Feeling Stuck in Your Business? This Might Be Why

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If you’ve felt stuck lately, it might be time to reexamine what you’re holding onto in your business. Ashley breaks down four key areas to evaluate—marketing, vendors, traffic, and team — and offers two simple but powerful questions to move you forward.

Feeling Stuck in Your Business? This Might Be Why

Today’s message isn’t so much a question as it is a statement to ponder:
What got you here won’t get you there.

At every stage of business, this statement holds true. It’s a checkpoint that challenges us to assess whether what we’ve always done is still serving us—and how we must evolve to move forward.

Recently, I’ve had more conversations than ever with well-established businesses—brands that have been thriving for 10, 20, even 30 years. And yet, despite their success, they’re now facing the reality that the industry is shifting. Social media is changing. Vendors are changing. Consumer behavior is changing.

What once worked like a charm suddenly isn’t enough anymore.

The exciting part? There’s no one-size-fits-all path to success. Some businesses are thriving with live selling, others with pure e-commerce, some with pop-ups or traditional brick-and-mortar stores. This diversity creates incredible opportunities—but it also demands that we keep learning, testing, and evolving.

After reading this, I want you to make the statement to yourself:
What got me here won’t get me there.
Then ask yourself two questions:

Where can I test something new today?
What can I learn today?

Because here’s the truth:
When we get too comfortable with what’s always worked, we stop growing. We stop innovating. We miss opportunities.

If you want growth, if you want to meet the moment—you have to carve out the time to test, learn, and adapt.

Here’s where I see this showing up most in business today:

1. Marketing

The marketing strategies that brought us thousands of website visitors a few years ago aren’t necessarily working now. Maybe your reach on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or even your email list has dropped dramatically.

Ask yourself:

Am I testing different post styles?
Different backgrounds or models?
Different posting frequencies?
New calls to action?
Going live more often—or trying new formats?
Adding more community-building content?
Expanding my product mix?

It’s all about testing. See what works now, not what worked then.

2. Brands and Vendors

It’s easy to stay loyal to vendors who have always delivered best-sellers. But business is data-driven—and it’s critical to ask:

What do my numbers say?
What are my margins by vendor?
What’s my GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Investment)?
How are my returns looking by brand?

Maybe it’s time to branch out:
If you always attend one market, try another. If you only source apparel, explore home and gift. Challenge yourself to discover new brands and new opportunities.

3. Traffic

Traffic is the lifeblood of retail—and you can’t just chalk it up to “traffic being down.” You need to know:

What’s my traffic by channel?
What’s my conversion rate?
What’s my average order value?

Use tools like our Retail Traffic Formula (linked in the show notes!) to calculate exactly what you need.
If traffic’s down, where specifically is it down? Social? SEO? Paid ads? Emails?
Where can you learn a new skill—like Facebook ads—to fill the gap?

4. Team

This one is often the toughest. Sometimes, the team members who grew with us from the beginning aren’t growing at the same pace as the business.

Ask yourself:

Do I need to retrain my team?
Reassign responsibilities?
Establish clearer accountability?

As you evolve as a leader, your business needs to evolve too—and that includes making sure your team is keeping up with the vision and goals ahead.

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