Newsletter #12
The Freedom to Create: What Really Holds British Entrepreneurs Back
Hi there,
This edition of The Happiness Habit is a two-part newsletter. I started writing the newsletter earlier this week and found myself getting deeper into the idea of High Vibration Business (which I talked about in my last newsletter - click here) and how it might apply more specifically to entrepreneurs.
The more I dug in to this area, the more intriguing I found the story that was beginning to emerge. So much so that it felt like too much in-depth content for any sane man or woman to take in on a single Saturday morning read. 🤣🤣🤣
So, at the risk of doing you all a disservice, I decided to split the article into two parts.
In this first part I delve into the hidden problem that many (if not most) entrepreneurs are facing in Britain today. As I did more research into this area, some of the findings really opened up my eyes and I wanted to share those facts and figures.
In part 2, out in two weeks’ time, I delve into the solution. How entrepreneurs can help alleviate the challenges I reveal today.
Unsurprisingly, the challenges I unearth and the solution I suggest are psychological and spiritual in nature. Nothing unusual there. That is what I write about, after all.
But I suspect the exact nature and the extent of the challenges maybe surprising. They certainly were for me.
And therefore, the exact nature and extent of the solution maybe more appealing to you. I certainly hope they are.
The Freedom To Create
The story that follows highlights something peculiarly British that underpins our entrepreneurial ecosystem. There’s an invisible and limiting force that’s hindering our entrepreneurial efforts. It doesn't make the headlines or appear in government reports anywhere. It's not restrictive tax rates nor lack of business support programs nor ineffective local economic initiatives.
It's far less obvious than these things. But in many ways, far more intrusive and restrictive.
As a business founder and owner of small businesses for over 20 years, I'm only now beginning to recognise this invisible force.
The invisible force comes into view when we recognise that there are two very striking and potent characteristics inherent in the archetypal entrepreneur.
The first characteristic is an almost insatiable urge to create and build businesses. I know I have that creative urge. I wouldn’t class myself as a ‘creative’ per se. I’m not a designer or an artist. But I am drawn to the idea of creating businesses like a moth is drawn to the flame. I can’t help myself.
And I know I’m not alone. Britain is awash with similarly creative, entrepreneurial people.
There are a lot of us out there. And the numbers tell a remarkable story.
We're living through an unprecedented entrepreneurial creative surge - 89,515 new ventures launched just in Q1 2025, with nearly one in three UK adults either running a business or planning to start one in the very near future.
The creative urge is undeniable. We are an incredibly creative bunch. We love building businesses; 64% of Britons dream of building something of their own.
We love coming up with ideas and turning them into products and services. We love the idea of building an income stream for ourselves; creating something that is meaningful to us. We yearn the freedom to create our own future.
We yearn the freedom to create - full stop.
Yet beneath this surge of undeniable creativity lies the second characteristic. A troubling undercurrent that plagues our creativity; doubt.
The Fear That Whispers
It seems every creative desire and great idea we have is quickly followed by a strong sense of doubt. A quiet but powerful voice inside whispers "But what if I fail?"
At first you might think that this is understandable business caution. Sensible prudence. A case of sound due diligence. But there is something deeper going on. Something that runs through our cultural DNA. Something that is more like a persistent gene of doubt that is on high alert in the British psyche.
That gene of doubt is best evidenced through this statistic; 58% of UK adults say fear of failure prevents them from starting a new business venture. That figure is 20% higher than the global average. Think about that for a moment. We're not just cautious - we're uniquely and disproportionately fearful.
A fear that’s preventing us from doing the very things we really want to do. A fear that is stifling all that in-built creative energy.
I believe this gene of doubt not only affects ‘would-be’ entrepreneurs. I believe it dogs many of us already on the entrepreneurial path. As we build our businesses, as we meet challenge after challenge, I believe many of us end up on the wrong side of doubt.
Why? There appears to be two central causes.
Firstly, we lose confidence in our core sense of purpose. And secondly, we fall foul of limiting beliefs.
A Fear That’s Holding Us Back
Let’s start with that clear sense of purpose. Because here's where the story gets interesting but undeniably sad.
The story starts with a number; 89% of young Britons believe that their life lacks purpose and meaning. 89%. Nearly nine out of ten young people feeling fundamentally lost about their direction in life.
Even among older generations, 55% feel the same lack of fulfillment. Only two out of ten British people say they've found genuine purpose and meaning in their life.
This isn't just about career confusion. This is about something much more fundamental. Much more endemic. We've created a culture where people don’t feel empowered and confident enough to live the life they truly want to live.
And this leads to great confusion.
We end up in careers because they look good on our CVs but they don’t feel good to our souls. We lose clarity about what makes us tick and who we truly are. We lose touch with what we're meant to create in the world. And this lack of purpose applies to entrepreneurs as well as employees.
All too often the businesses we started end up morphing into something completely different. We cling on to the metrics of success as defined by other people (bank managers, accountants, business press, trade organisations) and steer the business in that direction rather than staying true to that initial sense of purpose that got us going in the first place.
I know what this feels like. I spent most of my adult life following a career path and building businesses that looked good on paper, that earned good money and created a strong track record. But I never felt like I cracked the ‘full of meaning and purpose’ code.
It wasn't that I lacked capability. It was that I lacked clarity about my authentic self. I lacked the confidence in my own convictions. I got lost in making a living. In building a credible business reputation. I couldn’t see what truly mattered beyond surface ambitions.
And probably more worrying than that, I didn’t even realise I had an authentic self that had inner human needs that no amount of surface ambition could meet.
Lacking confidence in a strong sense of purpose is bad enough. But the story gets worse. We also have limiting beliefs to contend with!
The Weight of Never Being Enough
Even if we have a clear sense of purpose and direction, UK entrepreneurship carries another quaintly British burden. We've elevated self-deprecation to an art form, but it's costing us dearly. It manifests itself in a whole array of limiting beliefs that align neatly under the title; imposter syndrome.
Last year it was reported that 84% of entrepreneurs experienced imposter syndrome. That figure jumped from 24% in 2018 to 78% in 2022. We're becoming increasingly convinced that our successes are flukes, our capabilities overstated, our achievements undeserved.
90% of women and 85% of men have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their working lives. These aren't isolated cases - this is our cultural norm.
This is a heavy burden to carry. The constant internal commentary questioning every decision, every idea, every moment of confidence. The exhausting mental gymnastics of trying to prove our worthiness to an audience that exists primarily in our own minds.
And what flows from our lack of worthiness? The perfectionism trap.
We worry we’re not good enough so we try harder to satisfy the critic in our own minds. If we don't trust our authentic selves, we compensate by trying to be flawless. Endless revisions. Second-guessing other’s opinions. Time wasted, energy spent, emotions frayed, trying to polish ideas to impossible standards.
The Toll of Fighting Ourselves
This internal battle, this lack of confidence in our core sense of purpose and the raft of limiting beliefs we carry around, isn’t abstract. It has real, measurable, destructive consequences.
43% of entrepreneurs don't sleep well due to work stress. 55% experience physical symptoms of burnout. Our decision-making deteriorates. Our creativity suffers. Our relationships strain under the weight of unprocessed fear and doubt.
We're literally making ourselves sick. We have this incredibly strong creative urge that drives us forward but a fear-filled mind that hampers every move. It’s like running a marathon with the weight of the world on your shoulders.
And as I mentioned at the start, this is a uniquely British phenomenon. We've evolved specific cultural conditions that amplify the struggle we face. Our creative urge is inherent. Our self-doubt is learned. The fear of failure is transmitted through generations of "keeping your head down," “doing as you’re told” and "not getting too big for your boots."
Beyond Traditional Solutions
I used to think the answer to this struggle was to be found in better business training. God knows I’ve tried the lot; a degree in Business Studies, an MBA from Warwick Business School, hundreds of business books read and untold ££££s spent on training courses. Many of these things did help. I have definitely learned a lot about business and how to run financially successful companies.
But now I see that the struggle isn't a battle with an invisible external force. The forces are coming from within. The issue is an inside job. Having a strong sense of purpose and being free from limiting beliefs are human endeavours that play out in the business arena. The work starts and finishes within us.
That’s why I believe the primary task for British entrepreneurs isn’t learning how to build more financially successful businesses. The primary task is learning how to become a more successful business PERSON.
All the business education in the world won't help if you don't know who you truly are. All the funding in the world won't matter if you're building someone else's vision instead of your own. All the ecosystem support becomes irrelevant if you're too afraid to authentically show up.
This is why traditional approaches fall short. They address all the external symptoms while ignoring the root cause: a disconnection from our authentic creative selves and our inner human needs.
I only see that now because I’ve been through my own personal journey and spent the last few years honing my entrepreneurial skills. Not the skills required to master the external mechanics of business but the skills needed to master the internal workings of a creative, entrepreneurial mind.
The Path to High Vibration
And that, my friends, is where the world of High Vibration comes in to play.
When someone truly understands how energy and vibration works within themselves and has developed the skills required to stay in the high vibration zones, something profound happens.
Firstly, they are able to connect with their genuine purpose - not the purpose they think they should have, or the purpose that their business has adopted, but the one that emerges from their deepest truth. The one that satisfies that inherent creative urge. Having confidence in this core sense of purpose helps build clarity and direction that sets aside all forms of doubt and confusion.
Secondly, limiting beliefs lose their potency. It’s not so much that the fear completely disappears. But it transforms from a paralysing force of unworthiness and second-guessing into useful information. The imposter syndrome softens when you're building from authentic desire rather than external expectation. The scattered energy consolidates when you're aligned with what truly matters to you.
This isn't about positive thinking or surface-level motivation. This is about doing the deep work of understanding yourself. Of distinguishing between culturally inherited fears and genuine intuitive guidance. Of learning how to access what I call your "high vibration zones". These are the states of being where creativity flows, decisions clarify, and action feels energised rather than forced.
Only 16% of British adults have had any form of exposure to the tools that can unlock these high vibration zones. Only 20% have found genuine purpose and meaning in their lives. These statistics aren’t coincidental. They’re correlatory.
This tells us something profound: we're not giving people the tools they need for this inner work and I see that the creative entrepreneur, in particular, is suffering as a result.
The Life You Truly Desire
I called this first part of the newsletter ‘The Freedom to Create; What Really Holds British Entrepreneurs Back’. It’s been a bit negative to be honest. Not my usual upbeat message. But that’s because I wanted to highlight the problem. I wanted to get into the detail and the dynamics of the invisible force that’s holding British entrepreneurs back.
The next edition (part 2 out in two weeks), will be much more upbeat. That’s when I’ll delve into to the solution. That’s when we’ll look at the things we can do to overcome our cultural gene of doubt and find the freedom to create the future we so desperately yearn.
Part 2 is called ‘The Freedom to Create; How Entrepreneurs Can Find The Life They Truly Desire’.
Now that sound much more optimistic and high vibration. Much more like me.
I can’t wait!
Until then,
Simon