I’ve noticed something insidious happening with creative small business owners for some time now.

Personally, I think it started to pick up around 2018 or 2019. Mind you, this was before generative AI and even before TikTok was such a thing. And way before the pandemic shook up others working from home and kids’ schedules. But, it was still a time filled with social media’s siren call, email overload, and a constant onslaught of “must-read” content begging for attention.

Around this same time, I also noticed a major shift in the people running creative small businesses. People began specifically showing up to many conferences I’d attended for years, like WITS, specifically because it was now clear that being a blogger or influencer was a career path with a (somewhat) clear set of steps to lead to success.

This uptick in interest was fueled in no small part by a trickle of folks sharing “how to” information that quickly grew into an explosion of content.

Suddenly, there were so many “perfect” or “best” or “one top tip” ways to do things. People had found success and were convinced that you had to do it the same way they did.

There was no even more “must-read” content, but now, it was tied to succeeding at something you wanted. The sense of FOMO, of potentially missing the tip that might make all the difference, could be crushing.

Is Drowning in Hot Tips Helping You?

What was the insidious thing I saw?

You’ve probably experienced it yourself. If not right now, or even regularly, I’m sure it’s struck you at some time.

Some people call it overwhelm. Others take it all the way to the extreme and name it burn out.

I simply call it: having absolutely no idea what to do.

What do I even mean by “what to do”?:

  • what do in a big picture way with your business,
  • what to do in a more near-term tactical way,
  • and, especially, what to do right now. In any given moment.

If I asked you right now (or when you woke up, or when you sat down to work, or after lunch—you pick!):

What is the most impactful thing for you to do right now?

Would you know? Would you be able to pick one thing? Would you rattle off a list of three to 25 things that you know you should do? Would you know what impact even looked like for you?

To take it one step further:

Would you be equipped to do the most impactful thing right at this moment if you did know what it was?

How to Slay the “What Should I Do?” Spector

I spent a while rereading recently past survey responses from times we’ve asked travel writers to answer questions about what they are stuck on in their business going all the way back to 2016 when I first started Dream of Travel Writing.

Some of these are pre-call forms for events, first coaching calls, or on-going coaching calls. Other questions were in service of us asking you what we could create to help you where you are now.

It’s not my imagination.

When I ask people what is the main thing holding them back, there’s been an uptick over time of people saying things like:

  • I don’t really know where to start and what to do – it’s too overwhelming for me to figure out on my own right now.
  • How do I deal with the overwhelm of info?
  • I get paralyzed by my ideas.
  • I’m spinning my wheels, trying to figure out what to do. It’s a time suck.

This can be incredibly demoralizing!

When people tell me they’re in situations like this, I ache for them:

  • They lack confidence and feel overwhelmed because they don’t have a clear path or tangible plan in place.
  • They say it’s easy for them to dream big, but when they sit down at their computer, it all seems impossible.
  • They feel defeated before they even start, so they just keep reading more and more things online.

Even if you can wrap your head around all the options, a lot of people can’t see how to match them to what they need.

Maybe you’ve found yourself feeling like:

  • You’re not sure how to take what you have to offer and find the correct path to take to be successful.
  • You’ve lost your way a little bit and don’t have a realistic and strategic plan in place.
  • Your biggest question is: how do I get started and come up with a plan for success?
  • You’re having trouble coming up with a personal road map to success that includes your desired assignment mix.
  • You just need to get your own personal recipe of success down pat and are not quite sure how to create a beginning career foundation that will propel you forward.
  • You don’t know the best way to get started or what skills you need to improve to be successful.
  • You need to know what’s the best time and task breakdown for you right now.

Or maybe you wonder things like:

  • Am I making the correct choices in terms of the big picture plan?
  • Am I setting myself up for success, or for failure, yet I don’t realize that is the case?
  • I am attracted to content writing and marketing [or writing for magazines, or editorial websites, or Instagram], but is the right for me?
  • What will earn me the best money for the time I’d have to put in with the skills I have?
  • What’s the best path to take at this very moment?

These are real and serious impediments!

How is someone offering you one more course or one more webinar or one more list of things you must do helping with this problem???

This, my dear readers, is why I have been obsessed with coaching and working with people one-on-one for so long.

The Sad Truth is the NO ONE Can Tell You What Will 100% Work For You

But that’s no reason to lose hope.

Because even though no one at all can tell the future (a.k.a. what will work), there is a silver lining here.

There is someone who can:

  1. Figure out what makes the most sense for you where you are at right now with the resources and circumstances on your plate at this moment
  2. Have the best view of what you are most likely to actually do.
  3. Generate energy, enthusiasm, and motivation for the path ahead.

Do you know who that person is?

You may not like the answer.

It’s not me. It’s you.

Yep.

Sorry!

I know you might have been hoping for a fairy godmother. Not in the sleeping princess sort of way. But in the you-really-don’t-actually-want-to-do-the-hard-stuff-and-hoped-someone-has-an-easier-way-or-will-do-it-for-you way.

Here’s the deal though. If you’ve been banging your head against the wall trying to do this yourself and know that you can’t do it, no worries.

Has anyone ever taught you a method for making plans that work for you to reach your goals? Not like, here’s something to try that worked for me, but an actual science-based, well-researched, widely-validated method that has worked for many people for years and in many different settings?

I didn’t think so.

We aren’t taught this in school sadly! Or at work. Some people learn it at home if they’re really lucky, but I know that wasn’t me.

I had to get certified as a coach through an expensive and worthwhile place, read a crap ton of books, take a lot of expensive trainings with people who literally write books about things like the theory of coaching psychology, get a certification in applied psychology from Penn, and put years into obsessing about this topic to figure out: what is the best way to actually make sure people do what they decide they want to do?

It’s based on all sorts of things you probably don’t care about, like neuroscience, decades of psychological experiments, and lots of corporate management research.

But what matters is that this stuff works.

Introducing HOW: Hone Your Dream, Own Your Numbers, Widen Your Expertise

We’ve pulled all the threads together into something that sounds super simple and easy to remember. But underneath, it is a powerful way to create your personal road map through whatever situation is holding you back in your business.

It really is this simple:

  1. Hone Your Dream – I’ll tell you (not in boring science speak, I promise) how amazing research about the brain makes this step FUNDAMENTAL
  2. Own Your Numbers – The part that most goal setting–especially annual and quarterly goals, that will literally make you set up to fail right from the outset if you get it wrong
  3. Widen Your Expertise – The secrets from scientific research on experiential learning that will focus all of your learning, watching, listening, and googling into what really matters and never feel like you’re wasting time on things you’ll never use again

I am so excited to share this method with you absolutely for free in three key ways:
– For people who want an in-depth dive to understand and put it to use right away: Check out our free one-hour webinar “Introducing HOW: A Simple New Way to Reach Any Goal” on Thursday 9/12 at 1 pm EST. Sign up here.
– For people who want to experience the power of clarity: Join one of our very small group coaching previews if you are considering joining our VIP (Very Insightful Professionals) Group Coaching Program and you can be coaching specifically with HOW and feel what a difference it makes on a problem you’re facing right now.
– For people who want to like to take things in small sips: We have a new 5-minute daily podcast coming your way soon that will focus entirely on HOW (it’s even called “The Daily HOW”) and eye-opening ways to incorporate it into your life and business so that you feel more connected, in control, and competent in your work and decisions every day.

If you are already like, “Wow! I need this in my life! How do I get this all the time?!?!” I do want to let you know about one thing.

It’s only for people who are very excited about this and sure it’s what will help them move to the next level right now.

So, just for a few folks. And very fast action.

We have spent the last two years developing some very special things to have a massive impact on supporting you in creating a flourishing life and business and stopping you suffering for success.

The way to get access to everything we’ve developed first and in an intimate setting will be our VIP (Very Insightful Professionals) Group Coaching Program. It will include two live calls every single week with me along with all sorts of other support like quarterly planning intensives, resource libraries, a customized GPT to provide you with answers when you need them, and all sorts of other killer tools to support just what you need when you need it.

If you are so jazzed about what I’ve said, I want to let you know that we have a very limited number of spots that will be locked in for life at a major discount to thank those who are sure right away about getting going on this program with us.

If that’s you, check out our super special “thank you” discount here.

For everyone else who’s intrigued, I hope to see you on one of the free calls. I made HOW to help you, and I can’t wait for you to try it out.