Interview with Ali Mortimer and Emma Forrester, founders of The Limitless CEO
Find out how former IT consultant Ali and ex-marketing director and consult Em teamed up to refine what it means to be a CEO through The Limitless CEO.
What’s your career background?
Both of us worked our way up the corporate ladders in our own professions. Ali was an IT consultant at Accenture and then moved into industry working with the UK’s biggest retailers before taking the leap to start her own coaching business, having requalified as a Holistic Health, Life and Mindfulness Coach.
During the global pandemic Ali ran mindfulness sessions for the country through the M&S social media channels as well as supporting many large corporations with her ‘Banish the Burnout’ programmes.
Em is a former marketing director and consultant for prestigious brands such as Harrods, KPMG before curating and building her own six-figure brands and those of other online entrepreneurs, of which Ali was one.
It was the success that they created together that lead them to go in to partnership in August 2021 as the Limitless CEO with a mission to redefine what a CEO stands for: A consciously Evolving Owner and to support independent women to create a business in a wildly different way that supports a life in they are madly in love with; overflowing with Freedom, Happiness, Wealth and Power. We activate their vision for their future by guiding the ‘HOW’ – with a clear direction for their business and showing them the ‘WHO’ – an unshakeable belief in the woman they are becoming
How did your career change after having children?
Ali has two sons now aged 12 and 14, and it was when they were just started school that she realised that the senior positions she was working in didn’t support the lifestyle and the memories she wished for her sons to have of their early life.
Em became a mother to a baby girl in May 2020 and this only amplified her desire to be a role model for all independent women as empowered leaders without compromising their femininity.
Both Ali and Em believe in leading beautiful rich lives now, rooted in a family first, health and self first ethic and leaving a legacy of wealth for the generations to follow.
We are a family-first company so we always prioritise our children before our business which incidentally helps with our success. We find by not compromising our focus we achieve more.
Where did the idea for your business come from?
Ali and Em met at a UK health coaches conference in the Autumn of 2019 and a strong bond was formed. Later that year, Ali engaged Em as her coach to build and grow her coaching business ‘Heal Yourself Happy’. During 2020, following Em’s Online Business Blueprint, Heal Yourself Happy grew it’s audience reach to millions and became a 6 figure brand.
Following the business success, but also realising how much fun and enjoyment they had curating the brand and a business that supported the lifestyle and memories Ali had desired, they decided to share their learnings and strategies with other women with a single programme – the Well Balanced Business.
The interest and results of this programme by other women was astounding and they realised they had something unique and very special to offer the world. In August 2021, they closed their own businesses and launched the Limitless CEO on a very sunny day in Yorkshire!
What’s your USP?
Our uniqueness is our duo energy and strong sisterhood partnership. With Em as the Visionary and Brand Creator and Ali as the Energetics and Mind Master, we bring ideas to life, help women design businesses in a wildly different way to support a life that they love.
We believe in the dance of both masculine and feminine energies when creating a business; the strategies, the structures, the planning but also the flexibility, the creativity, the responsiveness and fun you can have along the way in creating a brand that makes your soul sing.
We believe in women working together, collaborating and celebrating each other rather than seeing each other as competition. This is rare and unique in many industries today. Women who join us say this has been one of the biggest advantages to growing their confidence; having another woman, other women by their sides.
Who’s your target audience?
Our soul aligned clients are women who are hungry for more. They have a burning desire to fulfil their purpose but do it in a way that is inclusive, exciting, exhilarating but not at the detriment or demise of their health, wellbeing , putting themselves and their families first.
The women we work with have passion and purpose and a strong ambition to create and achieve their own definition of success, no matter what.
How do you spread the word about what you do?
We like to think we spread energy rather than words! Our energy, our passion, our enthusiasm is infectious. The connection between us inspires other women to want to be part of our world, to run, walk or just be in our presence. Some would say, perhaps it’s magic! In reality, the women in our private online community have said we are their favourite ‘TV Channel’!
What’s been your most successful marketing strategy?
The embodiment of what we teach; sharing our lives through social media, our successes and how we lead ourselves through our challenges, our highs and lows in an authentic and raw way. Rather than just teach, we show women you can have a life built on the foundations of freedom and happiness to generate wealth and power.
What’s been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
The love for what we do and how we do it and how life has a way of slowing us down – whether that be a pandemic, home learning, poorly babies, teenager sporting injuries and supporting husbands! This is constant navigation, but one big rolling wave we have learnt to surf. Our favourite mantra when any obstacle or challenging situation arises is, ‘if this is happening to us, it is happening for us – so what are we going to learn from this?’
And your proudest moment so far?
We believe in celebrating the big things as well as the little things. We celebrate every milestone in not only just our business, but celebrate like crazy when our clients achieve their goals. We are so incredibly proud of the founding ladies in our first programme, their commitment, tenacity inspired us and had us crying on many an occasion.
Why is work so important to you?
It’s not the work that is important to us; it is our purpose and our mission that is important. The ripple effect of the life we are creating for ourselves, our families but also the lives and families of the women we work with. It excites us every day. We wake up excited to speak to each other, to create and co-create and bring the next idea to life, whether that be one of our own or another!
Who inspires you?
There is inspiration all around us! The women we work with daily inspire us, from the conversations we have, the sisterhood and community we are creating. We work with incredible coaches ourselves who inspire us; we listen to podcasts, read books and stories of other female leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries.
How do you balance your work with your family?
We like to believe that life is more than just a balance, which infers ‘either or’. WE like to believe in the dance of life, because there is so much more than just work and family! There is passion and romance, connection and social life, there are hobbies and interests… We believe that everyone is unique and their recipe for success in life, business, work, passion and family is unique too. The dance is also unique to every season of life, sometimes slow and lingering, other times it is quick.
What are your three top pieces of advice for someone wanting to do something similar?
- Get very clear on what you really desire. What is it that you want, not what you think you should want or want in order to please someone else. What do you want?
- When you know what you want, start to paint a really clear vision of what your life looks like and see the person you are in that life. What are you doing every day, what are you habits, rituals; how are you behaving, how are you thinking? Who are you with? What are your values?
- Show up every day with that person in your mind, acting as if you were that person, making choices that lead you every day one step closer to making that vision a reality.
Find out more about The Limitless CEO.
