20. The Big Secret to Success? Start Embarrassingly Small

Have you ever felt like you need to do everything to make your business work… and then end up overwhelmed, exhausted, and stuck?

In this episode of The Bold Biz Podcast, Jenny shares a very honest look at one of the biggest mistakes she made over and over again when trying to build her side business, doing too much, too fast, and burning out before anything had the chance to work.

This episode is a reminder that starting small is not a weakness. It’s the strategy that actually creates momentum, clarity, and long-term success.

Jenny walks you through why chasing multiple ideas, platforms, and offers at once keeps you stuck in a cycle of starting and stopping, and how simplifying your focus can completely change the way your business grows.

💡 In this episode, we talk about:

• Why doing more is often the reason you’re not moving forward
 • The cycle of overcommitting, burning out, and starting over
 • Why starting small creates real, lasting momentum
 • The power of focusing on one platform, one offer, and one message
 • How small, consistent actions compound over time
 • Why sustainable growth always beats fast, overwhelming growth

If you’ve been feeling scattered, overwhelmed, or like you’re constantly starting over, this episode will help you reset, simplify, and move forward in a way that actually feels doable.

⭐ LINKS & RESOURCES:

• Download The Idea Filter

• Download Done Starting Over

• Join the FREE Bold Biz Collective (Skool Community)

• Visit The Bold Biz Website

Transcript

Episode Intro

The “I’ll Just Do Everything at Once” Disaster

Why We Fall for the “More Is More” Myth

You Wouldn’t Start a Diet by Cutting Everything

If I Could Turn Back Time

This Is a Long Game, and That’s a Good Thing

Permission to Start Embarrassingly Small

Before You Go

Main Outro

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Bold Biz Podcast. I'm Jenny Lavalius, a Swedish midlife graphic designer, mom of 12-year-old twins, and the creator of the Bold Biz Collective. This podcast is for women over 40 who are ready to build something of their own without the hustle, the burnout, or the pressure to be perfect. If you've ever thought it's too late for me, or that everyone else seems to have it all figured out, you're gonna feel right at home here. Let's dive in. Today we need to have a little heart to heart, because I made every mistake I'm about to describe to you, and I really wish someone had grabbed me by the shoulders, looked me in the eye, and said, Jenny, calm down, you're doing way too much. But nobody said that. So I'm gonna be that person for you today. We're talking about why starting small isn't just a nice idea, it's actually the secret to building something that lasts. And I know, I know, that feels counterintuitive when your brain is buzzing with 15 ideas and you want to launch them all by next Tuesday. But trust me on this one. Grab your coffee, settle in, and let's talk about the beautiful, underrated, and wildly unsexy art of starting small. Oh, and before we dive in, a quick heads up. If today's episode hits home for you, I've got two free guides that go perfectly with what we're talking about. If you're still in the too many ideas can't pick one phase, grab the idea filter. It's a simple framework that helps you stop circling and actually choose one direction. And if you've already picked your thing, but you keep starting and stopping, and you're tired of being your own biggest obstacle, then the guide done starting over is for you. It's a mindset shift and action plan that finally gets you moving. Both are totally free, and I'll remind you again at the end, so don't stress about remembering now. Just keep listening. So picture this. It's a few years ago. I've just had my latest big idea for a side business, and I'm on fire. I mean full-on Pinterest board creating, domain name buying, color palette choosing fire. And in my head, the plan was crystal clear. I was gonna be on every social media platform: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, threads, probably even Carrier Pigeon if it had an algorithm. I was gonna have multiple offers, a freebie, a low-ticket product, a course, a membership. I was going to post content five times a week on every single channel. And I was going to do all of this while working full-time, and you know, being a human woman who occasionally needs to eat and sleep. There is a Russian proverb that goes something like this. And how did my plan go? Oh, I'll tell you how that went. It lasted about three weeks. Maybe four if I'm being generous with myself. The content got thinner, the quality dropped, the overwhelm set in like a fog. And then came the familiar spiral. Exhaustion, self-doubt, and eventually the quiet quitting where you just stop posting and hope that nobody notices. And the worst part? I didn't just do this once. I did it over and over and over again. Different business ideas, same pattern. Go big, burn out, disappear, rinse and repeat. I was like a one-woman firework show. Lots of sparkle, lots of noise, and then nothing. And here's the thing. I don't think this is a me problem. I think this is a starting a business as a woman over 40 problem. Because we feel like we're already behind. We look around and see people who started at 25 with all the time and energy in the world. And something in our brain goes, you need to catch up, you need to do more, faster, bigger. And then social media doesn't help, does it? Every guru out there is telling you that you need to be on five platforms, have a podcast, YouTube channel, email list, a TikTok strategy. Oh, and also do weekly live and engage in 47 Facebook groups. The advice is basically do everything, but also don't burn out. Good luck with that. As Jeff Olson famously said, success isn't about doing everything. It's about doing the right things consistently. But here's what I've learned. And it took me way too long to learn this. More is not more. More is just noise, more stress, more half-finished projects, and more reasons to feel like you're failing. What actually works is less focused, consistent, boring even. And I say boring with so much love because boring is where momentum lives. Let me give you an analogy that really helped this click for me. Think about the last time you tried to get healthier. Maybe you wanted to eat better, exercise more, whatever. If you're anything like me, you probably went all in. New meal plan, gym membership, seven green smoothies a week, no sugar, no carbs, no joy. Monday morning, you're a whole new person. By Wednesday, you're hiding in the pantry eating crackers straight from the box. We all know that doesn't work, right? Every nutritionist, every trainer, every wellness person worth listening to will tell you the same thing. Start with one small change. Drink more water. Take a 10-minute walk after lunch, add one more serving of vegetables. That's it. Not a complete life overhaul. Just one tiny tweak that you can actually sustain and slowly build on. There's a great quote by James Clear that goes, Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. And this is exactly how building a business works. You don't sign up for the marathon on day one. You literally can't. And if you've never run before and you show up at the starting line of a full marathon, you're not brave. You're just gonna hurt yourself. You start with a walk around the block, then a jog, and then a slightly longer jog, and eventually, one day, you run the marathon and it feels amazing because your body was ready for it. Your business is the same. You don't need five platforms, three offers, and a content calendar that would make a Fortune 500 marketing team cry. You need one platform, one offer, one audience, one message. And then you tweak and learn and improve, and slowly, steadily you build. And if I could go back and talk to the three and a half years ago Jenny, here's what I'd tell her. And believe me, she would not want to hear this, because she was very busy buying a new domain name for her third business idea that month. I'd say, Jenny, pick one thing, just one, and make it work before you add anything else. One platform to show up on, one offer to sell, even if it's simple, one audience to talk to, one message to get clear on. That's it. No podcast yet, no YouTube yet, no membership, no courses, no second freebie, just one thing. Well done until it has legs. The trick is to do less, but better. Because here's what happens when you try to do everything at once. Nothing gets your full attention. Your Instagram is kind of okay, your freebie is half baked, your email sequence is two emails long, and you wrote them at midnight. Your YouTube channel has three videos with your ring light slightly off center and no consistent schedule, everything is at 50%. And nothing is working well enough to give you real data about what's actually connecting with people. But when you pour all your energy into one thing, that's when the magic happens. Your content gets better because you're focused. Your offer gets sharper because you're listening to feedback. Your audience feels seen because you're not scattered. And you start to build real momentum instead of spinning your wheels in seven directions at once. I know this might not be what you want to hear, especially if you're sitting there with a notebook full of ideas and the energy of a woman who just discovered Canva. I get it. I was you. I am you some days. But building a side business that actually lasts, that doesn't burn you out, and that fits around your real life, that's a long game. And I don't mean that in a discouraging way. I mean it in a take the pressure off yourself kind of way. As Confucius said a long time ago, it doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. You don't have to figure it all out this month, you don't have to launch everything by summer. You don't have to go from zero to a thousand followers before you feel like it's working. The women who build businesses that last aren't the ones who sprinted at the start. They're the ones that showed up, kept going, and made small improvements along the way. Think about it like compound interest. Each tiny improvement builds on the last one. One slightly better caption, one more authentic story, one tweak to your offer based on what someone actually told you they needed. None of those things feel dramatic in the moment. But six months of tiny improvements, a year of them? That's a completely different business. And that's a completely different you. Darren Hardy calls this the compound effect, and it's honestly one of the most important concepts in business and in life. Because small, consistent actions over time create results that feel almost unbelievable when you look back at them. But in the moment, they feel like nothing. And that's why most people quit. They can't see the progress. But it's there. I promise you it's there. So here is your permission slip for today. And I'm serious. I want you to take this and stick it on your desk or your bathroom mirror or wherever you need to see it. You have permission to start small. Like embarrassingly small. So small that it doesn't even feel like a business yet. One Instagram post a week instead of five, one freebie instead of three, one platform instead of all of them. And one offer tested with real people before you build the next one. Because starting small doesn't mean thinking small. It means being smart. It means giving yourself the space to learn without drowning. It means building a foundation that can actually hold the weight of everything you're going to build on top of it. So start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can, as Arthur Ash so wisely advised. And you know what's funny? When you start small, something beautiful happens. You actually enjoy it. You're not stressed, you're not comparing your output to some impossible standard. You're just showing up, doing your thing, and getting a little better every time. And that enjoyment, that's the fuel that keeps you going. Not discipline, not willpower, just genuine, hey, this is actually kind of fun energy. That's the stuff that builds lasting businesses. Okay, before I wrap up, I promised I'd remind you about those three guides. And this feels like the perfect moment. Because everything we just talked about, starting small, building one thing at a time, not overwhelming yourself, these two guides are literally built for that. If you listened to this episode and thought, I don't even know which idea to start with yet, then start with the idea filter. It's five honest questions that will cut through the noise and help you land on one direction that actually fits your life. Not the shiniest idea, not the trendiest idea, but the one that works for you. And if you're past the idea stage and you have your thing, but you keep losing momentum, you start strong, and then life happens, and suddenly it's been three weeks since you did anything in your business, then done starting over was made for you. It's a mindset shift and a simple action plan to help you finally stop getting in your own way. Both are free, both are short, both designed for women who are done circling and ready to actually build something. Which, if you're listening to this podcast, is probably you. You'll find the links to both guides below. Alright, that's my little love letter to starting small. And I mean it from the bottom of my slightly chaotic been there, done that, bought way too many domain names, part. If you take one thing away from today, let it be this. You don't have to do everything to get somewhere. You just have to do one thing well and keep going. The women who win this game aren't the ones who started the biggest. They're the ones who started and didn't stop. If this episode resonated, I'd love for you to follow the podcast, share it with a friend who might need it, or leave a review. It really helps more women find the show. And if you want to keep the conversation going, come find me inside the Bold Biz Collective. All the links are in the show notes. Until next time, stay bold, ladies.