When being successful is no longer enough

Yesterday I sat across from a senior consultant who, on paper, had everything. A healthy turnover, a waiting list of great clients, financial security. Yet she said, "I feel like I'm getting lost in my own success.

It was exactly how I felt before I left my corporate career. Successful according to the outside world, but inside I didn't feel that success. After all, how often do I see this reflected? Success that looks shiny on the outside, but no longer fulfilling on the inside.

That's the danger of your own success story. We build systems, plans, strategies. According to the standard, according to expectations and prompted by the environment, your upbringing and circumstances. We achieve a lot with it, we perform and grow. But somewhere along the way, we forget who is actually building. Who are you doing it for? For whom do you want to prove that you can do it?

Do it for yourself. Your time. Your energy. Your values. Your life. Because therein lies the difference between building a business or living a life that truly fulfills you.

When more of the same no longer works

Often you know exactly what you no longer want. The role, the function, the position that keeps you small and that you have long since outgrown. The grind, the lack of challenge and new developments. Collaborations and people that cost you more energy than they provide. The pattern that keeps you stuck despite the chronic restlessness and impact on your well-being.

And yet ... you stay put. Because the familiar provides "security," feels safe and comfortable. Despite the fact that you know devilishly well that it won't get you anywhere. Strange isn't it? So you seemingly prefer to keep a grip on a situation that no longer works for you, rather than embrace the uncertainty and take new steps toward what is possible.

The result is that nothing changes until you make a choice. You know that, but yes, you don't just throw away everything you've built up. Right?

Change requires letting go of old systems, roles and relationships that no longer serve you. To accept that you don't always know exactly where you'll end up, but to choose a new direction that allows for more freedom, peace and fulfillment.

And that is perhaps the greatest paradox of change. Because you think the risk is in letting go. In reality, the risk is in staying where you are.

Life-First female leadership gives wealth

The women I work with don't start by optimizing. They start by recalibrating. Not with more, but with being more conscious. Not at adjusting, but at aligning. A true Re-Set of where they are now, with all the expertise and value they possess and looking ahead to where they want to build toward.

I know how that feels. In 2020, I thought I was going to build a business. What I was actually doing was rebuilding my life. I was going to live my second life. My work, my values and my well-being were finally allowed to become one integrated whole. 

That's where my life, female leadership and my own work really began. My second life. Not in perfection. But in integration.

Why so many systems fail

Most business models are built on male logic: linear, hard and performance-driven. But female leadership requires something different.

• Female leadership is cyclical rather than linear.
• Female leadership is intuitive rather than purely analytical.
• Female leadership is holistic rather than fragmented.
• Female leadership is integral rather than isolated.

This is not to say that your ambitions have diminished; quite the contrary. You are still concerned with results, but from a different perspective. No balance to fight, but freedom to combine. No standard roadmap, but a strategy that matches who you are and where you are moving.

From selling time to delivering value

You are not working, entrepreneurial to fill your schedule with hours. You went to study, to get a PhD, to work, to be an entrepreneur to earn well, to create freedom to make an impact and to use your expertise strategically.

But as long as you are still selling time, you remain trapped. Your income is limited by your hours. Undervaluation, overtime, vacation or illness costs you income and sales. The more efficient you work, the less you earn. As long as you do not stand for your value and fully utilize your potential, you leave value on the table. That's the golden cage of time-for-money.

The shift needed is from selling time to delivering value.

The Integral Growth System™

In my work, I use the Integral Growth System™, which rests on three pillars that reinforce each other:

Health: True leaders take care of themselves first. Energy, rest and vitality are not luxuries, but prerequisites.

Wealth: Financial freedom is not the end goal, but the basis for choice. You shift from service provider to strategic business partner.

Freedom: Freedom does not mean letting go, but leading. On your terms. In time, energy and money.

This system ensures that you not only profit, but also experience freedom. Not only grows in business, but also in your life, in your health and in your relationships.

For those who are already successful but want to write more of a new success story

The women boarding in Scale to Freedom are not beginners. They have built a good career, a solid business. They have proven that they are successful. But deep down, they feel they are no longer heading in the direction of their own vision. They give a lot, but feel underfed. They turn a profit, but experience no freedom.

They are ready to start a new chapter. Ready to choose a system that makes sense. Ready to live life to the fullest again and to do business on their own terms with direction, peace and results.

Because there always comes that moment. The moment when you say, "This is no longer my path. I want to close this chapter. And from there it really begins. Because things can be different and you want to achieve and realize more. 

That doesn't require one-size-fits-all. But a tailor-made approach, your own system that moves with who you are, grows with you in the future and fits your natural rhythm. While maintaining focus, peace and space.

Not doing more, but doing it differently with and in your own way and value. Because your legacy is not what you leave behind. It is what you live, share and pass on. Starting today. In every choice. In every encounter.

Scale to Freedom: Your transformation in six months

Scale to Freedom is my Signature 1:1 journey of at least 6 months for women leaders and entrepreneurs who want to redesign their businesses and their lives and start making Significant difference.

We work on high-value positioning, value-driven offerings, smart systems and strategic choices. And we build your integral growth: personal, business and financial.

Integral growth in three areas:

• Personal: mentally and physically healthy, with peace in your head and body, direction and fulfillment
• Business: scalable growth, innovation and leadership
• Financial: healthy profits, smart investments* and freedom

*invest time, energy and money to grow profitably and strategically reinvest your profits to buy back your time and enrich your gains in health and quality of life.

You don't have to work even harder. You may grow smarter. With space, direction and direction.

Your moment of choice

There always comes a time when you say: 'This is no longer my path.' That moment is the beginning of everything. From there you build again, this time from within yourself, from the inside out.

If you are reading this and thinking, "This is exactly what I need," then you are ready for the next step. You don't have to do it alone. But you do have to choose. Because success and freedom are not an accident. They are a strategy.

If so, I invite you to a strategic exploration where together we look at where you are now, what your next level is, and how Scale to Freedom can help you get there. This session is valuable regardless of whether we work together.

Because you built a business. Now you may build a life from the essence and of meaning.

Do you want to take this step? Then visit www.gerdihulsink.nl/strategiesessie To schedule your interview.

One Life. Lead it. Live it.

Love, 

Gerdi

Your success and freedom. My mission.

PS1. You no longer have to negotiate your hourly rate. You get to stand for your value. For your expertise. For your impact. Because you're not here to sell your time. You are here to make a difference.

I work with women who no longer settle for mediocrity. Women who want to raise their standards - in their lives, leadership and business. Women who are ready to choose more: more freedom, more profit, more meaning.

Make your work a legacy.

Living and doing business on your terms, with fulfillment and in freedom.

Q&A: Questions about Life-First leadership, strategic positioning and a value-driven offer and pricing strategy.

What if my clients drop out if I let go of my hourly rate?
That's exactly the point. Customers who buy on price alone are rarely loyal. By repositioning your offering, you attract customers who recognize your value and are willing to invest in transformation. Positioning is attracting your fine customers with whom you get the best results and divesting from the rest. Strategic positioning gets you significantly more: you spend your time and energy on those clients and assignments that you get energy back from, where you are valued for the value you deliver and the results they achieve. 

How do I determine my new value-driven price?
Start to stand full for your value and make the value you deliver visible. What is the result of your work worth to your client? Think in ROI, impact and strategic growth, as well as quality of life, health and relationships. Use this as a basis, not your hours.

And don't forget to revalue and upgrade your value as well, because that's where we all leave too often and too much value on the table. And that seriously benefits no one. Not you and not your customers either.

How do I come to the table as a strategic business partner?
By repositioning yourself, sharing your vision and strategically strengthening leadership. Show that you are no longer executing, but transforming. As I do through my Empowered Letters and LinkedIn.

Whenever you are ready:

✅ More time and freedom for yourself and growing your business?  

Scale to Unlimited Freedom - Premium 1:1 trajectory of minimum 6 months 

Integral growth in three areas:

• Personal: more peace, direction and fulfillment
• Business: scalable growth, innovation and leadership
• Financial: healthy profits, smart investments and freedom

✅ ELLLE - Empowering Life, Leadership & Legacy on your terms from peace, direction and a deep sense of fulfillment.

ELLLE is not just another Business Club, community or network. ELLLE is one movement, where forerunners strengthen, enrich and help each other further, forward.

The place where women with a vision come together to grow integrally: personally, professionally and financially. Here you transform not only your business, but more importantly yourself and your legacy. 

Exclusive 1:1 strategic partnership and as an active visionary leader on the ELLLE Board.

For whom.

• Established women leaders & entrepreneurs who want to reach their next level in business AND in life. Searching for the right place to connect from authenticity for deepening, enrichment and fulfillment. 
• Top women who want to maximize and strategically leverage their own valuable IP, network and potential. Simplify to multiply.
• Women who want to build their legacy and really make a difference.

Because you want to get more out of life and continue to grow profitably on a personal, business and financial level.

As Leader of Your Future = Living and Entrepreneurship on Your Own Terms

PS2. In addition to my work as a strategic business partner and mentor to you, I have space for one strategic consulting assignment.

I am available as fractional CMO / strategic advisor (1-2 days per week, hybrid or remote) for a start-up or scale-up in health, medtech or techmed.

Are you a founder or CEO at a tipping point? You feel that working harder or doing more is not the way forward. What you need is a strategic foundation that grows your business without tying you to operations, chaos or unwieldy structures.

My strength: I bring sharp positioning and a scalable growth model that connects brand, market and mission. This creates direction, peace and space for you as a leader and a company that grows profitably, future-fit and investable.

👉 I have room for one assignment complementary to my work with women leaders and entrepreneurs. Is this your business, or do you know the person who needs this? Let's connect.

Future-Fit Leadership from the Essence.