🏔️ Essentialist CEO: Why smart entrepreneurs choose busy work over breakthrough (and stay below $10k/month)

I'm sharing the 100% true story of my brilliant friend Amanda, a consultant who had access to exactly what she needed to build a $10K+ business, but avoided it for years.

Her pattern reveals the 3-stage psychological trap that keeps smart entrepreneurs choosing sophisticated busy work over simple breakthrough work, the compound cost of "staying flexible" (it's not just time—it's confidence, competence, and identity), and why diagnostic clarity beats more strategies every time.

Plus: the choice you're making right now as you read this, and why this moment is exactly the pattern I'm describing.

Last Thursday, I broke down the 5 Elements that separate $10K+ consultants from everyone else.

And I'm willing to bet that as you read it, you thought: "This makes sense. But I don't have time for this right now."

Because you're busy. Really freaking busy.

You're doing client work for 8+ hours a day. You're creating custom proposals for every prospect. You're managing projects with zero systematization. You're putting out fires and barely keeping your head above water.

But here's what I need you to understand: You're not too busy to work on your business foundations.

You're choosing busy work to avoid them.

Because foundation work—the positioning clarity, the repeatable systems, the strategic focus—requires something that feels impossible right now:

Commitment.

And commitment is terrifying.

Let me tell you about my friend Amanda. Brilliant consultant. Incredible at what she does. Started her business about two years after I started mine.

A couple of years ago, she reached out to me: "I think I need your help. I'm realizing I never really treated my business like a business, and it's starting to catch up with me."

No joke, this conversation planted the seed for what ultimately became Solo CEO.

I gave her a bunch of advice. She was like, "Oh my God, that's so helpful!"

And then she went right back to doing exactly what she was doing before.

A year later, she reached out again. This time, she joined Solo CEO. Access to all the frameworks, all the calls, all the step-by-step guidance.

She didn't go through any of the content. Didn't show up to calls. Didn't do any of the work.

When I talked to her six months after that, things had only gotten worse.

Here's what Amanda's "busy" days actually looked like:

Amanda wasn't avoiding business development because she didn't know what to do. She had access to exactly what to do.

She was avoiding it because doing the foundational work meant committing to something specific.

And committing to something specific felt more dangerous than staying busy with everything general.

Here's the pattern I see everywhere:

Why do brilliant people do this?

Because learning feels productive without requiring commitment.

Here's the psychological trap that keeps brilliant people stuck:

Chaos feels less risky than commitment.

When you're scrambling with custom proposals for every client, you tell yourself: "At least I'm being flexible. At least I'm not missing opportunities."

When you're researching tools instead of clarifying positioning, you tell yourself: "At least I'm learning. At least I'm not making the wrong choice."

But here's what's actually happening in your brain:

Foundation work demands binary choices. Your positioning is either this or that. Your ideal client is either here or there. Your process is either A or B.

Your brain immediately amplifies the stakes: "What if I choose wrong? What if this approach doesn't work? What if I bet everything on the wrong positioning?"

Busy work offers an escape hatch: "I don't have to choose yet. I can keep researching. I can stay flexible. I can avoid the risk of being wrong."

But here's the brutal truth that your brain doesn't want you to see. You're not avoiding risk. You're choosing a different, more dangerous risk.

The risk of staying exactly where you are.

Every month you avoid committing to a positioning, you're making a choice. Every month you stay "flexible" with your process, you're betting on something.

These are terrible bets.

Here's what "staying flexible" actually costs:

Amanda's story didn't end with her staying in the same place. Once she realized things weren’t working, the effects actually compounded. Things got worse.

Every client interaction without clear positioning makes you question your value. Every project without a systematic process makes you work harder for the same result.

Each year she avoided foundation work, her confidence eroded a little more.

You get better at the chaos. You develop sophisticated workarounds. You become excellent at being inefficient. This feels like progress, but it's actually making the real solution harder to see.

Each client project became harder because she had no systems to rely on.

You start to believe that chaos is just "how your business works." That you're "not a systems person." That maybe you're "better with flexible approaches." Your identity adapts to protect your choices.

Each potential client conversation became more stressful because she couldn't clearly articulate her value.

Now you're not just avoiding foundation work. You're actively resistant to it. You have sophisticated reasons why systematic approaches "don't work for your type of business." You've built an identity around being the exception.

Each month, she felt more behind, more overwhelmed, more convinced that maybe she just wasn't cut out for this.

The busy work that was supposed to keep her business afloat was actually sinking it.

I want you to be brutally honest with yourself:

Over the last year, how many hours did you spend:

Now compare that to how many hours you spent:

The uncomfortable follow-ups:

If you're honest, the pattern becomes obvious:

You're not too busy for foundation work. You're choosing busy work to avoid foundation work.

And that choice is costing you more than you realize.

Here's what I've learned after watching hundreds of entrepreneurs struggle with this pattern:

You don't need more strategies. You need diagnostic clarity on which foundation to commit to first.

And then the courage and accountability to finally commit.

Because when you're crystal clear on your essential next step, the avoidance behaviors become obviously ridiculous.

When you know exactly which element will move your business forward fastest, spending 3 hours researching tools for problems you don't have feels stupid.

When you have surgical precision on what really freaking matters, what is ESSENTIAL to your business and life, busy work stops feeling productive.

Clarity eliminates the excuse.

That's why I created Your Fastest Path to $10K+ Months. Not to give you more strategies, but to give you diagnostic clarity on exactly what YOUR business needs to focus on first.

And why I’m building something to help you face the fear and discomfort of following through on it.

Because the entrepreneurs who break through aren't the ones who know the most tactics.

They're the ones who have the courage to commit to the right foundation and ignore everything else.

Every day you choose between two paths:

Path 1: Stay busy with activities that feel productive but don't compound
Path 2: Commit to one foundation that feels scary but creates systematic progress

Path 1 feels safer in the moment. You get to feel productive without risking failure. You get to stay in motion without making commitments.

But Path 1 has a compound cost. Every month on this path takes you further from the business you want and deeper into overwhelm, self-doubt, and financial stress.

Path 2 feels terrifying in the moment. You have to choose. You have to commit. You have to bet on yourself.

But Path 2 has compound benefits. Every month on this path builds something systematic that makes the next month easier.

The consultants making $15K+ months aren't there because they avoided the scary choices.

They're there because they made them.

Right now, reading this newsletter, your brain is doing exactly what I described:

Here's what I need you to understand: This moment, right now, is the pattern.

You can choose the familiar path: Bookmark this newsletter, tell yourself you'll "think about it," maybe research some more approaches, and go back to sophisticated avoidance.

Or you can choose the terrifying path: Commit to getting clarity on exactly which foundation YOUR business needs first, and actually implement it.

Amanda chose the familiar path for two years. Where did it get her?

The entrepreneurs making $15K+ months made the terrifying choice. Where did it get them?

Here's why Your Fastest Path to $10k+ Months is different:

This isn't another strategy to research. It's your live Essentialist Compass Assessment. You'll discover exactly which of the 5 Essential Elements is blocking your path to consistent $10K+ months — and get a personalized roadmap to fix it.

No more "staying flexible." No more sophisticated avoidance. No more researching your way out of commitment.

You'll walk away with:

Most importantly: You'll finally know where to direct your energy instead of spreading it everywhere.

Plus: Workshop attendees get exclusive first access to join the Essentialist CEO Collective — my new community focused on surgical precision and guided implementation — at founding member pricing.

The workshop is Wednesday, September 24th at 9am PDT/12pm EDT.

It's completely free. Or you can spend the next six months researching approaches, learning tactics, and staying busy with activities that feel productive but don't compound.

Amanda chose research. For two years.

What are you going to choose?

Save Your Spot for the Workshop →

(btw, when you register, you’ll get invited to a private WhatsApp group with me where you can ask any questions, share any ideas, and get support before the session even happens)

The entrepreneurs who break through aren't the ones who avoid the scary choices. They're the ones who make them.

Your business is waiting for you to make yours.

In love and growth,
Kasey

P.S. Amanda’s story is not unique. I get DMs, read emails, and get on calls with entrepreneurs in the exact same situation all the time. They come back over and over again, wanting advice, but never committing to implementing it.

Remember: when the pattern continues, so does the compound cost.

Your life won’t change until you do.