People celebrate the freedom and wealth-building potential of business ownership. Few discuss the crushing loneliness of the role.
The Sources of Isolation
Decision Weight
Business success or failure rests entirely on your choices. Every major decision traces back to you.
Responsibility for Others
You carry the burden of your team’s livelihoods and financial security. It’s existential responsibility that never switches off.
Expected Omniscience
Everyone looks to you for answers and direction, even when uncertainty prevails internally. You’re supposed to know, even when you don’t.
Effort Imbalance
Founders invest disproportionate time and mental energy compared to their teams. Nobody else truly understands the weight being carried.
The Paradox
Success masks the loneliness temporarily. Setbacks expose the isolation starkly.
You must continuously motivate yourself while simultaneously motivating everyone else. There’s no reciprocal support system built into the role.
How to Address It
Connect with Other Entrepreneurs
Find people who understand the shared experience. They don’t need to solve your problems. They just need to understand them.
Engage a Business Coach or Mentor
Someone with relevant leadership experience who’s been where you are.
Confide in Someone
At least one trusted person should know what you’re actually dealing with. Keeping everything internal compounds the isolation.
Schedule Personal Time
Non-negotiable decompression time. The business will consume everything you give it.
The Irony
If you’re feeling isolated in your business right now, you’re not alone.
That’s the strange truth of entrepreneurship: everyone carrying this weight thinks they’re the only one.
They’re not. And neither are you.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If you’re feeling the weight of running an agency without anyone who truly understands what you’re going through, structured coaching can be the support system you’re missing.
My Scale programme pairs you with 1:1 coaching specifically for agency owners. It’s not therapy. It’s structured business support from someone who’s carried the same weight and come out the other side.
You can also join the Augmented Agency community to connect with other agency owners navigating the same challenges.