There’s an idea you keep circling. You’ve put it down and picked it back up so many times that it’s worn smooth. You’ve been sensible. You’ve been polite. You’ve done what was expected, and done it well.
And still, some part of you keeps pacing at the edge of the room.
This post is for you.
The wild part of you
In her 1992 book Women Who Run with the Wolves, the Jungian analyst and storyteller Clarissa Pinkola Estés describes a wild, instinctive nature that lives in every woman: good instincts, passionate creativity and a kind of ageless knowing. She argues that it gets quietened, trained and tidied away by a world that prefers us manageable. It became a bestseller and has stayed in conversation for over thirty years.
You don’t have to agree with every word of it. It’s a book of myth and psychology, not a business manual, and people take different things from it. But the idea has lasted because so many women recognise the feeling: the part that knows what she wants long before the sensible part has finished making a list.
That part of you is not a problem to be managed. It might be your best source of ideas.
How wild ideas get tamed
Nobody takes them away all at once. It happens quietly:
“Be realistic.” Said so often you start saying it to yourself first.
“Who do you think you are?” The question that has ended more good ideas than any bad plan.
Waiting for permission. From a partner, a boss, a bank balance, a better time.
Waiting until it’s perfect. Which is another way of waiting forever.
Comparing. Looking at someone else’s polished result and forgetting that it started messy.
None of these is a verdict. They’re habits, and habits can change.
Wild gets you started, but grounded keeps you going.
Instinct is brilliant at telling you what pulls you and its less good at working out how to pay the rent. The women who build something lasting, that they love, usually do both: they follow the pull and they do the practical thinking.
So running wild doesn’t mean quitting your job on Monday (but don’t let us hold you back!). It means giving your ideas room to be ‘too big’, ‘too strange’ and ‘too much’ for as long as you need, before deciding which ones to shape.
Five ways to run wild, on purpose
Catch every idea, and judge none of them. Put them somewhere safe the moment they arrive, even the ones that seem silly. Especially those.
Let them be too big. Ask what you would do if it worked, if no one were watching, if it were allowed. You can scale it down later. You can’t scale up an idea you never let yourself have.
Follow the heat. Notice which ideas make you lean forward. That’s information.
Choose one small thing to try this week. A conversation, a sketch, a test, a first draft. Ten minutes counts.
Find your pack. The women in the stories you’ll read about in this series almost always had mentors, communities or friends who backed them. You don’t have to do this alone.
Feel wild, while being wise
A few grown-up notes, because your wild side deserves to be protected, not exposed:
Keep your income while you explore. Start small enough that trying doesn’t put you at risk.
Look at the numbers early. Not to kill the idea, just to understand it. What would it cost, and what would you charge?
Not every idea has to become a business. Some are just for joy, and that counts.
Talk to an accountant before you make any big change, especially about tax and super.
It takes time. Real businesses usually grow slowly and being patient isn’t the same as failing, it’s an unfurling.
A place to run wild
This why we created Sholo. It’s a co-founder app for solos, built to run wild with you. Part dream catcher, part mentor, part nerd, and yes, there’s a wolf. There are three AI chat modes powered by Anthropic and shaped by our all-female team:
Dream is a blank canvas where no idea is too much. It says yes first, and every chat starts fresh on purpose. Nobody is going to ‘shoosh’ you here!
Mentor helps you find your why and the one next step.
Nerd talks through pricing, costs and what you’d need to sell, in plain language.
Mentor and Nerd remember what you’ve shared, so you never start from scratch. Sholo gives honest, kind feedback, with no flattery and no hype, and it never asks how much money you have or how many hours you’ve got. There’s an Inspo board for the pictures, colours and places that make you want to build, which you can use to start a chat. You can also keep lists, set and celebrate goals and collect wins (with confetti, of course) and build a milestone timeline, as long as you like, so you can scroll back and see how far you’ve come. Your ideas stay yours: your information is never sold or used for advertising.
Sholo comes with 300 AI chat messages a month. You can try Sholo free for 30 days, and after that the plan is A$24.99 a month through the App Store.
Always remember, Sholo is an AI, not an oracle. It doesn’t tell you what to do, and it can’t promise a result for your business. Your instincts stay in charge. It just gives them somewhere to run.
Let’s run!
You don’t need permission. You don’t need to be ready. You need somewhere to start, and a first small step.
Let her out of the room.
Try Sholo free for 30 days at getsholo.com.
Sholo is an AI co-founder. It isn’t a lawyer, accountant, financial adviser or health professional, and it can’t promise any outcome for your business. See the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for the full details. Women Who Run With the Wolves is by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Ballantine Books, 1992). Sholo is not affiliated with the author or publisher.
