Why your business feels chaotic (and what to do about it)
- Kayla Droog Consulting
- Jan 28
- 7 min read
Do you feel like your business is chaotic and messy behind the scenes, even if it doesn't appear that way from the outside?
Do you feel like you are constantly struggling to keep up and keep on top of things and keep the mess under wraps, so that no one knows the chaos that you are truly living in from day to day?
If this sounds like you, don't worry, this is a lot of business owners that I talk to.
And first of all, it's probably not as bad as you think it is. Other people are looking at your business from the outside, so they don't feel what you're experiencing on the inside.
And second of all, there are things that you can do about it, and we are going to get into some of those in this post (or the video below).
What a chaotic business looks like behind the scenes
Let's talk about why your business might be feeling chaotic behind the scenes.
So if you're wondering what I mean by that, I mean things like:
You feel like you are getting constant e-mail notifications all the time
There are constant questions that you need to be answering
Maybe your clients are confused and don't know what they're supposed to be doing
You keep getting the same questions all the time
Maybe whenever you get a new client, you have all these things that you have to do manually - create a new quote, invoice, or contract for them from scratch
You're constantly customizing your pricing and packages
You write new emails from scratch for everything
You have random to do lists everywhere - sticky notes, notes in your phone, planners, spreadsheets. You don't even know what's on the list anymore or if you're on top of key tasks
You feel like you spend more time putting out fires and just trying to keep up with everything than actually doing the work that you're good at and that you enjoy
You feel like you can't step away from your business without worrying that everything is going to fall apart without you.
So if any of this sounds familiar, you're not alone. These are things I see a lot. There are some key reasons why this might be happening, and a lot of them come down to the systems in your business.
What a system actually is
First of all, any time I refer to a system, I am not talking about tech or automation or things like that. Those are tools that can support a system, but a system really is just the routine or the process of how you do something every time.
It's something that you could potentially teach to somebody else so that they could do it the same way as you. And it's just the way you do something, the order that you do it in, the process.
This is something that is intentional and repeatable. It might be unique to you, because we all do things slightly differently, and that's totally fine.
For example, if you have a system for managing your tasks for the week, that could be anything from a post it note to a spreadsheet to a fully set up Asana system. These are all systems. They're just the different tools that you use to get there. None of them is better than the others. The important thing is finding what works for you, at least this week, and help you get things done.
Systems aren't necessarily static, and the tools that you use to get things done might shift over time, but the underlying process, the steps, the routine probably remains pretty much the same.
A lack of systems = hidden business chaos
Oftentimes when our business feels chaotic, it's because we didn't have enough systems in place before things got busy. Maybe at some point you had a bit of a growth spurt in your business or a couple of launches that were successful, and then you realized after the fact that you didn't have the structure in place to support that and now you're overwhelmed.
Or maybe you invested in some platforms with the intention of putting systems and organization in place, but you didn't have a plan for how to use those platforms, and you ended up with a mess.
For example, I have a client, let's call her Hannah, and she is a keynote speaker. When we first started working together, she had a bunch of automations and things like that set up, but they had been set up without a real plan for what they were supposed to do and what she wanted the clients to get out of them, and the things that could be repeated the same way every time.
She had automations set up, but she was still customizing each email and each invoice and each contract manually before it got sent out. So having all of this tech set up wasn't really making her life that much easier.
We had to go through and get rid of a whole bunch of templates and things that weren't working, and we had to start from scratch with a lot of the automations. I many cases, it was easier to as what the ideal experience would be for the client and what would actually be helpful for Hannah on the back end, and build the automations around that from the beginning than to try to MacGyver what she already had into something usable.
It took a lot of cleanup and streamlining to get more functional systems for Hannah. The underlying problem was that all of these things got set up without having those foundational systems in place, without having that plan or that road map for what she wanted to achieve. So we had to create that first and go from there.
Messy systems aren't your fault
If Hannah's story sounds familiar, if it sounds kind of like where you are right now, the one thing that I want to make clear to you is that none of this is your fault.
This is not some sort of moral failing or oversight on your end. This is not some sort of character flaw. This is not something you missed because you weren't paying attention.
This is something that is extremely common.
So many business owners that I talk to, that I work with, that I see online, get started in their business, and even get fairly far into their business, without sitting down to think about these systems, these underlying processes, these repeatable routines of how they want to do things in their business.
So if you have a point where you grow too fast, or if you have a point where you get systems set up, either you set them up yourself or you pay someone else to do it, and you don't have that foundation in place, you are probably going to get overwhelmed and confused.
Whatever you end up with is probably not going to be that functional for you, and like Hannah, you might end up with an even bigger mess than before you started.
What's really happening below the surface
So if you're currently feeling overwhelmed by the back end of your business, one of the things that is probably contributing to this is the mental load of business operations.
It's not just the actual tasks like answering an email or sending an invoice or something like that. It's the mental work of keeping track of everything, of knowing what's happening with this client and what's happening with that client and when do I need to follow up with that person?
When do I need to do this task?
When does that thing need to happen?
What's the status of this project and that To Do List and all of these things?
That is what is making you feel overwhelmed.
That is what is keeping you stuck and everything messy.
Start small to get unstuck
If this is what you're dealing with right now, then one simple way that you can try to move forward today is to start small. We shouldn't be aiming to fix all of this all at once. We should be aiming to do one or two small steps, maybe per day, but maybe not even.
If you're that overwhelmed, it might be more realistic to aim for one or two small steps per week. You just have to gauge what makes the most sense for you and what is actually achievable.
So start with one thing at a time. What's one thing that is disorganized or not working that you could fix this week?
This could be something like setting a timer for 20 minutes and cleaning up as much of your inbox as you can in that time, or reorganizing folders that are in chaos, or going through your CRM platform or something like that and deleting a bunch of templates that you're no longer using, that no longer work for you.
And if we can chip away a little bit at a time, then that's going to give you some breathing room, that's going to tame the chaos a little bit. That's when you have the ability to start working on putting some processes in place to support you long term.
If you are already completely overwhelmed and just trying to keep your head above water, you do not have the bandwidth to be putting heavy duty things in place and thinking through the framework. You need to get out of that chaos state first.
I would recommend potentially starting with something that you've been putting off. Maybe it's gotten to the point where it feels really heavy, or something that feels really urgent.
But if that is too much for your nervous system at the moment, just pick something small that's going to provide a little bit of relief.
Think about it this way. If you have a house that is stuffed to the brim with things and you've realized that you need to declutter and get rid of a bunch of things, because you can't live like this anymore, you are not going to look at your house as a whole and say, "OK, we're cleaning up everything today."
You're probably not even going to look at one room as a whole and say, "Okay, today's plan is to declutter and reorganize this entire room." That's too big. Even one room is too big.
So instead, you're probably going to look at one cupboard, one area, one shelf, and you're just going to start with that.
It's the same with your business. We're not looking at the chaos as a whole. We're looking at one area, one step we can take. One thing we can do today, this week, to start getting things calmer and more organized and under control.
If this is something that you are struggling with, you're not alone. Subscribe here so you never miss a blog post, because I regularly share things that you can do to start simplifying and streamlining your business to get out of a messy and disorganized state.
Feeling stuck or not sure where to start? Leave a comment or send a message if this resonates or if you want support.
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