Many entrepreneurs mistake task completion for true business growth—discover the biggest lie holding you back.

Entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of feeling productive by crossing tasks off their to-do lists—but is that really growing your business? In this eye-opening episode, Glenn Harper and Julie Smith bust through the biggest lie most entrepreneurs tell themselves.

This episode is brought to you by PureTax, LLC. Tax preparation services without the pressure. When all you need is to get your tax return done, take the stress out of tax season by working with a firm that has simplified the process and the pricing. Find out more about how we started.

Key Takeaways

• Don’t confuse task completion with business building: Many entrepreneurs spend their time on easy tasks instead of strategic growth activities (00:29-01:32).
• Prepare for the necessary pivot: Being stuck in routines can make it difficult to adapt when your business needs a change (00:45).
• Identify your real product or service: It’s easy to mistake what you sell (e.g., homes) for what you truly provide (e.g., the dream of homeownership) (02:09-03:02).
• The path of least resistance isn’t the best route: Doing what’s comfortable often prevents substantial progress (01:37).
• Growth requires doing the hard things: Embrace the challenging tasks if you want your business to thrive (01:47-01:49).

5 Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the biggest lie entrepreneurs tell themselves? - Glenn Harper explains it’s believing they are running a business, when they’re just completing tasks (00:29).
2. Why do entrepreneurs get stuck doing easy tasks? - According to Julie Smith, easy tasks are enjoyable and offer the path of least resistance, making them an easy comfort zone (01:37).
3. How can being task-focused hurt your business? - It can prevent you from pivoting quickly or prioritizing activities that actually drive growth and revenue (01:47).
4. What does it mean to misunderstand your product or service? -Glenn Harper shares that entrepreneurs often think they’re selling a product (like a house) instead of the real value (a dream or lifestyle) (02:09).
5. What can help entrepreneurs shift their mindset? - Focus on doing the hard, strategic things and be prepared to pivot—don’t let comfort tasks hold you back from growth (01:49).

Running a business doesn’t have to run your life.

Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it’s easy to be so busy ‘doing’ business that you don’t have the right strategy to grow your business.

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Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year. 

An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. 

Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how to run their businesses like entrepreneurs. Julie lives in Columbus, OH with her family and enjoys travel, coaching basketball, sporting events, and the occasional shopping spree.

Copyright 2026 Glenn Harper

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Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn

Harper. Julie Smith. You look a little fired up over there, Julie. What's going

on? Well, you wouldn't share your opinions before this show,

so now I'm. We are officially winging it. You do better when you're

winging it. That's a rule. It's all good. Let's do it. All right. Go for

it. What are the biggest lies that entrepreneurs tell themselves?

I'm smart. I'm beautiful. No, that's not. I tell my

kids that every day. Right, right. Okay. Well, no, it's not that one. I would

say the biggest lie that we tell ourselves

is that we are going to run

a business, but we end up doing a

task under the illusion that we're running a business.

Interesting. So mine was not

preparing for whatever pivot may need to happen.

I feel like as entrepreneurs, kind of what you're saying is you're there, you're doing

a task, and you may need to go right at the

stop sign, but instead you're just going to do the task and you're

going to continue to do the task, and you're going to continue to go straight

on the path, and maybe you should have just prepared yourself

to take that pivot. Well, I think to that

point, I think it is we have a to do

list every day as an entrepreneur that says these are the things we should be

doing and these are the things we actually really don't have

to do. But we're going to do those and we get them confused and we

end up doing the things that really don't make us the money. It really doesn't

put us in a better position. We do these tasks because those are easier than

doing the hard things. Well, I think it's because it's what you enjoy and it's

the path of least resistance. Right. I don't know if I like doing some of

these random tasks, but they seem a lot easier than doing the hard

things sometimes. Right. And I think that's the point. It's like if you would have

done the hard things, you would have been able to come to that pivot a

lot easier, faster than makes it too

easy, Julian, than continuing down that path. If you continue

to do the easy thing, it's really easy to continue to do the same thing.

Right. And I, into the end, I think there's another thing, another one

of those things of the biggest. What they say is that,

hey, I am think I'm in business doing

this is what I sell or this is my product or

service, but it's, that is not your product

or service. You, you get it confused as the entrepreneur,

like, this is what I'm selling. But that, that could not be it. I,

I, I agree with that one. Honestly, I do think people, you guys all know

what that means. Like, if you think you're selling, if you're a

realtor, you think you're just selling a home, right? I'm going to sell a bunch

of homes. That's what I'm going to do as a realtor. I'm going to just

close on these houses. But that's not your product that you sell. That's not your

service. Your service is the American dream of, of the place that

you can, the family can make their home, raise their family, be

part of the community, decorate all the decorations, all the

holidays. You're selling this dream. You're not selling just a

piece of property. And when you make that switch as a realtor, per

se, oh, my gosh, you now know how to be a better realtor

because that's what you're really selling. Yeah, I agree with that one,

100%. There you have it. Well, there's another great

edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper. Julie Smith.