Is it ok to want it all?

Read time: 4 minutes

Welcome to The Ascend Archives, a weekly newsletter where I share a story about a transformation, revelation, or change in thinking that has improved an aspect of my life.

Lately, I’ve been constantly coming back to this question both in conversations with friends and in quiet moments with myself:

Is it ok to want it all?

Can I build a business that hits seven figures without losing my flexibility?

Can I spend hours crafting personal essays and client stories and still lead a growing team?

Can I write a book, train for a marathon, be a present partner, take epic golf trips, and still have the freedom to work from anywhere?

For the past several months, I’ve been telling myself no.

That business growth comes with complexity, and complexity kills freedom.
That if I push too hard, I’ll end up trapped, spending all day managing people instead of doing the creative work I actually love.

That the responsible move was to maintain.

I started shrinking my ambitions, not because I lost the drive, but because I was afraid of building a business I didn’t want to operate. One that boxed me into writing social media posts for the rest of my life. One that would make me responsible for the lives and careers of dozens of employees. One that felt like pressure instead of possibility.

But then a few conversations helped me see this differently.

It started with a call in my small group coaching program. Riley was on the hot seat. She runs a business doing ~$300K in revenue and said she wanted to grow it to $1M.

When I asked her why, she didn’t flinch.
“I don’t need a million-dollar business,” she said. “But I want one. I just know I’m capable of it. And I want to be able to say I built it.”

She didn’t overexplain. Didn’t justify it with strategy or spreadsheets.
She just wanted it. And she owned it.

I left that call thinking: What’s my version of that?

Is there something I want…not because I need it, not because it makes sense on paper, but simply because it lights me up?

At first, I thought maybe I should lean all the way into my own writing. Drop the ghostwriting agency work. Stop chasing clients. Go write only the stories that totally excite me. Maybe even disappear into the woods and work on my memoir.

But every time I tried to talk myself into that path, something pulled me back.

I’d get fired up brainstorming newsletter strategy with a client. Or I’d find myself reading books like Buy Back Your Time or 10X is Easier Than 2X and actually wanting to apply the ideas. I’d picture building a business that’s fun, not burdensome. One where I still get to write, but I’m also helping founders tell their stories in bigger ways.

The entrepreneurial itch has not been going away. At times, it’s louder than my creative itch.

So I decided to stop overthinking it and do something about it.

I hired my friend Mitchell to help me run a 30-day sprint. We’re auditing everything I do in the business—what I enjoy, what drains me, what can be automated with AI, what should be handed off to a VA. The goal is to buy back my time so I can spend more of it doing what actually matters (e.g., interview clients, build relationships for new business, and do my own writing).

And then one night last week, after a full day of writing, meetings with clients, and spending time with my girlfriend, I was brushing my teeth before bed when I finally listened to a voice note from Mitchell.

Earlier in the day, I was on a Zoom call with Benjamin Hardy (author of 10X is Easier than 2X), who was pushing all of us to think bigger. He talked about creating an impossible goal and using it as a tool to redefine our business model. So I thought about what would have to be true to 10X the revenue in my business by next year, then sent a rambling voice memo to Mitchell.

I was half asleep by the time I got to listen to his response, toothbrush buzzing in my mouth, when he said:

“At times I hear you’re like hell yeah lets go hard on the business. Other times I hear say wait a minute I just want my time back so I can write and only do work I enjoy…Maybe both things can be true.”

It hit me like a brick.

Maybe I don’t have to choose between business and creativity.
Maybe I can build and write. Grow and protect my time. Push myself and stay present.

It was a holy shit moment.

For the first time, I let myself believe that it might be possible to want it all and like Riley is doing, go after it without guilt.

So here’s what that looks like right now:

I’m building systems to scale my business in a way that doesn’t steal my energy.
I’m targeting larger, more aligned clients with more robust storytelling projects.
I’m continuing to write this newsletter ~3x a month.
I just signed on to ghostwrite a book for a wealth advisor.
I’m training for a sub-3-hour marathon in January.
I’ve got my annual golf trip to Bandon Dunes and a fishing trip to the Deschutes River coming up.

I’m living a FULL life. And yeah, it’s a lot.

But how will I know I can’t handle it unless I try?

I’m treating this season as an experiment. To see what happens when I stop holding back. To see if I can build something big without sacrificing what matters. To prove to myself that both things can be true.

Would love your thoughts on this topic. What does “wanting it all” look like for you? Do you think it’s ok to go for it all?

Thank you for reading! As always please reply and let me know what resonated, what didn’t, or what you question. I love chatting about this stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew