Kia ora,

In case you missed it on LinkedIn, I sold my shares in my first business, Brandsitters. I’m so excited to hand the reins over to my business partner, and to close off that awesome chapter of my life.

2023 me could never have imagined I’d feel so at peace with this decision, so I thought I’d share the journey of getting here in case any of you are also wrestling with making life changing decisions.

Estimated Read time: 5 minutes 40 seconds

The Deep Dive: How I Knew It Was Time to Walk Away from My First Business

I started Brandsitters with my best friend at the age of 23 with the aim of becoming digital nomads. However, we got started in early 2020, which turned out really wasn’t the year for globetrotting. What this did mean however, was that small businesses realised the important of having on online presence, so we grew quickly. Before we knew it, the digital nomad dream was replaced with a more traditional bricks and mortar business.

Within three years, we'd scaled it to be a team of six with a 100m² office in the CBD. But then the 2023 recession hit, and we were forced to make some tough decisions. We scaled down our team and separated out our clients, but continued to share the Brandsitters brand throughout 2024.

I’m breezing over this period of my life, but there was a lot of grieving that happened during this transition from growing agency to solo operator. I didn't realise it at the time, but I had certainly fallen into the trap of thinking that success always looked like more – a bigger office, more staff, more clients, more of everything. Moving away from this vision felt like complete failure at the time, and I had no idea if we were making the right decision.

What changed my perspective on pivoting

I had realised that I didn’t want to scale up another agency, but couldn’t see a clear path towards the next step. I also felt really attached to the Brandsitters brand and initially felt concerned that clients would see me differently if I walked away from it. I was lost and feeling like I had lost my purpose. 

Luckily, I’m blessed with an awesome mentor and reached out to her. I felt really nervous at first to admit to her that I was feeling lost as she’s a highly successful entrepreneur, and I was briefly worried she would think less of me. Of course, I needn’t have worried. Her advice was, as usual, honest, on point and free of judgement. She told me to try going into a corporate role and keeping some clients on the side. She also said something that completely shifted my perspective: people weren't working with me because of the name I traded under, but because of who I was and the work that I did.

This was the best advice I could have received at that time. 💡

There's certainly a lot of stigma in the startup community about corporate life and that going into a corporate role is the “cushy” route. For me, though, venturing briefly into corporate was the best decision I made. I took all of my learnings and business mindset into the role, transformed the marketing function of the business, and at the end of my initial contract, was able to secure a leadership position on my terms.

How I knew I was ready to say goodbye to Brandsitters

At the beginning of this year, my business partner and I realised it no longer made sense for us to continue sharing the Brandsitters branding, and we needed to make a call about who would buy the other out.

I realised that my focus and priorities had shifted dramatically over the past year, especially with this realisation about not wanting to scale an agency. My clients had had no issue with me changing brands, and had continued to receive the same service over the past 12 months from me independently running the work. I was proud of everything we’d built, but realised I could look back on it fondly rather than needing to have a share in it anymore. I knew I was ready to move on from Brandsitters – something I never could have imagined saying at the end of 2023 when it felt like the world was ending. 🌍

There’s a great quote in the Diary of a CEO book where Stephen Bartlett writes “the only place 100% certainty exisits is in hindsight. I completely understand this now. Every decision I've made over the past 12 months has hadnno guarantee of being the right one, and at the time have felt uncomfortable, terrifying, difficult etc. Now I see that life is less about making the “right” decision, and more about making A decision and moving forwards. Sometimes you don’t nail things right away, but then you learn, make a new decision, and keep moving. This is far more gratifying and productive than staying in decision purgatory because you’re too afraid to make a call either way.

What’s next?

Sometimes you have to let things go in order for something new to come in. I'm about to take a very exciting new direction with an entirely new business. I have no idea what's going to happen next but I'm also incredibly excited. I'm confident there will absolutely be days where I ask myself, "Why the heck am I doing this to myself?"

But I also know that I have the skills to make it through and make it awesome. And those skills that I have are only has a result of my experience with Brandsitters and my foray into corporate life. 

Action of the Week:

Have you got any pending decisions you’re avoiding?

How can you prompt them into action?

My favourite way is making a small commitment step, e.g.

• If you’re thinking of moving overseas, book the flight for 6 months down the track

• If you’re thinking of changing jobs, update your CV, and then perhaps apply for a job that you think is where you want to go next

• If you’re thinking of starting a business, reach out to someone who owns a similar business on LinkedIn and chat to them to find out more about it

(After a bit of “f**king around” you may find that you’re actually not interested in the thing you tried out, and that’s totally okay. You’ve successfully eliminated an option off your list.)

Inspo & Recommendations:

LinkedIn post: “Heads up for anyone using CapCut for personal or client work” by Loren Tomlinson

Podcast ep: How I condensed a day of research into 5 minutes by How I Work

Learning: Pitch Perfect - Master the Art of Media Pitching in 2025 webinar.

Tech: This week I used AI to rehearse a media interview. I gave it context about the business I’m taking over and got it to ask me questions like a journalist, and then to give me feedback. This podcast talks more about the technique.

Love from your business-minded friend,

Elise

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