When You Know the Strategy but Still Don’t Do It: Lead Machine Growth Show
You can know exactly what you are supposed to do in your business and still not do it.
That was my experience for years.
I knew I should reach out to people. I knew I should talk about my work. I knew I needed to market. I had paid coaches and taken courses that gave me plenty of strategy.
But when it was time to take the action that required visibility, I suddenly had something else that seemed very important to do.
Build another webpage. Research something. Take another course. Work on something useful that was not the thing most directly connected to getting clients.
I joined Paul Guyon on The Lead Machine Growth Show to talk about that gap between knowing and doing, along with procrastination, imposter syndrome, pricing, visibility, Brainspotting and how entrepreneurs can begin recognizing where execution is actually breaking down.
This conversation predates SCAN, but several of the distinctions that later became central to my work are already here.
You Can Have the Strategy and Still Avoid the Action
Early in the interview, I describe exactly what this looked like in my first business.
I was taking courses, hiring coaches and looking for the answer.
The advice itself was not mysterious.
Reach out to people you know. Tell people what you do. Get visible. Talk to potential clients.
I knew those things mattered.
Yet when it was time to actually do them, something else suddenly seemed more appealing.
“I’m going to go over here and build a webpage instead.”
That distinction matters because being busy can hide an execution problem surprisingly well.
You are working. You are learning. You may even be accomplishing useful things.
But the specific action you already identified as important keeps moving to tomorrow.
Procrastination Is a Pattern, Not an Explanation
Paul asked how someone can recognize a block when “self-limiting belief” is such a broad category.
I used procrastination as one example.
You know you should make the sales call. There is no practical reason you cannot make it. But picking up the phone feels disproportionately difficult.
So you put it off.
Sometimes simply recognizing what you are doing is enough to change it.
I gave the example of my own website. I helped other people build websites, yet I had delayed mine for 18 months.
Once I recognized that the issue was not lack of skill, lack of time or lack of information, I finished it in about a day and a half.
That is also why I would not use procrastination itself as the diagnosis today.
Procrastination tells us execution has been delayed. The next question is why.
The Problem Can Show Up in the Middle of a Sales Conversation
Execution blocks do not always prevent someone from starting.
Sometimes they change what the person does halfway through.
In the interview, I used pricing as an example.
Imagine you already determined that your service costs $1,997.
You practiced saying the number. You understand the business math. You know the price.
Then the prospect asks what it costs.
Suddenly you hear yourself saying there is a special.
Then another discount.
Maybe another one after that.
The strategy did not disappear. Your pricing did not suddenly become incorrect.
Something happened during execution.
Not Every Missed Action Means You Have a Block
One of the strongest parts of this older interview is a distinction I still use today.
I explained how I responded when a coaching client came back without completing something we had agreed they would do.
The first time, we looked at what happened.
Maybe the kids got sick. Maybe another opportunity became more important. Maybe priorities legitimately changed.
Those things happen.
If the client came back again and the same action still had not happened, then I became more curious.
Why does this particular task keep moving?
At the time, my next question was whether Brainspotting might be appropriate.
Today, I would widen that diagnostic step even further.
Is the strategy actually sound? Is the action specific enough? Does the workflow fit the person? Is there an unrealistic expectation built into the plan? Or have we eliminated those possibilities and found a persistent execution block?
That is a much more useful question than immediately deciding you need more motivation.
Revenue-Producing Actions Often Carry More Weight
During the same discussion, I pointed out something entrepreneurs should pay attention to when they look at their to-do lists.
Which actions are actually connected to revenue?
Are those the ones repeatedly getting pushed down the list?
That can be useful data.
A person may have no difficulty organizing files, redesigning a webpage, learning new software or researching another strategy.
But asking someone to work with them, following up with a lead, stating the price or putting their expertise where other people can evaluate it feels entirely different.
The fact that the avoidance is selective tells us more than the word “procrastination” alone ever could.
Building the Business Around the Person Doing the Work
I also talked about the Brainspotting session that changed how I approached my own business.
The realization was not simply, “Now I can force myself to do the marketing.”
It was that I needed to build a business around who I was and the kind of work I actually enjoyed doing.
That is an important distinction.
Sometimes resolving the resistance makes execution easier.
Sometimes it gives you enough clarity to recognize that you have been trying to execute the wrong plan.
A method can work for someone else and still be poorly aligned with you.
Where Brainspotting Fits
A substantial portion of the conversation explores Brainspotting, how I use it and why I became interested in using it specifically with entrepreneurs who repeatedly stalled around important business actions.
The interview contains some explanations and claims from an earlier stage of my work. My positioning and the way I explain execution problems has become more precise since this conversation was recorded.
What has remained consistent is that I do not think every frustrating task needs a deeper intervention.
First we want to understand what is actually happening.
If the problem is strategy, fix the strategy.
If the action is vague, clarify it.
If the structure is wrong, change the structure.
And when those explanations stop accounting for the repeated pattern, then we have better information about what to explore next.
In This Episode We Discuss
- Why knowing the right strategy does not guarantee execution
- Staying busy while avoiding the action that matters most
- Procrastination as a signal rather than a diagnosis
- Imposter syndrome and fear of visibility
- Sales calls and discomfort stating your full price
- Building a website for everyone except yourself
- Fear of being seen on podcasts and other public platforms
- How entrepreneurs can recognize repeated execution patterns
- Legitimate reasons a planned action may not happen
- Revenue-producing actions and selective avoidance
- Brainspotting and its role in Jennie’s work
- Building a business around how you actually work
- Why “you’re not broken” became an important part of Jennie’s message
Watch or Listen to the Full Episode
Watch my full conversation with Paul Guyon on The Lead Machine Growth Show.
Lead Machine Growth Show Episode Transcript
Prefer to read the conversation? The full transcript is available below. It has been lightly cleaned for names, punctuation and obvious transcription errors while preserving the substance and conversational language of the original episode.
Read the full episode transcript
0:00 Are you following all the right strategies but still feel stuck? The real problem might not be your mindset or your business plan. It could be hidden emotional blocks quietly holding you back.
Breakthrough specialist Jennie Hays reveals why true success goes beyond mindset and strategy. She shares how Brainspotting helps entrepreneurs uncover barriers, move through self-doubt and gain clarity and momentum.
1:35 Paul Guyon: Welcome to the Lead Machine Growth Show. I'm Paul Guyon, your host, Lead Machine Coach and founder of the Lead Machine Marketing Group and Mastermind.
Jennie, thank you so much for coming to the show. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and what Brainspotting is all about?
2:17 Jennie Hays: I've been happily married to the love of my life for 15 years. I have stepkids, two new grandbabies on the way and animals out our ears.
I started my career in customer service, moved to paramedicine for ten years and then made my way into the coaching world.
I spent a long time not able to do what you help people do, and that's actually what landed me in Brainspotting.
5:06 Jennie: We like to think it's a straight line. A equals B.
If that were true, just feeling the fear and doing it anyway would work every time.
But I sat there in my business month after month, not making money, taking all the courses, spending all the money on coaches and everything, and yet I had this block. I couldn't do the thing.
Almost every marketing expert will say, reach out to your fans and friends, make that list of people you know, reach out and let them know what you're doing, get on Facebook and tell people what's going on.
I couldn't do any of those.
I knew I needed to do them. But in my body I would go to do it and be like, “That just doesn't feel good. I'm going to go over here and build a webpage instead.”
So I was always busy, always looking for the answer and never realized the answer was right inside of me.
7:36 Jennie: At the same time I was beating a dead horse with my insulin-resistance coaching business.
The clients I got were when I joined a course, because then I was forced to talk about what I did. People would say, “Oh, I need that.”
I would earn back what I spent, but you can't make a living doing that.
Here I was going over and over, not doing the thing, while working with Brainspotting clients and watching them make these changes.
9:24 Jennie: I walked away with the realization that I needed to build a business around who I am and what I love.
It was like, wait a minute. I absolutely love Brainspotting. Why am I not doing that?
Now I'm profitable and I'm doing the things this time.
All the things I said I was doing before, that I knew I wasn't.
It wasn't that I was broken. There wasn't something wrong with me.
17:27 Jennie: When there isn't a rational reason for the hesitation, a lot of times we recognize it already.
We're like, “I need to make that sales call because if I don't, I can't make sales. But it's really hard for me to pick up the phone.”
You'll see it a lot in procrastination.
“I'll just put that off for a little while.”
Sometimes just acknowledging that it's a block is enough to fix it.
I help people build websites all day long, and for 18 months I couldn't do my own website when I was doing insulin resistance.
It dawned on me: that's a block. It's not that I'm that busy. It's not that I can't do it.
I did it in a day and a half, and that was while I was working full-time.
18:44 Jennie: Backpedaling is another one.
Let's say we're on a sales call and your rate is $1,997 for your coaching package.
As soon as you get ready to say it, you start feeling uncomfortable. You've practiced it. You've said it over and over in the mirror, but it doesn't feel good.
So you go, “Well, it's $1,997, but today I've got a special.”
Then you start undercutting yourself because you're afraid what they will think about you if you charge your full rate.
19:31 Jennie: Or you get invited to do a podcast like this. You're excited. You know it could expand your reach, but you're like, “I don't know if I can get on there. What will I say? What will he say? What are people going to think?”
Sometimes it's our protection from the unknown, so much so that we stop in our tracks.
28:39 Paul: For entrepreneurs and small business owners, can you share some dramatic from-here-to-there case studies?
28:52 Jennie: I love when people see their ability to find their voice.
I had a client who was a Type A personality. We don't often think of Type A personalities as getting stuck, but they do.
She was in her first year in business and looking at an $80,000 to $90,000 year, which was already impressive.
But she wasn't allowing herself to live her life. She was exhausted and starting to get to the burnout stage.
We Brainspotted that. She gave herself back almost two full business days and capped out the year at just under $150,000.
31:21 Jennie: With my clients, if we set a plan to do something and they come in two weeks later and haven't done it, the first time we'll talk about why.
Sometimes it's very legitimate. The kids got sick. Something else became more important. I had an opportunity and stepped into that instead.
The second time they come back and haven't done it, now we're starting to talk. Is there a reason? Are we procrastinating? Are we putting this off?
If they come back a third time, then at that point I'm looking more seriously at whether there's a block.
You can have all the techniques, all the strategy and the best coaching in the world, but if you have a block and aren't addressing it, you'll stay stuck.
Look at your to-do list. Which ones are going to make me money? Which ones are actually tied to revenue?
Am I doing those?
Those are often the ones people don't want to do because of fear of being seen, imposter syndrome or something else.
47:02 Paul: What are three things our listeners or viewers can do to put these ideas into action today?
47:08 Jennie: One of the things we don't do in our culture is feel what's going on. We've been conditioned that if something is going on, shut it down and deal with it later.
If you'll allow yourself to actually experience the sensation and let it complete, you can keep from building new problems around it.
Another thing you can do is use resources like tapping and limiting belief exercises.
Identify what the voice is saying.
Then ask, what is actually true? Build the proof for that.
49:35 Jennie: The third thing is realize you're not broken.
It's not that there's something wrong with you. Your body is trying to protect you. It's doing what it's supposed to do. It just doesn't serve you anymore.
Figure out what's going on. And if you can't figure out what's going on, ask somebody.
51:24 Paul: As we sign off, remember faith and action go hand in hand. Keep the pedal to the metal.
Until next time on the Lead Machine Growth Show, I'm Paul Guyon. Jennie Hays, thanks so much.
51:40 Jennie: Thank you.
About Jennie Hays
Jennie Hays is an Execution Block Specialist, Brainspotting Practitioner and business coach for coaches, consultants and service-based entrepreneurs.
She helps capable people figure out why strategies they already understand are not consistently turning into action.
Her work distinguishes between a true execution block, a strategy that does not fit the person and a plan that is simply too vague or poorly structured to execute.
When an actual execution block is present, Jennie combines rapid block resolution and Brainspotting with practical business strategy and execution design to help clients return to clear, measurable action.
