From side project to founder | Building LOCOCO, Energy & the Courage to go all in | Anna Bloom

In this episode of the Bee Formless™ Flow Driven CEO Podcast, I connected with Anna Bloom, Founder and CEO of LOCOCO, and I loved the warmth of this conversation because underneath a beautiful functional cocoa created in the mountains of Park City was a much bigger story about creativity, founder energy and what happens when something we have been quietly nurturing starts asking for more of us. LOCOCO began during the pandemic, when Anna's kitchen became somewhere to experiment and play at a time when the outside world felt anything other than uncomplicated. What emerged was an idea she calls “uncomplicated comfort”: creating something genuinely pleasurable, functional and easy to bring into everyday life. After more than 15 years shaping brands and products for Facebook, Airbnb and Block, Anna was no stranger to side projects, yet this one kept growing until eventually she had to decide whether she was willing to give it her full attention. Going all in, as Anna described so openly, can sometimes feel like “terror,” especially when suddenly you are the most valuable and expensive resource inside the business. That took us into a founder tension I know well: when everything feels important, what actually deserves our energy? Anna shared something an art professor once taught her about needing three or four uninterrupted hours in the studio, because creativity has its own rhythm and we have to stay with the uncomfortable part long enough to discover what sits on the other side. “There's a moment of struggle, and if you cut short the moment of struggle, you don't get to the breakthrough.” I loved the tension between these ideas. We may want uncomplicated comfort in our lives, while creating something meaningful still asks us to move through uncertainty. Whether we are reshaping a product, a business or ourselves, sometimes the work needs enough space to reveal its next form. THE SHAPE SHIFT IN MOTION What could emerge if we gave the important work enough space to reach the breakthrough? LEARN (LETTING GO) ✨ Let go of the belief that everything deserves equal attention. ✨ Release the idea that fear means you chose the wrong path. ✨ Notice where urgency is consuming the energy your bigger vision needs. UNLEARN (CREATE, REIMAGINE & RESHAPE) ✨ Reimagine wellbeing as pleasurable, not another obligation. ✨ Give creativity enough space to move through the messy middle. ✨ Let ideas take the time they need to find their form. RELEARN (TEST & IMPLEMENT) ✨ Protect time for the work only you can do. ✨ Know when people, systems or automation can carry the rest. ✨ Build your time and energy around what matters most. ACTIVE RECOVERY (REFLECT & RESET) ✨ Where is urgency stealing energy from what matters? ✨ What have you been building on the side that is asking for more? ✨ Step away from the noise and notice what needs your attention next. 🔗   / anna-v-bloom   🌐 https://lococomagic.com/ 💭 What might become possible if you gave your biggest vision the space it actually needs? Book a Strategic Shape Shift Diagnostic to illuminate what needs to shift across leadership, business and brand, from the inside out. 🔗 https://calendly.com/beeformless/stra... #beeformless #flowdrivenceo #lococo #founderjourney #creativity #energy #uncomfortable #insideouttransformation #cocoa #plantmedicine #functionalmushrooms #nonlinear #antifragile #lifeleadershipbusiness