The Moment in Business No One Talks About
Behind every business that looks polished and powerful from the outside is a woman navigating the messy middle. Often, she’s caught up in the swirl of too many ideas, disconnected from her brilliance and how she talks about it, or feeling the deep frustration of knowing she’s meant for more but unsure how to get there.
This is the final post in a three-part series exploring the real reasons smart, high-achieving women feel stuck, scattered, or stalled in their business, and most importantly, what being crystal clear makes possible.
In the last two posts, we talked about the pain of building the wrong business, unpacked the frustration of messaging that doesn’t convert, and now, we’re going deeper.
Today, I want to talk about the moment before everything changes.
If you’ve been running your business for any length of time, you already know that behind all the polish and professionalism is a woman navigating the messy middle.
At some point, success and money stops being enough. You feel a quiet (or not so quiet) disconnect between the business you built and the truth that’s been growing inside you. The woman you were when you started your business isn’t the same woman standing here now.
That not so quiet vision demands more truth, more courage, and more alignment from you than ever before.
This is the precipice.
I’ve stood on this edge three different times over the last 13+ years, and I’ve also watched countless clients hit this moment, too. Not when they were flailing… but when they were thriving.
They had strong track records of success. They were respected leaders, had built amazing communities, and were facilitating real transformation for their clients.
But as they grew and evolved, something inside shifted. They were being called into a new kind of leadership, one that required them to stop hiding behind the work and start leading with their vision and voice.
I don’t need to tell you that the leap from practitioner to visionary is no small thing. It’s vulnerable and scary, but it’s also the beginning of everything real.
Lisa’s Story: From Business Builder to Bold Leader
When Lisa Katona Smith and I first started working together, she was in the early stages of building a mission-driven business, supporting families who have loved ones struggling with addiction. Over the course of 18 months, we clarified her offers, refined her messaging, and built a sustainable business rooted in compassion, trauma-informed care, and real transformation.
She had clarity, traction, and growing success.
But then came the next call…
TEDx.
She knew that the message that had been growing inside her needed a bigger platform.
While growing her business was important, this wasn’t about scaling. It was about owning her voice on a much bigger stage that would allow her to make the impact she was being called to make.
We worked together again; this time to refine her thought leadership.
Lisa was already a seasoned performer and speaker. She routinely led high-stakes conversations within deeply complex systems and had navigated her own parallel recovery, but she’ll tell you, “Preparing for TEDx was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
This time she was being asked to get more honest, more precise, and more public with her message than ever before.
We pulled her story forward. We clarified her big idea. We made space for the hard truths she’d been carrying, and built a message that could hold the weight of her lived experience, her professional expertise, and the hope of her massive vision.
“I was able to feel confident not only in my message, but in presenting and owning the hard things I was saying.”
When she stood on that red dot, Lisa didn’t just deliver a TEDx talk; she delivered a message that is shifting an entire industry.
And today, her brand new book, Parallel Recovery: A Guide for Those Who Love Someone With Substance Use Disorder goes live. This new frontier will deepen her visibility and allow her to continue leading with more clarity, influence, and power.
You Can’t Lead a Movement with a Muddled Message
You may not be called to the TEDx stage or to write a book, but here’s what I hope you take away from Lisa’s story:
Leadership isn’t just about being visible. It’s about being understood.
The reason so many brilliant, seasoned, powerful women feel stuck when they’re asked to lead on a bigger stage isn’t because they’re not ready.
It’s because their message is still vague.
A massive part of the work Lisa and I did together was digging into her story and the real message she wanted people to hear and know. We talked a lot about impact and what wasn’t working in her industry.
She had to say some hard truths. Things that were uncomfortable but needed to be said.
When she took the stage, and in the time since then, she has continued to evolve as a thought leader and refine and clarify her message into what it is today.
That work is hard and vulnerable.
But it’s also really freaking magnetic. It’s what makes people lean in, trust you, and follow your lead.
A muddled message is a way of staying hidden, and we don’t need more women playing small.
Every Big Idea Needs a Voice
Your big idea is the thread that ties your story, your values, your expertise, and your vision together into something bold and resonant.
It’s THE thing that makes your content stick, gets you on stages, in the right rooms, and at tables where decisions are made. Your big idea is what gives you the confidence to say, “This is the conversation I’m here to lead.”
Whether you’re a coach, founder, therapist, executive, or speaker, you need that anchor. Not just to grow your business, but to grow your impact.
If you're feeling the quiet pull to lead, but you also find yourself hiding, second-guessing, or swirling in the “what do I even say?” fog, it’s time to do the work.
Your first step is to book a Big Idea Audit, a bold, strategic clarity consult where we’ll:
Uncover what you’re really here to say
Identify the big idea that can carry your voice and vision forward
Clarify how to shape your visibility around a message that is bold, aligned, and unmistakably yours
This is the work I’ve done with countless TEDx speakers, changemakers, and founders, just like you, who know they’re being called to something bigger.
Clarity is what makes that possible.
Let’s find your message. Book your Big Idea Audit here.
