I think my clients were asking the wrong questions

I honestly don't know when I started to enjoy jogging.

I spent a dozen years being tortured by conditioning exercises when I was an extremely mediocre young soccer player. In college and through my 20s, roommates and boyfriends would drag me along with them and I'd complain the whole time.

Right about my mid-thirties, something shifted for me and now that I'm thinking about it, I know exactly what it was. Suddenly I had two things that I hadn't had consistent access to in the past. The first thing was information, but the second was personal accountability.

Picture it: San Diego, 2010. I had my first iPhone, and Runkeeper had just launched. What a dream to know how far you ran, how fast, and how that compared to your own past activity! Add a bit of competition, a bit of community, and some goal-setting, and I found it deeply motivating.

But you know what ACTUALLY got me to run consistently? My husband (at the time). Not because he was a habitual runner, but because we had made a schedule and a commitment to run TOGETHER. And we did. And because we did, I made real progress.

I don't remember if it was months or years that we maintained that schedule, but I do remember that when his work schedule eventually prevented him from joining me, I kept going. Jogging became a habit, (and in times of overwhelming anxiety, a coping mechanism). I couldn't even tell you what I enjoyed about it, except that I always felt so good when I was done.

It's still true. It's less than ten degrees outside as I type this, but I just finished a lovely Monday morning jog because I knew a treadmill would be an essential part of my Midwest Winter Survival Kit.

Over my decade of entrepreneurship, I've spent thousands of dollars on business coaches, books, courses, and tools. Like Runkeeper, all of them were designed to give me the information I needed to grow my business. Not only have I watched my clients do the exact same thing--my entire business existed because they did!

Smart, capable founders hiring consultant after consultant, course after course, always looking for the strategy that would finally unlock their growth.

But over and over again, I'd work with them to build the marketing strategy that I thought would get them the most impact with the least amount of work and you know what would happen? Nothing. Not because the strategy was wrong. Not because they weren't capable. They just... wouldn't do it. And when I asked, they told me the exact same things that I told myself: I'm too busy, I need to finish [whatever other thing] first, I need [some external resource I can't afford].

Unfortunately, my consulting model did not solve or even recognize the core problem: It's much easier to believe that we don't know what to do than to understand what's preventing us from doing it. So the market provides answers to the questions that are easy to answer, but leaves the hard ones unanswered.

• Why do I talk myself out of doing all the things I know I should do to market my business?
• Why do I feel like I have no business trying to build this business?
• Why do I feel like I'm working my ass off and making no progress?

These questions don't have simple answers, and even if they did, the answers aren't solutions. As usual, it's not knowledge that holds us back. I'm not here to tell you what is holding you back, but I do want to offer my help so you can move past it.

I'm building Buffalo Collective to meet that need for myself and others like me. I need a mirror, a nudge, honest validation, and the perspective that I cannot give myself.

So, think of it like a running club, but for lone leaders. You have your goals, your wisdom, and your struggles, but with the strength, support, and direction from the herd, you can navigate them with strength and confidence.

If this pattern sounds familiar—if you've hired coaches and bought courses but still feel stuck—let's talk about whether Buffalo Collective might be the support structure you've been missing.