TBC ActionCoach of Indiana

30/10/2026

Your business is growing, but are you getting any more freedom from it?
You bring on more customers, hire more people, and take on bigger opportunities. Yet you're still answering questions, resolving problems, and making decisions that keep the day moving.

You might be earning more than you did a few years ago, but if every new stage of growth requires more of your time and attention, it's fair to wonder when that growth will start giving you some breathing room.

This is one of the pressures of the Messy Middle. The business has reached a point where you can't keep managing everything personally, but the way the team operates hasn't fully caught up with the demands of the business.

Hiring another employee won't necessarily lighten your workload if every decision still needs your approval. Without clear responsibilities and the authority to make decisions, a bigger team can mean even more people coming to you for answers.

Growth creates opportunity, but it doesn't automatically create freedom. That takes a business structure that allows people to take ownership and keep things moving without the owner being involved in every decision.

If you're navigating the Messy Middle, explore our resources for established business owners working to get unstuck and scale.
https://tbcactioncoach.com/messy-middle-owners-community/

As your business grows, what's still taking more of your time than it should?

29/10/2026

As a business grows, the right people matter. But even a good team can struggle when everyone isn’t clear on where the business is going and what they’re responsible for.

In this clip, Tim Campsall and Shaun Austin Gordon discuss why vision, mission, and culture are so important when building a team. Hiring people who believe in what the business stands for is a good start, but that alignment has to carry through to how people work together and take responsibility.

When that alignment is missing, the owner often ends up filling the gaps. They step in to resolve disagreements, repeat expectations, and keep things moving. Before long, more of the business depends on the owner instead of the team being able to move forward together.

That’s one of the challenges of the Messy Middle. The business has grown, but the way the team operates hasn’t caught up. Getting unstuck means creating clarity around the vision, reinforcing the culture, and giving people the direction they need to take ownership of their work.

Where does a lack of alignment cause your team to depend on you more than it should?

28/10/2026

I had a conversation with a business owner recently about why so many decisions in the business still end up on their desk.

Even with a team in place, employees were still coming to the owner for answers, approvals, and direction.

We talked about how easy it is to become the person everyone depends on. At first, it helps keep things moving. But over time, it can slow down decisions, limit what the team can take on, and leave the owner with little room to focus on growing the business.

The question becomes: How do you build a team that can make more decisions without needing you involved in everything?

These are the kinds of conversations that can be valuable when owners sit down with other owners. You get to hear how others are handling similar challenges, what has worked for them, and what you might approach differently.

That’s what we want to create at the Messy Middle Owners Workshop: practical conversations among owners about the decisions that come with growing a business.

Our next workshop:

📅 Wednesday, October 28 | 8:00–10:00 AM | Keystone Area
🥐 Continental breakfast included

The workshops are complimentary thanks to our Trusted Advisor Partners: Greg Thomson, Jason Ulm, Adam Hoeksema, Brian Knoderer, Petrita Campsall, Cody Lents, Raegan Gibson, Joshua Payne, ⭐️ Adam Jurs, ChFC, and myself.

What’s one decision in your business that you wish your team could handle without you?

27/10/2026

If every business decision still needs your approval, your team may not be the only thing holding back your growth.

Many small business owners believe they need a bigger team, higher revenue, or fewer daily demands before they can step back. But waiting for business growth before changing how they lead can keep them stuck in the same role.

When you’re used to managing every detail, trusting your team with important decisions can feel risky. You might believe your employees need more training or experience before they can take ownership. So you continue solving problems and approving decisions that could eventually be handled by others.

As your business grows, those demands grow too. Without clear processes and employee accountability, you can end up with a larger company that still depends on you for every decision. Instead of building a scalable business, you become the bottleneck limiting its growth.

Moving beyond this stage requires a shift in leadership. Your role is no longer to manage every task but to build a team and systems that allow the business to operate effectively without your constant involvement.

Start with one responsibility your team could own, establish clear expectations, and give them room to make decisions. This is how you begin building a business that can grow without adding more pressure to your role as the owner.

What responsibility are you still holding onto because you believe your business needs to grow more before you can let it go?

26/10/2026

Growth can look like progress on the outside while the owner is still holding too much of the business together.

That’s a pattern we see in the Messy Middle. As a business grows and the team takes on more responsibility, the owner can become the bottleneck in a different way. It’s no longer about doing everything themselves. It’s about being the person every decision still needs to go through.

In a recent episode of Self-Made Is a Myth, Corey from Sermon Shots shared how he moved from doing everything across the business to building a team, only to realize that decisions were becoming the next constraint. When people had to wait for his input, work slowed down, pressure built up, and he found himself holding things back without intending to.

His biggest lesson? He wishes he had started delegating decisions earlier, while the business was smaller. That would have given him more time to think strategically, develop his team, and work on the business instead of constantly being pulled back into the day-to-day.

That’s one of the transitions that comes with the Messy Middle. The business has grown, but the way decisions get made hasn’t caught up yet.

What’s the one decision your business still can’t make without you?



Watch the full video here:

Trying to grow your business, but still doing too many things yours...

23/10/2026

Sometimes you realize you’re still making decisions that your managers should be making.

It can start innocently. You want to make sure things are handled correctly, so people come to you with questions. You give the answer, make the call, and move on to the next thing.

But as the business grows, that can become the way the business operates. Managers keep bringing decisions back to you because you’re still the person who makes the final call.

The problem isn’t necessarily that your managers can’t make good decisions. They may never have been given clear ownership to make them. That’s one of the bottlenecks that shows up in the Messy Middle. The business has grown, but decision-making is still concentrated with the owner.

At some point, you have to stop being the answer to every question and start building a structure where the right people can make decisions without you.

What are you still personally holding together?

22/10/2026

One thing I hear from business owners in the Messy Middle is, “I don’t have enough time.”

But sometimes the problem isn’t time management. It’s that the business has grown, while too much of the work still depends on the owner.

There are decisions to make, problems to solve, people to check on, and tasks that keep coming back to you. Without clear priorities, accountability, and ownership across the team, the day gets filled with whatever needs attention next. Eventually, that work starts spilling into evenings and weekends.

The shift is recognizing that the business can’t keep running through the owner as it grows. Some responsibilities need to move to the team, and the owner needs to be clear about what actually requires their attention. The goal isn’t to fit more work into the day.

It’s to build a business that doesn’t require all of your time to keep moving.

Where does this show up in your business right now?

21/10/2026

I had a conversation with a business owner about debt recently. His belief was simple: debt is bad and should be avoided.

We talked about how not all business debt serves the same purpose. Borrowing money to cover ongoing losses is very different from using capital to invest in equipment, people, inventory, or an opportunity that can help the business grow.

That changes the question from “Is debt good or bad?” to “What am I using this money for, and what can it produce for the business?”

These are the kinds of conversations that can be valuable when owners sit down with other owners. You get to hear how someone else is thinking about the same decisions, risks, and opportunities you’re facing.

That’s what we want to create at the Messy Middle Owners Workshop: a practical conversation among owners about the decisions that come with growing a business.

Our next two workshops are:
📅 Tuesday, October 13 | 8:00–10:00 AM | Fishers
📅 Wednesday, October 28 | 8:00–10:00 AM | Keystone Area
🥐 Continental breakfast included

The workshops are complimentary thanks to our Trusted Advisor Partners: Greg Thomson, Jason Ulm, Adam Hoeksema, Brian Knoderer, Petrita Campsall, Cody Lents, Raegan Gibson, Joshua Payne, ⭐️Adam Jurs⭐️ ChFC, and myself.

What’s the biggest business decision you’d like another owner’s perspective on right now?

20/10/2026

One belief that keeps many owners stuck in the Messy Middle is, “Nobody can do it as well as I can.”

And sometimes, that’s true. You know the business, the customers, and what good work looks like. You can probably make the decision faster or fix the problem yourself, so when something isn’t done the way you would do it, stepping in feels like the easiest answer.

But that can create a cycle. You keep stepping in because it’s faster, your team keeps coming to you because you’re the one with the answers, and you end up carrying responsibilities that should eventually belong to someone else.

Then the owner gets frustrated because the team isn’t taking enough ownership. The problem isn’t always the team. Sometimes the owner’s behavior is teaching the team to depend on them.

That’s one of the hardest shifts in the Messy Middle. The goal isn’t to prove that someone else can do the job exactly like you. It’s to build people who can take responsibility for it without needing you in the middle of every decision.

Your role has to change as the business grows. What made you successful when you were smaller can become the thing that keeps you stuck when the business needs to operate beyond you.

What are you still doing because you believe nobody else can do it as well as you can?

19/10/2026

Sometimes being the best salesperson in the business is exactly what keeps the business from growing.

That sounds backwards, but it’s a pattern I see with owner-led businesses in the Messy Middle.

If every important sale still depends on the owner, growth stays tied to one person. The owner keeps selling, solving problems, and carrying the revenue, while the business never really develops beyond them.

Addison Newell and I talked about this on a recent episode of Self-Made Is a Myth. His point was simple: you can’t keep being the best salesperson and expect the business to grow beyond you.

That’s one of the harder transitions for an owner. What helped build the business can eventually become the bottleneck. The goal isn’t to stop selling. It’s to build a business where growth doesn’t depend on the owner being the one who makes every sale.

That’s part of navigating the Messy Middle.

Where does your business still depend too heavily on you to keep growing?