Leaving WeFlex in 2023 was a brutal but necessary step for myself personally and the future of the business.
As a recently exited Founder, I found myself completely adrift and emotionally charged. So, I took some time out, spent some time working on cool projects with organisations and people that I love and focused on getting healthier. It was lean, but I’ve lived lean before (being broke is a skill).
Leaving your own company can have you feeling like a divorcee, unsure of how dateable you are now that you’re back on the market. Looking for work can be particularly demoralising, spending years burning yourself out building a business and now you need to get another job. Back to the mines. I also learnt that being a Founder made me somewhat undatable.
The idea of working with Allied Health Providers to expand and continue my mission was floating in the back of my mind, but I was tired and didn’t know if I had another one of these in me. But as I interviewed for roles, I found myself unable to get excited about the opportunities – which if you know me you know is weird! Instead, more and more I found myself fleshing out how Inclusive-AF could work. Pitch decks, presentations, consultation, all of it. Slowly but surely, it’s become all I do and all I think about.
It seems that I didn’t need energy for another business, I needed another business for energy. A recommitment to my mission.
The more time I spend talking to allied health professionals, people with disabilities and other stakeholders – the more I realized how much more can be done to support better health outcomes for people living with disability.
So, I started Inclusive-AF!
I’ll be sharing everything I learnt at WeFlex, and expanding upon this knowledge to complete the 100 odd courses I think are required to make a dent in the lack of vocational training out there in allied health. They’ll be a bunch of other projects and offerings, but at it’s very core it’s all about education and empowerment.
In many ways it feels like I’m back to where I started almost 4 years ago – and I kinda love it. Being a beginner is fun, I’ve got my energy back, and I couldn’t be happier.