12/10/2026
Fun - Energising - Formative - Real - Risky - Uncertain - Lucrative
That is how I see entrepreneurship.
At a recent talk with the Entrepreneur , I shared what entrepreneurship has meant to me.
I started Emerald Hospitality Group at 22. It quickly became clear the corporate world wasn’t for me.
I struggled with “orders” and “rules”, but mostly with ownership. Not of a company or employees, but of my own life.
I became an entrepreneur for freedom and ownership. Social media, films and TV played a part too.
They promote an unhealthy definition of success: money, material things, and achieving it all very quickly.
At 22, I accepted this as the “global standard”. For years, I hustled like there was no tomorrow.
I told myself that once I’d built the business, bought the cars, house and lifestyle, everything would make sense. I would be enough. I would be happy.
I achieved most of it.
But every time I reached “there”, I didn’t feel like I’d arrived. Because “there” had moved.
Eventually I realised “there” doesn’t exist. There is only “now”, and meaning and peace can be found here.
I began asking: why am I this ambitious? For whom?
Over the last two years, I changed my life deeply. This led me to create one of the most beautiful things in my life: Thriving Minds, a podcast to help people unlock the best version of themselves.
Without realising it, a lot was changing around me. We built a community of over 2 million subscribers in two years. But what was changing even more was me, internally.
Once you see who you are, what you stand for and what you don’t, you can’t unsee it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still wildly ambitious. But the direction of that ambition has changed. My definition of success has transformed. It speaks to me every night when I go to bed and fuels me every morning when I wake up.
Entrepreneurship’s biggest gift isn’t money or accolades. It’s the chance to get to know yourself deeply.
As an entrepreneur, you can experience the best and worst day of your life on the same day.
Those insights can guide you to make the right choices for your life, not the ones society, social media or even your parents want for you.
