Struggling For Momentum? If You’re Doing Any of These, *You* Might Be the One Holding Your Business Back

Five self-sabotaging mindsets and behaviours preventing business owners from achieving profitability, sustainability and impact (and what to do instead).

Emma Bowdler | The Women's Accountant

Emma Bowdler

I’m a cheerleader for women and an accountant bursting with personality. 

Let’s talk sabotage. Not the kind that comes from trolls derailing the comments section or a dodgy piece of software that crashes mid-invoice, but the kind that comes from inside the house 👀. You know the ones…

Procrastination disguised as ‘research’.

Undercharging justified as ‘being accessible’.

Perfectionism that delays the launch…again.

These are just some of the sneaky self-sabotaging mindset traps and behavioural loops, and they’re not just slowing us down, they’re steering our entire operation off the cliff (and not in that unf*ckwithable Thelma and Louise way). The wildest part? Often, we don’t even realise we’re doing it.

No one wants to hear that they might be the reason their business feels stuck and uninspiring. It sucks. And as your Business BFFs, we’re not gonna sit idly by while you trip over your own shoelaces, and quietly drain your confidence (and your bank balance). Nuh-uh, we won’t have it.

Consider this us reporting for duty. We’re here to help you tie your biz in a bow, spot the self-sabotaging patterns and start changing the story. Y’all ready?

Fun Fact:

The word ‘sabotage’ comes from 19th-century French workers allegedly throwing their wooden clogs — a.k.a sabots — into factory machines to grind them to a halt. Which, frankly, is a mood.

Five Common Self-Sabotaging Mindsets and Behaviours in Business (and What to Do Instead)

Here are five of the most common ways we see business owners getting in their own way, and how to course correct before you chip away any further at your progress, profits, and peace of mind.

1. Winging It (Without Even a Basic Plan)

We get it — sometimes inspiration strikes and the urge to just start takes over. But without a clear strategy, what looks like momentum can just be motion sickness, and you can end up spinning your wheels instead of making meaningful progress.

While diving straight in feels productive (especially if you’re prone to procrasti-scrolling/baking/cleaning), *but* [brace for the real talk]: busyness isn’t a business model. And working hard without direction is a fast track to burnout.

Self-Sabotaging Behaviours In Business | The Women's Accountant

We’ve seen this happen in real-time: one founder launched with a kickarse product, a gorgeous brand, and some early PR…but no real roadmap. No target market clarity. No financial forecast. No idea what success would even look like. And within 18 months? Burnout, bills, and ending up having to close her doors. Breaks our damn hearts (yes, accountants have feelings too!).

👉 Do this instead: Start with a scrappy but solid business plan — even if it’s on a piece of scrap paper. Ask yourself:

  • What are we selling?
  • Who needs it?
  • What makes us different?
  • How will we know we’re growing sustainably?

This doesn’t have to be an MBA thesis (Em would know, she’s doing one atm). It just needs to be useful; a living, breathing document that keeps you anchored when things get wild (because they will).

And if you need a little help, there’s a Business Plan on a Page in our Slay All Day Workbook you can download (it’s free!).

2. Letting Fear Call the Shots

Fear, she’s a sneaky little bish. Often dressed up as procrastination or perfectionism, in reality? It’s fear of failing, or worse — fear of succeeding.

Now humans are hardwired for comfort and to avoid suffering, at-all-costs. We’re not psychologists, but we have been around long enough to know that fear doesn’t always show up wearing a name tag. Instead, she crashes the party and helps herself to the cake.

We’ve seen too many brilliant business owners — smart, capable, incredibly talented women — hold themselves back from *doing the thing* [launching the course, raising their prices, hiring help, or pitching for that dream collab]. Not because they can’t, but because of the what ifs. Totally normal, totally unhelpful.

👉 Do this instead: Notice the fear, name it, and acknowledge what it’s trying to protect you from (while also keeping you stuck). Give yourself five honest minutes to go down the rabbit hole:

What if I fail?

What if they say no?

What if I can’t keep up?

What if it goes really well…and I still feel like a fraud?

Write it down. Say it out loud. Let it all tumble out of your head and onto the page. And then? Hit ‘em with a plot twist.

What if I *don’t* fail?

What if I learn something epic even if it doesn’t go to plan?

What if it’s messy and magical and totally worth it?

What if this is *the thing* that changes everything?

Honestly, sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is take the next step anyway. The fear might not go away — but it shouldn’t get to call the shots either.

3. Not Defining What Success *Actually* Looks Like

Think you’ll know when you’ve ‘made it’? Spoiler: You won’t. Unless you define what ‘it’ is…for yo’self. This self-sabo behaviour is the classic overachiever trap — built on a belief that success is something you earn through effort, not something you define and design for yourself. It’s often rooted in external validation — school grades, career promotions, praise from bosses, or a reputation for being the one who always ‘goes above and beyond’.

So when we step into business, it’s easy to just keep chasing that same feeling. And before we know it, we’ve recreated the same faulty value system in our own business that we had in the job we low-key hated and left.

If we don’t name what ‘good’ looks like, we’ll never feel like we’re doing enough. There’s always another goalpost, another invoice, another thing we should be doing. So if you notice you’re chasing some vague sense of ‘success’ without anchoring it to anything concrete — know that it’s a recipe for chronic dissatisfaction.

👉 Do this instead: Define your version of success — in exquisite detail. Not just what it looks like on paper, but what it feels like on a random Tuesday morning.

Maybe it’s: 

  • Earning consistent, reliable revenue that pays you a full-time wage — with tax, super, sick leave and school holiday buffers baked in (because life), so when the car breaks down or your kid gets sick, you know #yougotthis
  • Working four days a week with Fridays kept sacred for ‘on the business’ or impromptu long lunches, and playing a weekly game of golf while everyone else is at their desks sweating it out
  • Collaborating only with clients who respect your time, pay on time, and share your values (we call it a ‘no dickhead policy’)
  • Taking a two-week, fully switched-off holiday each year where you don’t even take your laptop ‘just in case’, and picturing yourself on that beach, drink in one hand, book in the other.

Whatever it is, make it real, measurable, and meaningful to you. Trust us, if you don’t set the definition, hustle culture will do it for you (and it won’t be nearly as cute).

    4. Going It Alone (and Calling It #Independentwoman)

    “If I want it done right, I have to do it myself” — said every burnt-out business owner ever. Usually closely followed by a chorus of: “I’ll get help, when things calm down”. Ha. Nice one. It’s always *something* when you’re running a business.

    Look, we love a capable queen. But wearing ‘I do everything myself’ like a badge of honour is not the flex you think it is — it’s a fast track to resentment, decision fatigue, and zero capacity to actually grow the business in a conscious way (a.k.a ‘growing broke’).

    We see it often, and we’ve lived it ourselves: business owners buried in admin, chasing invoices, posting on socials at 11pm — not because they love it, but because they’ve convinced themselves they can’t afford help, or they don’t trust anyone else to do it ‘their way’.

    👉 Do this instead: Decide what’s truly costing you more money, time or energy than you have to spare right now. Then start small: 

    • Outsource your bookkeeping (we’ve got names, if you’re looking)
    • Hire a VA for a few hours a week to start with
    • Build one tech automation for something you do every day or every week
    • Get a cleaner so your Sunday isn’t sacrificed to scrubbing the shower

    We have a business mantra (actually, we have five): just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

    If you keep doing everything yourself, you’re gonna burn out way faster than any robot or AI-machine can take over your job. So come up with a delegation, automation and ditch (DAD) plan and stop hans-solo-ing (wow, a Star Wars and a Destiny’s Child reference in the same blog, you’re welcome).

    Self-Sabotaging Behaviours In Business | The Women's Accountant

    5. Avoiding Your Numbers

    You didn’t think you were gonna get away without us tackling a finance one, did you? Surely you know us better than that by now! If you + your finances = tumbleweeds, or a frantic Xero panic the night before a tax deadline, you’re not alone. In fact, it’s frighteningly crowded up in here.

    Why? Because for many women in business, it’s not so much that numbers feel boring — it’s that they feel loaded. Loaded with shame. Loaded with fear. Loaded with all the stories we’ve picked up over the years about ‘not being good with money’, or not being [smart, strategic, savvy, insert adjective] enough to understand P&Ls and cash flow cycles.

    But here’s the truth: not looking at your numbers doesn’t make the problems go away. It just makes them harder to see coming.

    Avoidance is a form of self-protection. We tell ourselves we’re too busy, that we’ll look at it next month, that ‘she’ll be right’. But deep down? We don’t want to feel inadequate. And that’s totally valid, but it’s unsustainable. We’re all about that profitable, sustainable life, so here’s the tea.

    👉 Do this instead: You, your numbers, in a ‘room’, five minutes a day. You don’t have to become a spreadsheet sorceress overnight, you just have to be in the same postcode on a regular basis. Why not try:

    • Logging into Xero and run a monthly income and expenses report
    • Understanding the difference between revenue and profit (we wrote a whole blog on it — go read it).

    And get support if you need it. There are these people called accountants, and they’re Super Cool People™ who can help you get on a first-name basis with your numbers (at least, the ones at The Women’s Accountant are!).

    Ready to Stop Ghosting Your Numbers?

    Our team of expert accountants and business advisors is at the ready to help you break it down, clean it up, and level the feck up.

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