"Once I figure this out, then I'll..." — the most dangerous sentence in your business

You read Thursday's newsletter.

You nodded along. "Yes, I should lead with discovery. Yes, I should stop being an order taker. Yes, the Client Journey Architecture makes total sense."

And then... you didn't do it.

The next prospect came in, asked for something specific, and you scoped exactly what they asked for. Again.

You told yourself:

Sound familiar?

Here's what I need you to hear:

That voice? The one telling you to wait? The one that sounds so reasonable, so practical, so rational?

That's not wisdom. That's fear wearing a really convincing disguise.

You think you're being practical.

You think you're being responsible.

You think "I can't change how I work with clients right now" is a reasonable assessment of your situation.

But let me ask you something: How long have you been saying that?

Six months? A year? Three years?

How many times have you told yourself once I figure this out, then I'll... and then nothing changed?

The goalposts keep moving. The "right time" never comes. And you stay exactly where you are — busy, stressed, inconsistent, doing work that's... fine.

Not terrible. Not soul-crushing. Just fine.

Meanwhile, the business you actually want to build? The one where you're a strategic partner instead of an order taker? The one where clients stay for years instead of ghosting after one project?

It stays theoretical. A someday thing. A nice idea you'll get to eventually.

Here's the truth nobody wants to say out loud:

If your business isn't changing, that's 100% your responsibility.

I know that sounds harsh. I know there are circumstances. I know it's complicated.

But complicated isn't the same as impossible. And "not the right time" is almost always code for "I'm scared."

Let's name it.

You're not actually afraid of changing how you work with clients. You're afraid of what happens if you try and it doesn't work.

Because right now, you have an excuse.

None of it is your fault. You're doing the best you can with what you've got.

But the moment you try something different? The moment you lead with discovery, pitch an assessment, position yourself as a strategic partner?

Now there's no one else to blame.

If it doesn't work, you have to face the possibility that maybe you're not good enough. Maybe you don't have what it takes. Maybe you're a failure.

So you don't try. You stay in the stuck pattern. You keep telling yourself you're being practical when really you're just protecting yourself from having to find out.

And your business stays exactly the freaking same.

I'm not going to give you an easy out here.

I'm not going to say "it's okay, change is hard, be gentle with yourself."

What I am going to say is this:

There's a difference between a stepping stone and a stuck pattern. And that difference is everything.

A stuck pattern keeps you busy while nothing changes.

A stepping stone moves you forward even when the work isn't your dream yet.

The work itself might look identical from the outside.

The difference is entirely in your intention.

I need you to understand that you can start building stepping stones right now, with your current clients, without blowing anything up.

You just have to stop using "not the right time" as an excuse to stay stuck.

On Thursday, I taught you the Client Journey Architecture — how to lead with discovery, map the territory, and become a strategic partner instead of an order taker.

I'm not going to tell you to overhaul your entire business tomorrow.

I'm not going to tell you to walk away from prospects who want something specific instead of your assessment.

What I am going to tell you is this: do the assessment anyway.

Even if they didn't pay for it. Even if they just want "the thing." Gather the data. Map the territory. Document what you find.

Do it for yourself. Do it on the backend. Do it because this is how you build the muscle, the methodology, the confidence to eventually sell it.

This is what a stepping stone looks like.

You're not waiting for the "right time" to become a strategic partner. You're practicing being one right now, in the middle of your imperfect current situation.

When you treat current client work as a stepping stone instead of a stuck pattern, you're building three things simultaneously:

Every time you do an informal assessment — even just for yourself — you're refining your methodology.

What questions reveal the most? What patterns keep showing up? What do clients think is the problem versus what's actually going on?

The first time you pitch a paid discovery offer, you might not have the confidence to hold the line. But if you've already done ten informal assessments? You'll have stories. You'll have proof. You'll know exactly what it reveals and why it matters.

Every roadmap you create becomes a template. Every framework you develop becomes something you own. Every system you build can be stripped of client-specific details and used again.

One of my clients does this brilliantly. She's working with clients who aren't her dream fit, but she's templatizing everything. Processes, frameworks, deliverables — all of it.

When she lands her ideal clients, she won't be reinventing the wheel. She'll have a library of assets that make delivery faster, better, and more profitable.

That's leverage. Built one stepping stone at a time.

Sometimes the stepping stone isn't about what you're building. It's about what it's buying you.

Years ago, I led LinkedIn personal branding cohorts. I enjoyed the work. It made me good money. But I knew — at my core — that it wasn't what I wanted to do long-term.

But I did it anyway. Intentionally.

It bought me time. Financial stability to think, experiment, figure out what I actually wanted — without panicking about next month's mortgage.

It gave me clarity. Those cohorts put me in a room with my people. I learned where they were struggling, what they actually needed, how I could help in a way that felt deeply meaningful.

That clarity became The Essentialist CEO.

The LinkedIn cohorts were never the dream. But they were a damn good stepping stone. Because I used them that way — not as a stuck pattern I was waiting to escape, but as intentional leverage for what came next.

I wrote recently about the Future You exercise — getting clear on who you're becoming so you can make decisions from that identity instead of your current fear.

This is that work in practice.

The CEO version of you doesn't wait for permission. She doesn't tell herself "once I figure this out, then I'll..." She doesn't use "not the right time" as an excuse to stay exactly where she is.

She leads. She diagnoses. She architects the journey. She treats every engagement as a stepping stone instead of just surviving another week.

You don't become her through some dramatic overnight transformation.

You become her through a thousand small decisions to act like her before you feel ready.

Through gathering the data when no one asked for it.

Through documenting your methodology before you're sure it's worth anything.

Through building assets even when you're not certain they'll ever be used again.

That's the shift. Not waiting for the right time. Making right now the time.

Here's what it comes down to:

Or you can start building stepping stones today.

Not by blowing up your business. Not by walking away from clients. Just by changing how you use the time you're already spending.

This week: whatever client work you have, go through the discovery process for yourself. Map where they actually are. Document what you find. Build the asset even if no one's paying for it yet.

And notice what happens.

Notice how much clearer you get. Notice how much more confident you feel. Notice the CEO version of you starting to emerge — not through some dramatic transformation, but through one intentional decision at a time.

I need to tell you something.

There is nothing that breaks my heart more than watching someone pay me money and then do nothing with it.

I've had conversations with people who told me how frustrated they were. How stuck they felt. How desperately they wanted things to change. They'd been struggling for years — two, three, sometimes longer — and they were finally ready to do something about it.

And then they joined The Collective.

And they didn't go through the content. They didn't show up to calls (or they did, but didn’t listen to my guidance). They didn't make any shifts in how they were running their business.

Six months later, they're exactly where they were when we had that first conversation. Exactly where they were two or three years before that.

I can't want it more than you do.

I can give you the frameworks. I can show you the path. I can hold up the mirror and tell you exactly what's keeping you stuck.

But I can't make you do the work.

This is why I'm selective about who I allow into The Collective. Not because I'm trying to be exclusive. Not because I only want people who already have it figured out.

Because I only want people who are actually ready to do something different.

If you're looking for permission to stay comfortable, this isn't the place for you. If you want someone to tell you it's okay to keep waiting for the right time, I'm not that person.

But if you're ready to stop spinning? If you're ready to build stepping stones instead of stuck patterns? If you're ready to become the CEO version of yourself — not someday, but starting now?

That's who The Collective is for.

If your business looks the same in six months as it does today, that's not bad luck. That's not circumstances. That's not the market.

That's a series of choices you made.

You can keep making them. Or you can start making different ones.

The difference is entirely up to you.

In love, growth, and essentialism,
Kasey