I started my business the way most employees transitioning into entrepreneurship do. I was bored, unmotivated, and undersubscribed in my corporate job, and knew that I had the passion and work ethic to make a go at working for myself.

The allure of setting my own schedule, the freedom to try things and fail without fear of being fired, and getting to express my creativity in all the areas I wanted to was intoxicating.

In fact, it was so intoxicating I jumped corporate ship about a week after I was presented with some shares in my company.

At the time, some aspirational mentors showed me what was possible. I was a devout Marie Forleo follower, and I soaked up the book E-Myth, which exposed me to the idea that you can systemize and gamify your business.

Building a business that really worked for me and paid me well was the vision that guided so many meditations and planning sessions I hosted for myself.

Then, I quit, launched my own thing, and the reality of being a one-woman shop hit.

Only 25 years old at the time, I excitedly said yes to nearly any opportunity that came my way. Most of this was as a fractional marketing manager, where I strategized, deployed, and managed local businesses' brand and marketing campaigns.

I considered this to be “just a phase” until I graduated to being the type of online brand personality where I was selling courses, getting paid to speak, producing videos and content, and doing all the things I saw people like Amy Porterfield and Simon Sinek do… a year tops while I “got myself together.”

But the “getting myself together” pockets of time were soon filled by other things I needed to do to keep the lights on: invoicing, setting up bank accounts, email administration, and networking.

Even when I brought on a virtual assistant to help, it felt like some entrepreneurial version of Parkinson’s Law, where the amount of activities needed to be done expanded to meet the growing size of my consultancy.

I was chasing my income tail, stuck in the “Personal Brand Insanity Loop.” Constantly bringing in new revenue but never getting to a “tipping point” of money/time freedom I needed to create the momentum and assets needed to be like the big personal brand names I admired.

I saw this continue to play out in various stages of my business over the years. I would raise my revenue roof, earning more “on paper” in exchange for my time, sanity, and focus.

It wasn’t until year seven (yes, year SEVEN) that I surrendered to the truth I had been avoiding all along. The truth being I spent more than half a decade creating a cage of my own design — too attached to walk away from it, too unwilling to get another W2 (seriously, not happening), and too burnt out to carry on. 

One day, I had a phone call with my accountant where he said, “Your numbers look great, but I need to ask you…are you happy? Because you don’t seem like you are." I could no longer avoid the reality I had been outrunning. 

So, I wiped the slate clean. I released clients, old business models, and old ways of marketing to finally build my brand and business differently. Flash forward only 2.5 years since the shift, and: 

• I work about 30 hours/week on average
• I had my most profitable course launch to date
• I genuinely enjoy all my clients
• I have time to learn, strategize, grow, read, meditate, exercise, and socialize
• My LinkedIn following is 27k strong, and my newsletter has over 50k subscribers.

In short, it took me just over two years to build what I couldn’t in seven. In that process, I realized that it wasn’t tactics or strategies that did the heavy lifting; it was mindset shifts and habit fortification. 

I’m glad I went through this, though, because now I can instantly spot the blocks preventing other entrepreneurs from breaking through this dilemma, and sadly, I see them every day.

If you’re feeling frustrated or burnt out like I was, here are the 3 things holding you back:

1. You are settling for the comfortable “known.”

I came to resent my business model, which is just about the worst place to be as an entrepreneur. But I had to recognize that as burnt out and frustrated as I was, I was actively choosing this path. Why, then, if it caused so much strain? Simple. As humans, we do terribly with the unknown. And the aspirational business model I was seeking was rife with them — learning curves with technology, publishing content that flops, launching and not making money, learning again, and launching again.

Many of us, and myself, choose to just “take on one more client even though it’s not the work we want” because we are familiar with the burdens, and nine times out of ten, we will seek comfort even over payoffs. Why? Because a known discomfort feels safer than an unknown potential.

2. Consistency is the rarest of human qualities. 

I see it all the time, and I’ve done it myself. One week, you’re bursting with inspiration. You publish killer content; you see some good responses. Then, for whatever reason — a project, a vacation, a day off — you lose the momentum. 

And it becomes harder and harder to build back up.

This type of business model, the one where *you* are the high-earning product, only happens by consistently showing up. Every single day.

Ask any creator (whether movie director or social media personality) what the hardest part of their job is, and I guarantee you they’ll say, “The courage to keep going even after a public flop.”

3. You’re overcomplicating things. 

More is not more with personal branding. More product and service offerings equals more confusion. More marketing channels equals more effort. More audiences means more complex messaging.

If you’re in this particular stage of business burnout, I’m willing to wager a fair amount that you’ve never given yourself the benefit of proof of concept. Because here’s the reality: 

• You shouldn’t create a second offer until you’ve proven you can sell a first
• You shouldn’t add another marketing channel until you generate reliable leads with the first
• You shouldn’t add a second audience segment until you build a robust book of business with the first

These are the validation points of a personal brand business. Anything you do beyond nailing these first is akin to building a house on a shaky foundation; so it’s no wonder why yours feels like it’s about to collapse.

Now, if you’re reading this and you feel like these words just hit you between the eyeballs, I want to offer you some encouragement:

You are not alone.

Most entrepreneurs inevitably hit this plateau.

It’s never too late to begin again.

My ring around the insanity loop was seven years long. Part of the reason I refused to get off of it was because I was so mad I had poured all of that time into it to begin with. It’s a funny thing, the human brain. My shame from not hopping off my chosen path sooner prevented me from hopping off at all.

But I eventually did, and I can tell you, it was worth it. And I encourage you to step off, too. It may be a shaky first few steps, but you’ll find your footing (like you have before), and before you know it, if you stay consistent, you’ll run. And you’ll probably even have fun doing it.