You built this business to find freedom, so why does it sometimes feel like a cage?
For the visionary founder, there is a specific, silent kind of exhaustion. It isn’t just about long hours or missed sleep; it’s the spiritual fatigue of “wish marketing”—throwing energy into the void, hoping something sticks, and slowly sanding off the edges of your own genius just to fit a mold that was never made for you.
You might be winning on the surface. Revenue is up. The team is growing.
But internally? You’re navigating a fog that no spreadsheet can fix. You’re working harder than ever, yet you feel like you’re drifting.
In this episode of The Lighthouse Sessions, we stop pretending that “hustle” is the answer. I am joined by Charity Brown—author, coach, and creator of the Happy CEO Method.
Charity’s story is a mirror for any founder who has ever hit rock bottom while looking successful to the outside world. After spending 20+ years as a high-level corporate controller and fractional CFO, Charity found herself 100 pounds overweight, recovering from back surgeries, and deeply burnt out.
She realized she had spent years building someone else’s dream while her own inner fire turned into ash. She didn’t just need a new strategy; she needed a new rhythm.
Together, we dismantle the dangerous myth of the “Self-Made” entrepreneur and explore why trying to navigate the fog alone is the fastest route to failure.
We dive deep into Charity’s Four Ps Framework—a system designed not just for profit, but for peace.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:
The “Inner Fitness” Requirement: Why your business strategy will always fail if your internal world is chaotic. Charity explains why “Power” comes before “Planning” and how to visualize success so clearly that confusion dissolves.
Stop “Wish Marketing”: Are you serving a niche, or are you trying to sell to “everybody with skin”? We discuss the difference between throwing money at the wind and true Positioning—where you establish yourself as the undeniable expert.
The “Self-Made” Lie: We tackle the isolation many founders feel. Charity shares why the “magic is in the sauce” of mentorship and why you cannot Google your way out of a true identity crisis.
Profits as Energy: How to heal your relationship with money. We move past the poverty mindset to see revenue as a “flow frequency”—a necessary tool that allows you to give back and build a legacy without depleting your own tank.
Breaking the Cycle: A candid look at how our burnout affects our children and teams, and why prioritizing your own happiness is the most selfless leadership move you can make.
Watch the full episode to learn how to transition from a burnt-out operator to a Happy CEO.