Finding Strength in the Middle | The WIP by OrangeWIP

Some weeks are powered by caffeine, grit, and a little bit of improvising. You celebrate a few small wins, handle a few unexpected setbacks, and somehow keep showing up through it all.

This article breaks down why that middle zone is not a distraction from progress but the very place where progress happens. It highlights the small actions that compound, the perspective shifts that matter, and the steady showing up that shapes long term success.

It is a reminder that the work you are doing right now is building more than you realize.

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Most founders chase success. Andrew Oliver chased purpose and built something bigger than both.

As the founder of 4th Write Records, Andrew turned a touring band into a full creative studio producing original films like Paperweight on Amazon Prime. He gets real about the risk, resilience, and relentless drive it takes to scale without losing the passion that started it all.

Hear how he turned chaos into creative freedom and why persistence will always outperform perfection.

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Before Cokie Cox climbed Mount Everest, a seasoned climber warned coming down would be harder than the ascent. Why? Because very few people would relate to her experience.

That’s not too different from the journey of entrepreneurs who find fewer peers the farther they go, says Cokie, founder of investment management firm, Alphavest. She’s also developed a coaching practice based on her own experience of trying to get her life in order as an entrepreneur. Cokie talks about the many ways that “lonely at the top” feeling can crop up for founders, and how to resolve it one day at a time.

As a founder, does the phrase “lonely at the top” ring true for you?

Yes, and I think that at the root of every single one of us, no matter our station in life, we're all wired to connect. So, when you summit Everest and come home with this crazy, badass story to tell people—and no one has the bandwidth or the attention span to give a shit —it feels lonely.

All I wanted to do was use that adventure and that experience to connect with other people. But what it ended up doing was isolating me on an island with a handful of women who had done it. My first step back into a big box store in the U.S. after the Himalayas it was, “Oh my gosh, Cokie! How was your trip? Oh, look, tomatoes are on sale.” And that happened more times than I can count on two hands.

So that's one aspect of the loneliness.

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