EPISODE 43: Founders’ Reflections

Written By Kimberley Hiebert

May 2025 in the Rearview

Some months feel like a sprint. Others feel like a marathon. And then there’s May… where it felt like we were building the plane while flying it.

If you’re new here, Darren and I are the co-founders of Door Gurus, a national franchise that’s grown out of a lifetime in the trades and a belief that business can be both profitable and maintain a people-first mentality. May marked one of the most defining months we’ve had yet. It tested our systems, our energy, and our commitment to this vision. It also taught us that real momentum doesn’t usually come with fireworks. It comes in the middle of grey skies and headwinds.

Let’s unpack what happened.

Launching Our First Two Franchise Partners

This was a big one. We officially launched our first partner and trained our second. Those may sound like checkboxes, but the truth is, each step revealed the gaps we hadn’t anticipated.

Partner #1 gave us insight. Partner #2 gave us clarity.

Each round of training showed us what was missing in our systems, our structure, and our approach. It stretched us as leaders and demanded a new level of consistency. Darren, who’s wildly experienced in the field but self-proclaimed “not a structured guy”, had to lead structured technical training. Our team had to create slide decks, correct training flows and curriculum on the fly, while I sat through meeting after meeting, developing the business content behind the scenes.

It was heavy. But it was progress.

Behind the Scenes: The Work Nobody Sees

Franchising isn’t glamorous. It’s administration. It’s standard operating procedures (SOPs). It’s calendar invites and slide deck revisions and making sure no one misses a detail because that detail could become a real problem at scale.

May was full of what I call the “not-sexy” parts of business. The kind of work that makes your eyes glaze over but is absolutely necessary if you want to scale something sustainable. I won’t lie. It drained me. At this stage of life, I just don’t bounce back from eight hours of screen time like I used to.

But structure is what allows us to replicate. And replication is what allows our franchise partners to thrive.

Why Founders Get Burnt Out

I’d be remiss not to say it: May was exhausting. Darren was on the road more than he was home. He attended tradeshows, travelled to franchise territories, and delivered in-person support while carrying a smile and a suitcase. Meanwhile, I felt the deep isolation that often comes with business-building. Even when you’re surrounded by a great team, the work of a founder can be lonely.

We were in bed by 9 PM most nights. Not because we were bored. Because we were tapped out.

Still, there’s beauty in the burnout. It forces reflection. It sharpens your focus. It makes you ask hard questions about what matters.

A Bike Ride Metaphor That Said It All

On the last Sunday of May, we went for a cold, windy bike ride with our daughter. It wasn’t supposed to be intense, but the weather had other plans. Strong winds. Grey skies. A headwind so aggressive it almost blew her off her bike.

At one point, we considered turning back. But she looked at us and said, “You’ll regret not finishing this.”

That hit me. Because that was May. A month of resistance, fatigue, and the temptation to pull back. But we didn’t. We pedalled through. And just like that ride, we realized something powerful on the way home: Momentum follows persistence.

When you’re building something new, especially as mid-life founders, it can feel like you’re pedalling into the wind. But if you keep going, you eventually catch the tailwind. You don’t feel it until it’s behind you. But when it hits, it carries you further than you thought possible.

Final Takeaways

For Darren, the biggest win of the month was seeing real traction. Those “shots on net” finally turned into goals.

For me, the win was in the resilience. In the team. In the willingness to sit in the uncomfortable moments and build the systems that will hold this vision long after we step away.

If you’re in a season like this, keep going. Ride the headwinds. Celebrate the small wins. And trust that you’re not building the plane to crash: you’re building it to fly.

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Kimberley Hiebert
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EPISODE 42: He’s 65!