Why Doing More Is Sabotaging Your Success
By Amanda Kaufman

If you’ve ever thought, “I just need to do more to get ahead,” you’re not alone.

That mindset is everywhere in entrepreneurship—especially in the early stages when you're wearing all the hats, juggling client work, marketing, finances, and maybe even a second job or a busy home life.

But what if doing more is exactly what's holding you back?

That’s the eye-opening topic I dove into with business strategist and coach Shauna Lynn Simon on the latest episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show. And let me tell you—this conversation is one that every entrepreneur needs to hear.

The Productivity Trap

Shauna shared a moment of clarity from her own journey:

“The person who created the saying that busy is good was completely lying to you because busy is not good. Busy does not mean productive.”

Can we just pause and say—YES.

We’ve been taught to glorify hustle. To fill every moment. To chase every opportunity. But the truth? Being busy doesn't mean you're moving forward. Often, it means you're spinning your wheels—hard.

Shauna calls out this trap and offers something better: intention.

Scaling Isn’t Just About More

One of the biggest mistakes we can make when trying to scale is simply doing more of what got us started.

Shauna put it this way:

“Building a $10K business is different than building a $100K business, which is different than building a million-dollar business… but the challenge is that we all just try to do more of the things we’re already doing.”

It’s natural—we think, If it worked before, why not keep going? But what worked to get you to $10K won't get you to $100K. And what got you to $100K won't take you to $1M.

In fact, doing more of the same is often the fast track… to burnout.

The Power Play Profit Filter

So what’s the alternative?

Shauna introduces a powerful tool she uses with her clients called the Power Play Profit Filter. It’s a simple framework to help you focus only on the work that moves your business forward.

The filter helps you assess tasks and decide:

• Should this be kept?
  
  

• Could it be delegated?
  
  

• Can it be automated?
  
  

• Or should it be eliminated altogether?
  
  

The clarity that comes from this process is a game-changer.

When you stop doing things just to feel busy and start doing what actually matters, that’s when real progress happens.

How to Pick the Right Priorities

Another golden takeaway from our conversation? Prioritization doesn’t have to be complicated.

Shauna recommends choosing just three key things each day—the three things that, no matter what else happens, must get done.

Write them on a sticky note. Put them somewhere visible. And when you get distracted (because life happens), that note brings you back to focus.

Sounds simple, right? It is. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Still, simplicity is often the secret to sustainability.

Why Vision Is Everything

One of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs burn out is because they lose touch with their original why.

Shauna sees this all the time with her clients—she even has a name for it: the “Accidental CEO.” These are the folks who followed their passion into business, but didn’t stop to build a real foundation or get clear on what they’re actually trying to create.

“What is the change you want to see in your life? What are you really building here?”

When you reconnect with your vision, you stop chasing everything—and start saying “yes” only to what aligns with your true goals.

That’s how you build a business that not only scales… but feels good to run.

Final Thoughts

This episode was such a refreshing reminder that we don’t have to earn success through exhaustion. In fact, it’s usually the opposite.

Shauna’s message is clear: sustainable growth comes from clarity, boundaries, and bold choices—not busywork.

So if you've been grinding away and wondering why you're not seeing results, maybe it's time to ask: Am I doing more… or doing what matters?

🎧 Ready to listen to the full conversation? Head over to The Amanda Kaufman Show and hear Shauna’s full story, strategies, and insights.

You’ll walk away inspired—and with real tools to shift your business into alignment.

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Shauna Lynn and Her Journey

02:04 The Evolution of Entrepreneurship

04:55 Prioritization and Productivity Strategies

12:21 Aligning Passion, Profit, and Purpose

17:23 Finding Clarity and Overcoming Challenges

Full Transcript

Shauna Lynn Simon (00:00)

the person who created the saying that busy is good was completely lying to you because busy is not good. Busy does not mean productive.

Amanda Kaufman (00:26)

Well, hello and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And I am so excited to be joined today by Shauna Lynn Simon. And Shauna and I were introduced by mutual friend. We are all, I think, affiliated with a particular business incubator that does a lot of connection and referral. And the reason why Shauna and I were introduced is because we both have had very frank conversations with our mutual friend about what it takes to be

wildly successful in business and that it's not what they say on social media and there's a lot that happens behind the scenes. Shauna is an incredible coach. She is the CEO of Shauna Lynn Coaching. She's the founder of SLS Academy. She is a renowned business strategist, author and host of the Real Women Real Business podcast and shameless plug. I'm gonna be.

on the show very shortly. So if you want to hear more of our conversation, definitely tune into hers. She empowers high performing entrepreneurs, CEOs and business owners to scale their business, foster autonomy in their teams and reclaim their time. I'm so excited to have you here, Shana. Welcome to the show.

Shauna Lynn Simon (01:37)

Amanda, thank you so much for such an incredible welcome. I really appreciate that. I am so looking forward to this conversation.

Amanda Kaufman (01:43)

Yes, yes, me too, me too. I I just, I love asking this question of anybody that comes onto the show or a variation of it anyway, which is what has sparked your passion for what you do now as an entrepreneur? Like was there like a seed event or like a big moment that said, hey, I want to help people get their time back. I want to have people have more ease in their business. What's, what's your origin story?

Shauna Lynn Simon (02:08)

I mean, my origin story and my now story are actually two different things because I think what gets you into entrepreneurship isn't necessarily what keeps you in entrepreneurship. There's always sort of for the people in the back who didn't quite hear that because it's not one thing. It's not one moment. It's this constant evolution. Anyone who thinks they're ever going to sit still as an entrepreneur has a very rude awakening for themselves. But that's not a bad thing. It's really not.

Amanda Kaufman (02:18)

Say it louder. Oh my God, that's so true. Absolutely. Yes. Yes.

Shauna Lynn Simon (02:35)

The shortest version of what got me into entrepreneurship in the first place, we'll start with that, very short, is I was working a couple of different corporate jobs. I worked as an analyst. I have a Bachelor of Mathematics degree and was laid off twice. Not because I did anything wrong, just downsized dumb luck. I was like, okay, I'm going to go into business for myself. Became an entrepreneur, thought I knew what I was doing, failed miserably in the first couple of years.

But I like to say I failed forward, of course, because all of that was great lessons to build upon. So once I figured out kind of those missing pieces, I struck gold and I just business was booming. I grew and I expanded and I was doing fabulous, wonderful things until I burnt out and I wasn't scaling in a sustainable way. And I would say my recovery from burnout, which took me three years, and of course my recovery came

right in time for COVID, finally feeling better. I'm like, great, and the world is shutting down. This is amazing. And so it was just a lot for my entire system to take in. And it's been my recovery from that, that I really wanna save people from that burnout part of things. And the challenge is that what got you to, and you and I talked about this actually, spoiler alert for the episode that we've got coming up. We talked about.

Building a $10,000 revenue business is different than a $100,000 revenue business, which is different than a million dollar revenue business. And what you did to get to your first 10,000 or your first six figures, whatever your size is, everyone has a different sort of benchmark for it. But that first scale is going to take something totally different to get to that second scale. But the challenge is that as entrepreneurs, of course, we all just try to do more of the things we're already doing because it got me this far. This is going to continue to work.

And that is the secret to burnout. That is your fast track to burnout. If that is your goal, congratulations, you're on the right path. But if you actually want to be sustainable and scale in a way that's going to work for you and your business and your lifestyle in a way that's going to be healthy for you, then things need to change. And I think that's where my passion really comes from is my road to recovery was long, but.

it taught me something because I had only a few productive hours every day because I was suffering from a significant case of adrenal fatigue, which meant I had maybe three hours of real energy in me each day. So that forced me to figure out how to get everything done that I needed to get done in three hours a day.

Amanda Kaufman (05:06)

Yeah, you know, it's so counterintuitive, but my observation is that the people that have like the most time to work on something often get the least traction because they don't feel the need to have that efficiency. And, you know, there is a big blessing in the constraints, you know, sometimes like having that constrained time. I imagine it really forced you to learn how to prioritize, how to let go of the things that...

were perhaps attractive or interesting, but not necessarily contributing to not just the bottom line, but to your overall goals. Like, can you talk to me a little bit about your perspective on prioritization? Because I think a lot of our listeners are either building something on the side and so their time is super constrained, or they're building it because the rest of their life.

is demanding a level of freedom for them. So they're kind of like, maybe entrepreneurship will give me the flexibility I need. But they very quickly realize like, still limited by the number of hours in the day. So can you talk to us a little bit about how you approach prioritization?

Shauna Lynn Simon (06:09)

Yeah, the first thing I'm gonna say is the person who created the saying that busy is good was completely lying to you because busy is not good. Busy does not mean productive.

So the first step I think is identifying what's keeping you busy and what's actually productive because that's where we all get stuck. So one of the big things that I often do with my clients, kind of one of the first things I do with them is we come up with what I call our power play profit filter.

And this is where we go through what are the things that are taking their time and are they meant to be kept or should we be delegating them, automating them or eliminating them altogether? And when you get crystal clear on that, it is incredible how easy it becomes to say no to the things that are not actually moving your business forward. I'm obviously oversimplifying it a little bit, but the key to being able to make the most of those few hours.

is to able to identify what's actually going to make the biggest difference. We are not ruthless enough with our time. So what I would encourage people to do is even if you have more than three hours in a day, prioritize what are at the start of the day, what are the three things that if you get nothing else done today, if your world blows up today and you have unexpected encounters, which we all do, we have life, we have kids, we have all sorts of things. I mean, I'm a crazy cat lady and I've been rescuing, I've rescued three different cats over the last two days.

randomly. So I've been back and forth to the local Humane Society. I didn't have time for that. I hadn't planned for that, but I'm still getting the top priority items done every day. So if at the start of each day or even better yet the day before, what are the three things if nothing else gets done? What are the three things that absolutely must get done? And it's amazing when you narrow it down to three things, because I know most people are probably thinking like there's like 30 things on my list. I don't know how you want me to pick three things.

But when you find those three things, you're like, well, it's all so clear now. So I always recommend, honestly, old school, put it on a post-it note, put it on your computer, new post-it note each day. Those are the three things. And when you get distracted, look at that post and you're like, yeah, yeah. No, that's what I'm supposed to be doing right now. It sounds simple. It's not easy, but it is simple.

Amanda Kaufman (08:12)

way.

Yeah, it's it. I love that. I think that that's a that's a powerful strategy and thanks for sharing it. And, know, I also noticed that in in a lot of people when I'm talking about the prioritization thing, I'm so curious what your take on this would be. Is that fear, I guess, about the 27 other things on the list, either like not making it to those things, or I've even seen a lot of people just kind of get

frozen on picking the three. So how would you coach somebody through that? Like if they're just like, I don't know, and they get kind of caught in that fight flight freeze sort of place and they're just, and it's like this refusal to either give up the 27 other things on the 30 item list or it's this.

fear I guess or this concern or worry that people have that they pick the wrong three. Like if there's something I hear a lot in my different programs is this fear that you pick the wrong horse. And so like how do you deal with that or do you ever face that?

Shauna Lynn Simon (09:16)

rates.

Oh, always, but I think, okay, so you know what? That's actually a very simple answer again, not necessarily easy, but simple. We need to go back to the basics for a moment. What got you into your business in the first place? Because this is what ends up happening is you end up building this business. You've got this idea in your head. You've got this passion. like, I am super passionate about, maybe it's saving cats, for example. I am going to build a cat sanctuary. I'm gonna do whatever it is that follows this passion.

And as you start realizing pretty quickly, that passion part of it is like 10 % of the things that need to get done and 90 % is administrative and operations and all these other things that don't give you quite the same joy. And so we end up kind of getting lost in all that busy work and we forget about what got us started in the first place. And the challenge is that most of the people that I work with, especially, are what I love to affectionately call my accidental CEOs. And what it means is that you followed more passion than plan.

Because again, you're like, I got this great thing. I want to make money at it. Maybe you knit these amazing sweaters. Maybe you're an artist, you're a painter, you're a photographer, you're an interior designer that's been decorating your own houses for years and now you want to help other people. Whatever it is that got you into business in the first place, you're like, cool, I'm going to make money at it. So I'm just going to do the thing and people are going to pay me and boom, I have a business. But you didn't necessarily spend the time to really build all those foundations you get into and you get overwhelmed by all these different demands.

on your time. So the first thing is, let's go back to what are we building here? Because you knew you had this thing you wanted to offer. But did you take the time to think about what you're actually building? What is the change that you are trying to sell in other people's lives? What is the change you want in your own life? What is motivating you to do the things that you do? mean, Simon Sinek said it best. Start with why.

When we get the clarity as to what our true North Star is, everything else is easier to do. Warren Buffett says, you know, the difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything. And so the key is, and especially if we're women, we are saying yes to way too many things. So going back to...

Amanda Kaufman (11:11)

you

Shauna Lynn Simon (11:37)

that to-do list where you've got those 30 items and you're afraid you're going to pick the wrong three. It's actually really easy to pick the right three if you know where you're going. And that's the biggest thing that I work on. You know, it's we can call it a vision. That is the technical term for it. But a lot of people's eyes just kind of gloss over a little bit when you start speaking vision, because it sounds like this abstract big dream kind of thing that doesn't have any real action behind it. But the reality is that when you know what it is you're working towards,

it's easier to be able to identify what are the things that are actually going to move you towards that. And so if you start looking at your North Star and maybe social media marketing isn't really where you're going to begin your business, sure, you still want to be visible, but maybe instead of posting 10 times a week, you go down to posting twice a week. It's actually easier than you think it is to eliminate some of the things that aren't actually driving your business forward.

So once you get that clarity, can easily like dissect everything of what is actually making a difference in my business. What is moving the needle? What is not? What do I enjoy doing versus what do I not enjoy doing? If it takes you 20 hours just to get two invoices out because you hate doing it so much and get distracted by 16 other things, you probably shouldn't be doing your own invoicing. It really comes down to that.

Amanda Kaufman (12:50)

Totally. Yeah, business is very much all about trade-offs, right? So, you know, something like the invoicing example, you know, all right, are you really going to keep wasting 20 hours a week on a task like that? Or are you going to maybe spend two hours on doing some research, find out is there like a software that makes this less painful? Is there a service that you could pay that would do this? But I think where a lot of people get

pretty stuck is the trade-offs, right? And I'd love your opinion or perspective on long-term success versus short-term payoff. So I'm thinking, for example, about that alignment question. I hear a lot of entrepreneurs that are like, that's not aligned for me. And it's like, mm.

Is it that it's not aligned or is it that you don't have the clarity to your point about the vision? You don't have the clarity about what's actually involved. You don't have the capability yet, maybe for this thing. And you're maybe perhaps sacrificing a future vision because of discomfort versus the hard thing. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Because like you've obviously been successful. You've obviously done a lot of hard things.

Shauna Lynn Simon (13:46)

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (14:01)

you know, those hard things make it onto the list of three as well as the aligned things. So can you talk to us a little bit about how you deal with the hard?

Shauna Lynn Simon (14:08)

I will say honestly like anytime my business starts just feeling off like everything feels hard if I feel like I can't get a client I can't sell anything I can't move ahead I can't get towards my goal anytime things start feeling hard I have to take a bit of a closer look at things and it's usually because I've gotten off of my my path of my vision and I will say just like every entrepreneur it's really easy to tell somebody else to do something than to do it yourself

And I think that we just, again, get so caught up in, have all these things to do. I don't have time to spend a couple of hours to get this clarity. And yet that clarity is exactly what's going to move the needle in your business. So, I mean, it's definitely, That alignment, So here's the thing. We know that we have the passion to get started, but we also need the profits. So we start getting out of alignment when we start focusing more on sales than on our...

on what's actually our passion. If those aren't actually in alignment. So if you decide all of a sudden, like I'm just gonna sell a bunch of items on Amazon because I hear I can make a lot of money doing that. That sounds great. Are you passionate about it? No. So if that's how you wanna make your money, fine, but you're gonna need something to fulfill that passion because if those two things aren't aligned, you're going to end up just burning yourself out essentially. You're just chasing the next sale. If you're not making any progress forward, but maybe your profits are there, you're like, okay, great, I'm making some really good money, but I'm not.

building anything. So my heart's not necessarily in it. So that's sizzling out my passion as well. So you've got to have all three of those in alignment and getting that clarity of your vision. I know I keep saying that, but getting that clarity of your vision is really what helps to make it a lot easier to make those decisions. And yeah, like that's every day we have a ton of big decisions that we need to make and I don't want to let go of anything. I'm the best person to do all the things in my business, right? Or so I think.

Like, right, that. Like, wake up call. You know, if I hear one more entrepreneur tell me, but I'm the only one who can do this. No, you're not. You want to know what your team can probably do better than you? Almost all of it. So I think, you know, take just a little bit of time and identify if you really had to.

Amanda Kaufman (15:55)

No. No! But I hear you, yeah.

No?

It's so true.

Shauna Lynn Simon (16:21)

What do you really need to be doing? What are the things that really need your stamp on it? So for example, if you are a vocal artist, well, you're the one with the vocals. That is your thing. And I think it's so easy if you think of something like that, OK? No one else can do the vocals. Obviously, you have to do the vocals. But when we're in our business, we're like, well, everything is me. No, there are certain things that are legit you. You are the only one who can do it. But what are the things that you don't have to be doing? What can you train someone else to do?

If you are the sole core of your business, cannot scale it. Period. Full stop. Doesn't matter how passionate you are. doesn't matter how much revenue you're bringing in. You will burn yourself out. So figuring out what do you absolutely not only have to do, but what do you want to do? What got you into this in the first place? What still brings you joy? And maybe what got you into the business in the first place isn't actually what you want to do anymore. Maybe as you evolved your business, you discovered something.

Amanda Kaufman (17:08)

Yeah.

Shauna Lynn Simon (17:17)

that's really guiding you forward. You're like, man, I really wish I could lean into this more. So lean into that. Try that on. Feel it out. What does that look like? But going back to, I know, kind of the original question of this, like at the end of the day, we don't have a lot of time for ourselves. And so we're so busy doing all these things. And now I'm telling you, I want you to take some time to do this. This is where that going back to that triage of your your to do list. Find a day this week in two weeks, whatever you need to do, just don't keep kicking the can down the road and actually block that time off and spend it.

Allow yourself thinking about it, but instead of just blocking off two hours, say to do some thinking, block yourself off four hours. Spend an hour gathering some thoughts and then go for a walk and then come back for another 30 minutes and then go make yourself a cup of tea. You can't just sit down and figure it all out. You need to allow your brain rest moments that are not just sleeping. You need to allow yourself downtime.

Amanda Kaufman (18:08)

Mm hmm. This is so good. you know, like I could talk forever about like financial health and what that does to a business, a.k.a. it's not healthy. You know, for most people, if their business isn't making the kind of money that they need to make, my honest counsel is like, just get the job you already know how to do so you're not worried about your rent. You know, like I think that

Shauna Lynn Simon (18:30)

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (18:31)

that scenario of like going on to YouTube and finding, you know, the fastest growing way to make money on Amazon and you're starting something that is again, completely new. The core problem that you actually have is like money. So it's OK to earn money like the way you already know how to make money while you figure out the new way to make money, you know. And sometimes when people are pursuing passions, for example, it's like, are you sure that's a for profit business? Because that might be a good.

Shauna Lynn Simon (18:53)

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (18:59)

Nonprofit or like maybe there's nonprofits that already exist that you could be pouring that same energy into and getting all of that fulfillment and alignment as well, so Love this love this love this Shauna. What is what is the best way for people to like keep up with you and follow what you're up to next?

Shauna Lynn Simon (19:18)

Honestly, like find me on social media, but I've got a great resource for everyone that I think will really help them to be able to move their own businesses forward, especially if they are an accidental CEO that's listening to this because it really helps them to understand exactly where their profits, passion and progress are out of alignment. And the best part is helps them to figure out where they need to focus their energy next in order to get them into alignment. So it's a quick little quiz that I have. It takes maybe 10 to 15 minutes tops to do.

and you can get it at aboutshonolin.com forward slash Amanda.

Amanda Kaufman (19:52)

I love it, I love it. And we'll make sure to have the link and all of your socials in the notes and the show notes. And Shauna, just want to say thank you so much for joining us on the show.

Shauna Lynn Simon (19:54)

Yeah.

Thank you so much for having me. I always enjoy these types of conversations and I'm so excited to hear how everybody puts everything into action in their own business.

Amanda Kaufman (20:12)

Absolutely, absolutely. And dear listener, if this was an uplifting episode that is helping you out, guess what? Your friends who are also doing something amazing and they need to hear that they should not be, you know, burning themselves out on the wheel of their business. Make sure you grab the link to this episode and share it with at least three of your friends so that they can get the benefit of this conversation today. And hey, if you really loved it, do take a moment to leave us a 30 second review.

An honest review is one of the most helpful things that you can do for our show because it tells other people what they could be in for if they take a moment to listen. And of course, don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already because we've got another episode coming out very soon and we very much love to make sure that you have access to that right away. Thank you so much again for joining us and we will see you on another episode of the show and until then, do what matters.