It took me a long time to learn that. So if you’re working flat out and still feel like you’re chasing every sale, grab a cuppa. This one’s for you.

This week, I asked a group of business owners what they’d most love to crack before the end of the year. The top answer: “Getting clients without chasing.”

And here’s what I’ve noticed, in my own business and in the women I work with: most of us aren’t actually chasing anyone. We’re busy.

That busyness quietly stops us inviting clients in. And when we stop inviting clients in, the sales we need for a healthy business bank balance don’t come. Then we get deflated, and decide it’s because nobody wants what we’re selling, or because we’re doing something wrong.

So how do you know when busy has taken over?

Ask yourself honestly:

• Am I having new conversations with potential clients every week?
• Am I inviting people into my world every day?
• Do the tasks that bring in sales get done first, or squeezed in last?
• Is my message clear and consistent, or more of a scattergun approach?

And the big one: am I too busy being busy to even check?

That last one is a slippery slope, because without sales, we don’t have a business.

Why busy feels so right

If any part of you feels a bit icky about selling, or finds being visible hard, I’d bet my last Canva template that the tasks that actually bring money into your business aren’t getting prioritised.

That isn’t a flaw in you. It’s your nervous system doing its job.

Being seen, making an offer or asking for the sale all carry a risk of rejection and judgement. To the oldest part of your brain, that registers as a threat. So it quietly steers you towards things that feel safer: tweaking your website, perfecting a post, reorganising your to-do list, making one more graphic.

Busy feels like the right thing to do. It gives you evidence that you’re working towards something. But underneath, your subconscious is trying to protect you. It thinks it’s helping. In reality, it’s keeping you small, and your sales are flatlining.

So many of us get caught in this pattern because it’s normal and human! You’re not broken. You’re not bad at sales. You don’t need to change your offer. Your subconscious just needs time to learn that being seen and inviting people in is safe.

What helps

1. Make it feel safer

Say your goals out loud to someone who makes you feel braver and more capable. Support tells your nervous system you’re not doing this alone.

2. Notice where you hide

Be honest with yourself when you’re hiding out. If you find yourself lost in Canva for three hours because “it needs to be perfect”, that’s your cue. Set a time limit, then step out and do one thing that invites a client into your world.

3. Make invitations a habit, and check in on them

People can only step into your world if you invite them. Share regular, clear invitations to work with you. Then, once a week, count them: how many invitations did you share, and how many conversations did they start? It takes five minutes, and it shows you straight away whether busy has crept back in.

The thing that changed everything for me

“Selling became sharing something I believed in, rather than something I had to brace myself for.”

Things finally shifted for me when I aligned how I sell with my values. When inviting people in felt true to who I am, and I’d done the work on my money mindset, my nervous system stopped treating it as a threat. I stopped resisting it, and the invitations started to flow.

Until next lunch break,
Leah

More from the journal: Running a business while grieving: why I built mine around my healing.