Are you constantly adding new tools, services, and systems—only to feel like you’re working harder with less to show for it? In this episode, Tonya Kubo and Gwen Bortner introduce the Simplify to Amplify series, challenging the idea that more is always better. They explore why businesses tend to drift toward unsustainable complexity, how simplifying can actually increase impact and profitability, and the mindset shifts needed to embrace a more streamlined approach. From cutting unnecessary offerings to setting clear commitments, this conversation will help you create more success with less stress. Join us for this insightful discussion and discover how simplifying your business can amplify your results.
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Simplify To Amplify Part 1: Growing Your Business By Doing Less
Why Doing Less Can Lead To Greater Success
Are you constantly adding new offerings, new tools and systems to your business but feeling like you’re working harder than ever with less to show for it? In this episode, we are challenging conventional business with wisdom. What if the path to greater success isn’t about adding more but strategically doing less? We’re introducing a new series. I don’t know about you, Gwen, but I love a good series. Our new series is called Simplify to Amplify. What we’re going to be talking about is how sometimes the best way to grow is to do less instead of more. Gwen, why don’t you just kick us right off and give us some context for this?
First, because some people may hear from multiple of us, Crista Grasso, who is someone who’s also an operation person, often talks about simpify to amplify. You were not at the event, but I was, and she was using that phrase a lot. I’m making sure that someone’s not like, “She totally stole Crista’s thing,” because Crista and I definitely go back. This is one of those topics that we totally agree on. Hers, which was great, was simplify to scale. She also uses the phrase simplify to amplify because it’s a great rhyme. Everybody loves a good rhyme.
I love a good rhyme. That’s why I came up with it.
Anytime you take an element out of any sort of system, and when I say system, I mean anything that we do. A behavior is a system. A habit is a system. A checklist is a system. The list goes on. If you can remove a step, an element and really remove it, not like, “We’re just not going to write it down anymore, but we still have to do it,” but truly remove it, it will exponentially reduce the complexity. As we reduce the complexity, that frees up so many things, it generally frees up time, it usually frees up cognitive load, it usually reduces errors. All of those things can amplify your business.
The Three Key Areas To Simplify In Business
Based on that information, I think there’s probably going to be three areas that we’re going to want to unpack in the series. Not now, but in the future. I want you to correct me if I’m wrong here, or at least clarify. I think the first is going to be offerings. Your products and services is one area. I think the other is going to be your processes. If you say you don’t have processes, I’m going to link an episode that says even if you don’t have them written down, you still have them. You just don’t know them.
Everyone has processes. You may not have documented processes, you may not have consistent processes, but everyone has processes.
I would say the third’s probably commitments. Things you say yes to.
Commitments can look like all sorts of things. It can look like boundaries. It can look like the type of customers and vendors that you work with. It can look like setting your own deadline. There’s a whole lot about commitments and there’s some things that fall into it. I think of pricing also as a commitment.
I would put that under product and service offerings, but, okay. Tell me more about pricing as a commitment.
As I said, it could fit in those as well. A lot of times, folks are trying to adjust their pricing based on who the client is. Obviously, it’s way less likely in the product. It’s like this thing and this thing, I don’t charge you different because you’re someone else. Services, a lot of times, we’ll say, “Normally I would charge X, but because they’re smaller, bigger, more famous, there’s all sorts of qualifications, I’m going to charge Y.” The problem is that takes a whole lot of cycles, a whole lot of effort. When you just commit to say, “The price that I charge for this thing, this service is X,” that also is simplifying to amplify. It’s making a commitment and sticking to it.
Sometimes, that’s hard.
That’s part of the simplify to amplify as well.
Why Businesses Drift Toward Complexity Over Time
Before we can unpack those areas, I need you to lay some groundwork for me. The first question I have for you, because I do this, so really, this is me getting free coaching again, just so we’re all clear on what’s going on here. I’m going to say businesses because I’m a one-person business, but I know I’ve seen larger businesses do the same thing. What is it that makes most businesses drift toward unsustainable complexity over time?
The Influence Of Hustle Culture And Comparison Traps
Somewhere in the world, we have been taught that more is better. To some degree, it comes out of us being in a capitalistic society. Some of it is coming out of what I’m going to call the social media comparison society that we’re in. “They have this and I don’t have that. That must be better.”
It’s always better if I don’t have it.
It’s a version of grass is greener. One of the favorites that you and I have talked about more than once that I argue about for a long time is if you’re not growing, you’re dying. To me, this is also related to the more is better. Often, in the way of making more, particularly with products, is we’re adding products for processes.
Sometimes it’s like, “I need to do more so that there feels more value.” On the commitment side, it’s like, “I need to be able to say I’m doing more. I need to show that I’m doing more.” If I was to take it back to one thing and it’s never as simple as one thing, I think it’s this underlying belief that more is better. I’m curious because we haven’t talked about this ahead of time. I’m really curious what you think.
This is like a totally unscripted episode. More is better. I could see that also makes me think of hustle harder culture.
It’s another version of more is better.
The Franken-Business Effect: How Complexity Builds Over Time
I think that’s another way of framing it. I do believe that we’re in a space now where we’re pushing against that collectively, but that doesn’t mean that we have an internalized it and it doesn’t color our perspective. Conscious and unconscious. There are all sorts of things I do that I know are not in my best interest, but I don’t realize I’m doing them until I do.
The other thing, though, it’s something I refer to as a Franken business, which is that I think most of us, we start our business and we do whatever it is we believe we need to do to do the next thing. We keep doing that unless we have hired somebody who forces us to or our brain naturally does it. We very rarely step back to evaluate is everything we’ve got going on in the best interest of where we want to go.
I’ll just use a tech stack as an example because I think it’s an easy example for everybody. You started your business and you started using MailChimp because it was free, Calendly because that’s what somebody told you was the best scheduler on the market and you did PayPal processing. That’s what you decided. As you go through, now suddenly, your business is growing, your email list is bigger than what MailChimp offers for free.
You’re paying for MailChimp, you are paying for Calendly, you’ve got PayPal, but PayPal doesn’t operate quite the same way it used to. Calendly has added a bunch of features that you haven’t learned because why would you? It’s still doing the thing that you needed to do. By the way, MailChimp is no longer the cheapest option for you because while it was the perfect solution for free, at the level of number of subscribers you have, there are actually much better services or cheaper services or whatever.
Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it's easy for someone else and vice versa. Share on XYou never stepped back and all you do is notice the gaps and then you mention to somebody, “I’ve got this gap,” and nobody says, “Cancel MailChimp. Go to high level and you’ll knock out your schedule and everything else for one low price.” Instead, they say, “You just need this additional service.” If you’ve been in business for five years, suddenly, you’ve got a tech stack of twenty different software as a service, many of which have overlapped that you have no idea about.
Shiny Object Syndrome And The Problem Of Half-Finished Projects
The other thing is you, when you first started in this, that hit my mind and it was like, “We need to say this too,” is sometimes the complexity is the people we’re talking to are high-level visionaries that are quick starts that get started and then get distracted. The shiny object syndrome adds to lots of complexity. Most people who are quick starts and high visionaries don’t ever think about stopping the thing that they never quite finished or never quite got to the place they wanted it to be.
You’re surrounded by things that are 60% done.
Even if they’re kind of working, it’s like, “Yeah, but I don’t really like this anymore.” They don’t just say, “I’m going to sell it. I’m going to close it, I’m going to end it, I’m going to merge it.” They don’t take that step because that’s actually a pretty hard step mentally because it’s like, “I’m saying that failed.” It’s like, “No, not necessarily. You’re just saying it’s no longer the thing.”
There are all sorts of aspects of this in businesses that we can drill into. Sometimes, it’s you work with a service provider who builds out an automated process for you that you don’t understand, but they told you that you needed it so you went with it. When they exit and you are left to live with it because you don’t understand it, all these things can go wrong with it. You’re patching things without ever addressing what the root cause is or even acknowledging what the root cause is.
Back to the simpler something is, and someone famous, I’m pretty sure, made this quote and I’m totally going to butcher it. Put that disclaimer out there. Basically, make things as simple as you possibly can. No more complex, but also no more simpler than that either. It means you can’t just take it completely down to nothing because at some point, there is some level of complexity, but it’s finding that balance of what are the things that we can get rid of, but what actually is necessity?
Back to context matters, that will vary depending on a whole lot of other variables based on who you are, your business value, your core values, your business model, all of those things, two businesses that look the same but aren’t. A high-level complexity may be as simple as can be. Someone else said, “Yeah, but I got rid of all of these things.” Part of the reason you’re able to do that is there’s some behind the scenes things that really is about context. That means no, we aren’t the same. You can be simpler than I can’t and not. In that case, both are right. They’re right for them, not right for everybody else.
I feel like there’s a bit of psychology that leads us to add complexity and to fight simplicity.
Say more about that.
Why Simplification Feels Uncomfortable For Many Entrepreneurs
I think part of it is there is something about having a complicated business that makes us feel like we have arrived.
I love that because as you said that it was like if it’s too easy, it feels like it’s not valuable. Part of this comes from that whole pure work ethic thing. You need to be able to work hard. You need to be able to do hard work. If you can actually do easy work, that’s actually good too. If it feels too easy, it’s like, “This messed up.”
It’s like, “I must be doing something wrong if it’s so simple because I’m surrounded by people who are complaining about all these moving parts. If my business doesn’t have the same moving parts, something must be wrong with it.”
We're so afraid to not be in the room where the cool stuff happens. Share on XI love that you brought that up because that is so 100% true. When I hear that, the first thing I think about is it’s the other side of the coin of just because it’s easy for you doesn’t mean it’s easy for someone else and vice versa. Right?
Right. This is a brief, but like the writing examples. I was working with an editor and I was working on this very long piece. I was trying to do this thing where I took a story and I wove it in pieces throughout. It was hard, but I was trying to make it work. It’s a model I’ve seen done before. She said, “I think it’s fine, but why not just start with that one story and then every new section, bring in like a vignette from a different story. You’re a great storyteller. Just do that.”
I said, “Can I?” She went, “Yeah. You’re a journalist. You could totally do that.” I said, “I had that thought initially. That’s what I wanted to do, but I thought I was hiding behind my journalism background and I was using my journalism background as a crutch because it feels easy to just find 10 ten stories, interview them, and incorporate the pieces that work in every section, then forcing this 1 story to serve 10 purposes.” Only a former journalist says, “Interviewing ten people is the easy way out.”
Of course, there’s some number of us saying, “That would be the worst.” Although, when you said that, it was like, “I could probably pull ten stories out of clients in it,” but trying to find the story is almost impossible.
It’s an example of it totally felt too easy for me, but I could totally see where somebody else would say, “If that’s what I have to do, I’m out.” Easy for us is not necessarily easy for everybody and we actually aren’t lazy If we choose a business that leans so heavily on our strengths and our natural interests that it doesn’t feel like work. That’s actually an okay thing.
You gave a you story. Let me give a me story that is the same type of thing. You laugh about this all the time. For most people, they would see my calendar as living hell.
Yes. I see your calendar.
I know you know this because I know that’s actually how you respond to it. Every time that you see my calendar, it gives you the heebie-jeebies because it looks complex and crazy and it’s back-to-back and it’s got all of those things. That’s actually easy for me because of who I am and my personality and all of the other things. We’ve had more than one time where I’ve said, “Yeah, I’ve been on back-to-back calls for six hours. It’s been a great day and you’re just, “Ugh.”
We’re starting the seventh call of our seven. You’re just like, “Ugh,” and I’m like, “No, it’s my great day.” This is back to just because it’s easy for me, trying to convince you that your life would be so much better if you were on back-to-back calls isn’t true. You trying to talk me out of it also doesn’t necessarily make my life easier because for me, it actually removes the complexity. It streamlines it for me because I only have to pay attention to my account. Simplify to amplify. It doesn’t sound simpler. It actually is simpler in the way that my mind works.
FOMO: The Real Reason We Resist Simplifying
I think other ways that our head gets in our way here, we resist simplification because of FOMO. Especially when it comes to like offerings, we’re so terrified we’re leaving dollars on the table.
For sure. When we can have an abundance mindset that there’s plenty and the piece I get is plenty for what I need and I don’t need to take it all, I absolutely think that it becomes easier to simplify. It’s okay that I’m not offering this piece of the service.
I think that it’s the fear of missing out of dollars, or in marketing world, we’d say market share. I also see it with your tech stack. Oftentimes, you’re afraid you’re missing out on the latest, greatest tool to do a thing, even though the tools you have are doing the thing perfectly fine. On processes, I think it’s shiny object syndrome. They’re afraid that the process they’re following is not the best process so they’re constantly trying to figure out different processes.
Simplifying is not shrinking your ambition. Share on XI think that one in particular also is about someone else raves about their process. In their raving, it’s like, “I don’t rave about my process so my process must not be good enough. I need to use their process.” One of the things I talk to people a lot about is when someone is raving about things like that, what it usually means is my prior situation was so horrendous that when I discovered this, this transformed my life, my business or whatever ever and I want you to have a similar transformation.” What we miss is, back to context, it may not be appropriate for your context, for your situation. You may not need the transformation. You may not be raving about it, but if it’s like chugging along just like absolute top end clockwork, you don’t actually need a transformation.
I would say the other place where I see FOMO is the commitments piece. We’re so afraid to not be in the room where the cool stuff happens.
Of course we talk about this with boundaries all the time, but when you say yes to something, you are inadvertently saying no to something else. You often don’t know what it is. You are saying no to something else in some way, shape or form. It might not have been better, but might have been better.
The other thing I would say, and I bet you’re going to have a little bit to say about this, is the sunk cost fallacy. We hesitate to let go of things that we’ve invested in.
Why We Hold Onto Things We No Longer Need
The sunk cost is a real thing and it’s hard to overcome because it really is a very much of a natural thing. “I’ve made this investment and so I need to see it through.” Often, there’s a point and it’s like, “This investment is never going to do what it needs to do.” Investment, time, energy, money. When I say investment, I’m saying all of the things that we can invest. It really is throwing good money after bad, good time after bad. We always say good money after bad, but it’s whatever we’re investing and all of the things that we’re investing. I can put another 100 hours into this, but it’s not going to change it. It’s never going to get me the result that I need. What if I took those 100 hours someplace else?
I had a conversation with one of my good friends, her name’s Natalie, and she was talking about can you visualize stepping through a wall, and I know you know this because you’re like me, but the Hogwarts wall, when it closes back up, there’s no evidence that it was ever there. That completely solid wall is right behind you and so none of that matters.
What would you do going forward if everything behind you didn’t exist? We can’t really do that because obviously everything that’s happened before is how we are here. If you said, “I just started today on the planet and I started here. Now what would I do?” All that sunk cost stuff doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t be like, “I’m going to chase this thing.” I still get to know all the things I know, but this is the first day on the planet. It changes.
How Identity And Ego Keep Us Stuck In Complexity
I would say the last psychological barrier I’ve seen is, I want to call it vanity, but that’s not kind. It’s identity attachment. It is ego, but it’s this identity attachment, like your business offerings and the complexity of the structure around those offerings become tied to your self-worth. The example I’ll use of this is I have seen, and in fact, in our very first episode, we talked about this.
The business owners who build out these like really complex, high-featured, high-ticket programs and find themselves it has become its own machine that has to be constantly fed. They have to have a certain number of staff members to offer the level of service that people expect when they’re paying $25,000 a year or so. They have to have the amount of availability that’s expected when people are paying that amount.
In some cases, some of these offers are like they’re one-size-fits-all all solutions. They’re your fractional C-suite. There’s ten hours of calls per week and there’s all of this stuff that supports it. Even though they’re exhausted, even though they recognize that they could be just as profitable or maybe even more profitable, if they cut that entirely and scaled back to maybe doing one-on-one, or maybe they want to just commoditize and be a course creator or whatever, it feels like failure. Even though it would make them more profitable, even though it would buy back their time and so many other things, it feels humiliating. It’s fear. They’re afraid, but I think it’s because they have allowed their identity to get too closely woven in to what they offer.
That really is the definition of ego. The psychological definition of ego is we’re attached to from an outside perspective. I do think that that adds to the complexity and I’ll say an adjunct to that is we actually are doing the thing that we want in a successful way and we see somebody else doing this more complex thing and says, “I need to be that to be validated, to be considered the best.” Fill in whatever blank that you want there. You take what’s actually working for you and add complexity so that you now are in that space, but you’re miserable in that space.
If you actually could be living their life, they’re looking at you saying, “I wish I was like Tonya. I remember being like Tonya and I had more space, I had more time, I was happier and I was actually putting more money in my pocket.” A lot of times, those people are looking at the people are saying, “I want to be you.” They’re looking back the other way and saying, “No. I wish I was better. That was a much better space where it was simpler.”
Gwen, I feel like this is a good introduction to the topic.
There are so many places we can simplify. The thing that we challenge our clients to every quarter when we have our quarter session is find one thing to delete. We didn’t even talk about this, but it’s the shoulds. The shoulds add a lot to our complexity. Many of the shoulds we can get rid of, which will simplify. I’ve said it for years. Simpler is better. It really is in almost everything on the planet.
You can have a super complex recipe and you can also have a recipe that has four ingredients and often, the recipe has 4 ingredients is actually better than the one that has 20. The other thing is the one with four ingredients people make correctly consistently. The one with 20 ingredients, there’s 15 other places just in the ingredient that it can go wrong, let alone all the steps in everything else.
Simplifying Without Shrinking Your Ambition
What I like about where you’re leaving us is the idea, actually the reality that simplifying is not shrinking your ambition.
No. It’s actually way harder than being complex. So many different people get attributed to this quote, but if I would’ve had more time, I would’ve written you a shorter letter, but I’ve heard 5 or 6 different famous people.
Mark Twain.
Mark Twain is one, but I’ve heard 3 or 4 others. Whoever is the right person, but that’s really true. A TED Talk is way harder to give than an hour keynote. Simpler is not easier. It’s not the shortcut. It’s not the easy way out, but it is more likely to create success because less things can go wrong.
If you are ready to identify what you should be eliminating from your business to achieve greater success with less stress, you are going to want to come back. I think we’re going to have probably an additional three episodes on this easily for this series. If you don’t want to wait for that, I think From Insight to Impact, which is our weekly premium accountability subscription, could be the right next step for you.
What it does is it provides a thought-provoking question every single Friday. If you choose to respond, you get an equally thoughtful personalized response back from Gwen, sometimes from me, that will help you examine your business and maybe even evaluate what could simplify so that you can grow to where you want to be. Head over to EverydayEffectiveness.com/impact to learn more.
Mentioned in This Episode
About Your Hosts
Gwen Bortner has spent four decades advising executives and entrepreneurs in 45+ industries. She helps women succeed in business without sacrificing happiness by identifying their true desires and aligning their business functions. She spots overlooked bottlenecks and crafts efficient plans toward sustainable success that center your values and priorities. Known for her unique approach to problem-solving and accountability through the G.E.A.R.S. framework, Gwen empowers clients to achieve their definition of success without sacrificing what matters most.
Tonya Kubo is a marketing strategist and community builder who helps entrepreneurs build thriving online communities. As co-host of The Business You Really Want and Chief Marketing and Operations Officer (CMOO) at Everyday Effectiveness, she keeps conversations on track and ensures complex business concepts are accessible to everyone. A master facilitator with 18+ years of experience in online community building, Tonya takes a people-first approach to marketing and centers the human experience in all she does.
