3 Things You’re Doing To Secretly Sabotage Your Business Growth with Amy Traugh
- Amy Traugh
- 26 minutes ago
- 10 min read
🎧 The Metrics Maven: Data Driven Business Growth Strategy for Solopreneurs is streaming on all platforms. Listen here. Also streaming on YouTube.
3 Habits That Quietly Stall Your Business Growth (and What to Do Instead)
Feeling stuck even though you're working hard? These three common habits might be the reason your business growth feels stalled—here’s how to shift from busy to effective.
1. You’re Focused on Content Creation, Not Conversion
You’re posting the reels. Batching content. Writing emails. Showing up everywhere and sharing tons of value. From the outside, it looks like you’re doing everything right—but sales still feel inconsistent, and leads aren’t flowing in like you expected.
Here’s what’s really happening: you’re measuring effort, not effectiveness.
Think of it like going to the gym daily but never tracking your progress. You’re doing the reps, but are you actually getting stronger?
If you don’t know which pieces of content led to clicks, DMs, or sales, you’re just guessing. And guessing leads to burnout.
One client came to me posting every day with amazing engagement—but her content wasn’t prompting action. No clicks. No DMs. No conversions. Once we started tracking what content actually led to link clicks or booked calls and refined her messaging to speak to buyers, not just browsers, she doubled her discovery calls in just 30 days—with the same amount of content.
Before you post anything this week, ask yourself:“Is this helping move someone closer to working with me?”
Open your analytics. Track what’s working. Look at:
What content gets replies?
What prompted someone to join your list or book a call?
What do your ideal clients mention when they reach out?
The patterns will tell you what to repeat—and what to refine.
2. You’re Avoiding Your Numbers Because They Feel Overwhelming
Let’s be honest—metrics can feel intimidating. Many solopreneurs avoid them because they seem complicated or cold. You tell yourself, “Things feel okay,” or “I had a decent month,” and move on.
But without metrics, you're operating without a GPS.
Most of us were taught to follow our gut, manifest the money, and trust the process. And while mindset matters, your brain will lie when you're stressed. Your data won’t.
One of my clients—a business coach—kept creating new offers and relaunching over and over again. But when we looked at her metrics, we discovered the issue wasn’t lead flow—it was conversion. People were dropping off between the opt-in and sales call. A single adjustment to her email follow-up led to three new clients in two weeks.
Start small. Pick one metric to track:
Number of leads
Sales calls booked
Conversion rate
Put it in a simple Google Sheet or even a notebook. Let that number guide your next step. When you track what matters, clarity builds, and growth gets simpler.
3. You’re Pivoting Too Soon Instead of Optimizing What You Have
Launched something and didn’t get the results you hoped for? It’s tempting to scrap it all and start fresh with a new offer, new funnel, or new idea.
But pivoting too soon kills your momentum.
Every time you start from scratch, you lose the trust and traction you’ve built. Instead of reinventing the wheel, start asking:
Why didn’t this convert?
Where are people dropping off?
What objections aren’t I addressing?
Often, it’s not the offer—it’s the messaging, the follow-up, or the positioning.
This is like planting seeds and then walking away before they’ve had a chance to grow. Sometimes, all it takes is a tiny adjustment, not a total overhaul.
Before creating anything new, ask:“Have I truly optimized what’s already here?”
Final Thoughts: Growth Doesn’t Come From Doing More
If you’re constantly creating, avoiding your numbers, or pivoting too fast—it’s not your fault. These habits feelproductive, but they’re quietly holding you back.
Real growth comes from doing what works, with intention.
Start by:
Creating content that converts
Tracking one simple metric
Refining before reinventing
These small shifts are sustainable, powerful, and effective. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start growing, I’ll show you how inside Metrics Mastery—my signature program that teaches you how to track the right data, use it strategically, and grow with clarity, confidence, and ease.
👉 Learn more at amytraugh.com
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Transcript for Episode 418. 3 Things You’re Doing To Secretly Sabotage Your Business Growth
@0:14 - Amy Traugh (Amy Traugh)
Are you unknowingly sabotaging your own business growth? This might sound a bit dramatic, but chances are you actually are.
But it's not in some really big, obvious way. It's the really small, sneaky habits that really feel productive, but are quietly slowing you down.
In today's episode, I am breaking down three super common things that you may be doing right now that are actually slowing down your growth, even though they feel productive.
We'll talk about why they happen, how they show up, and what to do. So that you can start growing your business with clarity, confidence, and ease.
Let's dive right in. So first up, you're focused on content creation, but not conversion. You're showing up online. You're posting the reels, batching content, writing emails, sharing value, trying to stay visible in all the places.
And honestly, you're doing it really, really well. Your content's awesome, but your sales still feel inconsistent. Leads aren't flowing in like you had hoped for, and you're frustrated and maybe starting to question your offer.
Rightfully so. But if you are measuring success by how much you're posting instead of whether it's actually leading to conversions or sales, we've got a huge disconnect.
What keeps going to Good, What's happening here is that you're measuring your effort, but not your effectiveness. This is the same thing as going to the gym every single day, but never tracking your progress.
Sure, you're showing up, you're doing the exercises, but are you actually getting stronger? The same goes for your content.
If you're not absolutely clear on which content actually led to a click, a DM, or a sale, you're just guessing.
And what does that guessing do? It leads to burnout. I had a recent client that came to me and she was so consistent.
I mean, she was like the epitome of consistency. She was posting every single day and yet she wasn't getting clients.
And when we really took the time to look at her numbers, we realized that her content was getting awesome engagement.
But none of it was actually leading people to her offer. Her calls to action weren't clear. Her DMs were totally dried up.
And she had no clue which content was actually prompting the action. So we made two really key adjustments. We started tracking what types of content generated clicks to her link, to her opt-in, to the sales that she wanted.
And then we shifted her content strategy to speak more to buyer awareness instead of just giving value for value sake.
And within 30 days, she doubled the amount of discovery calls. that she was booking the same amount of effort.
We just refocused the direction. So this week, before you post anything, before you create any content, I want you to ask yourself, is this piece of content actually helping move someone closer to working with me?
Start tracking which ones that actually do. Open up those analytics. See what's working and do more of that. And if it's not, don't scrap it, but get curious.
Your numbers will tell you what to repeat and what to refine. Start to look at things like, all right, well, which content is getting the most replies.
What led someone to join your email list or book a call? What Do your ideal clients say when they reach out what got their attention?
Write it down. You'll start to see patterns. And that's the key because that allows you to scale what works instead of constantly starting over.
Number two, you're avoiding your numbers because they feel overwhelming. This is a one. I get it. Data can feel so intimidating to the point where you don't even know where to start.
It seems like it's written in a foreign language. You've tried tracking it before and it didn't do anything, right?
To avoid it. And you default to what feels easier. Creating. Creating more content. Creating new offers. Putting in even more work because you're spending the time on things that make you feel like you're making progress.
Bye. Bye. What happens is when you start to think of your metrics, your numbers, you get really vague and you start to tell yourself stories.
Well, I had a decent month, so it must be okay. Or, you know what, things feel slow, but I don't really know why.
Well, this isn't your fault. Most solopreneurs weren't actually taught how to run a business by the numbers. We have been told over and over and over to just follow our gut, manifest the money, and trust the process.
Yes, this works to an extent, but here's the problem. Your brain will tell you lies when you're stressed. Your data won't.
When you avoid numbers, you're missing the very thing that will tell you objectively what is working, what is not, and where to adjust.
This is like trying to drive somewhere. Without a GPS. And when you feel lost, you just keep on driving instead of pausing and asking for directions.
Then you wonder, why is it taking me so long to get to my destination? This is what's happening over and over and over.
Your metrics aren't here to judge you. They are here to guide you. They are that GPS. And even one or two metrics can show you exactly where things are slowing down, where you're taking that wrong turn, and what you need to adjust.
That's exactly how one of my clients, a business coach, she felt like this. She had been in business for over two years and was doing pretty good.
She was getting referrals, selling spots in her program here and there, but nothing really felt predictable to her. She kept saying things like, I just need to launch again.
Or maybe I need to switch my offer. Maybe I need to create a new freebie. But once we actually dug into her data together, we discovered something really interesting.
She actually had plenty of leads. Her issue wasn't traffic. It was her conversion. Specifically, she was losing people between her lead opt-in and the sales call.
And this little tiny insight changed everything. We focused on one adjustment to her email follow-up sequence. then boom, three clients within two weeks.
All because she stopped avoiding her numbers and looked at the story they were telling her. It's like magic. Data doesn't need to be complex.
Start simple. Pick one. Just one metric. It could be the number of leads, number of sales calls. Your conversion rate.
Just one. And write it down. You can put it in a Google sheet if you want. But if you want, just put it in a notebook.
Whatever is sustainable for you. Start tracking one metric. Because what happens from there is the clarity starts to build.
And this saves you hours of time and energy. It shifts everything. Number three. So many entrepreneurs are guilty of this.
You're pivoting too soon instead of optimizing what you already have. We're all guilty of this, right? Say you launch something and it doesn't sell like you had hoped.
Maybe you even had a silent launch. What's our first instinct? Scrap it. Start over. New offer. New funnel. New idea.
Your brain is telling you, well, that didn't work. There's my proof of. So I better create something new. But what's happening is you might be quitting before your strategy even had a chance to work.
And when things slow down, it's so tempting to pivot because it feels productive. But every single time you start from scratch, you're burning time and energy and you're losing all of the momentum that you've gained.
You have to build trust. You have to test messaging, refine delivery over and over and over. And that slows down your momentum even though you're working so much harder.
This is like planting new seeds in a garden every single week. But you never actually water what's already in the ground.
So it doesn't grow. It doesn't have time to do its magic below the surface. So what if instead you got curious and you asked yourself, well, why didn't this opera convert?
Where do I notice people are dropping off? What objections am I not addressing yet that I could? Sometimes all it takes is this little adjustment to your messaging or your follow-up process, not an entirely new program.
If something isn't converting before you create anything else that's new, I want you to ask yourself, have you really optimized what's already here?
Do those things we talked about. Look at where clients are dropping off. Fix the funnel. Refine the email. Follow up with the worm leads who ghosted you.
It's often easier than you think. Business growth isn't about constant reinvention. It's about consistent refinement. So if you're listening to this episode and you're like, oh my God.
I am constantly creating, avoiding my numbers, and pivoting all the time. It's okay. You've just picked up a few habits that so many solopreneurs do that feel productive but are quietly slowing you down.
None of this is actually about doing more. Business is about doing what works and doing it with intention. You do not need a massive audience.
You do not need more offers. You don't need to work even harder. You need clarity. You need strategy. And you need to stop guessing.
Start paying attention to what your business is telling you. Create with purpose by focusing on content that converts, not just content for content's sake.
Start simple by tracking one metric. To use as signals. As a signal, not stress, and refine before you reinvent.
Optimize your existing offer before pivoting to a new one. Most of the time, you just need a few little adjustments, not a complete rebuild.
These small shifts are simple, they're doable, and they compound. So if you are so tired of guessing what's actually working and ready to use your metrics to grow with clarity, confidence, and ease, this is exactly what I will teach you how to do inside Metrics Mastery, my signature program.
It is built for solopreneurs just like you who want real, sustainable growth, not confusion. We walk you through exactly what to track, how to track it, and how to actually use your data to drive safe.
with a custom, repeatable strategy for your business, all in less than 30 minutes a month. You can check out the details and get started for free at amytrock.com or click the link in the show notes.
And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.