Why Service Businesses Stall Even While They’re Growing
This clip explores a reality many service business owners overlook: the business you’re running today is not the business you started years ago, and it shouldn’t be treated like it is.
Markets change. Customers change. What works evolves.
The problem isn’t growth. It’s assuming the business will get better without making intentional adjustments along the way.
This conversation touches on why businesses stall when identity, strategy, and execution don’t evolve together, and why real progress usually starts with recognizing that what worked before may not be what works next.
The business you’re running today is not the business you started years ago.
And it’s definitely not the business your father started decades ago.
That matters more than most people realize.
Businesses don’t get locked into a single identity forever. They evolve. The work changes. The customers change. The channels change. The economics change.
The problem isn’t change.
The problem is pretending change isn’t happening.
Most business owners don’t consciously design how their business evolves. They react to it. One decision at a time. One workaround at a time. One “this makes sense right now” choice at a time.
Over time, that creates drift.
And drift is how businesses get harder to run without anyone being able to explain exactly why.
Growth doesn’t improve itself
A common belief I hear is:
“This will get better as we grow.”
It won’t.
Not unless something changes.
Effort alone doesn’t fix misalignment. Time alone doesn’t fix it either. If tomorrow looks the same as today, tomorrow won’t be easier. It will just be more expensive.
That’s why hearing the same idea twice can be the thing that finally pushes someone to act.
It’s not about new information.
It’s about reinforcement.
Sometimes you already know the right move. You just haven’t given yourself permission to commit to it yet.
The confidence problem
One of the most dangerous moments in a business is when something is working… but not obviously enough to go all-in.
A little here.
A little there.
Just in case.
That’s where focus starts to break.
I remember listening to Gary Vee talk about his biggest regret with his family’s wine business. He talked about bidding on early Google ads, thinking they were expensive at the time, and only later realizing how cheap they actually were.
His regret wasn’t running ads.
It was not going deeper when the signal was clear.
That moment stuck with me.
At the time, we were growing fast. Google Ads and SEO were working. But there was this idea in my head that “real” million-dollar businesses ran TV ads, radio ads, jingles.
That story almost pulled us away from what was actually working.
Instead of diversifying for the sake of it, we leaned further into what we already knew was producing results.
Change requires commitment, not constant motion
There’s a difference between evolving and thrashing.
Evolving means:
Choosing a direction.
Giving it time.
Letting systems form.
Measuring what actually improves.
Thrashing looks like:
Constantly adjusting.
Chasing new channels.
Never staying put long enough to see compounding effects.
The danger isn’t refusing to change.
It’s changing too much, too often, without intention.
Your business two years from now will not be the same business you’re running today.
That’s unavoidable.
But whether that change creates clarity or chaos is a choice.
Why these conversations matter
This is why events, conversations, and shared experiences matter more than tactics.
Not because someone has all the answers.
But because hearing common problems normalized gives you space to act.
You realize:
You’re not broken.
This isn’t unique to you.
These are solvable problems.
And sometimes, hearing someone say out loud what you already suspected is enough to push you forward.
The real takeaway
Your business will change.
That part is guaranteed.
The question is whether you’ll let it drift…
or whether you’ll decide how it evolves.
Not by changing everything.
Not by chasing every idea.
But by choosing where to focus, and staying there long enough for it to matter.
That’s how businesses get simpler as they grow.
Not harder.