As entrepreneurs, we often describe building our business as “learning how to fly the plane while building it mid-air”.

It normalizes the feeling of chaos and uncertainty that comes from creating something from scratch.

It can also mask or disguise a business headed in the wrong direction.

For my entire life, I’ve had two approaches to deadlines. The first, “last-minute Tara Lee”. Every university paper was handed in minutes before the final deadline. To this day, I will still leave holiday shopping to the last minute (mainly because I dislike shopping).

The second approach is to proceed with gusto as soon as inspiration strikes. This was my secret to success working in live television and my ability to act quickly on information. It also helped me in the early years of entrepreneurship when I was figuring out this whole consulting thing. And it’s why my holiday decorations have been up since mid-November (mainly because I like mood lighting on winter evenings).

Neither approach would help me reach my goal. If I waited to the last minute, launching a corporate offer would be rushed and appear amateurish. At the same time, if I focused on that idea in all of my spare time I would burn out and give up.

I need to come up with a third way - slow and steady progress.

Here’s the thing everyone gets wrong about writer’s block - it’s not an absence of ideas or inspiration but an absence of direction.

What do you hope to achieve with your content? How vibrant and vivid is this end goal? And do you believe it’s possible?

If any doubt or uncertainty clouds the end goal, it will block your creativity simply because your ideas don’t know where to go.

Writer’s block isn’t the absence of ideas. It’s the opposite. It’s what happens when all possible ideas come to the surface and there’s no system to triage which ideas to work on and release to the public.

I always get a little eye-rolly when people share posts apologizing for being off social media. Or worse, using it as a platform to rant about how digital media is changing and how it’s a drain on society.

This is not that story.

I make no apologies for going quiet. Nor do I have issues with social media or the challenges with building a brand.

Because the truth is, the reason I took a break from creating content is because my business is evolving in the most surprising ways. And instead of fighting these changes, or forcing myself to maintain a system that no longer serves me, I simply stopped production until things felt right.

I was coaching a client recently who described her new brand story as “the same, but different”. We’ve been working over the summer on this new direction for her business and content. The next chapter is now being written, powered by the decades she’s put into her business so far.

The same, but different.

PR and media support is a costly investment - whether you invest in a program to learn the ropes yourself, or you invest in a large agency with all the bells and whistles.

Which is why I’m always surprised when people back away or self-sabotage when the moment comes to engage with media.

In the years I’ve been working with reluctant and nervous spokespeople, there are three main blocks that get in the way of connecting with an audience.