Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

What If All That Hard Work Is Holding You Back?

17 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:00

In this solo reflection, Cameron Herold critiques the pervasive hustle‑grind narrative that equates relentless extra work with business success. Drawing on 13 years of experience advising thousands of entrepreneurs, he observes that the most struggling businesses often follow the over‑work model, while the most successful ones adopt a different approach. He recounts a personal turning point that shifted his own mindset, and highlights how excessive sacrifice harms not only business performance but also family life, health, marriages, and relationships. The core message is that the extra work many entrepreneurs champion is actually detrimental to both their companies and personal well‑being.

Chapters

What I realized is that actually that extra work is hurting the business. The overwhelming, like, conversation in our media around business, that kind of thing, is hustle, grind, lean in, right? That's the message. And then I thought about my work. I'm torn with all of that. And then I thought about my clients over, like, you know, I've worked with so many thousands of entrepreneurs at some level for the last 13 years. And then I realized some of the worst examples are people who did that. And some of the best examples are the opposite. And then I started looking around and thinking about my own life and what did I do? And I realized, oh, there's a key moment where things shifted for me. And I started looking at some of my clients who shifted and were different, some public figures. And I realized, oh, maybe that sacrifice— we know it costs us, impacts our family life, impacts our health, it impacts our marriages, our relationships. But we think it's important because we're building something. So we make that deal. What I realized is that actually that extra work is hurting the business.