The Most Dangerous Person in Your Business Is You

Abuse the Power in Your Own Head

You know that voice that says you’re not ready? That whispers you’re not smart enough to charge what you’re worth? That insists one more certification will finally make you credible? That voice is costing you tens of thousands of dollars a year. And it’s time to stop listening.

The Point

The most abused power in any business isn’t over employees, vendors, or customers—it’s the power the owner uses against themselves.

Every day, that internal voice talks business owners out of opportunities, justifies mediocrity, and reinforces the exact ceiling they claim they want to break through.

The brutal truth? The business usually isn’t stuck because of the market, location, or competition. It’s stuck because the owner has quietly decided that “good enough” is all they deserve.

The Story

Three months ago, a business coach was on a strategy call with Jake, an HVAC contractor who had been in business for nine years. His problem sounded simple: he could not break $600K in annual revenue no matter what he tried.

The coach asked, “Walk me through your last estimate.”

Jake described a commercial job—replacing three aging units for a medical office.

• His costs: $18,000
• Industry standard markup: 40–50%, which would put the quote at $25,000–$27,000
• Premium shops in his market: easily $30,000+

“What did you quote?” the coach asked.

“$21,500.”

“Why?”

There was a long pause. “I don’t know… it felt like the right number.”

The coach pressed harder. “What were you thinking when you typed that number?”

Another pause. Then it all spilled out:

“I was thinking they’d say no if I went higher. I was thinking about the guy down the street who undercut me last month. I was thinking I don’t have the fancy certifications those other shops have. I was thinking medical offices probably have tight budgets. I was thinking—”

The coach stopped him. “You were thinking yourself poor.”

The math was vicious. By talking himself down $5,000 on one job, Jake left $3,000 in profit on the table. If he did this twice a month—which he did—that was $72,000 in annual profit silently disappearing before the customer ever saw the number.

What made it worse was what came next. When the coach asked if the customer had pushed back on the $21,500, Jake answered, “No. They signed the same day. Said it seemed very reasonable.”

Reasonable. The word every business owner loves and every truly profitable business avoids.

Jake had bid against the disaster scenario in his head, not the actual customer in front of him. The voice between his ears had cost him $3,000 in ten seconds of typing.

“The most expensive real estate you’ll ever own is the six inches between your ears.”

The Lesson

Why We Abuse the Power in Our Heads

Because thoughts get mistaken for facts.

That voice saying, “They’ll never pay that,” isn’t truth—it’s fear dressed up as market research. Every limiting belief in a business started as a thought that was repeated until it calcified into “reality.”

Quick prompt: What’s one thing you tell yourself about your business that you’ve never actually tested?

Micro-action (≤15 min):
Write down three limiting beliefs about your pricing, capabilities, or market. Next to each one, write: “Is this a fact or a fear?”

The Four Lies We Tell Ourselves

Lie #1: “I’m not ready yet”

Owners wait for perfect confidence, perfect systems, perfect timing. Meanwhile, a less-qualified competitor just closed the deal they were still “getting ready” for.

Ready is a feeling that comes after action, not before it.

Quick prompt: What would you do this week if you were already ready?

Micro-action (≤15 min):
Identify one thing you’re waiting to be “ready” for. Do the first uncomfortable step today—send the email, make the call, post the content.

Lie #2: “I’m not worth it”

This is the most expensive lie of all. Prices are often set low not because the market won’t bear more, but because the owner doesn’t believe they are worth more.

So they leave money on the table, work twice as hard for half the profit, and then resent customers who got a bargain they volunteered.

Quick prompt: If someone else had your skills and experience, what would you tell them to charge?

Micro-action (≤15 min):
Calculate your actual hourly rate (annual profit ÷ hours worked). Then calculate what you should be making if you charged what you’re truly worth. Sit with that gap.

Lie #3: “Everyone else has it figured out”

They don’t. The competitor with the perfect website may be struggling with cash flow. The polished industry expert may be terrified of becoming irrelevant.

Everyone is figuring it out as they go. The difference is that some act while figuring it out, and others wait for certainty that never arrives.

Quick prompt: What would you do if you knew everyone else was just as uncertain as you?

Micro-action (≤15 min):
Text three business owners you respect. Ask them: “What’s one thing you’re struggling with right now?” Their answers will be a reality check.

Lie #4: “I’ll do it after [X]”

After the busy season. After a new hire. After that certification. After, after, after.

“After” is where dreams go to die. “The right time” is the story used to avoid the discomfort of now.

Quick prompt: What am I using “after” to avoid?

Micro-action (≤15 min):
Take the thing you’re waiting to do “after” something else. Schedule 30 minutes this week to do it anyway. Imperfectly. Uncomfortable. Now.

Try This in 10 Minutes

The Daily Power Audit

Every evening for the next seven days, answer these three questions in a notebook:

1. What did I talk myself out of today?
   Be honest. The client you didn’t call. The price you lowered. The boundary you didn’t set.
2. What story did I tell myself to justify it?
   Write the actual words that ran through your head.
3. What would I have done if that story wasn’t true?
   This becomes the action plan for tomorrow.

By day seven, a pattern will be obvious. The same three or four stories on repeat. Those are the lies quietly running the business.

This Week’s Commitment Checklist

1. Identify your most expensive limiting belief
   The one that is clearly costing the most money or opportunity.
2. Test it once
   Raise a price, make a bold ask, or take the action you’ve been telling yourself you’re “not ready” for.
3. Document what actually happened
   Capture real outcomes, not fears.
4. Share the result
   Tell one person who needs to hear that the story in their own head might be lying too.
5. Repeat with your second-most expensive belief
   Turn this into a habit, not a one-time experiment.

Your Turn

Here’s the uncomfortable question: What opportunity are you talking yourself out of right now?

Not last month. Not “someday.” Right now.

There is a move that already comes to mind—calling that prospect, raising that rate, setting that boundary, launching that service—and there is a very reasonable-sounding story about why “now isn’t the time.”

That story is the power being used against you.

Commit: “Within 72 hours I will [specific action I’ve been avoiding] without waiting for permission, perfect conditions, or confidence.”

Write it down. Say it out loud. Then do it.

Let’s Stop the Self-Sabotage Together

The voice in a business owner’s head is not protecting them—it is usually imprisoning them. The same mental patterns that discount estimates, delay action, and shrink ambition are the patterns that quietly cap revenue and profit year after year.

To keep rewiring that inner voice, join gofuelcoaching.com and get weekly, no-fluff coaching that turns hard truths into bolder decisions, better pricing, and a business that finally matches the level of work being put into it.