You did it. (Yay you, btw!) You're finally fully booked out (or pretty close to it), and your calendar is packed with client projects. You know your revenue is climbing, and from where your friends are sitting, everything looks like it's working beautifully.

So why does it feel like you're barely keeping your head above water?

If you've been answering emails at 9 PM, doing admin work on weekends, and still forgetting tasks that slip through the cracks, and that's not your intention, something needs to change. Especially if your to-do list feels endless, and you can't shake the feeling that something's about to fall apart.

But here's what I want you to know: You're stuck in the "messy middle," friend. And you're definitely not alone.

"The Messy Middle": that awkward growth stage where your business is growing faster than your systems, and you start to have trouble keeping up. It's honestly one of the most challenging phases of building a creative business. And it just so happens to be my sweet spot.

Let me explain why growth feels harder than when you were just starting out, and more importantly, what you can do about it.

The Catch-22 of Growth: Why "Success" Feels Overwhelming

I'm pretty sure that when you first started your business, you probably had a handful of clients, a pretty simple workflow, and enough breathing room to figure things out as you went. It may not have been smooth as butter, but it worked, and you got the job done.

But now, you've got 6-8 active projects going on, and they're all at different stages. You have inquiries coming in pretty steadily, and a reputation you're working hard to maintain. The strategies that first got you here (winging it, saying yes to everything, doing it all yourself) won't get you there.

Because here's the thing: The tenacity and grit that it takes to launch a business are completely different from the structure and space you need to scale one.

And that gap? That's what's making everything feel so chaotic right now.

If I had to guess, a stab in the dark, here's what might be happening for you behind the scenes.

1. You're Doing More Work, But Making Less Per Hour

I know this sounds backward, but I see it time and time again.

When you had 2-3 clients at a time, most of your hours went directly into billable creative work. Client calls, designing, delivering—the things you love and the things you get paid for.

But when you're fully booked, a huge chunk of your time starts going to everything else:

Managing project timelines
Chasing down feedback or approvals
Answering the same questions over and over
Keeping track of deliverables across multiple projects
Invoicing and following up on payments

All of that is necessary work, but none of it is directly billable—and it's rarely accounted for in your pricing as you start to grow. So even though you're busier than ever, your effective hourly rate is actually going down because you're spending more time on admin and operations.

And because everything still requires your own personal attention, there's no clear path to earning more without working even more hours. Which brings us to the real issue: you've hit a capacity ceiling you didn't see coming.

2. Every Client Experience Is Custom (And It's Exhausting You)

Ooh, I have so been there, friend. I am 100% guilty of this one—it cost me more time than anything else. Ever customized your process for a specific client, then scrambled to remember what you promised them three weeks later? 🙋🏽‍♀️

Guilty as charged.

But I've learned, the hard way, if you will, that when you don't have a standardized client experience or repeatable workflow, every single project requires you to make decisions from scratch:

What should I send them first?
Did I already ask them for that info?
When's the best time to send the invoice?
What's the next step again?

Do you send out the intake questionnaire before or after they book their kickoff call? Are we inviting them to the client portal or not? Are we doing 50% to book and 50% when we deliver the concept, or are we going to try a pay-in-full?

At this point, you're not just delivering excellent work—you're also reinventing the wheel every single time. And all of that lives in your head, which means the mental load is through the roof. I'm a married mom with two kids and two dogs who has to relocate often... I hate mental load.

This is exactly why so many of my clients come to me feeling scattered, even when they're objectively successful. They're carrying the entire operational weight of their business in their brain, with no systems to hold it for them.

3. Everything Depends on You (And You Can't Take a Break)

Like I said, everything still requires your own personal attention. Here's a question for ya: When was the last time you took a full weekday off without checking your phone or thinking about client work?

If you're like most creative entrepreneurs in the messy middle, the answer is probably "I can't remember."

It's hard enough that we can't turn our creative brains off (ever think of the perfect next step for a project while you're in bed at 11 pm? Yeah, same.), but here's the bigger issue: you can't step away. Not fully. Because if you do step away for a bit, emails will go unanswered. Deadlines will get missed. And clients will get confused.

Nothing is documented. Nothing is templated. Nothing runs without you.

So you keep showing up, you keep pushing through, and you keep telling yourself that "once things calm down", you'll finally be able to build those systems. But I'm gonna be the bearer of bad news. Things never calm down, friend. They just keep rolling along.

And that's when burnout starts knocking on your door.

4. Decision Fatigue Is Real (And It's Slowing You Down)

Let's talk about something that doesn't get discussed enough: decision fatigue.

Every time a client emails you, you have to decide how to respond. Every time a new project starts, you have to decide what to send and when. Every time something goes slightly off track, you have to figure out how to handle it in the moment.

All of those micro-decisions add up. And by the end of the day (or week), you're exhausted. And not just from doing the work, but from constantly having to think about the work.

This is why so many creative business owners tell me they feel stuck. They're spending so much energy managing the day-to-day that they have nothing left for big-picture strategy, creative thinking, or actually moving their business forward.

You're reacting instead of leading. And that's not sustainable in the long run.

5. You Know You Need Help, But You Don't Know Where to Start

And here's where it gets really frustrating:

Maybe you've thought about hiring help. A VA, an assistant, a project manager—someone to take things off your plate.

But then you think: What would I even have them do? I can't hand off something that only exists in my head. And training someone would probably take longer than just doing it myself.

I hear that last one, ALL. THE. TIME.

So you keep doing it all yourself, even though you know in your heart that it's not a long-term solution.

The reality is: You can't delegate what you haven't documented.

That's exactly why building systems isn't just about making your life easier right now. It's about creating a foundation that allows you to scale, hire, and eventually step back from the day-to-day operations of your business without everything melting into the abyss.

The Real Problem You're Facing and How to Fix It

So what's actually happening here?

Your business has outgrown its current infrastructure, friend. And that's amazing. Congrats are in order! The scrappy, figure-it-out-as-you-go approach that worked when you were just starting isn't working anymore—you've grown past it.

But the good news is you don't need to work harder. You just need to work differently.

Which means:

Here's what that actually looks like:

Standardizing your client experience so you're not starting from scratch every time (without losing the personal touches that make you special)
Building repeatable workflows and templates for onboarding, communication, and project delivery
Documenting what's in your head so you can delegate confidently when you're ready
Creating systems that run without you so you can take a day off without everything coming to a crashing halt
Shifting from solopreneur to CEO mindset so you're leading your business with intention instead of just keeping up with it

The last thing I want to do is add more to your plate. But this is about building a foundation that makes everything else easier. And you don't have to do it alone.

Final Thoughts

Here's what I want you to take away from this: Feeling overwhelmed in the middle of growth is something to celebrate. Take a deep breath, know that you're right where you need to be, and that you're right on time for the next phase.

Your business is ready for infrastructure. Systems. Repeatable processes. A foundation that supports the long-term version of your business, not the version you had six months ago.

And the best part? Once you build that foundation, it's set for good. Done and dusted. Your client experience improves. Your mental load lightens. You stop feeling like you're constantly putting out fires.

You get to lead your business and shape it into exactly what you've been dreaming of. That's when the work you're doing finally starts to feel as good behind the scenes as it looks on the outside.

You've got this.

What Comes Next

If you're reading this and thinking, Okay, yes, this is exactly what I'm going through—but where do I even start? You're in the right place.

This transition from overwhelmed solopreneur to confident CEO is exactly what I help creative entrepreneurs navigate. And there are a few ways we can work together, depending on where you are right now:

👉 Get Strategic Support: 90-Minute Breakthrough Intensive

If you need clarity on what to tackle first and a clear roadmap for the next 90 days, the Breakthrough Intensive is designed for exactly that. We'll pause, look at what's really been holding you back, and map out your next right steps so you can move forward with confidence.

Book your Breakthrough Intensive ($697) →

👉 Build the Foundation: Blueprint to Bloom

If you're ready to build the systems, workflows, and infrastructure your business needs to grow sustainably, Blueprint to Bloom is where that happens. It's a 3-month group program where we work through your biggest operational pain points together—with templates, feedback, and a community of creatives who get it.

Learn more about Blueprint to Bloom →