Letting clarity take time

Client Story

Homegoods Boutique · 4 years in business

This founder carries wisdom beyond their years. Creative, decisive, and built a successful business while in college. They started with pop-ups during art school, grew demand organically, and opened their own brick-and-mortar space shortly after graduating. All without any capital investment. 

When they reached out, nothing was “wrong.”

It was more about a growing pressure they were feeling. The expectations from their team, vendors, partners, and their community built up over time. From the invisible voice that says 'you should scale, you should formalize that system, you should decide what this will look like in 10 years… now now now!'

The clients I get to work with - local people building local businesses - are thoughtful and caring. They are building something real, not something they want to push into an empire.

That’s what makes tensions like these so sharp.

In sessions, their impulse was to figure out how to choose faster and define exactly what everything should be. Very understandable, urgency makes our brains do wild things! 

What this leader did instead made an incredible difference. Instead of collapsing competing truths too early they leaned into patience to let clarity emerge.

This meant:

• loving the intimacy of the shop and wanting sustainability

• wanting growth and fearing the loss of creative integrity

• knowing they were capable and not wanting to calcify too soon

Between our advising sessions, they resisted the urge to declare answers prematurely. And as we all know, simply describing that doesn’t even begin to describe how hard it is to do in the moment.

They did it. They slowed down and brought in near and long-term planning. They tested things gently and one at a time. They paid attention to what expanded and what constricted without taking action when the insights showed up. And they dedicated time to reflect on both the business and what was changing within them.

There were moments where waiting felt irresponsible. Unfortunately, patience often looks like hesitation from the outside. And yet, with urgency looming over their shoulder, they found a way to resist over-explaining and instead trusting their choices and finding healthy outlets for the pressure. 

And clarity came! As much as I wish I could bring people full and unchanging clarity in one fell swoop… that just isn’t how it works. Consistency over time is what does the trick. 

That work shows up in very real, very human moments. Here’s what this particular leader went through: 

They paused a push from a vendor to place a much larger inventory order than they were ready for, even though the pricing incentive was strong and the external pressure was extremely loud. Instead of deciding from fear of missing out, they revisited cash flow, storage constraints, and how much creative energy they actually had capacity for that season. The decision landed smaller and felt far more aligned.

They resisted prematurely formalizing a management structure just because the business had reached a certain size. Rather than locking themselves into roles that didn’t yet fit, they clarified responsibilities internally with just enough structure to support the current team. They tested rhythms of collaboration, and let leadership emerge organically before naming it. This led to being able to prompt their first two hires down the line (who are both still thriving there now!)

There were weeks where they felt the pull to “decide the next five/ten years”... their branding, expansion, staffing, operations, and partnerships… all at once. In those moments, they practiced narrowing the lens instead of widening it. One decision. One experiment. One honest check-in about what was actually ready to move.

They noticed when excitement felt expansive and grounded versus when it tipped into pressure or chaos. The practice of not treating every surge of energy as a directive for action served them well. They built that skill by committing to simply sitting with insight and letting it metabolize before doing anything at all.

Through the ebbs and flows, their leadership matured. They became more self-trusting and grounded. Each day, they chose to become a leader who could hold ambiguity without scrambling to resolve it - which quietly set the tone for everyone around them.

With change like this, a deeper confidence joins the party. A confidence in the business being built and also in the ability to trust our internal pacing. Relief doesn’t even begin to describe this one ;) 

And from this leader’s dedication, the next phase of their business emerged cleanly (and beautifully) because it was allowed to. That long-term stability they were yearning for when we started came from not overly directing it. 

This is such a great example of how making solid decisions based on the realities we face leads to measured and sustainable growth that doesn’t wreck everyone in its path. Beautiful leadership in action!