What’s *actually* holding you back?

Listen, I’ve been doing marketing for other businesses for a really long time. I’ve been sitting side of stage watching other women run their businesses while I support and cheer them on, but this year, all that has changed.

Now I’m in it. I am the business. And honestly? It's wild.

For the first time, I’m starting to understand what it actually means to be a small business owner, to be self-employed, to try and build something; to wake up every day and steer the ship (while also believing you’ve got enough wind in your sails to make the journey).

And four months into seriously betting on myself to build a business, I’ve hit this moment where growth is possible, and things are doing exactly what I set out to make them do. But internally, I’m kind of freaking out.

As a solo working mum, I only have so many hours in a day. Eventually, you hit that inevitable wall where you just can’t take on any more work. So I built something scalable - because I had to. I created a service-based offering that felt like the most obvious next step. I was honest with people: this was my first time running this kind of thing. I priced it low, not as a gimmick but so I could feel comfortable delivering something new. I put it out there, and I hit my first goal: 10 clients signed up for my first intake of The Boyes Club.

My plan was always to grow from there: 10 more, then another 10, each month. It was all there on paper.

But in practice? LOL.

As soon as I started I knew I wasn’t ready to scale. I realized how much self-belief it had taken for me to begin, but growing? That was another level I wasn’t ready for.

So I just laid low, worked on keeping my members happy and refining the offering. Fast forward to now, when it seems like things are built out enough to manage new members. The structure is there. It’s been tried and tested. The demand is there, the audience is there. So I ticked the boxes, prepared The Boyes Club for new members, and then…I just got stuck.

I opened the intake. I shared it once on my stories. Once. And then... nothing. I ghosted my own launch. Because deep down, I didn’t feel ready. I didn’t feel worthy. And I knew I wasn’t going to move past this unless I got real with myself.

So... what’s the holdup?

Turns out - it’s me. It’s my limiting beliefs.

It’s this internal resistance that started creeping in the moment I stretched my comfort zone. The moment I decided the offering was worth charging a little bit more for. The moment I decided to put myself back out there; to be judged and sized up and evaluated for small businesses to decide whether or not to take a chance on me.

So I journaled.

I asked myself - what’s really going on here? What’s bothering me? Where am I blocking myself? What beliefs are standing in my way? I started challenging the narrative I was creating in my head: that people don’t want this, that I’m not good enough, that everyone’s secretly disappointed in me.

Where did that even come from?!

I realized I was afraid. Afraid to ask for what I’m worth. Afraid to grow. Afraid to be rejected. the stuff that was coming out as I journaled - I hadn’t even considered; I didn’t even know I was carrying. I was venturing even further outside my comfort zone, and my low self-worth, low self-esteem, low self-belief brain was screaming at me. That’s why I hadn’t made a move. That’s why I was stuck,

So I’m making some shifts - not out of fear, but to support myself through this. I’ve decided I’m going to drop the price for the first month for new members. It’s not because I don’t think it’s worth it, it’s because I’m simply not quite ready to ask for more. And yes, it also happens to make the offer more attractive as a limited-time opportunity. So really, I’ve just created a win-win situation!

But here’s the big takeaway:

Sometimes the reason we’re stuck isn’t logistical. It’s not strategy. It’s us. It’s our own resistance, our own beliefs, our own fears.

So if you’re finding yourself stalled in your business, avoiding a launch, procrastinating on a task, telling yourself a story about why something “won’t work” - ask yourself: Is this actually true? Or is it you, stopping yourself?

Journal it. Ruminate. Sit with the discomfort and look under the hood. Because what you find might surprise you - like it did me. I was genuinely shocked by the stuff that came up. But once it was out of my head and onto the page, I could actually do something about it.

So yeah, I’m moving forward now. I’m not waiting to “feel ready” anymore. I’m finding ways to make this growth feel just close enough to my comfort zone that I’ll actually do it - while still stretching myself in the right direction.

That little voice in your head telling you to wait, to play it safe, to stay small? Don’t let it run the show. You might be the only thing standing between where you are and where you want to be.

Sometimes you gotta ask yourself: what is actually stopping me?