You Don’t Need to Burn It All Down

Listen to this episode on the Purpose + Profit Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the podcast player of your choice.

This is Part 2 of a 4-Part Series called Why Isn’t It Working? Get Part 1 here. 

You’ve probably thought about it more than once.

Maybe if I shut it all down things will be better. 

I should delete all my offers, scrap the whole brand, or burn it all to the ground.

Something isn’t working and I’m too freaking tired to keep trying to fix it. 

Here’s the thing no one tells high-achieving, successful women entrepreneurs:

You don’t need to start over. You don’t need to burn it all to ground for it to work again!

You need to strategically rebuild. With YOUR big idea. With wisdom. With experience. With the latest and best version of YOU. 

And that changes everything.

The Cookie Recipe Revelation

Years ago, I had a super fun sweet side hustle, called When Cookie Met Cupcake (Yep! The When Harry Met Sally vibes were real!). The longer I ran that business, the more obsessed I became with creating the perfect sugar cookie. 

I didn’t love the recipe I had been using, and I didn’t want what was already out there. I wanted my very own version; something I could call MINE. I wanted it to be soft and cakey (no crunchy cookies for me), not too sweet, and strong enough to hold my signature vanilla bean buttercream.

So, I did what any good experimenter does.

I found nine recipes and made them all.

Some went straight into the trash after they were mixed. The dough was too sticky and a major pain to work with. 

Others made it to the chill phase but still ended up in the bin because the flavor was all wrong, or once again, a pain to work with.

Only four made it to the oven.  

And of the ones I baked, none were quite right, and I chucked them all (much to my husband’s horrified dismay.)

But here’s where it gets good…

I pulled the best elements from each one. The texture from one, the flavor and sweetness balance from another, the structure from a third, and used them to create my own.

That cookie? A total hit. People still ask me for the recipe. (Spoiler: I’m not giving it up.)

But the lesson stuck.

Building a Business is the Same

We create things. We test them, toss some, and keep others. We pivot, refine, and evolve. 

But somewhere along the line, women start believing that if it doesn’t feel right, the only option is to torch the whole thing and start over.

That’s not a strategy. That’s frustration disguised as reinvention.

I know because I did that in 2022. I looked at my business, who I was serving, the work I was doing, and none of it felt right. I chucked the whole thing, cut off my primary revenue-generating offer, and spent the better part of six months in deep stress, frustration, regret, and fear that it wasn’t going to work. 

What you - and I - really need is a moment of clarity to step back when that happens and ask:

• What’s actually working?

• What am I doing out of obligation vs alignment? 

• What am I tolerating that doesn’t serve me or my clients well?

• What pieces still feel true… and what no longer fits?

• What do I really care about? What is no one else talking about? Doing?
  
  

That level of introspection, that pause, is vital because you’ve already built something solid, and it doesn’t make sense to throw the baby out with the bathwater. 

The business you’re running, like we talked about last week, may no longer fit, but it’s full of wisdom, data, and gold that can help you rebuild smarter.

What Most Women Miss

When you’re in the swirl, that space where you feel like crazy brain is taking over your life, it’s hard to separate what’s truly broken from what just needs a little refining.

That’s where your big idea comes in.

When you get clear on the bold, original, loud, and tenacious idea that sits at the heart of your work, the one that aligns with your values, your impact goals, and the kind of visibility you want, it becomes so much easier to know what to keep and what to leave behind.

You stop building - or smashing it all to bits - reactively.

You start building intentionally.

This is the heart of The Bold Rebuild™.

It’s not about razing your business to the ground.

It’s about reconstructing what works, based on who you’ve become and where you want to take this next iteration of your business. 

You Don’t Need to Spiral Anymore

I’ve seen this happen over and over to smart, experienced women. I’ve been in that place where I was spiraling because I thought the goo in the messy middle meant I’d failed.

But you haven’t failed. 

You’ve grown.

And now it’s time to pull the best pieces together. The data, your voice, the idea or impact you care so much about, the offers and the way you want to serve, and reconstruct something that fits this version of you.

So let’s stop pretending you need to start from scratch.

Let’s rebuild, on purpose.

If you’re ready to dive into exactly how to do that, download my new free guide: Why Isn’t This Working?

This is your first step toward clarity. It’ll help you see what’s really holding you back and how to move forward with focus, not frustration.

Because you don’t need to burn it all down.

You just need the right recipe. 🍪