Impact Founders, Listen Up!

A new podcast from Linda van Egmond about honest shifts and smart moves for overwhelmed, mission-driven founders.

You're building an impact business that matters, but you're drowning in decisions and day-to-day actions. This Is Harder than I Want It to Be gives overwhelmed impact founders practical frameworks to delegate effectively, build independent teams, and create systems that work for you.

Linda van Egmond draws from a lot of failure and success during 20 years of supporting impact startups, and running her own B-corp start-up, to deliver 5-8 minute episodes. One shift, one tool, one step forward. New episodes every other Thursday.

About the Host

Linda van Egmond

Fractional CMO & Integrator aka Temporary Co-Founder for Impact Founders

If you want someone to tell you you're doing great..., I’m not your person.

If you want to know exactly why your company isn’t scaling the way it should, and how to fix it, that’s my zone.

I step into the messy middle: between “we have great plans” and “we’re actually pulling them off.” The part where everything feels urgent, but nothing is running as smoothly as it should. There I fix the stuff you don’t want to deal with (but know you should).

I’m a Fractional Integrator, or temporary co-founder, for impact-driven founders who want to grow without burning out or losing sight of their mission.

Recent Episodes

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Vision & Business Direction Delegating & Team Enablement Communication & Alignment Strategy, Planning & Execution Goals, Accountability & Performance Productivity & Time Founder Growth & Leadership

Aug. 13, 2026

Why am I the bottleneck in my own business?

“I Was the Problem and I Didn't Know It” Sometimes the thing slowing the business down is not the market, the team, or the timing. It is the founder who has become so central to everything that the business cannot grow without cracking. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why founders often look everywhere else for the problem before realizing they may be the bottleneck. Reality Check: Linda shares the story of a founder who thought she was holding the business together, but was actually holding it b

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Aug. 7, 2026

This Is Harder than I Want It to Be Season 2 Trailer

This Is Harder than I Want It To Be: Season 2—What Happens After Things Break Linda van Egmond introduces Season 2 of "This is Harder Than I Want It To Be," focused on what happens after failures and breakdowns in leadership, teams, systems, or growth. She argues that failure is part of good leadership and highlights founders who acknowledge mistakes and fix them. Unlike Season 1, which covered shifts made before things break, this season begins each episode with a real failure from her or fou

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July 30, 2026

At what point is my business actually ready for structure - and how do I know I'm not just adding bureaucracy? Listener Q&A

FAQ 2: "At what point is my business actually ready for structure - and how do I know I'm not just adding bureaucracy?" Worried that “more structure” will kill your scrappy edge and turn your business into a slow corporate machine? In this episode, Linda breaks down the real difference between structure that creates clarity and bureaucracy that creates drag, plus a quick test to make sure anything you add actually replaces friction. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why founders fear structure will

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July 16, 2026

Do I need an integrator or do I just need to get better at managing my time? Listener Q&A

FAQ 1: "Do I need an integrator or do I just need to get better at managing my time?" You don’t have a “time management problem” if your days are packed with decisions, questions, and fires that only you can put out. In this episode, Linda helps you figure out whether you need a better system, or a better structure. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why “I just need to get more organised” is often a sign you’re carrying structural load, not just a messy calendar. Reality Check: Time management only

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July 2, 2026

Done Is Better Than Perfect: Season 1 Review + Season 2 Preview

You don’t have to be a “podcast person” to start a podcast. In this episode, Linda shares the behind-the-scenes truth of Season 1 and the simple system that helped them ship ten episodes, even with perfectionism in the room. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why “I don’t even listen to podcasts” can still be the start of a podcast. Reality Check: The honest constraints: no commute, no headphones, and a brain that needs quiet to think. The Shift: The moment it clicked that voice carries nuance text

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June 18, 2026

Your Business Needs to Work Without You

Thought you were building a team, but it still feels like everything depends on you? In this episode, Linda breaks down what actually has to change for your business to run without you and gives you a practical 90-day roadmap to make it real. Link to Operational Assessment Free Scoping Session with Linda What You'll Learn: The Hook: The real question isn’t “can you take a vacation?” It’s “would the business still function if you had to disappear for two weeks with no warning?” Reality Check: A

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June 4, 2026

'Just Hire Someone' - That's Terrible Advice

When you’re overwhelmed, hiring sounds like the obvious fix. But if you don’t have clear outcomes and simple processes first, you’re not hiring help, you’re hiring more questions (and more chaos). In this episode, Linda shows you the “pre-hire” work that makes bringing someone on actually reduce your workload. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Hiring doesn’t solve overwhelm; it often turns chaos into expensive chaos. Reality Check: A founder hired three people fast and ended up working more because

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May 21, 2026

How Small Problems Become Big Fires

Ever notice how the thing that “wasn’t urgent” somehow becomes the thing that blows up your week? In this episode, Linda explains why small problems escalate when they have nowhere to land, and how a simple weekly ritual can keep issues from turning into emergencies. What You'll Learn: The Hook: The real reason issues don’t surface early is usually the system, not the people. Reality Check: A client complaint sat untouched for two weeks because it felt too big for chat but not big enough for a

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May 7, 2026

The Meeting That Saves Me 10 Hours a Week

Your team is flooding you with messages and “quick syncs,” but somehow you still don’t know what’s actually getting done. In this episode, Linda breaks down the one 30-minute weekly meeting that replaces the chaos with a simple rhythm: everyone sees the same numbers, surfaces the real issues, and leaves with clear priorities. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why constant Slack pings and endless meetings are usually a symptom of missing one key weekly rhythm. Reality Check: How a growing team can c

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April 23, 2026

It's Not A Process If It Only Works When YOU Do It

You take a day off and everything grinds to a halt, because the “process” is actually just you. In this episode, Linda van Egmond shows you how to turn what’s in your head into a system your team can run without constant check-ins. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why your phone blows up the moment you step away, and what that reveals about your business. Reality Check: How growth can increase pressure when the critical knowledge lives in one person’s head. The Shift: A process doesn’t have to be

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