Featured Host: Carly Clark Zimmer
Carly Clark Zimmer
Leadership and Behavioral Change Coach, ICF PCC
Free audio series
Beyond the Bottleneck
How thriving online business owners stopped turning their freedom back into a job, and what opened up when they did
ACCESS THE AUDIOS
with yourHost & Coach,Carly Clark Zimmer
If you’ve built a successful business that gives you freedom on paper, but somehow still requires way too much of you to keep it running, these conversations are for you.
DECISIONS ✦EXPERIMENTS ✦BREAKING GENERATIONAL PATTERNS ✦REWRITING THE RULES ✦23 Honest Conversations about what it takes to change the way your business depends on you. ✦
You took the leap and left corporate to start your own business and create more freedom in your life.
But somewhere along the way, you started experiencing the same things that made you want to quit your job in the first place.
You became the person every client has on speed dial…
The one who says yes to tight deadlines even though it means staying up until 3 am…
The one who never takes a sick day, let alone a vacation…
The one who obsessively checks her emails while she's supposed to be enjoying a movie…
The one who doesn't turn off so she can "overdeliver"...
This reputation is one of the reasons your business is successful, yet resentment is starting to build.
You never really feel off the clock, and if we were being completely honest, you're starting to secretly resent your business.
Beyond the Bottleneck is a free audio series featuring honest conversations with online business owners who were once in your shoes.
They're sharing:
The bottleneck that kept them stuck, so you can recognize what might be keeping you stuck, too.
What they finally changed, so you can see what getting out of your own way could actually look like.
What became possible afterward, so you can stop fearing the change and start getting excited about what's possible.
Because, #SpoilerAlert: Their businesses didn't fall apart.
It thrived.
Free, bindgeable audio series
Listen on your own time
How do you know if this is worth your time?
If you check even one thing off this list, mark my words: You NEED to be here.
You say yes before checking your calendar.
You treat a client request like an emergency because you don't want to disappoint anyone.
You don't delegate because it seems faster to do it yourself.
You spend your best energy delivering for clients while the next version of your own business gets pushed to the back burner, every single passing quarter.
You know you need to hold the boundary, raise the rate, delegate the work, change the offer, or have the conversation… but there's always a reason not to.
You are not confused about what needs to change. You just cannot seem to make yourself do it.
Anything on here sound like you?
Then, yes. You're in the right place, my friend.
Because here's the sneaky thing about a bottleneck: The current pattern may be exhausting, but it's familiar.
And familiarity tricks us into thinking it's the best option. The change feels big and risky and full of unknowns.
What if the client is disappointed?
What if you lose momentum?
What if making the change creates more work before it creates relief?
You don't have time for that kind of a setback, so you keep going.
But you know what's REALLY costing you? Keeping this up…
- What if the boundary you've spent six months worrying about takes one uncomfortable conversation?
- What if the thing you are afraid to delegate works perfectly well without you?
- What if someone has a feeling about your decision and you survive it?
- What if the new way feels difficult for a day, or a week, and then starts getting easier?
And what if, on the other side of that decision, there is not only a stronger business?
What if there's also more room for you and life outside of work?
More energy.
More creativity.
More room to think and develop the next evolution of your business.
More time with the people you love.
More mornings that do not begin inside Slack.
More afternoons that belong to your actual life.
That's what we're exploring inside Beyond the Bottleneck. What happened to these businesses, and the people behind them, when they stopped accepting the way things were and started making changes.
I'm sick of feeling like this. I want to listen!What you'll hear
Honest conversations about the decision that interrupted the pattern.
Inside Beyond the Bottleneck, you will hear from online business owners who reached a point where they could no longer ignore what their way of working was costing them.
They will share about one specific bottleneck, the decision that interrupted it, and what became possible afterward.
These are not polished stories about people who have mastered every part of business and never struggled again. (Thank the goddesses for that!) This series also isn't about people eliminating bottlenecks completely. They've simply gotten better at recognizing them and changing what isn't working before it takes over.
Inside each conversation, you'll hear:
- The bottleneck
- What wasn't working and what it was costing them.
- The fear
- What they thought might happen if they changed it.
- The change
- What they actually did differently.
- The other side
- What opened up in their business and life afterward.
- What happens now
- How they recognize and respond to new bottlenecks faster.
Beyond the Bottleneck is intentionally designed to help you recognize the pattern that keeps your business dependent on your overfunctioning and see what becomes possible when you stop obeying it.
And by the end, my hope is that you have a whole lot more evidence that:
The pattern is not who you are.
The change may be more manageable than you think.
You don't have to change everything at once.
A different way of working can be safe.
You can care deeply about your clients without becoming responsible for everything.
Your business is allowed to change because you are changing.
Your life is allowed to take up space now, not after the inbox is empty.
Meet the contributors
Meet the Business Owners Thriving Beyond the Bottleneck
When what made you successful becomes the bottleneck...
Kristin Brabant
Business Strategist, helping service providers become Rich & Rested
From Push Harder to Rich and Rested: Kristin Brabant on Breaking Her Oldest Business Pattern
“I had to learn that rest wasn’t something I earned after the work was done.”
Michelle Knight
Personal Branding & Storytelling Expert, Founder of Brandmerry
When Overachieving Becomes Your Safety Net with Michelle Knight
“Overachieving made me feel safe.”
Jen Liddy
Messaging Strategist
Care Deeply. Carry Less: Jen Liddy on Releasing Over-Responsibility
“I would put my clients in my backpack and walk them up the mountain.”
Sarah Young
Scaling & Wealth Strategist
$100K Months and Still Stressed About Payroll: How Sarah Young Changed Course
“We were doing $100K-plus months, and I was still stressing about payroll.”
Emily Reagan
Fractional CMO & Marketing Strategist, Founder of The Digital Marketer’s Workgroup
She Lost Her Voice and Found a New Direction: Emily Reagan on the Business Changes She’d Been Avoiding
“I was suppressing this desire or need to evolve.”
Ashley Krooks
Nervous System & Somatic Coach, Founder of The Nourished Woman
The Freedom Was There. She Just Couldn’t Feel It: Ashley Krooks on Nervous System Regulation
“What got you here will not get you there.”
Rewriting the rules of how you work now...
Katie Ferro
CPA & Bookkeeping Business Mentor
They’re Not Your Rules: Katie Ferro on Rewriting the Rules of Work
“Just because this is the way I’ve always done it doesn’t mean this is the way I have to keep doing it.”
Réland Logan
Brand Strategist, Creator of BrandExtraordinary™
The Business Rules You’re Allowed to Break with Réland Logan
“I get to decide what this looks like.”
Holly Haynes
Business Strategist, Founder of Anti-Social School™
Stop Waiting for Life to Calm Down: Holly Haynes on Building a Life-First Business
“I started putting the life things on the calendar first.”
Christine Williams
Business Mentor, Founder of The Boutique CEO™
There’s More Than One Way to Scale: Christine Williams on Building Better, Not Bigger
“There’s more than one way to scale.”
Heather Sager
Speaking & Visibility Strategist, Host of Hint of Hustle
The 13-Hour Workweek: How Heather Sager Stopped Feeling Behind
“I had to stop measuring my success by how much I was doing.”
Holly Ostrout
Book Coach & Publisher, Creator of the Book Mapping Process
You’re Not Back at the Beginning: Holly Ostrout on Making a Different Choice This Time
“I wasn’t starting over. I was starting with everything I knew now.”
Letting go of control, responsibility, and “it has to be me”...
Keenya Kelly
Video Marketing & Monetization Strategist, CEO of If You Create It
“Always Me” to a Team That Runs Without Her: Keenya Kelly on the Inner Work of Leadership
“I could not grow beyond myself.”
Nata Salvatori
Business Coach & Fractional COO, Founder of Accidental CEO
The Business Can’t Grow If Everything Runs Through You: Nata Salvatori on Becoming the CEO
“I had to stop being the person doing everything and become the CEO.”
Megan Yelaney
Business Strategist, Creator of the Distinctive Edge Framework
When “I Can Just Do It Myself” Becomes the Bottleneck, with Megan Yelaney
“If I can do it and save money, then I should just do it.”
Zhara-Marie Henry
Operations Consultant, Founder of Abide
You Hired Help. Now Let Them Help: Zhara-Marie Henry on Letting Go of Control
“Just because I hired someone didn’t mean I had actually let go.”
Renee Bowen
Business Strategist & Coach, Host of Tried & True with a Dash of Woo
You Don’t Have to Be Everyone’s Nervous System: Renee Bowen on Letting Go of Holding It All Together
“I was everyone’s nervous system.”
Kimberly Tara
CPA & Certified Tax Planner, Founder of The Tara CPA Firm
When Work Follows You Everywhere: Kimberly Tara on Rebuilding for Freedom
“Work followed me everywhere.”
Simplifying, choosing, and making room for what matters...
Rosemary Dede
Business Coach, Creator of the Balanced Business Formula™
Adding Was the Bottleneck: Rosemary Dede on Simplifying for the Life She Wanted
“My instinct was always to add something, and adding was the bottleneck.”
Ash McDonald
The Entrepreneur’s Therapist, Host of Shamelessly Ambitious®
What She Got Back When She Left Instagram: Ash McDonald on Choosing Her Attention
“I had to decide where I actually wanted my attention to go.”
Linda Sidhu
Founder of MixerMind & Personality Quiz Expert
Build Your Bucket-List Business with Linda Sidhu
“I started asking, what do I want on my business bucket list?”
Beth Nydick
Media Strategist, Creator of Mic to Millions™
The Visibility Bottleneck: Beth Nydick on What Happens After You Get Seen
“Getting the opportunity isn’t the end of the road. That’s actually the beginning.”
Kari Poppleton
Business Operations & Marketing Measurement Consultant
The Data That Lets You Do Less: Kari Poppleton on Simplifying Your Business
“Once I knew what was actually working, I could stop doing so much.”
about the creatorMeet Carly
I created Beyond the Bottleneck because I used to think being excellent for my clients meant being available all the time.
During the pandemic, my coaching practice grew quickly. I was living in Ireland and working with clients across all kinds of time zones. At the same time, I was supporting large cohorts of students and a team of associate coaches inside a coaching school experiencing its highest enrollment numbers ever, while also being in charge of all program coordination.
I was spending close to eight hours a day on Zoom.
But the real weight wasn't the work. My bottleneck? I had made my clients' priorities my priorities. Their fear. Their pivots. Their launches. Their confidence. Their income. Their next steps.
At first, I thought that was just what a great coach did. But eventually I realized carrying everyone else's urgency in my body and confusing it with commitment was slowly taking me out, not to mention not helping my clients at all because I was just training them to need me.
I had to learn how to release what was never mine to hold.
I had to stop confusing support with constant availability.
I had to get honest about what was truly urgent, what I was making urgent in my own mind, and what belonged to someone else.
I clarified what my coaching containers were actually for. I set cleaner boundaries around communication. I stopped making myself the emergency contact for everyone's business, emotions, and decisions. I learned how to hand ownership back to my clients without becoming cold, detached, or unavailable.
And both my business and my life changed.
I didn't just become a better coach, because I became clearer and more grounded, but I got my life back!!
I even started painting again. It reminded me that creativity, beauty, joy, rest, and aliveness were allowed to belong to me too… and I haven't looked back since.
That is why I care so much about these conversations. I know how much courage it takes to step away from the expected path and start your own business. I also know how easy it is to leave one cage and accidentally build another.
But the client isn't your boss, YOU are.The inbox doesn't decide your hours, YOU do.Rest isn't something you earn, it's something you CHOOSE.
But I can tell you these things until I'm blue in the face… and you can nod your head in agreement because you know I'm right… but you won't do anything about it until you understand your bottleneck, and how to move through it.
That's why I created Beyond the Bottleneck.
Today, I help booked-out service providers and founders stop treating every client request like an emergency, identify the behavior patterns keeping them overextended, and restore the structure of their business so success no longer depends on self-abandonment.
My work is built on a simple belief
Transformation happens through evidence and intentional repetition, not more information.
You change when you let the request wait and discover that nothing collapses.
You change when you make the decision you have been postponing and feel the space it creates.
One small interrupt becomes evidence.
Enough evidence becomes a new way of working.
Join me for Beyond the Bottleneck and hear how thriving online business owners stopped turning their freedom back into a job, what they changed, and what opened up when they did.
The details
Listen on your own schedule and walk away with actual case studies that share insight into a variety of bottlenecks and strategies for overcoming them.
Because I'm gonna bet the change you keep putting off isn't nearly as hard as continuing to choose the pattern.
There's a whole lotta life waiting for you beyond the bottleneck.