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Kelsea Koenreich

3 Ways Successful Women Hold Themselves Back That Aren’t What You Think


Professional woman

A common struggle for mom entrepreneurs is ending up in the same space time and time again, overwhelmed, overbooked, frustrated and resentful.


And oftentimes, it comes from the source itself.


Many successful women unknowingly hold themselves back. 


In this blog, you’ll discover 3 ways you may be standing in your own way and how you can break through the chains to create freedom and flexibility, while scaling a successful, highly profitable business.


Belief of Success


Many women are stuck in what they believe success looks like, specifically their role in building and sustaining success. So often they get stuck in the belief that success must come with stress, long hours, and overwhelm. 


The 24-7, hustle and grind entrepreneur identity becomes something that we adapt to, but it’s not the only way to achieve success. 


What about the belief that success is having a business that doesn't take away from family? That instead, you can impact millions, make millions AND spend millions of hours with family?


If we’re going to shift this belief of success, we have to take the steps needed to attract new outcomes and the proof that freedom is possible. Here’s how:

Step 1: Gather New Data

To create new beliefs, you need new data. If your success so far has been built on relentless work and sacrifice, it's time to gather evidence to provide you with proof that it doesn't have to be that way. Because right now, you believe what you believe because the data supports that.


Let me explain…


Maybe you've scaled to six figures, multiple six figures, or seven figures. You did this by working all day long, skipping lunch, missing dinner with your family and working until midnight. You have the data to support and show the outcomes of running your business this way: 


  • Guilt 

  • Stress

  • Decision Fatigue 


And so on.


If you don’t like the outcomes based on this data, you have to change something to get a new outcome by gathering new data. And the only way to gather new data is to step into a level of uncertainty and discomfort that we often avoid.


Step 2: Take Risks to Get Rewards


Most women never get to the second half of changing their belief of success because they are afraid of taking risks. 

We have to take calculated risks to show ourselves that we can believe something different. When you take that leap, you start to collect proof that your business can thrive without burning you out. 


It shows up in the times you take risks - when you pull back on your hours and raise your prices and you end up with the reward of having your best month ever and working less in your business


And that doesn’t mean it won’t be heavy and hard. There will be moments where you may question or doubt if it’s the right decision. But, if you take the step, even if there’s uncertainty, there will be reward.


Fear of Failure


Another way women hold themselves back is their fear of failure. We avoid change because we’re afraid of failing due to this one reason:


The way that you have built what you have right now has worked previously for the way that you measure growth.


For business, it is usually money. If you are profitable and wealthy, and stacking money in your bank accounts, then your brain begins to believe that your business is successful because that is how you are defining growth and success.


But, growth is also the things we often don’t look at… 


Shaving hours off and spending more time with your family, that's growth.


Learning to delegate, instead of micromanaging your team, that’s growth.


Not getting bogged down in all these tasks and having more freedom, that is growth.


So, how can you measure growth in a way that shifts the fear of failure and helps you take action?


Measure Growth in Seasons


Growth has different seasons.


When we think about what is necessary for growth, we have to have the capacity to be able to hold the next level of growth that we want.


Let's say that we want to scale income.


To scale income, it usually means that we're gonna have to handle a higher capacity of people. So what do we need or what do we have in place to actually handle those people and give them a good service? If we don't have that in place, we can't do that, so we can't follow through.


We have to do the back-end work of organizing and gathering everything in our business to prepare ourselves for the next season. It requires looking at your inefficiencies and the gaps in your systems and processes. For many women, they don’t know how to do this work and end up right back where they started. 


In Mom Founders Inner Circle, we follow a methodical approach: Organize, Lead, Scale. We start by organizing your business to reduce stress and create clarity. Then we focus on leadership—hiring the right people, delegating, and communicating effectively. Only then do we scale, ensuring that your growth is sustainable and aligned with your life goals.


When you measure growth in seasons, instead of one ongoing, uphill journey, you can start to look at how you are growing as a person, as a leader and as a business each step of the way. 


Activated Hyper-Independence


One of the biggest mistakes I see successful women make is trying to do everything themselves. It is the third way women often hold themselves back: by being hyper-independent.


The term itself is something that is often glorified. Like a parent celebrating a child for doing something by themselves, it is drilled into our heads from the very start.


While independence is valuable, it can also be a double-edged sword. 


For starters, the idea of being "self-made" is a myth - no one achieves success entirely on their own. We all need help, whether it's from mentors, a supportive community, like inside the Mom Founders Inner Circle, or even just those who help take care of  our kids while we work.


Second, being hyper-independent can cap your potential. When you're so deep in your business, you can't see other possibilities, limiting your growth. There is a world of possibilities that live right outside your peripheral vision, and it takes another set of eyes to shift your lenses to see them.


From Self-Made to Mentor-Built


One of the best ways to get out of your own way of being hyper-independent is to have accountability - To have support from someone that will be honest with you and will hold you to the goals that you have for yourself. 


This is just another reason why if you're a mom running a business, you need guidance and support to not just scale, but to truly have a sustainable business. It opens up new avenues and helps you see opportunities you might have missed, because as moms we have more on our plate - we can’t do it all without help


I waited eight years until I asked for help with my business, something that I truly regret.


If you have the opportunity to have someone to support you and hold you accountable, it might just be the one thing you need to push past your self-limiting beliefs and reach your full potential.


If you’re finding yourself struggling to reach the next goal of your business or wishing you could scale without sacrificing all of your freedom, you may be holding yourself back without knowing it. 


What if you had mentorship and guidance on how to actually organize, lead and scale your business from a mom who has done it and is doing it?


I’m passionate about helping mom entrepreneurs like you get out of their own way. In my work, I provide straightforward, actionable advice, backed by the belief that change starts in the mind. It's not just about shifting your mindset, though. It's about implementing the steps that make thinking and doing differently possible.


If you feel ready to stop holding yourself back and finally take the leap to move into the next version of yourself, the Mom Founders Inner Circle awaits you. If you’re still teetering on the edge, there are other ways to learn and implement change by checking out the blog or listening to the podcast

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