If your business feels harder now than when you started, even though you have more experience, this episode is going to make a lot of things click. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down why growth actually requires a completely different business strategy as you move past the early years. This is for service-based entrepreneurs who are 3–5+ years in, hitting a revenue plateau, and wondering why what used to work isn’t working anymore. After 9 years of experience, I can tell you this isn’t failure. It’s evolution. Inside this episode, I walk you through the real shift from operator mode to CEO mindset, how your sales process and lead generation need to change, and what to focus on so your business growth becomes sustainable again instead of exhausting.
[00:00] Introduction: Why business feels harder after the early years
[03:00] What worked in years 1–3 and why it stops working
[07:00] The shift from operator to CEO and why it matters
[11:00] The power of the strategic pause and reflection
[15:00] Understanding your numbers and using data to make decisions
[19:00] Subtracting vs. adding tactics for real business growth
[22:00] Building a sales plan and thinking long-term
Here’s what I see constantly. Business owners doing everything that worked in the beginning and wondering why it suddenly feels harder. More effort. Less return.
After 9 years of working with service-based entrepreneurs, I can tell you this is not a problem with your business. It’s a mismatch between your current stage and your current skill set.
In the early years, hustle works. Saying yes works. Throwing spaghetti at the wall works. But as your business grows, that same approach creates burnout, inconsistent revenue, and decision fatigue.
This is the moment your business outgrows the operator version of you.
Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this is where everything shifts. Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales all require a higher level of thinking.
Operator mode is about execution. Doing the work. Reacting. Staying busy.
CEO mode is about strategy. Pausing. Evaluating. Making decisions based on data.
This is one of the hardest transitions to make. Especially as a solopreneur. But it’s also the most necessary if you want sustainable business growth.
The difference is simple. Operators move fast. CEOs move intentionally.
In the beginning, you can run your business on gut instinct. But eventually, that stops working.
You need to know your numbers. Your conversion rate. Your pipeline. Your profitability. Your sales process.
This is where most people get stuck. Not because they can’t grow. But because they don’t have the data to make informed decisions.
When you understand your numbers, your strategy becomes clear. You stop guessing. You stop overworking. You start focusing on what actually drives revenue growth.
This is where most people go wrong. When things stop working, the instinct is to do more.
More content. More offers. More tactics.
But growth at this stage requires the opposite. You need to subtract. Remove what isn’t working. Double down on what is.
Focused execution is what creates momentum. Not constant activity.
If you want to move past a revenue plateau, you need a plan. Not just a goal.
You need to understand what offers you’re selling, how people move through your pipeline, and what it takes to convert leads into clients.
This doesn’t mean rigid rules. It means clarity.
Because you can’t hit consistent revenue growth by hoping it works out. You have to understand what it actually takes to get there.
About the Host:
Michelle DeNio is a business strategist based in Sarasota, Florida, specializing in helping service-based entrepreneurs break through revenue plateaus using her Focused Visionary Framework. With over 300 podcast episodes and 9 years running her consulting business, she helps coaches, consultants, and service providers scale sustainably through strategic planning, pricing optimization, and sales process development.
Here's something that nobody tells you when you are starting your business, right?
Speaker A:Is that as you grow, it's supposed to get easier as you gain experience, right?
Speaker A:You've got more clients under your belt, you've got better systems, you've got a proven offer, right?
Speaker A:But if you have been in business for three to five years, you might be kind of noticing the opposite.
Speaker A:It's like getting harder and you're working more, not necessarily less, and the strategies that got you here are, aren't working anymore.
Speaker A:And you kind of start to wonder, like, what, what am I actually doing wrong?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And you're actually not doing anything wrong.
Speaker A:It's just growth, it's evolution, and it requires a different skill set at this stage.
Speaker A:And so today that's what we're talking about.
Speaker A:We're talking about why your business feels harder now than when you started.
Speaker A:And more importantly, what needs to shift to make it faster, feel sustainable again.
Speaker A:Okay, so that's the topic for the day.
Speaker A:Let's dive in.
Speaker A:All right, So I just really want to talk about this because I feel like this is something that everybody experiences.
Speaker A:Especially because, you know, I deal and work with most clients who are in that three to five year range, right?
Speaker A:And so I see this all the time, but people aren't talking about it, right?
Speaker A:And people say it to me all the time is like, michelle, why didn't anybody tell me this?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And it's that what worked in those, like beginning years, right?
Speaker A:Hustle and gut instinct and saying yes to everything and referrals keeping you afloat, right?
Speaker A:Those things all worked in, in years one, two, three.
Speaker A:I mean, probably years one and two.
Speaker A:I would say by three you're starting to see this by four for sure.
Speaker A:But it's like in years, the very first years, you're kind of just like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
Speaker A:And I've talked about this before, I am a huge fan of that.
Speaker A:I think you absolutely should throw spaghetti at the wall because you do need to go kind of just see what sticks and you need to say yes to every client to see, like what clients you don't want to work with, what clients you do want to work with, what offers you love, what offers you don't enjoy, right?
Speaker A:Like, you do need this, you need this data to know.
Speaker A:And you can just kind of work off that gut instinct, you can work off that impulsivity.
Speaker A:But as your business grows, what happens is, if you continue to do that is that you're going to get maxed out, you're going to start to burn out.
Speaker A:You're going to see some inconsistent revenue.
Speaker A:Right, Right.
Speaker A:You're going to have decision fatigue, and you're going to just start thinking, like, what in the actual F is going on?
Speaker A:Because these strategies, like what used to work is not working anymore.
Speaker A:We talked about that in a previous episode.
Speaker A:But this is not about you doing anything wrong or that the business is flopping or failing or any of that.
Speaker A:It's that your business has outgrown, you know, the skill set that built it.
Speaker A:And I talk a lot about this is like, there's so many business owners that I work with that are extremely skilled professionals.
Speaker A:They come in with tons and tons and tons of knowledge, right?
Speaker A:They have so much knowledge and skill that they turn it into a business, but they've never been business owners, right?
Speaker A:And so this is the shift, this is what you're hitting, this is what you're getting, you're coming up against as your business grows is like, you can't just be, like, a really skilled professional, and you've got to start stepping into more of that CEO, more of that business ownership role, right?
Speaker A:So in years one through three, when you're in that, like, operator, skilled professional, right?
Speaker A:You're in execution, execution, execution.
Speaker A:You're saying, yes, you're.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker A:You're hustling away.
Speaker A:You've got momentum, right?
Speaker A:You're figuring it out as you go.
Speaker A:You're taking the clients as they show up, right?
Speaker A:But now in year four, three, four, five, whatever, six, ten, I mean, these.
Speaker A:It all changes, right?
Speaker A:I'm in year nine.
Speaker A:And these things, this.
Speaker A:I'm in this cycle again, all right?
Speaker A:It's like the business is now too complex.
Speaker A:Like, you can't just run on these gut instincts.
Speaker A:You can't just run on these, like, gut decisions, okay?
Speaker A:You've got added offers, you've got different pricing, you've got different delivery methods, right?
Speaker A:And if there's no structure underneath it and you've just kind of been creating, right?
Speaker A:You are going to cap out.
Speaker A:Because you can't just live in this creation mode, all right?
Speaker A:And so you've got to kind of step into more of that business owner.
Speaker A:The CEO mode is now what your business needs, right?
Speaker A:It needs that, like, strategic pause.
Speaker A:Not this constant motion, right?
Speaker A:It's literally like, pause.
Speaker A:Wait a second.
Speaker A:All of my clients, they say, they always say, like, what would Michelle do?
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:I cannot tell you the number of clients that text me.
Speaker A:And it's like, what would Michelle do?
Speaker A:And the reason for that is because I have taught them to pause.
Speaker A:It's not about what I would do.
Speaker A:It's about how would I approach this, how would I think about this differently versus just saying yes, versus just moving through it, versus just, you know, going through the motions.
Speaker A:I teach them the pause, and that is that strategic moment of like, hold on, let me think about this.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And this is where in the CEO mode, you have to start really understanding and looking at data and information and numbers.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's not just about how something feels.
Speaker A:Again, this is where I talk about facts over emotions.
Speaker A:You emotions will get you so far in the beginning, you can run your entire business off of emotions and gut instinct.
Speaker A:And then you've got to really start looking at facts.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Because eventually the facts are going to outweigh because the emotions are going to cap you out.
Speaker A:It just is.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And you've got to start shifting into more of a focused execution instead of just doing everything for everyone all the time.
Speaker A:That you can only take that for so far.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's only going to get you so far.
Speaker A:You've got to set a sales plan.
Speaker A:You can't just kind of hope it works out.
Speaker A:You've got to really look at your pipeline and understand where people are at and how people are moving through it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You've got to start thinking a little bit more strategically about where you're going and not just, like, reacting to that immediate thing that's happening today.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You know, again, so, like, you're sitting here.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:Hopefully you're nodding your head as you're listening to this and going, okay, all right, Michelle, I hear you.
Speaker A:I hear you.
Speaker A:I am sitting in operator mode, and I do need to shift into CEO mode.
Speaker A:But, like, how do I frigging do it?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:How do I do it?
Speaker A:And I do want to preface this and say, like, this is a big shift.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:After nine years in business, this shift from operator to CEO is.
Speaker A:It's one of the hardest and most necessary things that I've done.
Speaker A:And the thing that you can do, it's not.
Speaker A:It's not like you just flip a switch and all of a sudden you can just start thinking like a CEO.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Especially for those of us that are solopreneurs, you do still have to wear the operator hat as well.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But there are some little things that you can do that will really, really help you.
Speaker A:Okay, so again, we talked about this a little bit.
Speaker A:I kind of touched on em, but let's dive a little bit de into them.
Speaker A:Is the strategic pause that you know, operators, when you're in operator mode, you're just constantly moving forward, right?
Speaker A:Because stopping feels like you're going to lose momentum.
Speaker A:Where CEOs.
Speaker A:The CEO skill is like stopping to assess what is actually working here, right?
Speaker A:What's working, what's not working.
Speaker A:Inside of the Focus Visionary Accelerator, I have this set up to where we do this every single month.
Speaker A:It is set on the calendar.
Speaker A:It's called Reflect and Refine because it is built into the program.
Speaker A:Because again, I want people to step into the CEO role and I want them to have that time to pause and assess what is actually working before we roll into the next month.
Speaker A:The next month, the next month, the next month, continuing to do the same damn thing and then wondering why we're not getting ahead, right?
Speaker A:This is the power in that.
Speaker A:That is why I it to me it is the most important meeting out of any.
Speaker A:Every single meeting we have in fba and out of all the different options, if, when somebody is like considering joining fba, I always tell them if you can attend not a single meeting.
Speaker A:The only one I would put on your calendar is reflect and refine because that is where you sit and actually look at what is going on in your business and make a plan to move forward.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:It's really about what are you doing and what is producing results.
Speaker A:It's the discipline to say, nope, not yet, nope, I'm not going to move on this.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That is where that strategic pause comes in, that reflection point.
Speaker A:If you are not doing it and you don't have it built into your business, that is why you're sitting there probably scrambling a little bit and wondering like, why do I keep coming up against this wall?
Speaker A:Because you're not sitting and just pausing before making decisions.
Speaker A:Number two is understanding your data acts over emotions, right?
Speaker A:Data over gut instinct.
Speaker A:And again, we want to trust our guts.
Speaker A:I'm a human design generator with a sacral authority, so I do need to listen to my gut.
Speaker A:But you've also, you've got to start to know certain numbers, right?
Speaker A:You've got to know your conversion rate, you've got to know your.
Speaker A:Like, you've got to know how many hours you're spending with your clients.
Speaker A:You've got to know which offers are profitable, right?
Speaker A:You've got to know where your time is going to.
Speaker A:These are just things that you've got to be able to look at your business and understand.
Speaker A:You want to look at like your client, your lead to close rate, like your close time.
Speaker A:How fast can.
Speaker A:How Fast.
Speaker A:Does somebody like enter your pipeline versus how fast do they close?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Is there anything that you do that accelerates that?
Speaker A:If not, right.
Speaker A:There's just a lot there.
Speaker A:Understanding your conversion rate.
Speaker A:We've talked about this multiple different times around, understanding and how important it is.
Speaker A:There's an episode, a couple episodes back on that.
Speaker A:And also too if you want like I created that free lead and conversion tracker that I will put that in the show notes, but it's going to auto calculate your conversion rate for you so you can start to make decisions and say like okay, I've got one spot available based on my conversion rate of 50%.
Speaker A:I need to be having some conversations here.
Speaker A:I need to go and reach out to my warm leads.
Speaker A:If you know that your conversion rate from lead to discovery call is only about 20%, well then you've got to go talk to what, five people to get one, right?
Speaker A:So you can utilize that to understand how many people do I need to have in my pipeline.
Speaker A:This is about understanding the data, right?
Speaker A:What offers are profitable?
Speaker A:Are they even making any revenue?
Speaker A:Are they making profit or are they just bringing in revenue?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like bringing in revenue versus profit is a big one.
Speaker A:So if like you're wondering why you're coming up against cash flow issue every single month, which I see a lot in business owners, it's like I'm bringing in money but at the end of the month I don't have enough to pay myself.
Speaker A:That's a cash flow issue, right?
Speaker A:You're spending more than you're making.
Speaker A:You've got more expenses associated than you realize and you're not taking those into consideration, which leaves you not being able to pay yourself.
Speaker A:That's a problem, right?
Speaker A:That's why things feel harder.
Speaker A:Because again, in the beginning you probably didn't have a lot of expenses against anything because you were just bootle, you know, bootstrapping it.
Speaker A:I get that, that I think you absolutely should.
Speaker A:But as you grow, you have different investments, you have different softwares, right?
Speaker A:And so you have expenses against things.
Speaker A:So you've got to really sit down and really have a way to understand this.
Speaker A:I break this down in the easiest way possible inside of the Focus Visionary Accelerator.
Speaker A:Because this is, this is why I created the Focus Visionary Accelerator.
Speaker A:Step one in the Focus Visionary Accelerator is know the facts.
Speaker A:Because when I, after I was, I created the Focus Visionary, what, two years ago.
Speaker A:And I created it from a place of like working with clients over and over and over for years on years on years.
Speaker A:For the first seven years of my Business and people didn't have this information.
Speaker A:And so it's very hard to create a strategy without it.
Speaker A:But also, they didn't know how to find it, they didn't know how to gather it, they didn't know how to interpret it.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And it feels very overwhelming.
Speaker A:And so that, I mean, truly, FBA was created from a place of like, no, this is what you need to use to step into the CEO role, to step into that business ownership role.
Speaker A:And I'm going to do it in a way that feels accessible, in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.
Speaker A:Because when you have a way to break it down easily and then utilize that to inform your decisions, everything changes.
Speaker A:And it's not overwhelming at all because it's so blatantly obvious what's working.
Speaker A:And so it reduces overwhelm.
Speaker A:But it's just that initial way of like, I don't even know how to find the information or what I'm looking for.
Speaker A:And that's truly what step one in the Focus Visionary Accelerator is all about, is like, okay, I understand it.
Speaker A:I totally, I totally get it that you don't know how to find that information.
Speaker A:I'm going to walk you through it.
Speaker A:I'm going to walk you through it and you're going to then have it.
Speaker A:And once you have it, you're going to be able to utilize it over and over and over again, right?
Speaker A:Number three, skill is this focused execution.
Speaker A:Instead of trying to be everything for everyone, right?
Speaker A:Like operators, when you're in operator mode, you're constantly adding new tactics.
Speaker A:They're not even strategies, they're tactics.
Speaker A:It's like, let me try this, let me do this, let me add this, let me do this.
Speaker A:Buying this masterclass, buying this template, doing this thing where CEOs, they subtract, they break it down to the bare bones.
Speaker A:Because again, we're not here to spend money.
Speaker A:We're not here to waste time.
Speaker A:We're here to like, really dive in and get profitable.
Speaker A:So CEOs, the only way to do that is to, to subtract things, right?
Speaker A:So we're going to subtract everything that isn't moving the needle.
Speaker A:Adding more stuff to see, is this gonna work?
Speaker A:Is this gonna work?
Speaker A:No, we're subtracting out.
Speaker A:Like, these are the things we know works because we just looked at the data, the facts from our business.
Speaker A:We're subtracting and getting rid of everything else.
Speaker A:And so our business is hyper focused on what is working, what is generating results, what is driving revenue.
Speaker A:Again, this is something that takes time.
Speaker A:And again in the beginning.
Speaker A:Try it.
Speaker A:Go ahead, try it.
Speaker A:Do the thing.
Speaker A:I. I'm here for it.
Speaker A:But like, as you grow, you've got to learn to subtract because being all over the place is too much.
Speaker A:You can't be in all the places.
Speaker A:And why do you want to be?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like, that just creates overwhelm.
Speaker A:That create an overwhelm creates shutdown and shutdown creates burnout, right?
Speaker A:Like that's just a cycle that just doesn't end well for almost anybody.
Speaker A:So it's so much easier to just subtract out.
Speaker A:The amount of people that say to me when they get into the Focus Visionary accelerator is like, oh my God, thank you for giving me permission to stop doing that.
Speaker A:You don't need permission, but you feel like you need permission because there's so much noise around of like, we need to be doing all the things.
Speaker A:And like that's how you've built your business, right?
Speaker A:And so it feels like you have to keep doing it because it's what got you here.
Speaker A:But again, remember that saying, what got you here is not going to get you there.
Speaker A:So just because it got you here doesn't mean it has to stick around.
Speaker A:It's okay to let it go, it's okay to subtract it out.
Speaker A:And that's the role that I play of being able to say, like, let's just get rid of that.
Speaker A:I'm not giving you permission.
Speaker A:I'm saying there's data here that supports that we don't need to do this.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And so it's all about that focused execution, okay.
Speaker A:And then setting a sales plan, not just hoping it works out.
Speaker A:One of the very first offers that I ever created in my business was called creating your six figure action plan.
Speaker A:And it was one of my most popular offers and I still use a lot of those strategies.
Speaker A:I actually just taught a piece of that to Inside of Back Pocket Insights a while back.
Speaker A:But anyways, it's really about looking at it through the lens of like, okay, what am I trying to do?
Speaker A:What is my revenue goal?
Speaker A:And then we reverse engineer it, right?
Speaker A:Like reverse engineering it down to like, okay, you've got this revenue goal.
Speaker A:How much is how much recurring revenue is already coming in?
Speaker A:Do you have any reoccurring revenue models set up?
Speaker A:Do you have any offers like built into your pipeline?
Speaker A:Or like, what am I trying to say?
Speaker A:Like upcoming revenue, right?
Speaker A:Like secured revenue for like in advance.
Speaker A:If somebody's booked you out in July and it's April, like you've got revenue planned, right?
Speaker A:So we're looking at that, we're looking at reverse engineering and then really understanding, okay, what does this look like?
Speaker A:What offer am I promoting?
Speaker A:Who am I promoting it to, how am I promoting it?
Speaker A:How am I moving people through my pipeline?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Where are people at in my pipeline?
Speaker A:Do I have enough people in the right stage of my pipeline to hit said revenue goal or do I need to go backwards a little bit and move people into the right stage?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So again, this is all about that pipeline conversation and really looking at like how many conversations do you need to be having in really treating sales like a system?
Speaker A:I know so many people say like you, you can't just treat it like a number, but at the end of the day, business is a numbers game, right?
Speaker A:And if you don't have a sales plan, I'm not saying you have to have a sales plan that is like hardcore.
Speaker A:Like some of these people, like where you're hitting quotas and you're doing all these things and you're cold calling and doing all this.
Speaker A:No, not at all.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And I'm not even saying you have to know exactly how the money is going to come in, right?
Speaker A:Because again, when we force the how too much, sometimes we can get like over.
Speaker A:We can get like hyper focused on it and we can like shut out other opportunities.
Speaker A:So I'm not even a huge fan of like saying like, you have to close six clients in this offer in order to do this thing, especially if you've got multiple different offers.
Speaker A:But you've got to know and understand like, okay, this offer is going to get me there closer if I get one person here and I've got this many leads like, can I convert and close these people because they're the warmest, right?
Speaker A:And then you kind of just let the, the chips fall where they may and the other offers.
Speaker A:But from a place of like, you're doing your thing by promoting the there, whatever that is, whether it's an event that you're hosting, whether it's an offer that you've got, whether it's your entire offer suite, whether you're talking about a certain pain point that all of your offers drive into, right?
Speaker A:Like you've got to have a system, right?
Speaker A:It can't just be like this.
Speaker A:I think I want to hit $10,000 this month, but I don't have a freaking clue how I'm going to do it.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like again, that works for a while, but if you're actually like wanting to get beyond a Plateau.
Speaker A:Like, if you've been stuck at three or four or five, six, seven thousand dollars per month, want to get past it, or you're Even stuck at 10,000 and you want to move to 20,000, you have to have a plan for that.
Speaker A:You can't just get to 20,000 with no plan.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That you have to have a plan.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then really thinking a little bit about the future, making sure that you have like a clear goal, a clear destination in mind of like, where are you actually trying to grow to in the next 12 months?
Speaker A:What does it look like?
Speaker A:What does your business need to look like to get there?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And understanding, like, what needs to change?
Speaker A:Can I even get to where I want to go in this way?
Speaker A:The way my business is set up right now, this is like the biggest realization that most of my clients have is like, that they might have a vision for where they want to be in 12 months, but the business that they have built can't get them there.
Speaker A:And it's not.
Speaker A:That's not a bad thing.
Speaker A:Like, we get to evolve.
Speaker A:Business gets to change.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:But it's just actually sitting down and understanding and looking at it and going, okay, this is a plan for 12 months from now.
Speaker A:But you know what?
Speaker A:I can't get there.
Speaker A:I can.
Speaker A:I can't get there.
Speaker A:Okay, so then, you know, right.
Speaker A:You know, you've got to change your offer up a little bit.
Speaker A:You've got to change your business model up a little bit.
Speaker A:You've got to change things, which is fine.
Speaker A:But again, this is where.
Speaker A:This is different now in year four, five versus year one, right?
Speaker A:Because you actually know exactly, like, okay, this is where I've been.
Speaker A:This is how I got here.
Speaker A:This is where I'm trying to grow.
Speaker A:And you can really see where there's a disconnect.
Speaker A:Okay, so you really.
Speaker A:I would say, like, if you're feeling in this, like, Michelle, like I am in this, like.
Speaker A:I know a lot of people call it the messy middle.
Speaker A:All right, well, I'm.
Speaker A:I'm stuck in the messy middle.
Speaker A:Here's the thing.
Speaker A:The middle is a long path.
Speaker A:I don't want anybody.
Speaker A:Like, let's not talk about, like, I don't.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:That's why I don't like to call it the messy middle.
Speaker A:Cuz, like, when does the middle end?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker A:If you're not startup and you're not creating an exit plan, everything is the middle.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So why is it messy?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's why I can't stand some of these, like things that are said in the online space of like, oh, you're sitting in the messy middle.
Speaker A:Okay, well, I'm nine years in, I'm still in the middle, right?
Speaker A:Because I'm not where I was.
Speaker A:I'm not in the beginning stages.
Speaker A:I'm also not trying to exit my business right now.
Speaker A:So that's still the middle, right?
Speaker A:It's not the end, it's not the beginning that makes it the middle.
Speaker A:So again, like, if you're feeling like you're sitting in the middle, you're.
Speaker A:You're going to be in the middle for a while, right?
Speaker A:But you've got to look at it and go, okay, what is actually causing this to feel like I'm stuck?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That's the difference.
Speaker A:Because you can be in the middle and it's not messy at all.
Speaker A:It can be running like a well oiled machine.
Speaker A:It could be moving you forward, it could be doing all the things.
Speaker A:But if you're feeling like you're, if your middle feels messy, it's likely because of one of those five things, right?
Speaker A:That you're still stuck in this operator mode.
Speaker A:And you have not taken time, time to like sit back and really look at your business through the lens of the CEO, business owner role.
Speaker A:And that is what makes it feel messy.
Speaker A:But when you have a nice balance between operator and CEO, right?
Speaker A:And you know when you need to have which hat on, the middle is just the middle.
Speaker A:There's nothing messy about it, right?
Speaker A:It gets messy when you've outgrown it.
Speaker A:And that's a beautiful place to be.
Speaker A:To me, like if you're, if your middle is feeling messy right now, that's a beautiful place to be because it means you've outgrown where you're currently at.
Speaker A:And it just means that you've got to take some time to like sit down and figure out, okay, now what?
Speaker A:Now where do we go?
Speaker A:What's the next step?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That's exactly why I created the Focus Visionary accelerator.
Speaker A:Because it's like everybody's sitting here saying it's the messy middle.
Speaker A:No, it's not.
Speaker A:It's just the middle.
Speaker A:You just don't have a framework, you don't have a system, you don't have a structure to get you through it.
Speaker A:So it feels messy, right?
Speaker A:But when you have a system and a structure in place, the middle is just the middle, right?
Speaker A:We have moments of messy, but we don't sit in them, we don't stay stuck in them, right?
Speaker A:So I think it really is just about getting that shift, right, and starting with one thing, which is not adding more tactics, and start getting more strategic about where there's the gap, what's causing the messiness.
Speaker A:Okay, so I would look at your numbers, right?
Speaker A:Do you know the facts?
Speaker A:If you don't know the facts, start there, pause on any new tactics, stop adding, and look at where you can start subtracting.
Speaker A:A very simple way to do this is just really looking at, like, every single thing that you go to do.
Speaker A:Asking yourself, like, have I seen a direct result from this?
Speaker A:What am I trying to gain from this?
Speaker A:What am I actually achieving by doing said things?
Speaker A:If you don't have, like, a result, or you don't know why you're doing it, or you don't have, like, an intention for what you're trying to do, then just pause it, stop it, subtract it, right?
Speaker A:Give yourself the permission you don't need.
Speaker A:I'll give you the permission right now if you need it.
Speaker A:Like, I'll give you the permission all day long.
Speaker A:But you don't need my permission.
Speaker A:You need your own permission to stop doing what isn't working.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And then if you.
Speaker A:If you feel like I can't do this, like, reach out to me.
Speaker A:That's what I'm here for, right?
Speaker A:Get the help.
Speaker A:Get the help to diagnose the issue.
Speaker A:We can do this on a free strategy call.
Speaker A:It's 30 minutes.
Speaker A:We'll diagnose exactly where you're feeling messy, right?
Speaker A:Like, let's just talk about what's messy and then we can go from there.
Speaker A:But again, sometimes it's very hard to see our own gaps from inside our own business.
Speaker A:I can't even see my own gaps from inside my own business.
Speaker A:Why I hire people.
Speaker A:Okay, so again, I. I really just want to say, like, your business might feel harder, but that's a good thing.
Speaker A:If your business feels harder now than when you started, that means you're growing and it's a beautiful, wonderful place to be.
Speaker A:And don't try to jump out of it too soon, okay?
Speaker A:I think too many people try to think that they can just jump out of this stage too quickly, and that ends them up right back where they are, right?
Speaker A:It brings you right back here.
Speaker A:So anyway, if this episode resonated with you, please do me a favor.
Speaker A:Share it on your social medias.
Speaker A:Tag me in it.
Speaker A:Share it on Instagram, put it in your stories, tag me.
Speaker A:I will repost it.
Speaker A:But I love and appreciate when you guys share these episodes, especially if they're resonating because if it's resonating with you, it's likely going to resonate with your audience because your audience is likely in a similar place.
Speaker A:So please do me that favor and share this episode out.
Speaker A:Include it in your weekly email.
Speaker A:I love that I have shout out to Christy.
Speaker A:She did that in a recent episode and it's just like, it's so wonderful.
Speaker A:I love seeing it.
Speaker A:I love seeing the note of like this episode really resonated and everybody needs to go listen to it.
Speaker A:Wonderful.
Speaker A:I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that.
Speaker A:So please continue sharing.
Speaker A:And if I did mention up in there that about the lead tracker to know about your conversion rate.
Speaker A:So if you have not downloaded that yet, jump into the show notes and download that leading conversion tracker.
Speaker A:It's going to tell you what you need to know as far as your numbers in that way.
Speaker A:And if you don't know where you're kind of feeling stuck and in the middle, book the strategy session.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:It's completely free.
Speaker A:Just book your strategy session and we will, we'll look at and see like, okay, where are you in this, this messy middle and let's just make it the middle, right?
Speaker A:Let's take out the messy.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I love you, I believe in you and I will see you soon.