Dirt Is a Fine Place to Start Growing
You're never starting over — you're starting with everything the failure taught you.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 90%
Lemieux's pivot framework attacks the three things that keep founders stuck: ego, sunk cost, and fear of what people will think. Her central move is the reframe on starting over — you can't start over, because the knowledge that got you here is inseparable from you, so the next thing begins with everything you learned. On fear, she is direct: anxiety doesn't go away when you avoid the thing; avoidance feeds it. The brain needs proof, and proof only comes from action. The title metaphor is the payoff — when your nose hits the ground, the only way back is up, and dirt is where the growing starts. She notes she can't name a single entrepreneur who hasn't had a significant setback that led to their next step.
Origin
Lemieux built a successful jewellery company, The Shine Project, selling into large retailers with a headquarters in downtown Phoenix — then realised, grinding through wholesale and holiday trade shows in Nashville, that this wasn't how she wanted to spend her life. She wanted to write. Rock bottom after losing the children meant she had nothing left to lose, which is what made the decision possible.
Core principles
- 01You cannot start over — the knowledge that got you here comes with you into the next thing.
- 02Ego keeps founders in the wrong place too long; that is where entrepreneurs fail most.
- 03Nobody cares as much as you think — once you have a next thing to talk about, no one remembers.
- 04Fear is not reduced by avoidance; avoidance feeds it. The brain needs proof.
- 05Fear is often mislabelled — you attach it to the current problem when it belongs to something unrelated.
- 06Staying stuck knowingly is more uncomfortable than trying and failing.
- 07Rock bottom is useful: with nothing left to lose you finally decide from what you actually want.
How to run it
- 1
Locate the real fear
Check whether you're actually afraid of the thing in front of you. Fear often gets attached as a label to the current problem while masking something unrelated you haven't dealt with.
- 2
Check for ego
Ask whether ego — what people know you for, what you've already put in — is what's keeping you in place. Lemieux says staying in the wrong place too long because of ego is where entrepreneurs fail most.
Watch out The cost isn't just your time; it's the thing that could have taken off and served people better.
- 3
Refuse the 'starting over' frame
Inventory what you know now that you didn't at the start. You're not starting over — you can't. Apply all of it to the next thing.
Pro tip Sunk time, money, and resources aren't lost; they converted into knowledge that travels with you.
- 4
Discount the social penalty
Nobody really cares that much. Yes it's hard in the moment, but once you have a next thing to talk about and feel proud of, no one remembers — and if anything, they're inspired.
- 5
Take the action to get proof
Reframe fear by doing the thing you're afraid of. Avoidance feeds fear; the brain needs proof that it can handle this, or that you'll figure it out even if things go south.
Pro tip Confidence here isn't 'it will work' — it's 'I'll figure it out either way.' No one's life goes according to plan.
- 6
Follow the excitement
When something makes you feel excited for the first time in a long time, keep following that feeling — it's a signal, and it can coexist with grief for what you're closing.
Pro tip Alignment often gets facilitated: Lemieux decided to write, and a top literary agent emailed her the next day.
Watch out Expect grief for the closed chapter and a sense of letting people down. Both are part of the price, not evidence you're wrong.
In the wild
Lemieux's product business sold into large retailers like Hallmark and ran from a large Phoenix headquarters, but the life was a grind of wholesale and holiday trade shows. She wanted to write. She made the pivot, got a book agent as her first step, and carried the grief of closing the chapter and letting people down.
→ Two books, a popular podcast (Healing Her), and a coaching practice for high-level entrepreneurs. 'Looking back, I can't imagine not making that decision.'
After losing the children, Lemieux describes herself as a zombie — dead but alive. At rock bottom she had nothing left to lose and, in her words, just didn't care anymore what people thought.
→ That was the only thing that would have forced the decision. She argues rock bottom is sometimes the best thing, because you finally decide off what you actually want.
Common mistakes
Treating a pivot as starting over
The 'I've put in so much time and money, I don't want to start over' frame destroys the next step. You literally cannot start over — the knowledge comes with you.
Letting ego set the exit timing
Staying because everyone knows you for this is the most common founder failure in Lemieux's view, and the cost is the aligned thing that would have worked.
Waiting for the fear to pass before acting
Fear and anxiety don't shrink through avoidance — avoidance feeds them and they keep getting bigger. Only action supplies the proof the brain needs.
Staying stuck because it feels safer
A year passes and the stuck feeling is identical. Lemieux argues the hamster wheel you know isn't working is more uncomfortable than trying something that might not.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders who know their business no longer fits their life but can't face the shame of closing it.
Not ideal for
Founders with a working business and a temporary motivation dip — this is for genuine misalignment, not a bad quarter.
From the transcript
“We get scared of this idea of starting over. I've put in so much time, so much money, so much resources. I don't want to…”
“The place where we fail the most as entrepreneurs is we stay in the wrong place for too long because our ego gets in the…”
“Our anxiety doesn't go away when we avoid the things that we're anxious about. Our fear doesn't go away when we avoid doing the things…”
“It is in that dirt. When your nose hits the ground, the only way back is up. And a lot of times that is the…”
From the episode
Ashley Lemieux: How Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Loss, Heal, and Build a Thriving Business
Ashley Lemieux