden, shocking regression, only to be followed by a tremendous surge of progress.

It’s jarring and exhuasting, but when you know what’s happening, it’s rather beautiful too.

Even in the thick of it, I knew that I was navigating an inflection point, still am to a degree. Crossing my own personal chasm, with full faith that something better, truer, and more essential is waiting for me on the other side.

If you’ve made it this far, I’m honored that you’d join me on this journey. I commit to you and to myself that I will move forward slowly, deliberately, and in integrity.

And I’ll do everything I can to share what I learn in the hopes that in some small way I can be by your side on your journey as well.

As always, in love and in growth,
Kasey

TL;DR

After just 5 weeks at Wizly, I left because my body was screaming warning signs of burnout — and for once, I actually listened. The deeper truth? I'd lost clarity in how I would grow Solo CEO on my own and was desperately following other people's playbooks instead of trusting my instincts.

Oh, and I'm rebranding to Essentialist CEO because another company snagged the Solo CEO trademark (devastating at first, then liberating).

And hosting a new free workshop to break down the Essentialist CEO philosophy and help you uncover exactly what you need to do to finally achieve consistent $10k+ months in your own business.

The lesson: I'm learning to slow down, feel my feelings instead of running from them, and build a business that works with my design—not against it. Sometimes the universe forces clarity through chaos.

If you're struggling with similar doubts about your own path, you're not alone. The reinvention is messy, but it's also where the magic happens.

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you become a Solo CEO:

1. Want to land your first (or next) $10K+ client—without relying on referrals or working 24/7? Get my FREE 5-day email course, The Solo CEO $10+ client blueprint, and learn how to build a high-ticket, repeatable business. 
   

2. Reach a highly engaged audience of experienced professionals and entrepreneurs. Sponsor ‘Becoming a Solo CEO’ to connect with decision-makers who are ready to invest in tools, ideas, and services that fuel their personal and professional growth. Learn more here.