The Brutal Q1 Reality Check No One Wants (But Your Business Desperately Needs)

I've sat across from hundreds of business owners who can tell me their revenue goals down to the penny, but freeze when I ask: "What needs to die in your business this quarter?" 

The conversation gets awkward fast. But it's the one question that could save everything.

"My business is breaking even but barely." This text came in from a friend of mine who is running an amazing business. He's involved in a high-level & high-dollar mastermind group, so this text came as a surprise to me. 

I then asked the question that no one wants to hear: "How's your focus?"

The text hung out there, and the "..." remained on the screen for a while. His response was raw, real, and I could tell humbling for him - "Not good. I am all over the place with myself, my team, and the business."

Here's the brutal truth: Sometimes we don't need "more of _________ (accountability, groups, ideas, etc…). We need fewer distractions and more of ourselves with our brains thinking.

Your business isn't breaking because you lack a strategy. It's breaking because you lack focus. And focus requires the courage to prune what's choking your growth.

The Prune to Bloom Framework: Four Questions to Save Your Quarter

How do clients and I work through this chaos? We get ruthlessly practical about what stays and what goes.

1. What does CLOSED door time look like?

I just heard a client say this week that the knock on the door and the "hey, do you have 5 minutes" is killing her! I asked her how she is communicating to herself, her team, and outside vendors what the closed door means? 

The solution: get a chalkboard up that says, "Doing X activity; I will be available at _____ time. Unless the building is burning down, don't enter."

Your availability is not a democracy. Stop letting everyone else vote on your time.

2. How are you preparing for your week?

I invest my Sunday with as little screentime as possible. What does this mean? It means the phone gets put down, the TV is turned off, and I am reading, hiking, or doing word puzzles from a book. 

WHAT?!?! Yes, I need to give myself time to reboot. You do too!

You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you sure can't think clearly from a cluttered mind. Sunday resets aren't luxury—they're business strategy.

3. When is your best thinking time? Morning? Mid-day? Afternoon?

I get my BEST ideas first thing in the morning. I am working on carving out time and space to do my coaching in the morning when I am on point and fresh for my clients. However, I save Mondays for non-client facing days, so I can take that morning time and invest it in Coaching with LB.

Stop scheduling your peak thinking hours around everyone else's convenience. Protect your genius time like your revenue depends on it. Because it does.

4. Do you have your vision, mission, and core values in front of you?

You find what you are looking for—what's in your eyesight that should be there or should not? When I close my office door, I have my vision, mission, and core values right there. Where are yours?

If your daily decisions aren't filtered through your foundational values, you're not running a business—you're running a circus.

The Stewardship Question That Changes Everything

As someone who builds my business on the foundation of Jesus Christ, I know that every gift, every opportunity, every dollar that flows through my business is something I'm stewarding, not owning. 

This isn't about perfection—it's about intention. When I started treating my focus as a sacred responsibility, everything shifted.

The hard truth? Your scattered attention isn't just hurting your bottom line. It's keeping you from stepping fully into the purpose you were created for.

Your Q1 Challenge

Put down the phone. Step out from behind your desk. Walk through your business—literally or mentally—and ask yourself: What needs to die so the right things can live?

Book the closed-door time. Protect your Sundays. Schedule your peak hours for peak work. Put your values where you can see them daily.

Your business doesn't need another strategy. It needs you—focused, grounded, and brave enough to prune what's not serving the vision.

The question isn't whether you can afford to make these changes. The question is: Can you afford not to?