Episode Details

In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, eight founders answer one deeply personal question:

What would you say in a voicemail to your younger self?

You’ll hear from Lisa Larson, Jane Alexander, Nate Hebbert, Nicholas Cook, Mike Gross, Leslie Hemedes, Shawn Sundsvold, and Stephen Custer as they look back on the earlier versions of themselves — the ambitious ones, the scared ones, the grieving ones, the overthinking ones, the waiting ones, and the ones who had no idea how much life and business would eventually teach them.

This episode is full of hard-earned wisdom about trusting the process, accepting help, grieving what you lose, protecting your spark, saying no sooner, starting before you feel ready, surrounding yourself with the right people, and realizing that the path rarely unfolds the way you thought it would.

For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur who feels behind, uncertain, afraid, or tempted to wait for perfect clarity, this episode is a reminder that you do not need the whole road mapped out. You need the courage to take the next step — and the willingness to keep becoming the person your journey is shaping you into.

✨ What You’ll Take Away

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Trust that your experiences are shaping you, even when they feel messy or disappointing.
• Accept help, be vulnerable, and share your story more openly.
• Stop forcing every opportunity to become “the one” and trust the direction your energy is taking you.
• Make room for grief so you can continue loving, dreaming, and building.
• Choose the right people to surround yourself with.
• Say no earlier, think less, and move before everything feels perfect.
• Come back to your “why” when fear, rejection, or uncertainty gets loud.
• Stop waiting for the perfect moment to start the thing that has been on your heart.
• Recognize that some people are wired to build — and that safety is not always the same as alignment.

🎙️ Meet the Collab Week Contributors

Lisa Larson — Mindful Corporate Mastery
Lisa Larson is the founder of Mindful Corporate Mastery, where she helps leaders and high performers build clarity under pressure before reactivity takes control. Her work focuses on performance-focused mindfulness, micro-interventions, and sustainable operating rhythms that support clearer thinking, better decisions, and long-term performance.

Connect with Lisa:
Website: https://www.mindfulcorporatemastery.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-larson-atx/
Free Program: https://awakeningperformance.com/5-day-clarity-challenge/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6EqbbvCrXoBgtEt21ZItVX?si=fMY2efj0S7KTfwCikdibHg

Jane Alexander — Emma Advisor
Jane Alexander is the founder and CEO of Emma Advisor, an AI platform helping families navigate the path from high school to college with more clarity, strategy, and confidence. After an unconventional educational path and more than a decade advising leaders at over 200 colleges and universities, Jane built Emma Advisor from the belief that opportunity should not depend on insider knowledge, social capital, or expensive consultants.

Connect with Jane:
Website: https://emmaadvisor.ai/

Nate Hebbert — SelfWare Consulting
Nate Hebbert is an entrepreneur and software engineer who previously worked for 3M, KPMG, and Domo, where he developed custom Java code for Fortune 500 clients. After burnout threatened to derail his career, Nate became obsessed with h