When your business becomes your identity, resentment follows.
Entrepreneur and author Debbie King shares how she rebuilt her company, and herself, by separating self-worth from success metrics. Her framework, “the model,” links circumstance, thought, feeling, action, and result, revealing how the stories we tell ourselves drive outcomes. Facts are neutral; meaning is optional. Which thoughts support the kind of results and wellbeing you actually want in your business?
She explains how founders can interrupt unhelpful thinking through quick “thought downloads,” turning frustration into clarity instead of self-criticism. When results are viewed as data, not verdicts, entrepreneurship becomes a practice of learning and refinement.
Debbie also connects mindset to enterprise value. Every recurring pain point signals a risk: “no time” often means founder dependence; “too many mistakes” signals missing systems; low pricing power points to weak differentiation. Simplifying offers and building repeatable structures creates freedom, for both the owner and the company.
Her “future self” exercise ties mindset to strategy: put your goal in the result line, then ask what your future self believes and does to make it happen. Growth follows identity. When wellbeing and business align, entrepreneurship becomes sustainable, and success starts to feel like something worth keeping.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Identity Trap: When Business Becomes You
03:35 Rebuilding an Unsellable Business
05:38 The Model: Thoughts Create Results
17:46 Founder Mindset Shifts
25:27 Future Self Framework
32:06 Hidden Risks in Your Business
34:51 Systems That Scale
39:44 Data Over Drama
Connect with Debbie King:
Visit the Loving Your Business website
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn
Connect with Sarah Lockwood:
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn
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