My family and I are spending three weeks in one of my happy places; a place I’ve spent part of nearly every summer since I was a baby. I’m grateful that running this business and my husband’s remote job give us the flexibility to work remotely for most of the time, and take much-needed vacation towards the end.

Whenever I’m here, especially since living in Nashville the past five years, where it’s far too hot in July, I prioritize getting out for runs and taking out the road bike. Earlier this week, I took one of those runs. On it, I noticed something that, for whatever reason that morning, sparked curiosity and inspired this week’s In Focus piece.

What was it?

A man cruising down a highly trafficked road, with no shoulder, on his bike without a helmet.

I’ll get on a soapbox for a moment and say I’m pro basic safety precautions. Bike helmets go right into that category.

Helmets protect something pretty important: our heads. They help limit the damage from an unplanned accident. Potentially prevent unrecoverable injury. It’s not a guarantee, but the data is compelling: Helmets are linked to about a 60% drop in head injuries, 58% reduction in brain injuries and a 73% drop in fatal outcomes.

Yet, the person I saw this week, or countless people I’ve seen on their bikes, Citi Bikes or Lime scooters, choose not to wear them.

Is it because a helmet is slightly bulky to carry around on a commute?

Is it because the rider is more of a risk taker?

Is it because the rider lost the helmet last week and hasn’t bought a new one?

No matter the reason, the calculus here is a willingness to take a risk that has disproportionate downside if things don’t go exactly as expected.

Shift gears to business. If you’re building a business, it’s an asset. Either an asset to you personally, or one with real value to the market or a future buyer. Whatever drives that value is worth protecting.

So, let’s go back to the notion of what’s “recoverable” through this lens.

It’s much harder to get over:

Let’s take the first point: protecting your IP.

Imagine the following scenario:

You’ve built a successful business. Revenue is growing, there’s a talented team in place and you’re known for something real. So much so that a few interested parties recently approached you to buy the business.

You’re ready for the next chapter. You engage. Diligence begins.

You need proof that you own the original IP.

You dig back into your records. It turns out, the freelancer who originally built it never had signed paperwork in place. Oops! You don’t own the IP you thought you did; that freelancer does.

The deal doesn’t close. You need to figure out how to buy the IP you thought was yours in the first place.

What helmet-like precautions could’ve led to a different outcome? (Note: This isn’t legal advice; purely a practical perspective.)

It might feel like boring and unnecessary costs (time and/or money) in the early days. But betting something won’t go wrong down the road isn’t exactly a winning strategy either.

My take. Do the boring things early that protect what’s most important. Put the helmet on and ride with more peace of mind.

Jamie R. Cox provides brand-led strategic advisory for founders of service-based businesses. Jamie works with founders to build clearer positioning and stronger brand foundations that lead to more aligned decision-making across their business.

Q: When did you know you were destined to build a business?
A: “I don't know that there was a specific moment, but I grew up on a farm in rural Indiana, and I attribute a lot of that experience to my interest in running a business. I watched my dad work a full-time job while also running and managing a farm alongside my grandfather. He seemed to get so much joy from that, even though it was really hard work. I learned to love work from watching him. I also got my love for building from him—he has a way of just knowing how things work, and I think that influenced me to want to understand how things work. All of that, plus a decade working in other people’s businesses, led me to want to start building something for myself. I wanted to touch all the different pieces of running a business and really tinker with different elements of it to build something that I felt proud to call my own.“

Q: What’s the most unexpected thing (+/-) that’s happened along your entrepreneurial journey?
A: “I think the most unexpected thing was ending up in brand advisory and strategy. When I first went out on my own, I assumed I’d stay firmly in the creative direction and design world forever. But the longer I did that work, the more I realized I was less interested in the visual execution itself and far more interested in the underlying business decisions driving it. I kept finding myself asking bigger questions, which, admittedly, annoyed my clients. I wanted to help them understand the deeper issues creating disconnects in their marketing, messaging, and customer relationships. Design was often the symptom they wanted to treat (and one that felt the most fun to treat if we’re being real!), but there was usually a much bigger issue underneath it all. Over time, that naturally evolved into the strategic advisory work I do now, where I help founders build stronger brand foundations that support smarter decisions across their entire business.“

Q: When did you hit your first scaling challenge, and how did you overcome it?
A: “One of my first major scaling challenges was realizing that the work bringing in the majority of my revenue was also preventing me from building the business I actually wanted. I came from a creative direction and design background, so early on, I landed a large contract based on execution and production work. It was financially stable, but over time, I realized it was limiting my capacity to grow the strategic side of my business—the work I was most interested in and best equipped to do. The challenge wasn’t just walking away from reliable income; it was figuring out how to replace it responsibly. I overcame it by getting very intentional about sales, refining my offers, and expanding the ways I supported existing clients so I could create more sustainable revenue while building a business that better aligned with my long-term vision.“

Q: If you were starting all over, what’s one piece of advice you would give yourself?
A: “If I were starting all over, I’d tell myself that everything is going to take way longer than you think it should and that you’ve got to develop a deep level of patience with yourself. And when I say everything takes longer than it should, I mean everything! Writing a post on LinkedIn, getting a contract signed, driving to an in-person meeting across town…literally everything. If I had been a little more realistic about that from the get-go, I think I would have saved myself a lot of frustration!“

Q: Do you have one ask or offer you would like to share with the Empower community?
A: “I offer a free, asynchronous strategy session called A New Perspective. It’s designed to help founders of service businesses solve one of their most pressing business challenges by getting some ideas on where to focus and how to move forward.”

Q: A fun one, what’s your all-time favorite restaurant and where is it located?
A: “First, I want to be clear—I love eating at nice restaurants and could name about one hundred here that people would be excited to try. But I think we all have a nostalgic childhood favorite, and it’s the first thing I thought of when I read this question. Roxano’s in Vevay, Indiana, will always be my favorite restaurant because I have so many memories there. It’s a mom-and-pop pizza place in my hometown, and every Tuesday night my sisters and I would go there with my grandparents and sit in this huge round booth that the owners always reserved for us. It was next door to the library where my mom worked for years, up the street from the city park where we played 3-on-3 basketball, walking distance from my school, and across the street from the funeral home. Because of that, I feel like any core memory from my childhood I can tie back to that place. If you ever visit (I really don’t know why you would, but who knows!), skip the pizza! Go straight for the Mexican breadsticks, which are super doughy breadsticks rolled in tortilla chips.“

Learn more about Jamie and how she’s supporting founders by checking out her website or following her on LinkedIn.