Tired of the 'Perfect' Founder Perception?

Good. Me too.

Hi, I’m Emma May Fishlock

AKA The Messy Founder!

If your desk is a monument to half-filled planners and your inbox gives you palpitations, you're in the right place. I'm Emma, and i'm here to represent all of the amazing ‘Messy Founders’!

I'm a serial entrepreneur, a mum, and navigating the glorious mess of life – often feeling a bit like Bridget Jones, powered by relentless puppy enthusiasm, and forever armed with a Post-it note.

My mission is simple: to empower founders like us to stop fighting our natural rhythm and instead, embrace our brilliant mess as the ultimate secret weapon for real, sustainable growth.

Consistency might not be our middle name, but that won't stop us from achieving amazing things on our own terms.

What I stand for

Forget the Fluff. Have Fun. Get Real. Get Results.

No 5 AM clubs. No bullet journal guilt. My philosophy is rooted in practical, no-BS strategies delivered with warmth, humour, and a hefty dose of authenticity.

I believe in:

Kindness & Compassion: Uplifting, never undermining. We're in this beautiful, wild journey together.
Laugher leads: Whatever we do, we need to have fun doing it!
No Fluff, Just Action: Cutting through the noise to deliver strategies you can use today for tangible results.
Authenticity & Realness: Sharing the messy, vulnerable, and often hilarious truth of founder life. You'll feel seen, understood, and totally embraced.
Results, Done Your Way: Relentlessly focused on helping you achieve impactful growth, without burning out.

My Founder journey… so far

2018:

I Launched Real World Consultancy (RWC), a now multi award winning consultancy offering strategic coaching, helping to calm the chaos for Founders across the UK. I have an incredible team of Strategic Coaches offering Coaching and Strategy Days in a very ‘Real’ way in line with our values, and delivered to our Ambitious Growth Model and couldn’t be more proud of our journey as a team over the last 7 years.

Building this business has been anything but linear; it's been beautifully messy. We've evolved from being heavily reliant on government contracts (still delivering them, but no longer dependent – big win!), grappled with the universal cash flow chaos of COVID-19, and faced the difficult lessons that growing a team has on your natural instinct to trust.

Work with one of my Strategic Coaches

2019:

I developed the first version of The Ambitious Growth Model (Then called the Business Strengths Analyser and running on a spreadsheet!). This diagnostic is a unique framework which ties together personal and business goals with strategy, coaching and delivery tactics! It is now an advanced diagnostic tool, book "The Ambitious Blueprint," and tried and tested growth model which has been used to support over 1000 founders!

It didn’t start this way though, it has been 7 years of MANY iterations, which is why I love it, it is build on real progress, real application and real learnings.The day we stop iterating and developing it, is the day we stop learning so that won’t happen!

Take the RWC quiz and get your free copy

2024

I founded The Strategic Circle, out of a clear need I felt myself: the isolation of Founder life.

Our 1:1 strategy and Ambitious Growth Model were hugely impactful, but I knew founders (myself included!) thrive when truly supported at a very real level, by peers. That's why I created curated peer boards for Ambitious Founders. It’s all the depth of individual strategic guidance, wrapped in the support and accountability of a curated peer group.

This isn't just a service; it's my passion, built to give founders exactly what they need to conquer growth, together. It is early days but those who are in a circle LOVE it as much as I knew they would, and that for me is enough right now to know that we are exactly where we need to be!

Join a curated Founder Peer Board

2025

In 2025 I co-founded The Ripple Effect with the powerhouse that is Tara Attfield-Tomes over a Jacket potato and a smoothie! We came up with the concept at lunch, and by the end of the day had the domain, website and outline services!

We deliver get sh*t done retreats and powerful growth programmes focused on tangible growth. Our vision is to ignite a shift in UK entrepreneurship, empowering founders to shake those old habits and build thriving businesses that fuel their lifestyle, the economy, and the ecosystem!

I always said that I would NEVER have a co-founder, but that was before I met Tara, we just clicked and I knew that one day we would do something incredible together, and I truly believe that this is it!

Join a programme or retreat

Why constantly drive yourself mad trying to find the 'perfect' path when your unique brand of chaos is your superpower?

I'm on a mission to be the founder who genuinely understands the messy reality of building something great, when you are already a slightly chaotic overstimulated bundle of ideas and mess to begin with!

I'll be your straight-talking catalyst, cutting through the noise to inspire action that feels exciting, empowering, and authentically you.

Let's prove that unpolished and slightly chaotic can absolutely equal success, no matter what your ambition looks like.

What you can pay me to do!

Speaking gigs!

I love to talk! Seriously, it is my favourite activity. Give me a stage and a room full of Founders and I am in my ELEMENT.
Same goes for a podcast. If you have an audience, I will engage them!
Guest Articles

Yes, I'm dyslexic, but don't let that fool you! Thanks to the magic of AI, grammatical "bundles" are a thing of the past.
What hasn't changed is my absolute love for the creative process of writing. Whether it's my weekly local column or guest spots in print and online, just give me a word count. I'll give you humour, insight, and a bloody good read!
Bespoke and brilliant workshops

I'm incredibly fortunate to have an amazing team expertly delivering our 1:1 services and group programmes across all my businesses.
This frees me up to focus on designing bespoke solutions, which I bloody love! Give me an audience and a problem they need solving, and together, we'll create something truly amazing.
Cool Collabs!

Got an idea for a collaboration?
I love chatting ideas with other messy founders, and even the occasional organised one! So let’s chat and see what we can create together.