Hey Reader,
I had two calls this week with two very different businesses, and I ended up saying almost the same thing to both of them.
The first had a website project that had been stalled for a while. She kept meaning to finish it, kept not finishing it, and had started to feel a bit rubbish about that. When we actually sat down and looked, the website wasn't the problem. The business underneath it had shifted, and she was trying to build pages for a business that didn't fit her anymore. No wonder it wouldn't budge. So I told her to step back first, get clear on where the business is actually going, then let the website catch up to it.
The second had something else, a pile. Tools stacked on tools, automations running that she couldn't quite see the bottom of, and a nagging sense that the answer probably wasn't adding more tech to tie it all together. And I agreed. We needed to step back and audit before adding or removing anything. Work out what's actually running, what it's for, and what's quietly costing money or making things messier, and switch that off before building anything new.
Different problems, same instinct underneath: when something feels stuck or tangled, the useful move is usually to look before you add. Step back to see the goal. Audit what you already have. Then, and only then, decide what to build or buy next.
My whole job is building and connecting the tech, so "stop building" is not where you'd expect me to land. But it's often the right call. The two this week heard it and were relieved. It doesn't always land that way.
A while back, someone came to a connection call wanting to add something new, and I told her honestly that I didn't think building it was the move, that we should look at what she already had first and maybe change a piece rather than bolt something on. She wasn't willing to look. And that told me we weren't a good fit to work together, because that willingness to step back and look is really the important part.
So if you've got something that's been quietly stuck, Reader, or a pile that keeps growing, it might not be asking you to try harder. It might be asking you to step back.
And if you'd rather not untangle it on your own, that's exactly what a Pick My Brain session is for. We get on a call, put the whole thing in front of us, and work out together what to step back from, what to change, and what actually deserves to be added. Book a quick 30 minutes for one specific question, or a 2-hour session where we map your whole marketing or email setup visually so you can finally see it.
Because stalling and mess usually aren't failures. They're just a sign it's time to step back and look before you add.
P.S. "Audit before you add" is officially going on my blog post list of things to write about. If that phrase made you exhale a little, you're my kind of person.