You Don’t Have to Have It All Figured Out: A Soulful Note to Future Founders

Nov 4
3 min read

Last week, Molly, my soul sister and professor at Meredith College, invited me to speak with a group of bright, bold, curious women in her Entrepreneur Program. These students are leaning into big questions about career, calling, and how to build something that matters. (You can read Molly's recap here.)

Our theme was "Business for Good" - what we really talked about was becoming. The kind that doesn’t fit neatly on a LinkedIn profile. The kind that asks you to follow the threads that tug at your soul, even if they don’t come with a five-year plan.

Here is some of the wisdom I shared...

1: You don’t have to have it all figured out. Truly. In fact, you probably won’t. And that’s not a flaw in the system, that’s the path. Let the unknown be part of your brilliance. Start where your soul is loudest. The most powerful thing you can offer the world is your becoming, not just your doing.

We talked about community, too. How it isn’t extra - it’s essential. Whether you’re building one or simply being held by one, community is the soul of sustainable, soulful work. Community isn’t a side effect of good business; it’s the soul of it. Belonging is the secret infrastructure. And loneliness? It’s not a personal failure. It’s a cultural design flaw... and community is how we begin to reimagine the blueprint.

2: Skills are seeds. Even the things that feel small now, like helping a friend launch a podcast or build a website, organizing something, learning how to listen well, these are the roots of leadership. You are not behind. You are becoming.

3: It's ok to redefine strategy. What if your offerings didn’t have to be perfect, simply shared? What if generosity counted as strategy? When you offer your gifts with care, you attract partnerships and possibilities that feel more like alignment than effort.

We also named something bigger than all of us:

We carry a collective responsibility to build businesses that are more than "for profit", businesses with a heart and mission for good. In a world that often prizes speed over depth, extraction over reciprocity, we are being called to create a different kind of economy... one rooted in heart, soul, and service. Business can be a vessel for healing, liberation, and weaving communities that care for one another and the planet. Let your business be a blessing. Let it serve the future, not just the algorithm.

This is what we’re nurturing in the Red Threads Collective. We’re weaving relationships while trading services. We’re building an economy rooted in trust, not transactions. We’re so much more than networking. We’re net-weaving.

Through our member-exclusive Exchange Circle and our Thursday Open Table Gatherings, we create a space where wisdom is currency, generosity is strategy, and your becoming is more valuable than your branding. In the Exchange Circle, your gift is enough. You don’t have to scale it. You have to share it.

To the Meredith women and all future founders reading this:

You are already gathering tools. Every job, every heartbreak, every group project, every unexpected detour... it all counts. Nothing is wasted. Even your confusion is sacred.

You don’t have to know where you're going to start walking.

Here are some reflective journal prompts to get you started... and keep you going: