The Dangerous Gap Holding Your Business Back

Welcome back to the Mid Market Insider!

Today, we’re breaking down a costly mistake many owners make: knowing what they should do (like delegating more) but choosing not to do it. We’ll talk about why bridging this gap is critical to unlocking growth and building a business that doesn’t depend on you.

Knowing Isn’t Doing

For many business owners, the success of their business (whether they know it or not) often comes down to 3 things:

1. Delegating more

2. Building stronger systems

3. Working on the business, not in it.

But here’s the harsh reality: even if they know they should do this, most of the time they simply don’t do it.

In fact, this gap between knowing and doing is what traps most owners inside their own businesses.

When you fail to act on what you know, you become the bottleneck. You block your team’s growth, your company’s scalability, and ultimately, your ability to exit on your terms.

Why We Get Stuck Not Doing What We Should Be Doing

Owners stay stuck for a few reasons:

• Comfort in the familiar: Sticking with what you know feels safer, even if it’s inefficient or holding you back. Change introduces uncertainty… and many owners avoid it to maintain a sense of control.

• Fear of imperfection: You worry new approaches won’t meet your standards, so you keep doing things your way, even when it limits growth.

• Short-term ease over long-term gain: It often feels quicker to handle something yourself (or delay that tough decision) than to invest time upfront in building systems or training people.

• Identity attachment: Many owners subconsciously tie their personal value to being “the hero” who solves every problem. Letting go feels like losing part of themselves.

• Lack of accountability: Without someone (a coach, a board, a trusted advisor) to hold you accountable, it’s easy to slip back into old habits and avoid the hard work of transformation.

The Cost of Inaction

When you don’t do what you know you should be doing, you end up building a business that can’t run without you.

You might see strong revenue, but you also see:

• Burnout creeping in

• Slow decision-making

• Missed growth opportunities

• Lower valuation when you try to exit

Buyers don’t want a business where the success of the company comes down to a key individual. They want a company that can thrive without the owner or founder.

What To Do Instead

• Start small and specific: Pick one high-impact area (a system, a leadership habit, or a recurring bottleneck) to improve this month. Avoid vague goals like “work on the business more.”

• Build accountability: Share your goals with a peer group, mentor, or advisor who will challenge you to follow through, and ask for updates.

• Document as you evolve: Whether it’s a new process, a decision framework, or a leadership principle, write it down so it can live beyond your head and guide future action.

• Shift focus to outcomes, not busyness: Evaluate your effectiveness by results achieved (growth, stability, scalability), not by how busy you feel day-to-day.

• Celebrate progress: Reinforce momentum by acknowledging small wins and improvements… they build the confidence and habit of action over time.

The Bottom Line

Bridging the gap between knowing and doing is what separates owners who build valuable, sellable companies from those who stay stuck forever.

That’s all for today’s newsletter! Thanks for reading!

📅 Next Week:

Next week, I’ll be sharing why every business (regardless of industry) should be experimenting wiith AI and looking for use cases in their business.

Keep building,
Nick

P.S. 

If you want to discuss your business goals in greater detail, book a discovery call: