“Don’t become the world's worst boss to yourself” with Jo Hooper
Putting yourself first in every decision in your business
“A lot of the beliefs people hold about work are so deeply entrenched, we see them as truth: that work has to be hard, that your value is found in your time, that you must put other people first to be a good human.”
Jo Hooper is the founder of Get Wildly Free and creator of the Me First Method. She helps founders, freelancers and small business owners design businesses that support their mental health and the life they want to live, without falling back into burnout. Through her coaching and group programmes, Jo challenges the myths around productivity and worth, helping people work in ways that feel good, sustainable, and aligned.
If you’ve ever found yourself saying “yes” when you didn’t really want to, or believing that working harder automatically means doing better - this one’s going to hit home.
In this episode of Do Your Thing, I chat with Jo Hooper, founder of Get Wildly Free, about redefining what work looks like and putting yourself first in business (and in life).
Jo helps business owners, freelancers and entrepreneurs build businesses that support their mental health, not sabotage it. Our chat gets into where those unhealthy work beliefs come from, how to start undoing them, and what it really means to run your business in a way that gives you the life you want.
From corporate conditioning to conscious business
Before running her own business, Jo worked in corporate communications and like so many of us, she absorbed a set of beliefs about work that rewarded overworking and burnout.
“When I was in corporate, I basically just believed that I had to work myself into the ground to get ahead. The unhealthy behaviour I was displaying was positively reinforced by promotions and pay rises.”
That’s where so many of our work habits come from. Not from our own values, but from systems that reward self-sacrifice. Jo’s work now is about helping people unlearn that conditioning and build something more sustainable. Over time, she started working more and more with people who run their own businesses, helping them run things in a way that actually gives them the life they want, and not become the world’s worst boss to themselves.
Putting yourself first (and why it’s so hard)
One of the biggest themes in Jo’s work is the importance of putting yourself first. It’s as simple as putting yourself first in every decision. “Simple, but really hard to do”, Jo says.
Because even when we know that’s what we should be doing, it doesn’t come naturally. Most of us have spent years putting everyone else first, clients, customers, colleagues, family.
“Constantly putting other people first, squeezing people in, saying yes to calls when you don’t really have time, reducing your price, just drains the life out of you.”
And Jo’s right, that’s not sustainable. You can’t build a healthy business when your default setting is to deplete yourself.
Challenging what we believe about work
Jo has a way of getting right to the heart of the problem and in this case, it’s our beliefs.
“A lot of the beliefs people hold about work are so deeply entrenched, we see them as truth: that work has to be hard, that your value is found in your time, that you must put other people first to be a good human. In your business, you get to say, ‘No, I don’t want to put everyone else first and work myself into the ground.’ And that’s okay.”
These are the rules so many of us grew up following. But when you run your own business, you get to question them and choose differently.
That mindset shift is what changes everything: moving from being reactive and self-sacrificing, to making decisions that actually support the kind of life you want.
Burnout and boundaries
Jo talks about burnout with honesty and practicality. She knows that fixing burnout isn’t about quick self-care fixes, it’s about deeper change. That means boundaries - not just with clients, but with yourself.
“Rest doesn’t fix burnout. Changing the things that burn you out fixes burnout. Boundaries give clarity to people. If I set a boundary and stick to it, then people are clear about what they can expect.”
Still, holding those boundaries is often hardest when it comes to ourselves. Jo knows that it’s so much easier to let ourselves down than let other people down. That’s why it’s so hard to hold boundaries with ourselves.
It’s a reminder that protecting your time and energy isn’t selfish, it’s what allows you to do your best work, and actually enjoy running your business.
Redefining success
The thread running through all of Jo’s work is the idea that business doesn’t have to look one way. You don’t have to chase constant productivity or hustle to prove your worth. Capitalism has fed us that to be valuable, we must be constantly productive. But, as Jo says “you don’t have to be productive all the time. It’s fine.”
In Jo’s world, success is about balance, fulfilment and peace, not how many hours you’ve worked or how busy you look.
“In my business, I’m a better coach, I’m more creative and focused when my business is easy: and I don’t have to work myself into the ground.”
It’s a refreshingly simple truth that’s easy to forget: when we stop pushing so hard, we often do our best work.
Doing your thing
For Jo, putting yourself first isn’t indulgent, it’s necessary. It’s how you build a business that feels like yours, not just another version of what you’ve been told success should look like.
That’s what Do Your Thing is all about: questioning the rules, backing yourself, and building a business that supports your life, not one that drains it.
You can follow Jo on Instagram and find out more about her via her website.
And if you enjoyed this chat, you can listen to the full episode of Do your thing, and subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts.