Meet Alex Mufson, a business mentor and the Founder and CEO at Aspen Growth Coaching. Aspen Growth Coaching offers transformative support for those facing a variety of life’s challenges. Known for turning insights into action, the coaching team at Aspen Growth Coaching tackles a wide range of challenges, including sobriety, ADHD, family conflict, and trauma. Their focus highlights individual strengths, leading to both personal and professional growth.
Alex’s entrepreneurial path began in childhood, starting with imaginative businesses that developed into profitable ventures. A health crisis at age 24 sparked a shift in her approach, emphasizing the need for scalable and sustainable business models. This change was key in Aspen Growth Coaching’s notable success. In Alex’s personal work as a business mentor, she combines her expertise as a licensed therapist and seasoned CEO with her knowledge of Human Design. Her goal is to guide leaders in aligning their businesses with their values, a testament to her innovative approach to mentorship.
We asked Alex if she always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur, how her definition of success has evolved throughout her journey, and what’s next for her and Aspen Growth Coaching.
Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
I’ve always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur. When I was three years old, I didn’t have an imaginary friend; I had an imaginary business. I was the CEO, and I had an assistant. I think of that as my first business venture, and it was quite cutting-edge. We even had the last remaining Wooly Mammoth in our care, which is no small project. My mother recalls how angry I would get when she would not drop me off at the airport because I had important international meetings she was keeping me from. As I got older, my businesses became less imaginary. By the time I was a young elementary school student, I was earning money. From there, I never stopped.
What were the most difficult and most impactful lessons you’ve learned starting and running a company?
I started my first successful company at 21 years old. While it became successful, it was extremely reliant on my energy. Even though I owned the company, I served the business rather than it serving me. I may as well have been working for someone else. This was fine when I was young and healthy. However, at 24, I began experiencing medical crises after medical crises, starting with a mysterious neurological disease, which made it physically impossible for me to keep up with the business model I had created. The business relied completely on my name, energy, and service. I had nothing to sell or hand off to a manager when I could not serve it anymore. Ultimately, I walked away from that business, but I took with me the lesson that a business must exist outside of me. Knowing this allowed me to decenter myself in my next business venture. I truly believe that’s why we were able to scale from zero to seven-figures in under three years. I learned the lesson to only do what only you can do and hire everything else out to someone who can do it better. I will never build a business that is not scalable again!
A values-led approach to business may not always lead to the same decisions as a profit-led approach to entrepreneurship, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have profits. It means orienting around values rather than numbers.
What’s the biggest misconception that others have around entrepreneurship?
That you have to orient your business around profits. There are so many other things to build a business around that late-stage capitalism doesn’t recognize. For instance, a values-led approach may not always lead to the same decisions as a profit-led approach to entrepreneurship. This doesn’t mean you won’t have profits, nor does it mean you don’t consider them. It simply means that you orient around your values, rather than the numbers. So even if something would provide you profit, if it does not align with your values, it is not invited into your business.
Has your definition of success evolved throughout your journey as a founder?
When I was a younger entrepreneur, success certainly centered around my clients’ experiences. While that is still hugely important, my personal success is now often measured by the success of my team as professionals and as people. After I transitioned from solopreneur to entrepreneur and began scaling a larger team, I realized how incredible it feels to support other professionals to live their best lives. Sometimes this looks like offering great employment packages and ensuring everyone has time to be fully human. Other times, this means hiring that incredible person who has been unable to break into a leadership role and watching them elevate into a version of themselves they never predicted. This is not something I anticipated enjoying so much. It’s a reason I started offering values-led business mentorship so I could feel this success with more people outside of my own organization.
How have you grown as a leader since starting Aspen Growth Coaching? What experiences have contributed to this growth?
When I was introduced to Human Design, a lot of things changed in my leadership strategy. Using Human Design, I realized what my best strategy and decision making authority was. This changed everything about how I lead. It provided me with a framework within which to make decisions and supported my system to understand how to engage with my business in the healthiest and most aligned way possible. Then, when I learned how to work with other designs, my leadership transformed from something that was all about what I viewed as best practice to personalized guidance for each member of my team, understanding exactly what they needed to be their best self.
This allowed me to depersonalize interactions and approach challenges with a much clearer head. I could see exactly where the possibilities were to shift the situation based on understanding the design of each person involved. It really revolutionized my approach to leadership. I do think it also had a huge impact on how fast we were able to grow while still maintaining the organization’s health and stability.
What’s next for you and Aspen Growth Coaching?
My team is so empowered and beautiful; they don’t need me every second of every day. I have time now to pass on what I’ve learned about growing a business to others. As Aspen Growth Coaching continues to scale and reach more people, I’m excited to expand my business mentorship program and support other entrepreneurs in exploring and expanding themselves through values-led business and Human Design, just as I have.
